Jobs Americans Won't Do

[shereads]

I can think of a couple of reasons why someone might favor amnesty for America's population of illegal immigrants: compassion; or if you prefer, then the fact that deporting 11 million people would be a bitch of a job - considering we weren't able to keep them out.

So why does every proponent of amnesty fall back on the argument that 'we need immigrants to do jobs Americans won't do?"

Question: Do only native-born American citizens turn up our noses at the chance to harvest tomatoes for wages that could easily support two or three families in a one bedroom trailer without indoor plumbing? Or do immigants who become citizens suddenly turn lazy too?

Next Question: Would President of the United States be one of the jobs Americans won't do, if the position paid less than the minimum wage?

 

[Ulaven_Demorte]

Personally, I think that the 'immigration emergency' is just an attempt to get something, anything into the news that wasn't Iraq. The problem is, they opened up an even bigger can of worms. Millions protesting in major cities all across the country.

But thats neither here nor there. The main problem with the 'attack on immigrants' (cue Bill O'Reilly theme music) is that the legislators have gotten the cart before the horse in trying to penalize illegal immigrants without first securing the borders, north and south. Building walls and fences don't help, we have fences now that illegals dig under or climb over.

The answer in my opinion? Pull the National Guard back in country and give them the job of guarding our nation instead of another one. Fences and walls alone do not work. But post along those fences the best trained and equipped military in the world charged with securing the border of the United States.

The issue with jobs Americans won't do has everything to do with wages. The thing is, the large companies that routinely employ illegal immigrant labor do so because they can pay a substandard wage to them for backbreaking manual labor. Something most Americans, myself included, would not do. Not because of an aversion to manual labor, but because one simply cannot support a family on the low wages paid without huge sacrifices in quality of life.

 

[oggbashan]

Hairraising

...Next Question: Would President of the United States be one of the jobs Americans won't do, if the position paid less than the minimum wage?

Until the early 20th Century, no UK politician was paid anything. Mrs Thatcher as Prime Minister refused to take a pay rise voted by the House of Commons for all Ministers because 'she didn't need it' - because Denis Thatcher was a rich industrialist.

Many of our Members of Parliament are paid far less than their earnings in their previous careers, and less than they would earn if they stopped being MPs.

Some of our local (City Hall) Councillors do not claim any expenses because they don't need to.

Today, in The Times, there is a debate about hairdressing for wives of candidates in our last election. Cherie Blair claimed £7,700 for hairdressing as election expenses. That is more than twice the amount some Labour candidates had to spend fighting for their constituency seat. She wasn't even a candidate. Mrs Howard, wife of the then Conservative Party leader had her hair done by a friend, one of the staff. Previous Conservative leaders' wives have either done their own hair or paid their own bills. William Hague had no hair worth mentioning. His wife Ffion, did her own hair. Mrs Thatcher had high maintenance hair - she paid the hairdresser's charges herself.

Other countries:

US. Bill Clinton had a haircut on Air Force One on the tarmac at Los Angeles in 1993, blocking three runways and delaying flights for two hours.

Italy. Silvio Berlusconi had a hair transplant before the recent election. He lost.

Germany. In 2002 Gerhard Schröder obtained a court injunction to stop news reports about his hair.

Og

 

[SensualCealy]

I can only speak from the area in which I live.

In Ontario it use to be that highschool kids would work summers picking fruits and veggies and tobacco.

Now, because its deemed 'hard work!' the only ones that will do the job are seasonal workers.

My thought on this is, let them work the jobs, if they will do it for next to nothing to provide for their families then let them. The only thing Id change is, pay them more!!!
People are getting to damn lazy and are affraid to take on manual labour, these people are teaching 'us' lazy people a thing or two about life.
They will do what ever it takes to bring money home to their families to provide a basic life for them in their home country.
I also think after so many years of doing these jobs without incident, they should be given special privilages in becoming citizens. They prove they are hard workers, that they will work to live here, its more than I can say for alot of bred and born Canadians living off the system!

C

 

[Svenskaflicka]

I saw a drawing once, where a grumpy man declared "Typical! Now another one of those immigrants have gone and TAKEN the crappy job I don't want!"

 

[oggbashan]

In Kent, local farmers employ students and immigrants on work permits to pick fruit in season. They are paid the same and, if appropriate on their earnings in the UK this year, pay tax.

A recent survey showed that first generation immigrants produce a higher proportion of the UK's GNP than their proportion of the UK's population. Legal immigrants are benefitting the UK.

Illegal immigrants, and those not given permission to remain here, are not allowed to work. If that were changed they wouldn't be working in the illegal economy, nor would they be at the mercy of criminal gangmasters.

Our problem is on a smaller scale yet still needs sorting out. If there was some way of making the illegals go through a process that made them have a hope of becoming legal and working while they wait, then many of the problems would be solved. The illegals WANT to be in the UK. Most of them WANT to work and want to benefit themselves and our society. The few who are here to undermine the UK, or to live without working, should be deported.

Those who are genuine refugees are different but are a small proportion of the total number of immigrants. Genuine refugees should be welcome.

Og

 

[shereads]

I think it's outrageous that to save each American a few pennies a day off our food bills, we allow wages and working conditions that are little better than slavery. If you've ever read about Depression-era mill towns and are familiar with "scrip," you know there are ways to enslave people who work for wages.

Under the scrip system, workers weren't paid with money, but with the equivalent of those tokens they sell your kid at Chuck E Cheese. Each company had its own "scrip," which wasn't legal tender anywhere except in the company store. If you were able to save for the future, your future had better be with the company; your money wasn't good anywhere else.

The modern equivalent is the practice of renting bunk space to migrant farm workers at a weekly rate that is nearly equal to one week's wages . In a case exposed last year in northern Florida, the price of room-and-board was exactly equal to what workers were being paid. Workers who sent part of their wages home, or spent money on phone calls and off-site grocery stores, were unavoidably in debt to their employer. Those who tried to leave were naturally accused of attempting to run out on a debt. Living condtions were squalid; they have to be, when you're housing and feeding people who make significantly less than the minimum wage. (Even the legal minimum wage isn't sufficient to provide a one-bedroom apartment for a two-income family in some American cities.)

Nobody, no matter how desperate, makes an informed decision to sign on for entrapment and abuse. Which is why I find it nauseating that politicians pretend they're being compassionate toward migrant workers- when all they're really doing is assuring a supply of cheap, uncomplaining labor and the continuation of an abusive system.

 

[shereads]

Until the early 20th Century, no UK politician was paid anything.

Freely given public service is a noble undertaking for people who can afford to leave their paying jobs.

 

[oggbashan]

Freely given public service is a noble undertaking for people who can afford to leave their paying jobs.

But it meant that only the rich were represented in Parliament. Introducing payment for MPs meant that people who had to work to support their families could be representatives of the people. Even now, most MPs could earn more in any other employment.

Og

 

[shereads]

But it meant that only the rich were represented in Parliament. Introducing payment for MPs meant that people who had to work to support their families could be representatives of the people. Even now, most MPs could earn more in any other employment.

Og

Dick Cheney reported an annual income of $40 million on this year's income taxes. Vice Presidents, like waitresses, make most of their money in gratuities.

 

[SEVERUSMAX]

Until the early 20th Century, no UK politician was paid anything. Mrs Thatcher as Prime Minister refused to take a pay rise voted by the House of Commons for all Ministers because 'she didn't need it' - because Denis Thatcher was a rich industrialist.

Many of our Members of Parliament are paid far less than their earnings in their previous careers, and less than they would earn if they stopped being MPs.

Some of our local (City Hall) Councillors do not claim any expenses because they don't need to.

Today, in The Times, there is a debate about hairdressing for wives of candidates in our last election. Cherie Blair claimed £7,700 for hairdressing as election expenses. That is more than twice the amount some Labour candidates had to spend fighting for their constituency seat. She wasn't even a candidate. Mrs Howard, wife of the then Conservative Party leader had her hair done by a friend, one of the staff. Previous Conservative leaders' wives have either done their own hair or paid their own bills. William Hague had no hair worth mentioning. His wife Ffion, did her own hair. Mrs Thatcher had high maintenance hair - she paid the hairdresser's charges herself.

Other countries:

US. Bill Clinton had a haircut on Air Force One on the tarmac at Los Angeles in 1993, blocking three runways and delaying flights for two hours.

Italy. Silvio Berlusconi had a hair transplant before the recent election. He lost.

Germany. In 2002 Gerhard Schröder obtained a court injunction to stop news reports about his hair.

Og

Maybe he lost because he tried the "no sex before the election" gimmick. Hardly a tactic likely to appeal to lecherous Italian men.