Posted on 07/09/2008 4:05:30 AM PDT by RU88
At least 12 million illegal immigrants live in the U.S. Most pick crops, wash dishes, build houses, cut lawns and do other jobs for between $6 and $15 an hour. They make up about 5% of the total U.S. work force. But …
What if we threw them all out?
Lettuce and strawberries would rot in the fields. Dirty dishes would pile up in restaurants. Thousands of farmers and builders would go bust. Predator aircraft drones would prowl the Mexican border. And chunks of Los Angeles and Houston would look like ghost towns.
The biggest losers would be middle-class families with two working parents, living in high-immigrant states such as California, Texas, Florida or New York. Why? They would pay more for food, housing, entertainment and child care as a shortage of low-skilled workers drove up some wages, and therefore, some prices. Meantime, their own pay would remain the same. What's more, the ripple effect of thousands of businesses shrinking or closing for lack of staff might put one of the parents out of a job. Not to mention the garbage collection going to pot and no one to polish the missus' nails.
The winners, for a change, would be the low-skilled unemployed, living just about anywhere -- if they were willing to move. Of the 12 million illegal immigrants, about 8 million are employed, mostly in low-skill jobs. The U.S., meantime, has about 22 million less-educated jobless adults, many of them blacks and legalized Hispanics, according to a 2008 report from the Center for Immigration Studies, a research group based in Washington, D.C.
(Excerpt) Read more at articles.moneycentral.msn.com ...
Well, Mr. McCain wants to trade our sovereignty away to Mexico for some delicious strawberries.
Dont get your point sorry. I said it was in California.
Who are the slaves? It's WE! We labor legally and responsibly in the vineyards to provide all those dollars being shipped overseas and gone forever.
At the same time we have to support a war and mind-numbing welfare of all sorts. How long can this continue?
The morally and mentally corrupt leaders in this country apparantly can't grasp these facts and don't want to figure them out. They are narcissistic and think of today only.......i.e., how can I game the system for maximum benefit and power for myself.
I can't figure out what to do either. I would figuratively take to the barricades, and so would many patriots and conservatives. But the rest of the populace would remain self-indulgent and dormant, watching Oprah and playing with electronic toys while the U.S. plunges deeper into the abyss.
It's not a pretty picture.
Leni
“Still, until the unemployed did jump in their Hyundais to head south, several industries in high-immigrant states would have a terrible time. Some are listed below. The figures in parentheses show the percentage of illegal workers in each industry’s work force, as calculated by the Pew Hispanic Center in Washington. The figures are nationwide; in some localities, they would be far higher.”
The truth is, most illegals live in a few states and a few of our larger cities. And these states and cities often have their sanctuary policies, and have in fact almost lured illegals to come and work in their areas.
If the lawbreaking employers and governments that have deliberately refused to cooperate with law enforcement suffer for a time, then what could be more just? This problem has been caused by certain areas of the nation and by employers in those areas. Those who’ve benefited from the cheap labor should be the ones to suffer IF it’s taken away.
No reason to regret that lawbreakers might suffer some consequences. They’ve been profiting while taxpayers footed the bill for all the services and benefits low paid workers cannot afford themselves.
The PC police and the ACLU will be at your door any minute now to whisk you off to a reeducation camp.
Economists say if these people [low-skilled unemployed] agreed to bone meat or install insulation, they could earn 6% to 10% more than the deported workers, as wages rose to lure new workers.
There is a problem with this calculation. It assumes that businesses would have no choice but to hire citizens or legal immigrants at increased wages. In fact that would often not be a choice, let alone the only choice (especially since the market would now be smaller).
I fail to see the down side of this.
From the article:
“And chunks of Los Angeles and Houston would look like ghost towns.”
If we threw out the illegal immigrants, we’d have hospitals in which emergency care could be given only to those who truly needed it. We’d also avoid the bankruptcy of many hospitals. Our big city police forces would not be dealing with as large a war between gangs. Our prisons would be far less crowded. Fewer innocents would die on the highways at the hands of illegals who cause so many of the fatal auto accidents. Auto insurance would be more affordable without so many uninsured illegals driving around. Overall, our governments, at all levels, would not be spending the billions on the care and education of so many who have no business being in this country.
“One example that would hit him quickly is that Mom would have nobody at home to watch the kids while she goes to work. Big problem there.”
Another example would be that I would have to start mowing my own lawn again. Also, I would have to be my own rag-man and wash my own car again. But, on the other hand, if this should accidentally be handle right, those Americans who have been feeding at the public trough could be informed that the ride is over and they could take these jobs - or not eat. Imagine that... Naw, never happen...
And I bet people living near those chunks would be happy.
Sweet. Cheap real estate.
I bought a restaurant in 2000. The dish washer on staff couldn't provide valid ID or proof he was in my country legally. I fired him on the spot. Oh, by the way, our dishes got washed and didn't pile up. I washed them myself.
That damned horse is dead.
Quit beating it.
No matter how many times it is struck, it ain't coming back to life.
1908: “But James, without our child laborers, who would weave our textiles cheaply?”
2008: “But Muffy, without our Mexican illegals, who would pick our lettuce cheaply?
The high end gated community elites no longer have an American identity.
They could not care any less if it was all Bangladesh or Guatemala outside of their country clubs.
In fact, they’d like that better. Labor would be cheaper and more readily available, along with house maids for cleaning, child care and “other purposes.”
Mexicans, in Mexico. And they would ship it here in unsafe trucks and covered with all sorts of things that will make you sick.
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