Fred Dehl wrote:
wrote in
oups.com:
Think of the money we could save if we turned the security of our
southern borders over to undocumented "guest workers", it would get rid
of thousands of border patrol people currently sucking the govt. teat
for an acutal living wage.
How's that border patrol working?
Just exactly as well as it is supposed to.
A "leaky" Mexican border suppresses wages (and thereby increases
corporate profits in the short term) throughout the entire country.
Seattle isn't exactly on the Rio Grande, but if I wanted to hire an
experienced, often fairly skilled worker for a fraction of the wage
demanded by a hard working citizen trying to support a modest house and
small family
I know exactly where to go on any given day and there will be several
dozen to choose from. The fact that Pedro or Manuel is waiting at the
curb, toolbox in hand, and ecstatic to work for $10 an hour (without
any of the normal nuisances like social security, fringe benefits,
workman's comp, or any need to withhold income taxes creating
additional administrative costs) means that if Joe Schwartz, graduate
of advanced carpentry and framing at Local Community College in 1989
wants to come and pound a few nails as well he better get with the
program. If I'm a remodeling contractor reselling the labor to some
homeowner for $75 an hour, my gross is a whole lot better if I pay
Pedro Velasquez $10 and keep $65 than if I have to pay Joe Schwartz $30
an hour, plus $10 in taxes and benefits, and only get to keep $35 an
hour for myself. Bottom line, Pedro works and Joe doesn't- unless Joe
is willing to work a lot cheaper than he's used to.
If you put the working class in charge of border policies, rather than
the privileged class,
you'd have far fewer undocumented workers in the US.