The Poor Keep Getting Poorer

Sierra Vista Herald/Review ^ | 19 February 2004 | Jim Behnke

[Spiff]

The poor keep getting poorer

Jim Behnke
Sierra Vista Herald/Review
Opinion

When I was a kid, we only had one parent working - my dad - and we always seemed to have enough. Not plenty, but enough. This is particularly amazing in view of the fact that my dad was a preacher - you know how they overpay those guys - and had five children. Today it seems both parents have to work full time, and even then lots of families barely scrape by.

The latest issue of Time magazine has a book review about this subject. The book was written by David Shipler and reviewed by Richard Lacayo. It is titled "The Working Poor." Since I have not had a chance to read the book, I will refer to what Time magazine has to say about it. The author states that "low-wage employees have been testing the American doctrine that hard work cures poverty." He states that a lot of people are living on the edge of household financial disaster and cannot escape their poverty because there are a lot of things that keep them there - a low minimum wage, convenience stores that advance them cash at 20 percent interest on a two-week loan, unscrupulous bosses who falsify time sheets so they work longer hours for the same pay, garment workers paid by the piece, exorbitant housing costs just to mention a few. These are the working poor, and "they spend everything and save nothing." Shipler had solutions such as a higher minimum wage, better job training and medical coverage. But he predicts nothing will be done as these folks carry no weight in the political process. It's not a bright outlook for the working poor.

But what Shipler did not mention and I will is that things are going to get worse, and it is all because of illegal immigration. The government admits there are 10 million illegals in this country and knowledgeable people put that figure at closer to 20 million. Now at a time of abundant cheap labor and a 6 percent unemployment rate on its way to 7.9 percent, President Bush and many members of Congress want to bring in more cheap labor, albeit legally and for a period of three years. But the result will be the same. An overabundance of labor will only drive down wages making the poor poorer.

In Los Angeles, there are documented cases of illegals willing to work for $2 an hour. In another case, one of our own people, a Mexican-American asked her boss for a pay raise and health insurance and was told to be quiet or he would hire an illegal to take her place. The hiring halls in Phoenix are jammed with illegals looking for work and unscrupulous employers hire them because they don't have to pay taxes or health insurance and there are plenty more to take their place if they don't like what's going on.

Bill O'Reilly of Fox News is correct when he predicts that the new legal immigration proposals will bring in another 50 million people, this at a time when hundreds of thousands of Americans are unemployed, and the jobs we do have are being outsourced to India, Mexico and a host of other cheap labor countries. Bringing in more cheap labor will only acerbate our problems and will be a recipe for disaster for these United States not too mention the impact 50 million people will have on our hospitals, schools and police services. (According to the Border Patrol, 7 percent who enter our country illegally now have prior criminal records).

And finally, remember, low wages mean little or no taxes paid with resultant low revenues for our state budgets. California has learned that the hard way and the whole country will learn it next.

In the meantime, the poor will get poorer and poorer.

JIM BEHNKE is a Sierra Vista resident who retired as an Army lieutenant colonel. He can be contacted by e-mail at wethepeople33@juno.com. His column runs every other Thursday.

[Klickitat]

ping

[jimt]

Bump.

[Joe Hadenuf]

Bill O'Reilly of Fox News is correct when he predicts that the new legal immigration proposals will bring in another 50 million people, this at a time when hundreds of thousands of Americans are unemployed, and the jobs we do have are being outsourced to India, Mexico and a host of other cheap labor countries. Bringing in more cheap labor will only acerbate our problems and will be a recipe for disaster for these United States not too mention the impact 50 million people will have on our hospitals, schools and police services. (According to the Border Patrol, 7 percent who enter our country illegally now have prior criminal records).

It's a time bomb.......

[2banana]

When I was a kid, we only had one parent working - my dad - and we always seemed to have enough. Not plenty, but enough. This is particularly amazing in view of the fact that my dad was a preacher - you know how they overpay those guys - and had five children.

One big oversite in this article, taxes in general and in particular on the poor have gone way up since Mr. Behnke was a kid.

[camle]

two things are wrong with this article:

if the poor are getting poorer, then why did the government have to RAISE the poverty level to show more poor people?

And, the whole minimum wage debate assumes that people making minumum wage will always make minimum wage. this is a false assumption. minimum wage jobs are entry level low skill occupations desgiend for people to get in the job force and establish a work record before moving on to more profitable jobs. And most people do just that. very few people who were making minimum wage ten years ago are still doing so.

OK, three things. what do you do with a chap who's labor is only worth five bucks an hour? aren't you pricing him out of a job by raising the minimum wage? And what does that do to low skill jobs as a whole? Will raising the minimum wage continue to erode entry level job availability?

[Conspiracy Guy]

My family was so poor we had no molecular structure. We were free floating sub-atomic particles. But we were happy and we got by.

CG

[camle]

so you didn't come from a nuclear family CG? Mebbe youse was solar powered?

[Conspiracy Guy]

We were so poor we ate lint. But we were happy because some of the other families had no lint. We shared our lint whenever we could. If I had hands I'd be wringing them now.

CG

[Protagoras]

I'll resist asking where you got your lint.

[camle]

ah! so youse was a textile based fambily!!

[Gunslingr3]

When I was a kid, we only had one parent working - my dad - and we always seemed to have enough.

They had a lot less than people do now. Appetites have grown apace with wealth. Now if you don't have two cars, 3 TV's, and additional consumer craved bobbles you're considered poor.

[Conspiracy Guy]

Dust bunnies.

CG

[Protagoras]

Thank goodness. Navel lint is gross.

[Conspiracy Guy]

Dust bunnies can be spun into beautiful cloth.

CG

[bankwalker]

Will raising the minimum wage continue to erode entry level job availability?

No, it will cause the entire pay scale to increase with it over time. which will increase employer's expenses, which will force them to raise prices, which will cause inflation, which will bring up the topic of raising the minimum wage, which will....

[hattend]

BTTT

[brianl703]

Alternatively, the government can just import more poor people to show more poor people. What exactly did you think Ted Kennedy had in mind back in 1965?

[Chris Talk]

I was 16 and had a job before I first had any clothes that were bought new for me; prior to that other families just handed down their kids clothes to us when they outgrew them.

[hobson]

LOL!