Personally I think a big part of this is the utterly absurd cost-of-living in the US. Why should it cost SO much more to hire US devs instead of devs in Munich

Personally I think a big part of this is the utterly absurd cost-of-living in the US. Why should it cost SO much more to hire US devs instead of devs in Munich, Germany, which is a world-leading economy and highly technological nation? This isn't quite like moving jobs from the US to Chile or India. Perhaps it has something to do with the ridiculous housing costs in the US, plus the ridiculous healthcare costs, plus the ridiculous transportation costs (you don't need a car in Munich), plus the ridiculous cost of eating in a restaurant (no 20% tipping in Munich), I could go on and on. I really think the US is pricing itself out of the market in many places, and I almost never see anyone actually address this in discussions about international economics.