U.S. intentionally being turned into a low wage/cheap labor platform.  This is done to compete with China, the West intentionally created China as an economic power house by investing capital , transferring technology and giving china access to US markets through low tariffs.  Now Western elites have  created an artificial dialectic in which to now pit Western workers verse low wage Chinese (third world/emerging market) workers.
**
One example of the lowering of living standards in the US is the laying off or firing of workers who are then rehired at lower wage scales with worse medical and pension packages.
**
An example of this can be seen with the restructuring of the work force at GM but these policies are being implemented through the whole economy.
**
The economy has been put on reset at a lower pay scale where US workers have to work harder to access RESOURCES.