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The illegal workers like the minimum wage laws because they know
legal workers will not do the job even if they are payed more. ...
The supply is their ( fruit vegetables, nuts, cheap labor jobs )
and the illegal workers work hard to fill the demand. ...
If the wages were raise high enough to attract legal workers to fill the jobs required, we could not afford to pay the high cost that would be put on fruits, vegetables, etc. ... ...
I personally know an American who works for $6.50 an hour because his boss says that he can't pay more and compete with those who hire illegals instead. Illegals around here will gladly work for $5 an hour -- no overtime, no benefits.
It would be difficult for a hike in the minimum wage to make any real difference when nothing at all stops employers from bringing in illegals who will work for whatever they offer. I know for a fact there are factory workers in Chicago making $6 an hour. And there are plenty more where they came from.
I love the random statements that substitute for facts around here.
We're to believe the "real reason" illegals are everywhere has nothing to do with the established fact that they are paid well under minimum wage AND are usually paid under the able - thus getting around the need to pay income tax... Oh, but of course - the "real problem" with America is "everyone is lazy..." right... it has nothing to do with the lack of jobs, the fact even minimum wage hasn't kept up with inflation, etc.
Oh, do you think, possibly, that maybe the reason people have a hard time affording higher priced goods just MIGHT have something to do with those lack of jobs, low wages, and the illegals you're praising? Oh, no - that's right - it's "laziness" again.
It is unreal what passes for reasoning around here.
I personally know an American who works for $6.50 an hour because his boss says that he can't pay more and compete with those who hire illegals instead. Illegals around here will gladly work for $5 an hour -- no overtime, no benefits.
It would be difficult for a hike in the minimum wage to make any real difference when nothing at all stops employers from bringing in illegals who will work for whatever they offer. I know for a fact there are factory workers in Chicago making $6 an hour. And there are plenty more where they came from.
We import products from China that are made by $2-$3/hr laborers. Why do you think so many American factories have closed up? How do you expect the remaining factories to compete? Well, they use any means necessary, which sometimes pushes the bounds of legality.
I'm not sure who's working for $5/hr... I mean, if they are getting state and federal handouts, it's possible that they can afford to work this cheap. Others will live like small communities inside a rented apartment or even a house. Around here, the illegals are commonly employed by the temp services, which follow the minimum wage laws. This is how many of the factories get ahold of their cheap labor.
Oh, do you think, possibly, that maybe the reason people have a hard time affording higher priced goods just MIGHT have something to do with those lack of jobs, low wages, and the illegals you're praising? Oh, no - that's right - it's "laziness" again.
Yes. Studies by actual economists prove over and over again that you cannot have a recovery until people have jobs that pay enough to participate in the consumer economy.
The working/middle class in reality create most of the jobs we are lucky enough to still have in this country, because they create a demand in the market by buying stuff.
If you lower wages to the point that people are skipping meals, medication, etc. you will ensure that the economy remains stuck in a perpetual cycle of depressions, recessions, and mass lay-offs as companies must reduce head count thanks to severely lowered demand for their products and services.
We import products from China that are made by $2-$3/hr laborers. Why do you think so many American factories have closed up? How do you expect the remaining factories to compete? Well, they use any means necessary, which sometimes pushes the bounds of legality.
I'm not sure who's working for $5/hr... I mean, if they are getting state and federal handouts, it's possible that they can afford to work this cheap. Others will live like small communities inside a rented apartment or even a house. Around here, the illegals are commonly employed by the temp services, which follow the minimum wage laws. This is how many of the factories get ahold of their cheap labor.
And you can expect more hiring of illegals, offshoring of jobs, and laying off of workers if the minimum wage is raised. That's business. In case some people were wondering, businesses are not a charity. We are in it to make money. If we choose to farm our work out to someone willing to work for less, that's a sensible business decision.
Part of the reason why there aren't too many high-paying factory jobs in this country anymore is because the American consumer doesn't want to Buy American. Look at all the people shopping at Wal-Mart, buying cheap Chinese goods, and then wondering why there isn't an abundance of factory jobs like there used to be. The American consumer has only himself to blame for selling out in order to save a few cents.
And you can expect more hiring of illegals, offshoring of jobs, and laying off of workers if the minimum wage is raised. That's business. In case some people were wondering, businesses are not a charity. We are in it to make money. If we choose to farm our work out to someone willing to work for less, that's a sensible business decision.
Part of the reason why there aren't too many high-paying factory jobs in this country anymore is because the American consumer doesn't want to Buy American. Look at all the people shopping at Wal-Mart, buying cheap Chinese goods, and then wondering why there isn't an abundance of factory jobs like there used to be. The American consumer has only himself to blame for selling out in order to save a few cents.
Almost too easy...
Read the last sentence of your first paragraph, where you happily support the gutting of America jobs for illegals, off-shoring, etc. "If we choose to farm our work out to someone willing to work for less, that's a sensible business decision."
Then, you turn around and blast the American consumer (who just had their wages reduced by your "sensible business decision") for buying cheaper products.
I mean, common sense MIGHT dictate that people who've lost their good jobs are stuck buying cheap stuff... and if big business hadn't chosen to gut those jobs, they'd still have been able to afford the higher-quality products.
Also, care to explain to me why it is "good" for big business to cut expenses: "If we choose to farm our work out to someone willing to work for less, that's a sensible business decision. " But it is "bad" for the consumer to do the same thing: "The American consumer has only himself to blame for selling out in order to save a few cents."
Seems slightly hypocritical there: we're to believe it's great for business to cut expenses, and anyone who doesn't like it can stuff it, but it is somehow "selling out" for consumers - you know, the same ones who just had their wages reduced - to cut their expenses.
Read the last sentence of your first paragraph, where you happily support the gutting of America jobs for illegals, off-shoring, etc. "If we choose to farm our work out to someone willing to work for less, that's a sensible business decision."
Then, you turn around and blast the American consumer (who just had their wages reduced by your "sensible business decision") for buying cheaper products.
I mean, common sense MIGHT dictate that people who've lost their good jobs are stuck buying cheap stuff... and if big business hadn't chosen to gut those jobs, they'd still have been able to afford the higher-quality products.
Also, care to explain to me why it is "good" for big business to cut expenses: "If we choose to farm our work out to someone willing to work for less, that's a sensible business decision. " But it is "bad" for the consumer to do the same thing: "The American consumer has only himself to blame for selling out in order to save a few cents."
Seems slightly hypocritical there: we're to believe it's great for business to cut expenses, and anyone who doesn't like it can stuff it, but it is somehow "selling out" for consumers - you know, the same ones who just had their wages reduced - to cut their expenses.
The people who "lost their good jobs" as you put it have only themselves to blame because the unions (with their neverending demands) and the politicians (who created a business-unfriendly environment through heavy taxation and regulations) made manufacturing goods in the U.S. unfeasible due to astronomical overhead costs. How do you expect businesses to pay union rates when Americans weren't buying their products (opting for cheaper foreign products instead) despite being paid more than they were actually worth in the global labor marketplace? It's not like the American consumer didn't have the disposable income to spend in the half-century following WWII!
Globalization has shown that foreign workers are capable of producing high-quality goods for much less, which left a lot of overpriced American workers out of jobs unless they decided to retrain. Too bad for them. They had it good for too long and now the chickens have come home to roost!
The people who "lost their good jobs" as you put it have only themselves to blame because the unions (with their neverending demands) and the politicians (who created a business-unfriendly environment through heavy taxation and regulations) made manufacturing goods in the U.S. unfeasible due to astronomical overhead costs. How do you expect businesses to pay union rates when Americans weren't buying their products (opting for cheaper foreign products instead) despite being paid more than they were actually worth in the global labor marketplace? It's not like the American consumer didn't have the disposable income to spend in the half-century following WWII!
Globalization has shown that foreign workers are capable of producing high-quality goods for much less, which left a lot of overpriced American workers out of jobs unless they decided to retrain. Too bad for them. They had it good for too long and now the chickens have come home to roost!
Nope.
Again, free market principles. Why is it "bad" for employees - unionized or otherwise - to try to maximize their profits (take home pay) while it is "good" for corporations to do the same by laying people off, sending jobs overseas, etc?
What you advocate is hypocrisy. You try to justify every cost-cutting and profit raising action taken by big business, no matter the damage caused, while expecting the working class to just "suck it up" with your clear hatred of any organization that resisted. On top of that absurdity, you then seek to blame consumers for buying cheaper products after your corporate heroes gutted their pay because "If we choose to farm our work out to someone willing to work for less, that's a sensible business decision."
The people who "lost their good jobs" as you put it have only themselves to blame because the unions (with their neverending demands) and the politicians (who created a business-unfriendly environment through heavy taxation and regulations) made manufacturing goods in the U.S. unfeasible due to astronomical overhead costs. How do you expect businesses to pay union rates when Americans weren't buying their products (opting for cheaper foreign products instead) despite being paid more than they were actually worth in the global labor marketplace? It's not like the American consumer didn't have the disposable income to spend in the half-century following WWII!
Globalization has shown that foreign workers are capable of producing high-quality goods for much less, which left a lot of overpriced American workers out of jobs unless they decided to retrain. Too bad for them. They had it good for too long and now the chickens have come home to roost!
And the same thing will happen in IT. Folks will be talking about those entitled American IT workers who think they are worth more than they really are in the global marketplace. Then it will be the American engineers. Then these foreign companies will start bidding on construction projects in America. They'll stay for a couple months as they build a small bridge. When their done, back to India or China they go.
Anything that can be done on a computer is wide open to cheaper foreign labor. That is just the beginning though. What we are seeing today is about as good as it's ever going to be, unless we start protecting or even insulating our market the way Germany or Switzerland does.
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