Until Americans are willing to do the jobs only people from other countries are currently doing, we need a robust immigration policy. Conservative farmers, ranchers, and chicken processing plants owners in Georgia, Alabama, and other states are begging for workers willing to do the backbreaking, low pay work necessary to plant and harvest crops and to process food for our markets.Reagan’s amnesty, just like NAFTA, was promptly sabotaged by congressmen and senators who, on behalf of their political donors, weakened laws and installed loopholes to the advantage of employers but to the detriment to the situation we now find ourselves confronting.Until Congress is willing to honor their oaths of office and work on behalf of those in the districts they represent instead of those who send money from other states, and for the good of ALL Americans, our nation is going to continue to have holes through which all sorts of bad things will pour.Respectfully,C.
Another excellent post, TM.-Once again: if you want fewer illegal aliens, stop businesses from hiring them. -Simple. Not easy, since it’s Bad For Business, but simple nevertheless.
Good to hear from you, Mechanic. Hope you are doing well.I regretted using the chicken processing plant example after I read my submission, but decided to leave it in. Like you, I have little sympathy for companies/corporations who resist even paying minimum wage while knowingly and illegally using undocumented workers.However, I will stand by example of farmers. There are many crops that can only be harvested by hand. While there are ‘gentlemen farmers’ who have done very well, especially through agreements made with big agro companies or canning companies, there are many family farmers where both husband and wife work second jobs to supplement their very tight margins. They do not have the resources to compete with corporate farms, and like stores on Main Street USA who are losing business to Wal Mart, they find it hard to compete with companies that are so much larger and well established; companies whose donations to politicians have given them breaks not available to the smaller farmers.If workers were paid a wage that would make these jobs attractive to people with the health and strength to do them, food prices would rise and that would be a tax on all consumers. Employers are entitled to a profit, however, I find the pay and incentives given to too many “job creators” to be opulent, grandiose, and inappropriate. Workers deserve a bigger share of what the shareholders get and just because they don’t have money in Wall Street while they work their low paying jobs, does NOT make them less human, less American, and less deserving to seek happiness.Perhaps if the executives at Del Monte, Green Giant, and other corporations were willing to take less compensation, they could afford to pay their workers in the fields and factories more. Sadly, I do not see that happening in our current, “What’s mine is mine and what’s yours should be mine” attitude that makes up US capitalism.Thank you for your reply and well stated argument. I am in total agreement and ask you excuse me for not being more lucid and less general in my own comment.Sincerely,C.
“But as long as you have a country like Mexico who is all too willing to send illegally it’s people over the border to work, sending home billions, and people will pay the slave wage, the market will hold them.”
When George H.W. Bush was trying to sell us NAFTA, part of the argument went that as Mexico’s standard of living rose, more Mexicans would buy American-made goodsand illegal immigration would peter out. Like most of NAFTAs promises, this part did not materialize either.
In the early 1990’s, the British liner Queen Elizabeth II struck an uncharted boulder in Long Island Sound. Although it ripped a long gouge in the bottom of the hull, QE-II was better-built than Titanic. It sailed on to Boston, where there was a large-enough dry-dock available. The news media reported that it would boost employment at the waterfront for several weeks! A friend, who works in that area, told me a few weeks later that the ship-repair company did not hire ONE extra man for this job. They flew in a planeload of Mexican workers, who lived in a warehouse for the duration, and when finished, sent home. The shipyard company made a nice profit, but the American working man got nothing.
I don’t believe that the Dems or the Repubs will make any serious moves to stop illegal immigration. Too many American businesses want a labor force which they can employ with no benefits, and simply drop when no longer needed. And yes, it does hurt many American citizens by keeping wages low, and jobs fewer.
Changing the mentality, not just name, from INS, Immigration and NATURALIZATION SERVICE, to ICE, threw cold water on a lot of practical programs, and started boiling the pot of prejudice again.
YES, we need reform, but not to please the “I’ve got mine, screw you” brigade; which includes folks like Cruz and fellow “conservatives”.
ConserveGov almost 10 years ago
All part of the Democrats plan to legalize the aliens.More votes AND more unemployed Americans to vote for government handouts.
DoctorUmmmNo almost 10 years ago
I’m not sure about the rats, but a wedge of stinking cheese about sums up this country.
chazandru almost 10 years ago
Until Americans are willing to do the jobs only people from other countries are currently doing, we need a robust immigration policy. Conservative farmers, ranchers, and chicken processing plants owners in Georgia, Alabama, and other states are begging for workers willing to do the backbreaking, low pay work necessary to plant and harvest crops and to process food for our markets.Reagan’s amnesty, just like NAFTA, was promptly sabotaged by congressmen and senators who, on behalf of their political donors, weakened laws and installed loopholes to the advantage of employers but to the detriment to the situation we now find ourselves confronting.Until Congress is willing to honor their oaths of office and work on behalf of those in the districts they represent instead of those who send money from other states, and for the good of ALL Americans, our nation is going to continue to have holes through which all sorts of bad things will pour.Respectfully,C.
braindead Premium Member almost 10 years ago
Another excellent post, TM.-Once again: if you want fewer illegal aliens, stop businesses from hiring them. -Simple. Not easy, since it’s Bad For Business, but simple nevertheless.
chazandru almost 10 years ago
Good to hear from you, Mechanic. Hope you are doing well.I regretted using the chicken processing plant example after I read my submission, but decided to leave it in. Like you, I have little sympathy for companies/corporations who resist even paying minimum wage while knowingly and illegally using undocumented workers.However, I will stand by example of farmers. There are many crops that can only be harvested by hand. While there are ‘gentlemen farmers’ who have done very well, especially through agreements made with big agro companies or canning companies, there are many family farmers where both husband and wife work second jobs to supplement their very tight margins. They do not have the resources to compete with corporate farms, and like stores on Main Street USA who are losing business to Wal Mart, they find it hard to compete with companies that are so much larger and well established; companies whose donations to politicians have given them breaks not available to the smaller farmers.If workers were paid a wage that would make these jobs attractive to people with the health and strength to do them, food prices would rise and that would be a tax on all consumers. Employers are entitled to a profit, however, I find the pay and incentives given to too many “job creators” to be opulent, grandiose, and inappropriate. Workers deserve a bigger share of what the shareholders get and just because they don’t have money in Wall Street while they work their low paying jobs, does NOT make them less human, less American, and less deserving to seek happiness.Perhaps if the executives at Del Monte, Green Giant, and other corporations were willing to take less compensation, they could afford to pay their workers in the fields and factories more. Sadly, I do not see that happening in our current, “What’s mine is mine and what’s yours should be mine” attitude that makes up US capitalism.Thank you for your reply and well stated argument. I am in total agreement and ask you excuse me for not being more lucid and less general in my own comment.Sincerely,C.
Mike Herman almost 10 years ago
What we really need are more immigration laws to ignore.
moosemin almost 10 years ago
“But as long as you have a country like Mexico who is all too willing to send illegally it’s people over the border to work, sending home billions, and people will pay the slave wage, the market will hold them.”
When George H.W. Bush was trying to sell us NAFTA, part of the argument went that as Mexico’s standard of living rose, more Mexicans would buy American-made goodsand illegal immigration would peter out. Like most of NAFTAs promises, this part did not materialize either.
In the early 1990’s, the British liner Queen Elizabeth II struck an uncharted boulder in Long Island Sound. Although it ripped a long gouge in the bottom of the hull, QE-II was better-built than Titanic. It sailed on to Boston, where there was a large-enough dry-dock available. The news media reported that it would boost employment at the waterfront for several weeks! A friend, who works in that area, told me a few weeks later that the ship-repair company did not hire ONE extra man for this job. They flew in a planeload of Mexican workers, who lived in a warehouse for the duration, and when finished, sent home. The shipyard company made a nice profit, but the American working man got nothing.
I don’t believe that the Dems or the Repubs will make any serious moves to stop illegal immigration. Too many American businesses want a labor force which they can employ with no benefits, and simply drop when no longer needed. And yes, it does hurt many American citizens by keeping wages low, and jobs fewer.
moosemin almost 10 years ago
By the way, what exactly is Homeland Security’s purpose?
Dtroutma almost 10 years ago
Changing the mentality, not just name, from INS, Immigration and NATURALIZATION SERVICE, to ICE, threw cold water on a lot of practical programs, and started boiling the pot of prejudice again.
YES, we need reform, but not to please the “I’ve got mine, screw you” brigade; which includes folks like Cruz and fellow “conservatives”.