Immigration

Wednesday, April 12, 2006

I have been amazed, in reading and listening to all the immigration discussions, that one item that is rarely addressed is the impending creation of a caste system in the U.S. That both parties endorse the "jobs that U.S. citizens will not do" tack is clearly an endorsement of corporate power attempting to dilute wages. Their theory appears to be that they are beholding to their stockholders and are thereby obligated to cut costs any way they can in order to maximize profits.

This certainly seems, in their way of thinking, to benefit stockholders...but...I believe this to be debatable. Firstly...it is questionable how much of that labor savings goes to the bottom line and shows up in a dividend check. Secondly...even though the current administration crows that the economy is improving and on the upswing...that may only be the case for the upper 10-20%...and certainly does NOT trickle down to the ordinary middle or low middle class, forget about those living below the poverty line.

Thirdly...by continually outsourcing jobs, they have so undermined the economy that it is conceivable the stock market will be so articially sustained that the day may come when it collapses like a house built from cards.

It seems evident to me that all the efforts of NAFTA and other trade agreements have failed in that no attempts have been made to really bolster those third world economies...rather...those workers have been so exploited that they would prefer to emigrate as illegal workers to the U.S. and get paid sub-mimimum U.S. wages instead of remaining in their native countries and getting paid .50-$1.00 an hour.

And...this leads to the castification of America, the creation of a class of workers who will work for wages that fall far below poverty line levels and will STILL need to be subsidized by welfare just for survival.

Had we made a sincere effort to create sustaining economies in countries such as Mexico, Guatemala and El Salvador, there would be less of an incentive to cross the border illegally. And...had American businesses and corporations decided to pay fair and competitive wages...there would be no such thing as "jobs U.S. citizens will not do"!!

trickster108