There's many ways that governments protect their local industries. For instance, the US saved its semiconductor industry (Intel, etc) from doom at the hands of the Japanese, by aggressive tariffs and other trade policies. (Intel cofounder Andy Grove mentioned this in the context of worker's rights. [1]) And that's not mentioning all the subsidies that went into building the US high-tech industry [2], as well as US industry in general [3].

That said, I certainly don't think Apple developers are badly off compared to Apple janitors, or Bay Area fastfood workers. And it's not like countries like Japan and Germany are slouches.

And it's possible that the article on Apple under discussion is false, as some commenters claim.

[1] http://www.forbes.com/2003/10/10/1010grovepinnacor.html [2] http://books.google.com/books?id=Y75K660UfzsC&pg=PA293&#... [3] http://www.newamerica.net/events/2008/why_world_isnt_flat

The implicit suggestion that this is because of privacy laws is silliness. There are plenty of industries in which Germany is ascendent (automotive, biotech, chemicals) which have no more lax information security requirements than computing. I mean, wouldn't you call bullshit if I said, "Maybe if the US had stronger privacy laws Europe wouldn't be dominant in the chemicals industry..."