I'll show them! Lemme at that field of strawberries! These yankee fingers'll fly like fury.
* I can't dispute that this is true, of course. It's absolutely true. I just resent the implied accusation that I, personally, am too proud or too soft for such work, which I have to own may also be true, but I resent it just the same.
3 comments:
It's not true. At best it's true that some Americans won't do the job at its current low rate of pay. Is the better market solution to raise the wage to reflect the scarcity of workers or import low-skilled workers to exploit their economic desperation? Hmmmmmmm.
PS: my spam word is "bergers." I'm currently eating, among other things, two burgers. Nice.
I think the flip side of your argument is that if the cost of labor were to increase the competitive advantage would tip dramatically towards foreign producers with a ready supply of cheap labor and domestic farm operations would wither on the vine as it were. So, in truth, I think your solution would be (not in intention but in effect)to do away with these industries entirely. In some respects this would fit hand in glove with my own free-market ideals. The presence of cheap/illegal labor provides an artificial hedge of protection around industries which would otherwise perish and their continuation is entirely dependent on illegal activity. This is largely not an issue for bread-basket staples such as wheat or corn, which are machine harvested for the most part, but growers of labor-intensive crops such as grapes, citrus, olives, etc... would not be able to go toe to toe with foreign competitors without cheap labor. I don't know which is better- intellectual honesty or American grown food stuffs at an affordable price.
I'm afraid that if domestic growers were denied access to illegal laborers then the Government's response to the ensuing fallout would be to levy tariffs on imported crops and heavily subsidize domestic crops in an effort to protect American industries and level the playing field. This would have the effect of passing on the cost to the consumer and prices in the supermarket would soar. Also, with the removal of competition waste, inefficiency, and reduced incentive to innovate would become the order of the day. I'm aware of the argument, of course, that the presence of cheap, immigrant labor already reduces incentive to find more cost-effective ways of harvesting crops, but this arrangement seems a more natural arrangement then the massive Government intervention which I feel would inevitably follow their removal, and it is worth noting that the cotton gin was invented in the very hay day of slavery so it is possible.
I stand by my assertion that Americans won't take these jobs. Disability and unemployment are too lucrative a racket (he said hard-heartedly) and as long as the gubment is willing to play papa with deep pockets to every down and outer I don't think we'll see U.S. citizens casting about hopefully for migrant farm work. That is simply not the national mood. I suppose if the nation truly hit rock bottom things might change, but until that happens, without illegal labor, the fields would be ripe for the harvest and the laborers few.
I think the competitive disadvantage of obeying the law is vastly exaggerated, and that - as you say - our resources are better spent finding a more efficient way to harvest as opposed to relying on a permanent underclass of drones to ensure our bellies are filled cheaply.
It incenses me when illegal immigration apologists treat the issue as one of human rights; they act as though every individual has a perfect entitlement to benefit from entering our country, yet no duty to contribute to it and no corresponding right to be protected from exploitation.
The show "Dirty Jobs" proves that there is nothing "Americans" will not do when adequately compensated. Cheap illegal labor is a drug, an excuse to prolong inefficiencies in other areas while treating workers like brute beasts, to be chewed up and spat out. Only when we break the habit will we truly know how the nation handles sobriety.
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