The U.S. is following a classic late-stage empire playbook by financializing its economy while outsourcing manufacturing. This practice creates an illusion of prosperity through cheaper goods and labor, but it masks the underlying decay of the domestic economy and middle class.

The significant gap between CEO and worker pay is a direct result of globalization. When companies can easily outsource labor, domestic workers lose their negotiating power, or "fear of loss." This allows capital owners and executives to capture a larger share of the value created, widening the income disparity.

Wage stagnation is not accidental but a result of two concurrent policies. By sending manufacturing jobs overseas and simultaneously bringing in low-wage labor, corporations create a market where domestic workers lose nearly all leverage to demand higher pay for remaining jobs.

As an economy shifts from manufacturing to trading financial paper, wealth concentrates at the top. Those who own assets see their net worth multiply, while real wages for the majority stagnate or decline as jobs are globalized and labor is arbitraged for the lowest cost.

Raising the minimum wage is a superficial fix for stagnant wages. True wage growth comes from two systemic factors: an education system that prioritizes valuable skill acquisition, and deglobalization, which prevents skilled domestic workers from being easily replaced by cheaper foreign labor.

Chasing cheaper goods through globalization provided immediate benefits and a strong 1990s economy, but it ultimately hollowed out domestic industries. This created long-term social problems like the Rust Belt and 'deaths of despair,' a poor long-term tradeoff.

Helping the middle class is a matter of economic physics, not emotional appeals. The most effective strategy is to create a labor market where there are more jobs than workers. This is achieved by re-shoring manufacturing and controlling the influx of cheap labor, which gives domestic workers the leverage to command higher wages.

By shipping millions of jobs overseas, globalism forced American workers to compete with a much larger, cheaper international labor pool. This eliminated employers' need to compete for a finite domestic workforce, leading to wage stagnation. The proposed solution is to bring manufacturing jobs back to the U.S.

The growing gap between company productivity and employee wages isn't solely due to corporate greed. The ability to outsource work globally gives companies immense leverage, weakening the negotiating power of domestic workers and suppressing their wages.