How Stupid Can We Get?

I am entirely disgusted with the illegal immigration "debate" that is going on in this country. This is another scheme in an seemingly endless train of legislative initiatives designed to increase corporate profits, at the expense of the American people. Non-enforcement of immigration laws or creating a guest worker program is nothing more than an attempt to depress wages and further the policy of wage stagnation in order to reduce the production costs of campaign contributors. While Bush and other proponents may cite humanitarian reasons for allowing guest workers, this utterly ridiculous. Our "humanitarian" government allows AIDS to run rampant in Africa and catastrophes like Darfur to continue, primarily because their is no profit to be made in the rectification of these situations.

Bush also claims that the illegal immigrants are doing the jobs "that no American will do." The fact that any portion of our population has swallowed this falsehood floors me. The only reason that Americans won't do these jobs is because they pay minimum wage, which is not a living wage for a taxpaying citizen. For example, one of the worst jobs in existence is working in a sewage treatment facility. Yet, these jobs are highly sought after by Americans because they pay very well. If you doubt me, go apply to your local sewage department and tell me when your start date is.

Don't bother writing me angry e-mails, particularly if you from Baltimore. Here, the effects of illegal immigration have been restricted to occupations like day labor and landscaping. On the other hand, I can tick off numerous Midwestern manufacturers that have replaced their workforce almost entirely with illegal immigrants. These companies insulate themselves from liability by using shell temp services to provide the illegals. If INS makes a raid, the temp service takes the penalty, dissolves itself, and reopens under a different name the next week. I have no problem with improving the lot of immigrants, but not at the expense of American citizens.

Additionally, I don't want to hear about how immigrants keep the costs of manufactured goods low. This is the same line of crap we were fed when they foisted NAFTA on us. Tell me, which goods got cheaper? Aside, from computers, where the low barriers to entry have allowed competition, I can't think of much. Did the price of chicken drop significantly when poultry industry embraced illegal immigrants? Many tier two and tier three automotive parts manufacturers use illegal immigrants. Has the price of an automobile fallen off the table? I lived in Louisville and watched the construction trades get decimated by illegal immigrants, yet new housing prices continued to spiral upwards. In other words, any cost savings created by cheap, illegal labor is not likely to be passed on to the consumer, unless competition forces it to be. This isn't likely in our current political environment.

Tomorrow, various immigrants groups have organized a boycott of buying goods and services in an attempt to use their buying power to promote the relaxation of immigration laws. It may well further their cause and it will probably garner sympathy from the American public. However, if they were protesting to get their average wage raised to $12/hour or for medical benefits, I can assure you INS would initiate mass deportations on a scale that has never been seen before in this country.

I have to say that I am in awe of how complacent we have become. It's not like you need a PhD in political science to fathom issues like Iraq, Social Security Reform, Bankruptcy Reform, NAFTA, or Illegal Immigration. It's real simple. All you need to ask is, "Who profits from this?" Unless you make your living by investing in the stock market, it isn't you.