Most "struggling" to find work after Katrina aren't trying that hard to get work. New Orleans business owners are offering higher pay than ever, and still can't find enough people to get work done. Many restaraunts still run limited hours due to lack of people. I saw a sign this week at a McD's that offered $500 bonuses for every two weeks of continuous employment. The idea that there are hoards of American workers looking for these low-skilled jobs is a myth.
Half of a maid’s time is spent running a vacuum cleaner.
Sorry.. simply not true. Most of their time is spent cleaning the bathroom. But, I get your point re: innovation. You're generally correct about that. I guess I'd just rather let innovation find it's own path rather than forcing it with an arbitrary labor shortage.
If we forced ALL to leave, the already struggling housing markets in Houston, San Antonio, Tuscon, etc.. will crumble. Many restaraunts will either shut down, or be forced to limit their hours. Retail businesses of all kinds will see large drops in sales. We don't need to go through this pain. Our economy is strong enough to absorb the folks who are here.... especially, if we get a handle on the influx of new arrivals. If we give them a legal, non-citizen, status.. we can take as long as we need to decide who gets to become a citizen.
I guess we are all agreed on one thing: First, we must get control of our border. Then, we can debate what to do with those already here.
Thanks for the info on New Orleans. I didn’t know about the difficulty in finding workers. I just see all the people still living in FEMA trailers and wonder why they didn’t just pick up and move to another state a year ago. I thought way back in 2005 that FEMA should have simply offered to pay moving expenses to another part of the country, instead of this perpetual trailer park.
[I guess I’d just rather let innovation find it’s own path rather than forcing it with an arbitrary labor shortage.]
Is it an arbitrary labor shortage, or an artificially cheap labor pool ?
These people can afford to work for these wages only by a combination of evading taxes and accepting a lower standard of living than Americans in general. It fosters an underclass and a plantation mindset that is damaging our society.
As far as the shortage goes, I also mentioned I’d like to see legal immigration quotas increased. So we wouldn’t necessarily be losing huge numbers of workers. We would be booting out the illegal ones and accepting new immigrants that have been patiently waiting to immigrate the legal way. If we raised legal immigration quotas in the skilled-educated-employable criteria areas, then those homes that lose illegal renters would have new applicants with higher base wages. Meaning housing markets wouldn’t slump.
I understand the inclination to accept the ones already here. If they haven’t broken any laws besides the immigration laws, then they may be a better citizen than somebody unknown that has been waiting in line. That seems like wishful thinking to choose a scofflaw over an unknown.
I think it is important to establish that amnesty was a mistake in 1986 and will never happen again. Otherwise illegals — even if the border is secure and they are just visa overstays — will build up to large numbers again expecting another amnesty down the road.