This is a terrific discussion everyone! I'm
enjoying it very much, as I'm sure you all are.
These comments are not necessarily a direct
rebuttal to anything that has been said, rather my observations about
labor.
#1: We need cheap labor.
I disagree. We do not have jobs in this
country that Americans will not do. Rather, we have jobs in this country
that Americans cannot do and live with dignity.
If a job needs doing, and no one wants it, then
supply and demand should raise the wages for that job til someone will step up
and take it. These natural market forces are distorted, however, by cheap
sources of illegal labor.
I am an active supporter of immigrant rights, but
we have to acknowledge the negative impact that illegals have
on wage pressures in unskilled and semi-skilled jobs. If we had even
three million workers disappear from the market tomorrow can you imagine what
would happen to wages in these job categories? They
were offering signing bonuses at Burger King in New Orleans not long ago if
you remember.
#2: Domestic Production
By this I mean having babies and developing our
citizenry to succeed. Birthrates are scaring the pants off the Europeans
right now. They have Muslims moving in and having babies and the natives
are not...their fear is there will soon be a demographic shift that really takes
over and they'll put minarets on Notre Dame. The Europeans, of course,
don't have our experience with immigration, so they are afraid of the
unknown. But they have not managed immigration all that well, and
they have not integrated, to any meaningful extent, these new communities into
old Europe. They have work to do.
We, for obvious reasons, are not so fearful of
immigrants. Most of us are the children of immigrants. We've
managed, I believe, to accomodate and integrate our muslim immigrants well for
the most part. Post 9/11, of course, they are still walking on
eggshells...have you ever seen a more unnoticeable house of worship than our
mosque downtown? But I digress...for us, it is Mexican immigrants that are
the issue at hand...and we are more comfortable still with our fellow
european-americans.
It's just my personal belief that we can satisfy
our labor needs domestically, and through legal immigration. We have a
significant amount of under-utilized labor in our nation today. Much
of it is black and urban...much of it is rural and white. Thoughtful
investment in the young people we have to grow good workers at home would
be a wise investment. We used to be willing to pay a woman to stay home
and take care of children because they'd be better off with momma home...it was
called welfare. That went out of fashion long ago. Unsupervised kids
don't learn a work ethic at a young age? Surprise, surprise.
I also believe that we should adopt a K-14
education system, where 2 years of free technical school or 2 years of
college is expected...and compulsary attendance laws should be extended to
19.
We have this notion that our workers are
lazy. That is not true. They are not well trained, perhaps, or well
motivated, or well rewarded. But I believe there is a reason. I
don't believe in writing people off. Even undiagnosed mental illness has
been proven to be a statistically observable barrier to successful
employment. Americans are workers.
#3: The Chicken and the Egg
Which comes first...the decent job or affordable
housing? Harland Knight has reminded me on numerous occasions that any
house is affordable given the right salary...and that people won't move here
without jobs, and houses don't produce jobs. It's like the farmer who
builds the new barn before the new house, I suppose, and tells his wife
that the barn will pay for the house, but...
Affordable housing could become city policy if we
choose to make it so. Every development over 10 lots, for example, could
be required to include some affordable housing I would think. We
could also encourage rehabilitation of our core city. I like the idea of a
set aside in new developments particularly well because I think the best way to
eliminate poverty is to decentralize it.
#4: There are no government
solutions.
Hogwash. It is government policy that got us
here.
All of us know that the feds have tacitly approved
illegal immigration from Mexico for decades (I almost said centuries).
Businesses benefit from the cheap labor of illegals. Citizens do not...the
low prices argument is not relevant...I'm talking about wages.
We subsidize low income paying businesses through
everything from local food shelves to heating oil assistance programs and
MinnesotaCare. We could, alternately, enact policies that provide, say,
tax advantages to companies that offer comprehensive health insurance.
#5: It is a race to the bottom.
It certainly is today...but it need not be.
We are never going to undercut the Indonesians on labor costs in a free world
market...the Sudanese will do that one of these days. We can't compete on
that level, so we shoudn't try. I'm a free trader...always have been,
always will be. But we've made some mistakes during the transition and it
has really damaged our middle class. We need to focus on productivity and
innovation, not low cost.
We're about to make the same mistake with our
farmers. The newest round of trade talks will see domestic subsidies
slashed...yet the congress just last month approved extensive cuts to
conservation programs...one of the few subsidy program areas that really
benefit the family farmer (and the nation) and is not considered an export
subsidy by the WTO.
Dumb. I think
Okay...thats it for me today.
Bob Sebo
Winona
