4 ms·

What, there is a shortage of workers willing to work for low pay? The Answer. Create competition in the labour sector by relaxing border controls and let in imm

by sbhn 8y ago

What, there is a shortage of workers willing to work for low pay? The Answer. Create competition in the labour sector by relaxing border controls and let in immigrants. Keep there status as illegal, so that you don’t need to pay all the costs that legally protected employees are entitled to

toxik 8y ago
That’s very cynical, and implies that the government is even able to pull a stunt on that scale. I think an easier explanation is available here.
- richardknop 8y ago
  Don't large part of some American industries depend on such immigrant labor? I even hear comedians like Bill Maher joke about this all the time saying things like "without illegal immigrants there would be nobody to pick fruit" so it almost seems like an accepted reality of US, at least agriculture industry in border states. Is that no true? I just assumed jokes and lines like that are based on some sort of universally accepted "unofficial" truth, that's what makes them funny.
  - snarfy 8y ago
    My mother worked at a produce company most of her life. She said the workers always had paperwork. The company didn't try very hard to verify the authenticity of the paperwork. They would work for two weeks, get their check and be gone, off to work at another field for two weeks.
  - rhexs 8y ago
    If an industry requires illegal subsidies to thrive, there is no industry. They should naturally go bankrupt. If a nation decides it is important enough to subsidize (i.e. strategic food stock to feed a populace), then they should do so through funding bills instead of hiding the true cost through the lack of immigration enforcement. But the farming lobby is powerful.
    - anticensor 8y ago
      > They should naturally go bankrupt. No, they should disinstitute by themselves.
- AgentME 8y ago
  The situation may have arised naturally, and then the government refused to deal with it effectively (actually penalize companies that hire illegal immigrants) because business interests liked the situation.
  - sbhn 8y ago
    Illegal immigrants are a commodity, for businesses that use them, for politicians that claim to protect you from them, for the industry that processes them

by sbhn 8y ago

toxik 8y ago

That’s very cynical, and implies that the government is even able to pull a stunt on that scale. I think an easier explanation is available here.

richardknop 8y ago
Don't large part of some American industries depend on such immigrant labor? I even hear comedians like Bill Maher joke about this all the time saying things like "without illegal immigrants there would be nobody to pick fruit" so it almost seems like an accepted reality of US, at least agriculture industry in border states. Is that no true? I just assumed jokes and lines like that are based on some sort of universally accepted "unofficial" truth, that's what makes them funny.
- snarfy 8y ago
  My mother worked at a produce company most of her life. She said the workers always had paperwork. The company didn't try very hard to verify the authenticity of the paperwork. They would work for two weeks, get their check and be gone, off to work at another field for two weeks.
- rhexs 8y ago
  If an industry requires illegal subsidies to thrive, there is no industry. They should naturally go bankrupt. If a nation decides it is important enough to subsidize (i.e. strategic food stock to feed a populace), then they should do so through funding bills instead of hiding the true cost through the lack of immigration enforcement. But the farming lobby is powerful.
  - anticensor 8y ago
    > They should naturally go bankrupt. No, they should disinstitute by themselves.
AgentME 8y ago
The situation may have arised naturally, and then the government refused to deal with it effectively (actually penalize companies that hire illegal immigrants) because business interests liked the situation.
- sbhn 8y ago
  Illegal immigrants are a commodity, for businesses that use them, for politicians that claim to protect you from them, for the industry that processes them