The Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids in Scott County and other Mississippi locales where there are large-scale poultry processing operations are more than headlines to me.
Two of my grandchildren attend the public schools in Scott County. I lived there for 27 years. I remember when the first large group of Hispanic laborers came to Forest to work in the five poultry plants there in that day.
As a newspaper publisher, I chronicled the plight of immigrants on many fronts – housing, education, the language barrier, early prejudices, and one particularly tragic case in which an immigrant was robbed and murdered in the street on his first day in town by a native Mississippian.
My ten-year-old granddaughter has a classmate named Guadalupe that she loves and speaks of often. Their relationship is untouched by politics or mistrust or fear. They are just friends without labels.
My experiences in watching immigration unfold in small town Mississippi over the course of almost 30 years have colored my views on the subject.
There is a disconnect between what some Americans and some Mississippians say they want in terms of immigration policy and what their behavior indicates they want.
In political discourse, many speak passionately of their desire for secure borders, the rule of law, the need for immigrants to our nation following the rules, and an orderly, sane immigration policy that reflects traditional American values.
Specifically, most Americans claim that they want us to actually live the rhetoric from Emma Lazarus’ sonnet, New Colossus, written on the pedestal of the Statue of Liberty: “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free.” But do they?
In a state where there is an unacceptably high dropout rate that impacts K-12 educational attainment for the whole of Mississippi’s population and higher education attainment trails the national average by more than 8 percent, low educational attainment by the state’s rapidly growing Hispanic population has one inevitable outcome: a steady increase in competition for low-skill, low-wage jobs.
Growing Mississippi demand for Hispanic labor in the construction and agricultural sectors is undeniable. From the poultry and timber industries to row crop production like sweet potatoes to the service and hospitality industry, the influx of Hispanic labor over the last three decades has for many Mississippi counties been transformational.
Still, there is also widespread fear and prejudice of “immigrants coming over here and stealing our jobs” when the fact is that the preponderance of these fellow human beings toil in jobs that Americans simply refuse to do. In Mississippi, immigrants are willing to gut our chickens, plant our trees, process our catfish, harvest our sweet potatoes, perform the hardest construction labor, cook our food and wash our dishes in restaurants, and clean our rooms in our hotels.
The common denominator in most of that labor? First, most of those tasks are unpleasant, hot, cold, dirty, wet, and command low wages. Second, the person or company extending jobs to those immigrants are making profits from enterprises in which there is a solid demand for their labor.
Illegal immigration is just that, illegal. Breaking the law has consequences. But the reaction of many Scott County residents is like that of folks around the country who don’t see Hispanic laborers as “invaders” or “criminals” but as neighbors, friends, classmates, or fellow parishioners.
Failing to act with reason and compassion in public policy has consequences, too – unless we all want to go back to performing some of those unpleasant jobs that most of us were all too pleased to leave to immigrant laborers.
Sid Salter is a syndicated columnist. Contact him at sidsalter@sidsalter.com.
Wednesday, August 14, 2019
Sid Salter: ICE Raids Show Disconnect on Immigration Policies
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It isn't true that immigrant laborers only do work that Americans don't want to do. Just ask American roofers or construction workers, who have to compete with illegal laborers on a daily basis, if they would frame a house, put on a roof or lay flooring. The answer of course is yes. They would do that.
Many illegal immigrants will do the work at a much lower cost than American laborers, who pay taxes and have to comply with insurance regulations, will do it for. So the real question is will American workers do the work AND be taken advantage of like many immigrants are?
When a company hires an employee who does not pay taxes or who is paid much less than the average worker it has an impact on legal American workers and the tax payer is essentially subsidizing the employers policy of using illegal immigrants. It is the tax payer who picks up the tab for medical, schooling and many other cost associated.
I have sympathy for the immigrant laborers. I would do the same thing they are doing to try to provide a better life for my family. It takes a lot of courage to leave your home to find work and better living standards.
The fact is that neither party wants to correct this issue. Your elected officials are all hat and no cattle.
8:16pm.... not quite. Undocumented immigrants contribute more than 11 billion in taxes annually and, consequently, paying for benefits like SS and medicaid they will never be able to use.
Each one of these Scott county workers who received a "paycheck" were paying taxes.
You can cure illegal immigration overnight if you simply arrest the businesses owners who hire them. Illegal immigration is a problem the wealthy don't want fixed, and that's who our elected officials answer to.
The disconnect is not between illegals and Americans and policy and wages and politics and childhood friends vs mean people.
The disconnect is between what we tolerate and what we encourage. And it's true: That which we tolerate, we encourage.
The disconnect is between entitlement programs and society's expectations that those who benefit must participate. We have created a sub-culture of those who are happily dependent on government services, so they sit around and collect this and the other benefit while not being at all disposed to work. So, we are fine with creating yet another sub-culture of people who will rush in to fill the void of workers and wagon pullers.
The disconnect is between our desire for cheaper chicken and lettuce and more affordable roofing jobs and what we're willing to sacrifice to pay a fair price for. I see plenty of what some of you might call 'European looking' roofing professionals. It's not true that a roofer must be a Mexican. And if chickens go for $18 apiece while sweet potatoes are un-affordable, so be it. It's the price of established order and societal laws and regulations.
The disconnect is between Salter's romantic notion of the Statue of Liberty and the established laws of our country.
How many times has Salter invited Guadalupe and her extended family to visit his cabin in Neshoba County or to visit his offices at Mississippi State for a weekend and tour the town, the campus and attend athletic events at his expense? Or is he merely satisfied to listen to his granddaughter talk about how pretty the child is?
For several reasons, we have created this illegal influx and many of us pretend it's all simply harmless economics and the welcoming of harmless foreign invaders. Meanwhile, spend an hour on Google and research the crimes and gangs caused by the influx of illegals. Just do it!
Before the end of the 2020s we will wake up to see half of this country melted down to a cross between a third-world country and a society without borders or law and order. And they will be in charge at the voting stations. So what?..you ask. As me that in 2030.
I have no desire for America to conquer the world. I just don't want her to be conquered. And we are on that fast track.
Why can't ICE leave those hard workers alone and go after the moochers in LA & Phoenix who do nothing and take from govt programs? I guarantee you those are the ones committing the crimes- not these people. These people do jobs no one else would. ICE is a GREAT organization, but they need to go after the illegals in states that simply want them there to vote Democrat. Not people working hard at a plant in MS.
8:16 am and 8:37am... Amen and Amen
Each one of these Scott county workers who received a "paycheck" were paying taxes.
Payroll taxes but potentially using allowances exceeding actual exemptions. Income taxes you don't know and can't prove.
Only certain non-citizens are eligible to receive a Social Security number. If an immigrant is authorized to work temporarily—whether through a work visa like an H1-B or a temporary work-authorized status such as Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) or Temporary Protected Status—a Social Security number is issued and remains valid for the length of the work authorization period. Green card holders, refugees, asylees, and certain other non-citizens who are allowed the live and work in the United States indefinitely are also eligible for a Social Security number with no restrictions. Undocumented immigrants are not eligible to obtain a Social Security number.
It is a great vague soundbite (that illegal aliens pay all these taxes) that everyone trots out but it is only partially true.
The costs of illegal immigration are comprehensive. Even after deducting the $19 billion in taxes paid by illegal immigrants, the 12.5 million of them living in the country results in a $116 billion burden on the economy and taxpayers each year. About two-thirds of this amount is absorbed by local and state taxpayers, who are often the least unable to share the costs.
The labor vacum in this country is caused by the following:
1) Too many social safety nets.
2) A corrupt and abused disability system.
3) A poisonous culture of drugs and lawlessness that is seen as a livelihood.
All three of the above, have been created and enhanced by liberals. Now they want to create an entire new demographic of immigrants, many of which are already scamming our social systems, crowding our education systems and becoming criminals.
Spare me the "my daughter loves Guadalupe bullshit".
"Illegal immigration is just that, illegal. Breaking the law has consequences." Not if you're of the democrat mindset, illegal immigration is/will be rewarded by in-state tuition, free healthcare, and subsidized or free food and housing.
And 8:33, those paying taxes are most certainly doing so under a stolen identity which has consequences for the rightful owner of the social security number. How would you like to find out that you "underpaid" your taxes because an illegal used your social security to file, then it costs you thousands of dollars (which you can't recoup) to prove that you're not liable for the taxes on the income earned by an illegal?
If I were king for a day, I'd do a few things
1. Enhance the exclusion infrastructure along the border (for those of you in Lowndes county, this is a physical barrier which denies access to the US);
2. Tax remittances and wire transfers at the state and local levels and direct the collections to relieve the economic stress on the medical and educational systems in the state, and enhance border security;
3. Strengthen the verification procedures for eligibility to work in the US, and create a clearinghouse of stolen identities (then follow on with audits of any tax returns filed in those names to recover exemptions claimed for dependents not in the US);
4. Enhance penalties to employers who knowingly employ illegals or flout the regulations/law;
5. If it is discovered that an illegal alien is working under a stolen identity, they will be subject to immediate deportation.
This is the worst article. Why do we consider it compassionate to let illegals come in and work sweatshops for no benefits and lower wages?? Why do we think that Americans are incapable or unwilling to work said jobs? The fatcats running the chicken plants should be fined or arrested for knowingly and willingly hiring illegals.
Build the Wall!!!!!!
First, a contingent of illegal immigrants come to the USA legally and overstay work permits and visas, thereby becoming illegal immigrants. I'm unsure how the E-verify system actually works to identify and screen these individuals.
Non-naturalized residents and other legal and illegal immigrants pay income taxes unless unscrupulous employers ILLEGALLY fail to report employment records and withholdings. ALL these people pay fuel taxes, sales taxes, and other excise taxes assessed to regular, everyday purchases. I'd wager to say these people probably pay a total effective tax rate similar to (or higher than) most American citizens.
The only way an illegal immigrant can "legally" obtain public entitlement benefits is by stealing a SSN or identity, and that's a completely different public policy dilemma because the FBI has much larger fish to fry than these.
Sid may not propose many policy solutions in his writings, but his social commentary is more correct than many readers here are willing to admit.
Yes, the work is hard and some of the jobs are less than desirable. But Sid's Scott County employer friends don't want to increase wages to a level sufficient to attract legal workers (it can be done), they knowingly pay wages that attracts, entices and abuses illegal labor.
What Sid doesn't mention is he's been living in that community all these years full well knowing that people he knew were hiring and making money off illegal alien labor AND HE SAID NOTHING. Sid Salter has looked past the law breaking hiring of illegal labor in Scott County for 27 years. So why listen or consider a f'ing thing he has to say now?
Yes, let's prosecute those hiring illegal labor and while we are at it let's penalize and bring to the public's attention all the sanctimonious "journalists" like Sid Salter who have used their positions to look the other way and obscured this law breaking from the public light of day.
Your duplicity Salter is disgusting.
Businesses like to hire illegals because they don’t to follow the minimum requirements set forth by the law for wages, hours, and workplace conditions. Americans would take the jobs if they had to follow those rules. Also, I’d gladly pay a nickel more for my strawberries and give an American a job and keep him off the street if that is what it took. The ‘doing the jobs Americans won’t do’ is a myth (imagine how much you must hate your fellow countrymen to openly admit you think of them as this lazy), but even if it were true, their children, grandchildren, and countless descendants will not do those jobs or tolerate unsafe workplace conditions and unfair wages.
How well did it work out the last time we imported slaves to pick our crops because our agricultural industry needed it? You fool. An inheritance is not something you earn. It’s something you do your duty to by safeguarding it and keeping it intact to pass on to your own sons and daughters. You destroy the inheritance your forefathers gave you and throw away your granddaughter’s future in your service to mammon and in worship of your own moral vanity. You hold a poem written on the Statue of Liberty that was put on there decades after the fact in higher regard than actual law. It’s a fitting fate that you will waste away in a nursing home neglected by the same strangers you love.
Shall we break out the violins for those who intentionally broke the law and assumed the risk?
Sid brings us some good points. Mississippians as most Americans are torn on this issue. Mississippi is a poor state but would give their shirt to a neighbor in need. We hurt for these families and we are torn because this is a law. Where is the pressure for Congress to make a deal to help these people become citizens to pay taxes etc in a more efficient manner. But just like My Cousin I love to see him but if he just comes and stays and eats my food and never pays for his share of rent etc its just not right. And also no other country would allow anyone to come and stay indefinitely. Go to work congress and President and quit just talking about it
Sid, we don't really care. These migrants just want to work hard and have big families and be part of this country.
What terrifies us are all of the white males who sit around playing violent games and looking at internet porn and then cant find a girlfriend so they blame everyone but themselves for their problems. Now they want to get guns and terrorize everyone because they are rejected by society.
That is the real problem we need to address. Everything else is a distraction but you dont want to address the fact that the number one problem is violent armed white males killing men women and children in church, at school, at walmart, everywhere.
A key point that Sid obfuscates is that companies would have to pay higher wages for these unpleasant jobs if the job market wasn't flooded with low-skilled immigrants.
Working at a chicken plant would be an enticing job for many Mississippians if it paid $15+ an hour as opposed to the low wages that it likely pays. The massive influx of low-skilled immigrants means that Mississippians are forced to work for less.
The issue is illegal versus legal. There is a pathway for them to be legal. Good point on holding employers responsible, need to hold our Federal Government equally responsible.
Sorta surprised, no raids on Sanderson and Tyson..........
"They do jobs Americans won't" is one of the biggest lies in American politics.
What they really mean is "They do jobs Americans won't for insanely low wages"
8:33 not quite, it has been documented that many were using social security numbers that were stolen. Now I'm not versed in how you can use someone else's number and maybe their name but how would you like to get an IRS notice in May of next year that you didn't report $12,000 of income at a chicken plant in Scott County. I'm the same person who referenced a friend who worked for the Auditors office that had almost 100,000 W-2's that had not filed income tax and they couldn't find the people. They also had married with 5 dependents so the minimum was taken from their checks. You better wake up as to how they along with some others are playing this game.
“Unless we all want to go back to performing some of those unpleasant jobs.” This is an awful way to look at work. As if Americans are too good to work. We have somehow graduated from hard work. When the Mexicans graduate who will do hard work? The reason we gave so many folks who think they are too good to work is we give too many government handouts, so they feel they have a choice. Traditionally folks do hard work because they need to eat. We will always have young people and people who have had problems and must start over economically who need to do hard work. And they need to be the ones doing those jobs. When most of us were young we got some extremely valuable experience working in farming or construction. Jobs that taught us what real work is. It’s scary today to see how many young people are missing that experience. The bigger picture is, it’s illegal. It’s insane to think that government would encourage people to break the laws if government. What’s next? If you are hungry just go to the store and take food? Like somebody’s car? Just take it. It’s a most insane conversation that the left is pushing- will we follow the law? On top of that, the politicians who are pushing this don’t care about immigrants. They want more poor people who they think will vote Dim.
8:33 that 11b in taxes doesn’t come close to covering the Govt. assistants that 70% of illegal immigrants suck out. Or the billions we have to cover in hospital visits because they can’t pay. Not to mention all the money they ship back to their families, identity theft, ect.
PittPanther, there you go again. You don't speak for us. Maybe you should switch to a Burgh equivalent of Kingfish? Like Whitefish or something?
They are not "migrants", they are ILLEGAL ALIENS and should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.
I had a roof replaced last year, the guys out of Pearlwere licensed and bonded. As far as I could see they all preferred their native language but conversed in English when I spoke to them. I didn't specially ask to see papers verifying that they were legal but I was assured that they did have them.
Shame on me for saving $2500.00 by using them over the locals.
No legal person Hispinac, Black or White is going to work in a Chicken House's KillRoom for $8.00 and hour when Burger King, McDonalds and even the Chinese restaurants are paying $10 or more.
Sell out Sid Salters spewing BS propaganda for his whiskey sipping and cigar smoking corporate jackasses.
Next article is how Medicaid expansion will bankrupt Mississippi.
8:52 a.m. is spot on.
The people complaining here about illegals are the same who would complain if there were any real enforcement, because they'd have to start paying $5.00/lb for chicken. Then the price of their Christian Conservative Chicken sandwiches would go up and then there'd be a bunch of Facebook posts about how the Clinton Foundation, AOC and the gays were trying to corner the fried chicken market so everybody in Red states would have to eat soy burgers after Sunday church and the price of ARs would go back up.
Five or ten years ago, I don’t recall there being a shortage of roofers, farm workers or restaurant workers. Those were and still the low end jobs, and blacks did those jobs. Now it’s all Hispanic - so tell me the blacks were not displaced. Where did they go ?
It appears that the chicken moguls are the new "slave owners" of modern times. Due to their apparent screwing the contract growers once they are heavily in debt and the illegals working in their plants, the DOJ needs to investigate this entire industry.
They may be paying taxes (by having them withheld from their paychecks) but the majority are using bogus SS numbers and matching aliases.
Corporate Responsibility (we still have that ?)
- Allowing workers unscheduled bathroom breaks without the $10 tip.
- Trailer Park owners providing enough security personnel so that workers can go home on payday with out having to make solicited contributions to local (black) gang members.
8:33 - Not quite. You are speaking of a group of people working at a plant here in MS. I am speaking about illegal immigration in general. Many illegals throughout the country work under the table for cash. They do not contribute federal or state income tax. Sales tax yes. Income tax no.
The second issue is that the talking point is that American's wont do this work which is BS. American's just won't do it for little to nothing or in unsafe conditions that many illegals immigrants find themselves working in.
And last, many people take advantage of illegal immigrants by not paying them or not paying them the agreed wages as they know they are not going to go to the law.
Immigration YES. Absolutely. Illegal immigration. NO
10:15- It's clear that many of your neighbors feel the same way. People will use illegal aliens to do all sorts of work to save $2,500. In many cases people won't even look very hard to find out if they are using legal or illegal workers.
The problem is that you saved a couple bucks on the roof but it cost the American taxpayer (you included) billions of dollars a year and puts your fellow American's out of work. Have you ever asked yourself why one company can be so much cheaper then another? In some (not all) cases it is because the other company is using illegal labor, not paying living wages and not adhering to safety standards and regulations.
10:34 - Back to reality please.
If the true cost of a product is higher as a result of following laws, paying taxes and worker safety then that is what Americans should be paying.
Stop acting like you support immigration because you are a good humanitarian when in reality you, like most Democrats, support illegal immigration because you don't want to pay the true cost of your items.
No one has improved on 8:16. We need comprehensive legislation and have needed it for some time. We have for the most part looked the other way, and now we have a President who is anti-immigration unless the immigrant is from Europe. Is that a view held by more than 25% of Americans? I don't think so.
There's a good editorial in today's Wall Street Journal that lines up with 8:16 and with Sid Salter to a large extent. The Journal editors wind up identifying Trump aide Stephen Miller as the primary problem, seeing Miller as not wanting ANY immigrants. Miller looks more and more like the Rasputin of this czarist regime. Bannon is gone, but Miller remains.
If you put a roof on the last 10-15 years, even if you hired your local contractor to build or replace a roof, over 90% of the time he sub contractored it out to a Hispanic Contractor.
Cost of Goods is static, the Contractor is always going maximize his profit on the labor side. The Hispanics aren't the villians.
Sofia Hernandez, who owns Maria's Mercado in Morton, said her husband is employed at PH Food. He is one of only 26 people who kept their jobs, she said.
The rest were fired "because their Social Security is bad," Hernandez said.
Any wagers that Sid (and Burke) want to provide amnesty too?
The Hispanics with legal status to be in the United States aren't the villans.
The ones without legal status are breaking the law.
12:03 Apples and oranges.
Hey Pitt, want to take a guess at the number of other countries with white males, violent video games and online porn? Now tell us how many have as many mass shootings as the U.S. (use whatever definition of "mass shooting" you like).
I wonder what the difference is?
https://www.foxnews.com/world/bodies-butchered-mexico-gang-turf-war
Can you blame them? I would be trying to get my family the hell out of dodge too.
12:15- It's the only way a contractor can stay in business these days. You can't run a successful company of any type and be out bid by your competitors by thousands of dollars. So if one roofing company is using illegal immigrants and breaking the LAW. Then other companies will do the same to remain competitive.
Whatever it cost to put a roof on AND follow the law is what a roof should cost. If you get it cheaper because the contractor is breaking the law then you are part of the problem.
Not to mention you really don't give a damn about immigrants you just like free shit.
It's like the drug trade, if we wouldn't demand our weed, Coke and whatever they wouldn't have a market.
Please stand up and be counted if enough of you willing to pay 8 to 12% above the prevailing rate I'll start a new company.
8:52....So, it sounds so nice to blame poor people for “taking benefits” and taking advantage of society. Why are states so willing to give corporations tax incentives, purchases of land, actual money to come in to their territory/state/city and promise jobs, althewhile never really studying or understanding whether there’ll be actual benefit or not. Sure, it’s easy to blame some poor working guy who is being paid 9.50 an hour for having his/her kids on Medicaid, because the company they work for doesn’t provide a living wage or health insurance.
Most people are just trying to get by and get along. Sure, there are some of those that take advantage of the system...but there are far fewer than the politicians and fear mongerers would have you believe. The benefit to the political class to have the people distrust each other and disrespect each other is enormous. The democrats have had all the power...nothing changes....the republicans have had all the power nothing changes.....when will people get wise and realize they/we are being played.
Capitalism is an imperfect system. Socialism is an imperfect system. People who work hard to provide in our society should have the benefit of knowing that if/when something tragic happens to them, they will not have to live under a bridge or be cast into a ditch, like they do in India...the largest democracy in the world. As Americans....WE CAN DO BETTER.
None of the posts counter the reality that:
1) We (beginning with LBJ) have created a sub-culture dependent on handouts. It's not 'government assistance'. It's tax-payer handouts mandated by our government. We watched this sub-culture develop over the past sixty years; we coddled it and we are apparently happy with it.
2) In order to deal with (1), above, we have created another sub-culture to replace the work that used to be done (and ought to be done) by the first sub-culture. This sub-culture consists of transient migrants of unknown number, nature and intent.
3) The capitalist equation consists of (a) a job and (b) a labor-hour. A job will pay what someone is willing to work for (until the government gets involved). If you are willing, for $8 per hour, to perform the job I offer, along with whatever benefits I might provide, if any, then good, we have a deal. If not, then we can either negotiate or I can tell you to get lost.
4) My profit is determined, in large part, by the amount of money I pay in wages plus the benefits, if any, I offer my employees subtracted from the amount I sell my product for. I am not foolish enough to operate my business as a social experiment and will not be paying what you call 'a living wage' for the sake of participating in your social experiment. If you don't like the wage I pay, you can leave the job and I will replace you. If I can't replace you at that wage, I'll consider raising the hourly wage. But, when I do that, my profit decreases. I am all about profit.
I'm not interested in happy employees, living wages, social experiments, community pride, living arrangements, who Quadalupe plays with, helping you climb mythical ladders or what degree of medical care you have. I am interested in making a profit. If you can help me do that, you have a job.
And NO, I am not the problem. You are.
You have a point 12:43 forget about an 8 to 12 % increase if you want me to hire legal residents, I'll need a 30% increase. I have to pay extra for materials too, with all the tariffs on building materials.
12:43 - You are part of the problem when the wages you pay are artificially low. Illegal immigrants provide labor that is artificially low. So your profit comes at the expense of taxpayers who make up the difference in what you pay, or don't pay, by picking up the tab for benefits, schooling of children, medical, etc.
If only there was some way you could own people and make them work for free. Wow, think of the profit you would make then.
You sound like a great employer though. You should have employees lined up to work with you.
Those of you criticizing Sid for not including the point you wish to make is really unfair. He's writing a small piece from a personal perspective, not a tome on immigration. I , also, know Sid to be smart enough to know there would be comments that would be a drum beat of the obvious.
I expect Sid hoped, as many of us do , that seeing the illegal immigrants as fellow humans might temper the rhetoric enough for us to look pragmatically at the problem. Since this stream of comments is more thoughtful, I think he was more successful than expected.
Illegal immigration is a problem that has festered for decades because there has not been a serious attempt to reform the entire system from top to bottom. Indeed, special interests have made reform when attempted guaranteed to fail. An example is , like with gun registration, not digitalizing records so that employers could know their checks on legal citizenship are accurate. And, so Social Security could know immediately that an SS number was being stolen or didn't exist and ICE could be called in while the applicant is applying.
Yes , your representatives in Congress who loudly call for a Wall or who justify and scatter blame for the current ungodly mess we now have, are the very ones who quietly allowed " no digitalization" into existing law or who refused to fund it. And, make no mistake, doing it right would have costs less .
Both political parties have conned us so that they can use this issue to get votes. But, this five minutes, I hold the GOP more responsible simply because they have had control of both houses of Congress more in the passed several decades and had more opportunity to fix this and other issues. And, make no mistake, the GOP has had control in this State and could have taken actions since this first became a designation for immigrants from south of the border.
The hypocrisy gets to be pretty nauseating.
8:20 - 112:43 getting back to you. In a true, competitive, business model free of government intervention, there would be no such thing as 'artificially low wages'. Wages would be half of the equation in an agreement between employer and employee. That's what existed in this country before government got in the business of running the private sector. Whatever Charles Ingals was paid for stacking lumber is the agreement he reached with the man who owned the lumber and paid the wage.
You expose yourself as a liberal when you use terms like that. But you could also have gone full circle and brought income inequality into the conversation.
But, although I've addressed it, my argument doesn't favor paying 'low wages'. It favors paying whatever wage is needed in order to produce a product, deliver a service, or process goods. In that context, 'low' is relative. If the labor market demands higher wages in order to encourage citizens to take jobs, so be it. Then the price of goods and services is driven up, which is another natural piece of the business-model equation.
10:09- Not the "liberal" argument. You're smarter than that.
Unfortunately we need government regulations. If not you would have unregulated scam artist attempting to put roofs on then skipping town. Oh, wait......
Illegal is illegal. Justify it however you want but I can tell you that American's who pay taxes and have to follow regulations such as licensing, car tags, car insurance, etc. demand a higher wage. They have to in order to adhere to regulations. Someone that has no insurance or tax liability can do it much cheaper. Doesn't mean they are bad people or unqualified to do the work. It just means that you are shifting the cost of the roof from the homeowner to the taxpayer.
Your smart so you know this already.
Salter, in his old age, has mellowed. He's no longer just another unrestrained, small-town publisher-hack. Now he's full-blown-out-of the closet.
He's become the bald version of Bill Minor and Jerry Mitchell. Maybe he needs a talk-radio progr....WAIT!
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