[applemac_g4]

"Foreign-born workers represent 14% of the U.S. labor force, meaning that huge parts of the retail, restaurant and farm economies would shut down without them."

No. Actually they wouldn't - they'd just be forced to raise their wages to the point that they could attract the necessary workers.

*THAT* is how the free market works Mr. Bush, not by artifically depressing wages by letting illegal aliens compete with your citizens.

Down with Bush.

[ETERNAL WARMING]

*THAT* is how the free market works Mr. Bush, not by artifically depressing wages by letting illegal aliens compete with your citizens.

Down with Bush.

Out the door in 2004!

[bastantebueno55]

"they'd just be forced to raise their wages to the point that they could attract the necessary workers.

"*THAT* is how the free market works Mr. Bush, not by artifically depressing wages by letting illegal aliens compete with your citizens."

Brit Hume raised this point this evening with one of his expert guests. The guest made the point that as American workers age and are better and better educated, there are many jobs that will just go unfilled if not for the guest workers. The market forces dictate the wages value of jobs on the basis of their importance in productivity, so there is a very real ceiling on how high wages can go in any given job. He also made the point that these 8 million undocumented workers are making an invaluable contribution to our economy. If you really want to expel them all, you will absolutely shut down our economic machine.

The Tom Tancredo wing of FR is as hopelessly blind as the protectionist Dick Gephart wing of the Democrat party. Blinded by xenophobia. I heard Pat Buchanan ranting on this earlier today, and he makes me want to puke.

The Bush plan is a reasonable compromise which still maintains a very real difference between a legalized guest worker status and green card immigration, and as is so typical of Bush, it's grounded in pragmatism and dealing with economic reality. All of you FR posters who spew your "down with Bush" garbage need to pull your heads out of your arses and take a reality check!

By the way, I am a WASP, despite my posting persona, and a citizen of the US by birth, I'm only latino in spirit, as a result of having lived many years in South America, so you can flame me all you want if you object to my opinions, but don't attack me personally on the assumption that I'm one of those "illegals" you love to hate.

[MattAMiller]

they'd just be forced to raise their wages to the point that they could attract the necessary workers.

And these people would materialize out of thin air? They've got to come from somewhere. The problem is not so much that Americans are unwilling it's that they're unavailable.