it must be me-

[RobDownSouth]

/r/thathappened

I worked in a meat-packing plant for several years.

Was this before or after you were:

• A visiting professor of logic
• Roadie for KISS "Creatures Of The Night" tour
• A gay bar bouncer
• A senior instructor at the Tojo Dojo
• A computer programmer
• A greeter at Walmart
• A truck unloader at Walmart

You have a most varied resume

Believe it our not, I honestly think working in a meatpacking plant is one of your more believable entries

 

[DeluxAuto]

Was this before or after you were:

• A visiting professor of logic
• Roadie for KISS "Creatures Of The Night" tour
• A gay bar bouncer
• A senior instructor at the Tojo Dojo
• A computer programmer
• A greeter at Walmart
• A truck unloader at Walmart

You have a most varied resume

Believe it our not, I honestly think working in a meatpacking plant is one of your more believable entries

He bounced for Concrete Blonde

And don't forget his military service

 

[jaF0]

And Denny's booth occupier.

 

[BrentJW]

so, so far i've seen 3 news reports, including an hour long 'frontline' documentary, about the toll covid-19 is taking on undocumented workers in the u s. i've seen coverage of undocumenteds who work at meat packing plants who are afraid to go to work because someone in their plant has tested positive, farm workers who are in the same situation. all of them are classified as essential businesses thanks to trump, the workers have no choice to go in or get fired.

that said, where is ice in this equation? you know, their whole mission in life is to deport the aliens who are in the u s stealing jobs from citizens. but never a word about a raid on any of these businesses (which have been identified by name). i mean, come on, it's shooting fish in a barrel. where are they?

one is almost led to believe that the whole situation is based on hypocrisy, don't you think?

Thank you for this thread. I was so astounded when this happened and that none of the National media was pointing out the hypocrisy of it all. Trump was raging on about HIS wall and how he was protecting America from immigrants at the very same time he was declaring them essential workers in meat plants and requiring them to work in a dangerous situation. It’s not the most outrageous thing he ever said but it’s up there. Objectively, our immigration policy is a mess and has been for decades. It has become such political dynamite I’m convinced it will NEVER be adequately addressed.

 

[butters]

don't forget climate modeller

 

[butters]

and A.I.D.S denier

 

[Biggs_Darklighter]

and A.I.D.S denier

No, only that HIV causes AIDS. He's down with both existing, just not that one causes the other. Ya know, cuz he's one of the dumbest motherfuckers on planet earth.

 

[Biggs_Darklighter]

And Denny's booth occupier.

Is he in the super secret federal agent breakfast club with Ish?

 

[butters]

No, only that HIV causes AIDS. He's down with both existing, just not that one causes the other. Ya know, cuz he's one of the dumbest motherfuckers on planet earth.

in that case i stand corrected

 

[DeluxAuto]

Is he in the super secret federal agent breakfast club with Ish?

LMAO!

Or the McDonald's breakfast club with Reichguide.

 

[SpeareChucker]

Very inventive minds at work here...

 

[bellisarius]

Thank you for this thread. I was so astounded when this happened and that none of the National media was pointing out the hypocrisy of it all. Trump was raging on about HIS wall and how he was protecting America from immigrants at the very same time he was declaring them essential workers in meat plants and requiring them to work in a dangerous situation. It’s not the most outrageous thing he ever said but it’s up there. Objectively, our immigration policy is a mess and has been for decades. It has become such political dynamite I’m convinced it will NEVER be adequately addressed.

Doing a little conflation there huh?

Illegals are NOT immigrants, they are NOT undocumented immigrants, they are NOT undocumented workers. They ARE invaders that need to be identified and expelled from the country as quickly as possible.

Immigrants ARE welcome in this country. They have entered the country legally by fulfilling the requirements as prescribed by law.

 

[BrentJW]

Doing a little conflation there huh?

Illegals are NOT immigrants, they are NOT undocumented immigrants, they are NOT undocumented workers. They ARE invaders that need to be identified and expelled from the country as quickly as possible.

Immigrants ARE welcome in this country. They have entered the country legally by fulfilling the requirements as prescribed by law.

Okay, I will certainly concede your point that they are illegal. You can even call them invaders if you like. My point is, there are probably in excess of 10 million of your ‘illegal invaders’ in this country doing the menial labor to pick fruits, vegetables, work slaughter plants, clean hotels, etc, etc. ICE knows where they all are for the most part. Now is the perfect time, with in excess of 10% unemployment, to throw out all the “illegal invaders” and let these unemployed American citizens have these real paying jobs and get them off the taxpayer dole. Problem solved, right?

 

[KeithD]

They should have all gone to Canada first to escape the draft in Germany and established brothels there so they could pay off folks to get them across the border. No wait. They should falsely claim to have an architecture degree and claim genius exemption immigration status to come to the States to be a porn model and fuck a pig.

 

[bellisarius]

Okay, I will certainly concede your point that they are illegal. You can even call them invaders if you like. My point is, there are probably in excess of 10 million of your ‘illegal invaders’ in this country doing the menial labor to pick fruits, vegetables, work slaughter plants, clean hotels, etc, etc. ICE knows where they all are for the most part. Now is the perfect time, with in excess of 10% unemployment, to throw out all the “illegal invaders” and let these unemployed American citizens have these real paying jobs and get them off the taxpayer dole. Problem solved, right?

I'd like to think so but it doesn't work that way. ICE doesn't know where they're all at. The IRS knows where a large percentage of them are but they're forbidden to share that information.

You would think that in those states that have essentially "locked down" that the illegals would self deport. But in many of those states they are being provided welfare in direct violation of federal law. And to top it off in some cases those "benefits" are greater than what they have working.

Numbers. There is probably in excess of 20 million here illegally. When the term "illegal alien" is used peoples minds tend to turn to those in South and Central America. And they would be right...................approximately 2/3 rds. of the time. The rest are from all over the world and many are here on expired visitor or student visa's.

You mention crop harvesting. Apparently Caesar Chavez dedicated his life for nothing. Even he recognized that the illegal farm labor was essentially breaking the union he formed. Further there are temporary farm worker visa's available in great numbers to cover the harvest situation. But those workers have to be paid minimum wage and be treated humanely by their employers. This cuts into the profit margin. I do understand where the farmers are coming from, they have to compete. But when all are subject to the same rules the playing field is leveled.

As far as the "menial" tasks you mentioned are concerned they are legitimate jobs. Jobs that may lead to something better for those that apply themselves. To the notion that those jobs are 'below' a citizens stature to engage in such labor, I say, "tough shit." The fact that more than a few would prefer to sit on their asses and live off the sweat of the taxpayer is intolerable. It must also be remembered that more than a few of those citizens on the dole are also engaged in criminal behavior. Welfare won't buy you a lot of bling.

Bottom line is that they have to go and one of the quickest ways I know of accomplishing that is to make the hiring of an illegal a felony.

 

[SpeareChucker]

Teenage boys were the illegal workers of the 70s so-to-speak...




Now you cannot drag them away from the screen for honest work.

 

[WillJ8787]

Indeed.

What the consumer wants is beef processed by third-world sanitation standards at the lowest possible price.

What the American worker wants is not to have a high-paid job taken away from them
and given to an illegal at half the wage and that's exactly what happened when
I worked there; they brought in illegals at half the price, jacked up the chain
speed and started inventing ways to fire the highest paid legal workers.

That's what Social Justice looks like.

What you just described is how Capitalism, Capitalist and business owners do things under that model. The battle cry of "free markets" is exactly what you describe...hiring a vulnerable labor group, where they have leverage to lower the labor cost to under mine another group. In this case, their fellow Americans. Why...because as you rightly describe, their alliances are with money, shareholder, stakeholders, not with labor or citizens.

"Free market" is a code word very much like the phrase " all lives matter". Unfortunately, someone is getting flim flammed!

 

[SpeareChucker]

One, they don't have to take the job
and two, the error I find most prominent
is the conflation between entry-level wages
and retention-level wages assuming the former; ignoring the latter.

And thirdly, when Democrats fight to mainstream the illegal population
to come in and take wages that keep the price of labor low, then they act against their political posturing.

Those wage earners you cry about are better off under Capitalism than Socialism because
Socialism dictates prices (wages), limits market and job opportunities and retards standards of living and advancement.

Those "vulnerable" labor groups suffer greatly from the ability to raise their children to a level of prosperity that they did not have to start with...

 

[WillJ8787]

One, they don't have to take the job
and two, the error I find most prominent
is the conflation between entry-level wages
and retention-level wages assuming the former; ignoring the latter.

And thirdly, when Democrats fight to mainstream the illegal population
to come in and take wages that keep the price of labor low, then they act against their political posturing.

Those wage earners you cry about are better off under Capitalism than Socialism because
Socialism dictates prices (wages), limits market and job opportunities and retards standards of living and advancement.

Those "vulnerable" labor groups suffer greatly from the ability to raise their children to a level of prosperity that they did not have to start with...

Speare...here is where I'm with you. Illegal and undocumented workers do have a dramatic effect on the legal labor force and both entry and retention wages. I would recommend giving Ann Coulter's interview on Frontline about a year ago as being spot on on this subject. It's on YouTube (bout 50 minutes) I don't agree with her on much but she is right on this as well as some of what your alluding to...the Dems need to acknowledge this effect and work to solve the problem.

It is also why Trump won the election...he tapped into this anger and resentment vast numbers of blue collar legal workers have towards this situation. If Dems don't learn this they will lose again. I think we might be in agreement on this?

And yes, these undocumented workers are way better here than in their countries of origin. That has nothing to do with what economic philosophy is in use. Last time I checked, most of Mexico and Central America is more closely aligned with a free market Capitalism, maybe more so, than in the USA. It more akin to Oligarchic Capitalism where a few(wealthy business and political leaders and criminal cartels) control everything. So, pretty much no regulations to protect workers and extremely low wages due to a large unemployed labor force.

That said, your being played by the business owners who love this situation because they get exactly what they want, cheap labor and the focus is on politicians and not the owners and share holders. I wish you guys on the right word see that is much of what we left progressive are saying and the business Leaders should be held accountable...this is not a social argument, it's based in an understanding of how Capitalism works.

How do I know this...many years of formal training to become one. It's a punch line/side of the mouth joke about hiring employees/labor legally both from conservatives, conservative business owners, professors and even the President has shown how one uses undocumented labor to negotiate lower wages and benies, then cuts them loose when the spot light is on his hotels, only to rehire them all back a few months down the road when no one is looking again.

I wish you folks would realize how your being played.