I knew that American wages had stagnated...

...in the last decade (I need look no further than my own paychecks), but I didn't know this (my emphasis):

Low salaries — and higher prices — are a core complaint of German workers who are increasingly demanding wage increases after a decade in which their real earnings dropped by 4.5 percent when adjusted for inflation, according to a recent report by the International Labor Organization. Exports have grown robustly in part because workers agreed years ago to reduced wages and reduced hours to make Germany more competitive.

I guess I can't blame that on George Bush.