designed to convince workers that imported foreign labour is the root cause of their poverty, rather than the inevitable outcome of unrestrained capitalism. If anything, off-shoring has been far more damaging to workers' wages than imported labour.

Unequal trade relations between the wealthy nations and the poorer nations mean that many undeveloped countries are willing to be paid a pittance for doing what unionised labour did the First World, without the wage and workplace protections.

There is a direct connection between the outcomes of First World imperialism and the out-sourcing of jobs to the Third World. Imperialism means surplus wealth is siphoned from the Third World and redistributed to the wealthiest in the rich countries, aided of course by foreign policies of rich nation states. While the poorest nations lose control over their own resources (and domestic policy choices - thanks to the IMF) they cannot build up their own industry to First World levels and thus will accept pittance pay from big corporations looking to produce goods and services on the cheap.

Xenophobic sentiment has a part to play since the dominant social and political class have no interest in establishing socialism even in its half-way form of social democracy. Xenophobic sentiment hopes to give workers an 'easy' explanation for their poverty so that they don't demand any structural changes that would redistribute money back away from the rich. This is intended to last until global demand picks up and the economy improves. Then there'll be a repeat in the next bust cycle.