Mar. 23, 2006 - 18:12 MST

ANYBODY OUT THERE ?

It is being said over and over in many different ways. Today in the Rocky Mountain News there is a column by Robert J. Samuelson of The Washington Post that is a reiteration of things said before, maybe in slightly different words, but the meaning is the same, I think. In full then:

IMPORTING WORKERS AND POVERTY A BAD PLAN

Economist Phillip Martin of the University of California likes to tell a story about the state's tomato industry. In the early 1960's, growers relied on seasonal Mexican laborers. brought in under the government's "bracero" program. In 1964, Congress killed the program despite growers' warnings that its abolition would doom their industry. What happened ? Well plant scientists developed oblong tomatoes that could be harvested by machine. Since then, California's tomato output has fisen five times."

"its a story worth remembering, because we're being warned AGAIN that we need huge numbers of "guest workers" to relieve American "labor shortages." Indeed the shortages will supposedly worsen as the baby boom retires. President Bush wants an open ended program. Sens. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., and John McCain, R-Ariz., advocate initially admitting 400,000 guest workers annually. The Senate is now considering these and other plans."

"Gosh, they're all bad ideas."

"Guest workers would mainly legalize today's vast inflows of illegal immigrants, with the same consequence: we'd be importing poverty. This isn't because these immigrants aren't hard working; many are. Nor is it because they don't assimilate; many do. But they generally don't go home, assimilation is slow and the ranks of the poor are constantly replenished. Since 1980, the number of Hispanics with incomes below the government's poverty line has risen 162 percent,. Over the same period, the number of non-Hispanic whites in poverty rose 3 percent and the number of blacks, 9.5 percent."

"What we have now -- and would with guest workers -- is a conscious policy of creating poverty in the United States while relieving it in Mexico. The most lunatic notion is that admitting more poor Latino workers would ease the labor market strains of retiring baby boomers. The two simply aren't close substitutes for each other. Among immigrant Mexican and Central American workers in 2004, nearly 60 percent lacked a high-school diploma, says the Congressional Budget Office."

" Its a myth that the U.S. economy "needs" more poor immigrants. The illegal immigrants already here represent only about 4.9 per cent of the labor force, reports the Pew Hispanic Center. They're mainly drawn here by vast wage differences, not labor "shortages."

President Bush says his guest worker program would "match willing foreign workers with willing American employers, when no Americans can be found to fill the jobs." BUT AT SOME HIGHER WAGE, THERE WOULD BE WILLING AMERICANS."

"Business organizations understandably support guest worker programs. They like cheap labor and ignore the social consequences. What's more perplexing is why liberals support a program that worsens poverty and inequality."

"It's said that guest workers are better than having poor illegal immigrants. With legal status they'd have rights and protections."

"This would be convincing it its premise were incontestable: that we can't control our southern border. BUT THAT'S UNPROVED. We've never tried a policy of REAL barriers and strict enforcement against companies that hire illegal immigrants. Until that's shown to be ineffective, we shouldn't adopt guest worker programs that don't solve serious social problems -- but add to them."

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It seems to me that in our efforts to be all things to all peoples of the world we are giving the store away, abandoning the farm or whatever you wish to call it.

It is as others note, not just the immigrants from the south whose flow has been pretty well unchecked but our biggies outsourcing work, our allowing foreign interests to buy some of our infrastructure.

I have a suggestion. Our government is so intenet on putting in prison those who are caught with marijuana, but kow-tow to the big liquor interests when alcohol is more addictive than most any other drug. So, why not get real and put the Narcs hand in hand across our southern border, perhaps even in rowboats out the the middle of the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans to prevent the inflow of immigrants from the south ? And then clean up our act by imprisoning anyone who hires an illegal alien ? Huh ? Why not ? With the Narcs in rowboats there will be open prison cells by the thousands.

Sure, I know that the cost of our produce, and other things would go up. If we are going to employ our countrymen at decent wages it is a foregone conclusion that costs will go up. Yet it will be our citizens who will be working rather than being in the unemployment offices filling out forms. Can't have things both ways, although that would be attractive. And then all the propaganda preventing the rise of minimum wages. All through time minimum wages have been kept low by the blathering about "it will put us all, large and small out of business." So isn't it industry that is trying to get by on the cheap ?

With work leaving the country, Wal-xxxx building factories in China, Dell building a factory and hiring more call center help in India and many other opportunities disappearing here for we the people, will those of us to finally leave please turn off the lights ?

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