George Bush's Contempt For American Workers

[Canuckistanian]

Greg Saunders, from HuffPo:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/greg-saunders/george-bushs-contempt-fo_b_18128.html

For all of you conservatives who love to praise the "free market", let me call bullshit on this enduring lie that the President frequently cites to sell his immigration plan. From a speech he gave last November :

As we enforce our immigration laws, comprehensive immigration reform also requires us to improve those laws by creating a new temporary worker program.
This program would create a legal way to match willing foreign workers with willing American employers to fill jobs that Americans will not do. Workers would be able to register for legal status for a fixed period of time, and then be required to go home. This program would help meet the demands of a growing economy, and it would allow honest workers to provide for their families while respecting the law.

The "jobs Americans won't do" lie has also been advanced in the pages of the Washington Post by a spokesman for the Labor Department and a "panicking" farmer (via Kevin Drum)

"There are just some jobs people don't want to do," Nassif said. "It's the most developed nation in the world using a foreign workforce, and people need to recognize that. We need to make them legal."

Jack Vessey said he listed openings for 300 laborers at the state office of employment last week to prepare the lettuce fields for harvest. "We got one person," he said. "He showed up and said, 'I'm not going to do that.'"

~snip

What people like the George W. Bush don't understand is that capitalism is not a one-way street. When the demand for workers is high and the supply of laborers is low, the rational solution would be for employers to raise wages, increase benefits, or both to ensure that supply catches up to demand. But that would mean actually spending more money, and we can't have that.

[Inland]

1. Oh, they understand perfectlhy

that any job will be filled if the wage is high enough. The premise that is so widely held that it need not even be spoken is, "we can't pay higher wages, we won't pay higher wages, and we have a right to obtain the cheapest labor we can import."

[Minnesota Libra]

2. Wow, someone GETS IT - how refreshing that someone finally...........

.....mentions "supply and demand".

I just can't help but wonder how many people calling for "open borders", "guest worker programs", etc are either illegal aliens themselves or have illegal alien family members.

I used to live in a part of the country where illegal aliens were a daily issue and I was often shocked at some of the language legal Mexican/American citizens used to describe illegal alien Mexicans.:wow: Believe, I learned some colorful language I didn't even know existed.

I still think Lou Dobbs has a pretty good approach to the illegal alien issue.

Huge fines, starting at $50,000 a day (or more) per illegal alien would be a way of putting an end to the issue too. Not just for corporations though, for anyone and everyone hiring and/or housing illegal aliens.

[Tanuki]

3. Fear Factor

proves that a lot of people will do anything if the price is right. "People" (and I am disgusted by Nassif's implication that Mesicans aren't people)would most definitely be willing to do those jobs if the pay, benefits, and working conditions were satisfactory. Deliberate creation of a class of second-class citizens for whom inferior pay and working conditions are acceptable is appalling and fundamentally un-American.

[RufusEarl]

4. Same old tired argument!

I contend that most Americans will do most any job, no matter how hard or disgusting.
But americans want to be paid a living wage to do those jobs, it's really pretty simple.

In the illegal immigration debate, Bu$h want to argue that americans want pick say grapes for instance that's pure BS. Americans want pick grapes for $3 bucks per hr, and why should they.

Most illegals come here to work, the live in houses that most farmers provide. They live in very cramped conditions, as many as 15 per house and we're talking very small dwelling.

Illegals do this for the harvest season, they send money back to their families in Mexico are wherever and survive on as little as $2bucks a day.

The operative word here is survive" an average american citizen with a family of four can't provide for their family on that meager wage and like most americans they don't want to simply survive that want to prosper.

This whole illegal immigration debate is being framed the wrong way IMHO, and here's why. We should be going after the employer, make it illegal to hire illegal workers. But if you don't like that idea, then lets make all employers pay a living wage not a minimum wage but a living wage.

[mzmolly]

5. I boycotted Taco Bell because I want to see workers treated fairly

I boycott walmart for the same reason. :(

I am amazed that some liberals are buying the "jobs americans won't do" crap.

I hope progressives will carefully weigh this issue and the consequences of legally encouraging companies to import slave labor.