Why, then, are companies outsourcing to other countries, if not for tax breaks? And why has the personal rate gone so high? Wage hikes will come. They're already happening as spot bonuses.
Two parts - to the answer since there are two questions...lol
As for outsourcing...Let's take a look at Apple. Prior to his death, Steve Jobs said Apple would never move it's manufacturing back to the US. Why? Because simply put - compared to China - America's manufacturing infrastructure was third rate. China (with it's government planned and funded infrastructure coincidentally) beats us hands down.
For example the iPhone. The manufacturer of the housing is literally right down the street from the manufacturer of the screen, which is literally right down the street from the manufacturer of the next component, etc. He told a story about how they decided last minute to change the material of one of the device screens. Within the day - a prototype of the screen was able to be had, tested, and decided upon. That type of infrastructure simply doesn't exist here.
He wasn't lamenting over how taxes raped his company dry. When asked if taxes even factored in, he scoffed at the idea. It was purely and simply they were heads and shoulders above us - and at lower cost. Not significantly lower cost (I think most estimates are that manufacturing the iPhone domestically would amount to about a $50 increase on what's an otherwise $800-$1000 device) - but lower nonetheless. Without any sort of serious plan to actually "fix up" our manufacturing capacity and infrastructure - why would they come back? And we have no such plan.
As for the bonuses, etc...that's a hard one to address. I don't know much about them except for a couple of examples. A couple of them look legit. The WalMart one appears to be a sham...lol If you look closely at the details of their $1000 bonus - apparently it's only available to those that have been with the company for 20+ years. I'd be curious to see considering their turnover rate - just how many people actually received it.
Yeah - I'm cynical about things. lol I see THAT one in specific as a PR move.
So, once again, the proof will be in the pudding. Let's come back to this in a year and see how median wages have fared