Posted on 12/29/2003 6:07:08 AM PST by Theodore R.
Bushite betrayal of working America
Posted: December 29, 2003 1:00 a.m. Eastern
© 2003 Creators Syndicate, Inc.
On Christmas Eve, a story and column in the Washington Post caught the eye. For they tell much about the two Americas we are becoming under George Bush and a Democratic Party that has cut its roots to working America.
The front-page story by Mike Allen describes a Bush initiative on "immigration reform." Seems that U.S. employers would post jobs and the wages that go with them on a Department of Labor website. If no Americans came forward to take the jobs, the employer would be allowed to bring Mexican temporary workers in legally, give them the jobs, and put them on a fast track to permanent residency and citizenship.
What would this mean? U.S. companies would offer pay at or near the minimum wage for jobs they had open in, say, construction.
As few Americans can support a family and kids in school on $5 an hour, many of these jobs would go begging. The employer would then be allowed to go to Mexico, where the minimum wage is about 60 cents an hour, or countries where it is even less, and hire all the hard-working labor he needed at the U.S. minimum wage.
As there are billions of people on earth who do not earn anything near $5 an hour, what the Bush plan means is throwing open America's borders to millions of workers who will come in and suppress the wages of America's workers.
Why the U.S. Chamber of Commerce might love this is easy to understand. But what is Bush doing to the working Americans who put him in office? Yet, as one reads further in the story, it appears it is not Bush who is doing this, it is boy-wonder Karl Rove. Bush's guru seized on the idea as part of the campaign's "compassion agenda."
In addition to bringing in millions of workers who would take jobs at a fraction of a living wage for American families, Bush will propose that 10 million aliens, who are in this country illegally, be made legal.
According to the Post, Rove & Co. "concluded that they needed a response to the large population of undocumented workers for the plan to be credible and for Bush to get credit from Hispanic voters.
In that last clause lies the motive behind the sellout.
Rove is pandering to Hispanics, giving militants in the Latino lobbies what they demand – some form of stealth amnesty, where those who broke into this country are made legal residents of the United States and put on the path to citizenship. He is buying votes by selling out the white working class, which, presumably, has nowhere else to go.
As a sop to those who believe aliens who break our laws should be sent back home, the Bushites promise better border controls. In brief, if you want Bush to enforce America's immigration laws, you must permit him to pardon those who broke these laws. And if you agree, Bush will promise to be more conscientious in doing his presidential duty to defend the borders of the United States.
How are the Bushites shafting American workers? Let me count the ways. Under Bush's free-trade zealotry, the United States has lost manufacturing jobs for 40 straight months, the longest stretch since the Great Depression. Under Bush, hundreds of thousands of high-tech workers have been brought into the United States to take jobs at wages one-half or a third of those commanded by the U.S. workers they replace.
Under Bush, the "outsourcing" and "off-shoring" of U.S. jobs has accelerated, with tens of thousands of jobs once held by high-paid white collar and information-technology workers going to Asia.
Under Bush, millions of legal and illegal immigrants have poured into the country, putting downward pressure on wages.
Under Bush, the merchandise trade deficit has risen to $550 billion, which represents a massive annual transfer of factories, jobs and technology. China, Japan and East Asia are the lead looters of America's once-awesome manufacturing base. Americans today buy nearly 15 percent of the entire GDP of China. The Chinese buy two-tenths of 1 percent of ours. It's what the Bushites call "free and fair trade."
What are the consequences for American workers? In a Post column, "Un-American Recovery," Harold Meyerson says it all.
U.S. corporate profits have been rising for 7 months. In the third quarter of 2003, the economy grew at 8.2 percent, productivity at over 9 percent. Have our workers shared equally in the good times?
Writes Meyerson: "Since July, the average hourly wage increase for the 85 million Americans who work in non-supervisory jobs in offices and factories is a flat 3 cents. Wages are up just 2.1 percent since November 2002, the slowest wage growth we've experienced in 40 years."
That's right. According to Meyerson, the wages of Americans have gone up three cents since the economy took off on a tear in July.
Let it be said: Working America has no powerful voice in politics. Both Democrats and Republicans are open-borders, free-trade zealots, who troll for cash from corporate America and burn their incense at the altars of the global economy.
America needs a new party.
So, what are you doing on a county political level to address that outrage? Under what authority do they provide those services? Is George W. Bush forcing your County Supervisors and local Democrat welfare mobsters to provide these services?
When are you folks going to understand that it is WELFARE abuse, designed and executed by Democrats, that is the driving force behind the influx, and burden to taxpayers, of illegally resident foreign nationals?
There's no other solution to accounting and processing the illegals already here than a blanket offering of temporary sanctuary so those under the radar will step up and identify themselves. What is the alternative to find 5,6,7 million illegals moving through communities of tens of millions of legal immigrants within a country of 280 million native borns? Roadside check points to make sure "papers are in order"? Break into homes and businesses like the 4th ID in Tikrit? That's acceptable? You aren't going to "happen" upon 6 million illegally resident "Hispanic" looking folks without grievous civil liberty abuse to us all. How are you going to find and deport all these illegals, without massive LEO sweeps and absent any political confrontation with the local welfare authorities who are enabling the interlopers?
I forgot. The illegal immigration problem, when honestly appraised and framed in authentic form, requires a local response employing hard work and political leverage to solve. Bah! It's easier to blame Bush and the GOP. Is easier to make them the villians. It's easier to be a tortured victim than an empowered citizen-steward.
In El Paso of the eighties, there were many illegals working off the books, but employers were regularly hassled and the practice kept in control. Women who wanted to hire maids at starvation wages had to be careful, because if the law caught them transporting an illegal the car was impounded and sold. It happened to a lot of very nice, rich housewives and they were duly embarrassed and discouraged from breaking the law. On a larger scale, throwing a CEO into jail for hiring illegals sounds like a pretty good way to discourage CEOs from hiring illegals.
BTW--it used to be, when I lived on the border, that the people most in favor of LEGAL immigration were recent LEGAL immigrants. They stood to lose the most from unlawful immigration.
The following is fodder for his minions to send him some more cash..... and he wants to talk about trolling for cash....
Let it be said: Working America has no powerful voice in politics. Both Democrats and Republicans are open-borders, free-trade zealots, who troll for cash from corporate America and burn their incense at the altars of the global economy.America needs a new party.
Where did you get that load of steaming bullcrap from?
Pure tinfoil. How are things in your Idaho bunker?
LOL. I see, you re-roofed your house two years ago, and you're the expert on that industry through exhaustive research? Wow, after gaining all that expertise, it's baffling why you didn't just put your new roof on by yourself.
Just so I understand the truth of the matter ... 70% of all the new construction and rehabbed roofs in Minnesota are leaking right now? Gotcha. All the Mexican roofers are making $5/hour. Roger that. Yeah, surrrrre ...
No roofing business can afford to provide that dismal level of quality work and survive as an ongoing concern. No matter WHAT their labor cost structure. Nobody is going to pay skilled, hard working roofers $5/hour because their roofing competitor in town will offer those guys $10/hour to work for him, and still profit. That's how immigrants work their way up the economic ladder. It's about market integrity. Get a clue.
You single issue types have abandoned yourselves to your bitter nightmare worlds. You tailor facts to fit that world view. Your world view sucks.
You can now return, Paul, to your other hobby of decrying America's outsourcing of all of "our" remaining jobs (those the Mexicans haven't come here and taken) to India and China. You folks are beyond redemption.
LOL. Right back at you. Facts not to your liking? Too bad. Yes, facts are a stubborn thing. Accuse your opponent of making them up. I see YOU are the single-issue character here.
Apparently many are more expert in economic issues than you. You don't know the local markets. Since when did you become expert on Minnesota...or illegal Mexican wages for that matter? Nor evidently, can you be trusted on the larger national issues.
And I never said that all 70-% of the newly replaced roofs are leaking. But we are seeing increasingly more defects in roofs among those companies that rely on the increasingly less-skilled. They experience substantially higher complaints.
Do they go out of business? Maybe some will. But the price is what keeps them in the game. The point of diminishing returns for quality, has long since been past by some of them.
BUMP!
1. They crowd many people into one house or apartment, in violation of the law.
2. They live in noisy, dirty, crime-ridden neighborhoods (which used to be nice, by the way, before they came.)
3. They drive old klunker cars and do not bother insuring them.
4. They don't have to pay for medical insurance...all their medical care is free.
5. They get in-state tuition, breaks on buying houses and other benefits, plus many are on some form of public assistance due to their anchor babies.
Americans could live like that, too, (and many may be forced to, if this continues,) but isn't it better if we don't have to?
America needs more.....fuddle.
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