Yeah, ignoring your laughable blanket statement about Americans (because that is what it reads like, intended or otherwise) that you have since backed down from...

France, Italy and Spain have more liberal/progressive social programs, but they are far from being Socialist countries. They really aren't that far off from the US, and with just a little bit of legislation the US could end up looking quite similar to them.

52telecaster, supporting union labor is great, as is buying from countries with decent labor laws, but unfortunately I suspect we are in the minority. Most people just don't seem to care. My neighborhood is in the midst of a huge construction boom (as are many neighborhoods in NYC), and many of the projects are using non-union labor. Sometimes there are union guys protesting outside the work site, but most people barely notice. Not trying to sound xenophobic, but many foreigners moving to the neighborhood either don't care about, or don't grasp the implications of unionized labor.

And once the projects are done and prospective buyers/renters are being shown the units, nobody is going to tell them it was build with non-union labor, and nobody is going to ask. Hopefully the architects are at least competent, because I see some off these non-union workers and I wouldn't trust them to lube my chain.