american goods, unfortunately, cost a lot of money to make, because (at the risk of offending a LOT of people here), american workers want money, insurance, 40 hour work weeks, paid vacations, and more.
don't get me wrong. i grew up in a labor movement positive household. my father is a teamster. i respect that everybody should have a working wage....
but, part of the problem is that everybody wants toys (us for example...motorcycles are considered 'luxuries'), including the working class. and, not only do they want them, but the people that are running the corporations get ridiculously overpaid. there are people whose retirement compensation is more than 20 years worth of salary of those people that are doing the legwork.
stuff costs too much because everybody wants too much money for everything they do. myself included
