Which in turn was fueled by the consumers' desire for cheap stuff, and for their portfolios to earn them a lot of money to be able to retire early and live comfortably while letting a cheaper workforce far away do more and more of the dirty and dangerous jobs.

The "bean counters" are under pressure just like everybody else. They didn't come up with their targets and incentives out of nowhere.

That's a fair point! I am myself wondering how much of this is policy and how much is the "natural way".