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Post by RepairmanJack on May 20, 2007 23:08:47 GMT -5
Immigration legislation is moving through the Senate and House. What a load of bullshit. I am so tired of hearing about the illegal immigration problem. If the government was really serious about ending this issue all they would have to do is go after the employers. Put so much pressure on the employers not to hire these people and with no jobs there will be no incentive to cross the border. And don't even try the argument that they do the jobs that no one here is willing to do. Of course we don't want to do them. They don't pay a living wage. The minimum wage in this country is a joke. Pay people a wage they can live on and they will do the job. They will do all the jobs! It pisses me off that some people make such a fuss about the low wages other countries pay their workers and then say nothing about what is happening in this country. Sweat shops? What about the pay these illegal immigrants are getting for picking crops and cleaning our toilets? Where are the celebrities lining up to complain about that? Oh I forgot, these are the people cleaning their toilets and landscaping their yards...
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ImageMaker
Minstrel in the Gallery
A glitter in my I...
Posts: 36
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Post by ImageMaker on May 21, 2007 14:14:34 GMT -5
The other side of minimum wage, unfortunately, is that raising minimum wage only helps with jobs that can't be outsourced -- otherwise, it serves mainly to drive jobs overseas (jobs people in this country *would* do, even at the current minimum wage, because they aren't unpleasant or overly physical -- most involve answering a phone). In fact, the job I had six years ago, answering the first-level phones for Earthlink, is now done by folks in India, probably earning half what I was and doing an even worse job than I was fired for (I was too slow, because I wanted to actually solve the problem instead of just getting the caller off the line).
Still, it's already illegal to hire illegals -- every employer is required, by Federal law, to obtain proof of right to work from every employee (that's why they have to ask for copies of your ID and Social Security card). As is usual when new laws are called for, if the existing laws were enforced (or enforcible) there'd be no need for still more laws. Start sending managers, company owners, and private employers to jail for hiring illegals, and you'll soon have an end to the problem, because no one will hire them -- and you'll never have to raid a workplace or chase pickers through a field or orchard, just subpoena the employer's records (hey, saving money with correct enforcement, there's a concept!).
Sure, I'd like to earn a living wage -- but honestly, I'd be satisfied with six bucks and hour if it were a job I could tolerate within a couple miles of home. Hard to justify that kind of wage at the other end of a 40 minute commute, though...
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