Posted on 06/06/2007 6:38:28 PM PDT by de meanr
"He was surprised by the reaction," Mr. Snow said of Mr. Bush's speech in Glynco, Ga., last week. "The speech in Georgia was, 'We've got a serious problem and we need to fix it.' It was not in any way designed to be pointed at Republicans." But conservative opponents of a Senate immigration bill supported by Mr. Bush reacted furiously to the president's suggestion that they are resorting to scare tactics by using the word "amnesty" in referring to the measure that would allow millions of illegal aliens to remain in the United States.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtontimes.com ...
Actually, I live in LA county and work in Orange county CA.
I’m well aware of how many hispanics are here, although you can’t be sure just by their accent that they are here illegally. My point is that I DO want them all sent home.
Those jobs left vacant will either be refilled by Americans moving in from other states such as those still struggling after Katrina, or the job will be eliminated as the employer finds a less labor-intensive way of accomplishing those tasks. Cheap labor is a crutch that stalls innovation.
Tomato growers in CA 50 years ago swore that if the Braceros migrant worker program was ended, they could not afford to grow tomatos. Braceros was ended, and the growers found ways to eliminate 80% of the labor while making more money growing tomatos than they ever had.
Think about maids in hotels. What percentage of maids could you eliminate if the vacuuming of rooms was done by robot independently of the other cleaning functions ? Half of a maid’s time is spent running a vacuum cleaner.
Think about construction. Where labor is cheap, everything is done onsite, building from sticks. Some builders are learning it is cheaper and a better product to build entire walls or even rooms in a factory where weather, material theft, delivery delays, etc. are less of a factor. Cheap illegal labor perpetuates inefficient building methods.
I’d even like to see the quotas raised on legal immigration to eliminate some of the backlog of people waiting for their chance. By having all the illegals go to the back of the line, we would be choosing who we want based on skills-education-employability, but the wait would be shorter.
How in the world can the President be ‘surprised’ at conservatives’ anger at a bill that will generate millions and millions of NEW DEMOCRATIC VOTERS in the future? Geeeez
Note: I do support Bush but not on this issue.
Good idea. It's infuriating hearing these people claiming that this bill isn't amnesty despite blatantly rewarding people for their criminal behavior (and therefore punishing law-abiding visa applicants while they're at it). I'm generally in favor of expanding our legal immigration, but only to those who show some interest in respecting U.S. law.
But Bush & Co. think I'm just a racist.
Thank you. It just really gets to the crux of the matter.
This is class issue too, between us common people and the elites. We cut our grass and wash our own clothes.
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Exactly! When McCain started on that garbage at the debate, I was screaming at the TV, “I do my own danged laundry! We cut our own grass, and I took care of my own children myself!”
i just want somebody in DC to do the right thing ... i’m so honked off at politicians selling votes for pork regardless of the outcomes ... just plain sick of it .................... oh, and I want a leader, too
***
Duncan Hunter
You can have as big a tent as you want but if you pi$$ off 35% of your voters you ain't going anywhere.
like father, like son
Most "struggling" to find work after Katrina aren't trying that hard to get work. New Orleans business owners are offering higher pay than ever, and still can't find enough people to get work done. Many restaraunts still run limited hours due to lack of people. I saw a sign this week at a McD's that offered $500 bonuses for every two weeks of continuous employment. The idea that there are hoards of American workers looking for these low-skilled jobs is a myth.
Half of a maid’s time is spent running a vacuum cleaner.
Sorry.. simply not true. Most of their time is spent cleaning the bathroom. But, I get your point re: innovation. You're generally correct about that. I guess I'd just rather let innovation find it's own path rather than forcing it with an arbitrary labor shortage.
If we forced ALL to leave, the already struggling housing markets in Houston, San Antonio, Tuscon, etc.. will crumble. Many restaraunts will either shut down, or be forced to limit their hours. Retail businesses of all kinds will see large drops in sales. We don't need to go through this pain. Our economy is strong enough to absorb the folks who are here.... especially, if we get a handle on the influx of new arrivals. If we give them a legal, non-citizen, status.. we can take as long as we need to decide who gets to become a citizen.
I guess we are all agreed on one thing: First, we must get control of our border. Then, we can debate what to do with those already here.
Thanks for the info on New Orleans. I didn’t know about the difficulty in finding workers. I just see all the people still living in FEMA trailers and wonder why they didn’t just pick up and move to another state a year ago. I thought way back in 2005 that FEMA should have simply offered to pay moving expenses to another part of the country, instead of this perpetual trailer park.
[I guess I’d just rather let innovation find it’s own path rather than forcing it with an arbitrary labor shortage.]
Is it an arbitrary labor shortage, or an artificially cheap labor pool ?
These people can afford to work for these wages only by a combination of evading taxes and accepting a lower standard of living than Americans in general. It fosters an underclass and a plantation mindset that is damaging our society.
As far as the shortage goes, I also mentioned I’d like to see legal immigration quotas increased. So we wouldn’t necessarily be losing huge numbers of workers. We would be booting out the illegal ones and accepting new immigrants that have been patiently waiting to immigrate the legal way. If we raised legal immigration quotas in the skilled-educated-employable criteria areas, then those homes that lose illegal renters would have new applicants with higher base wages. Meaning housing markets wouldn’t slump.
I understand the inclination to accept the ones already here. If they haven’t broken any laws besides the immigration laws, then they may be a better citizen than somebody unknown that has been waiting in line. That seems like wishful thinking to choose a scofflaw over an unknown.
I think it is important to establish that amnesty was a mistake in 1986 and will never happen again. Otherwise illegals — even if the border is secure and they are just visa overstays — will build up to large numbers again expecting another amnesty down the road.
I believe people are angry enough about globalists’ amnesty bill agenda that they will spill out into the streets in violent rebellion.
Baloney. After Harriet Miers?
About as surprised as I'd be if my wife kicked my butt for cheating on her.
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