Brain Splatter

I have been thinking about what to write. I still don't know. I was going to write about something topical like illegal immigrant situation. I have written about that before. I will probably address it again sometime soon.

(note--I started writing a little and was into it so I guess I am covering this topic now--B)

I do know that seeing all those people on the street made me kind of mad. Not because I have anything against them. In fact, I am all for them protesting. But why don't they do it in their own countries? Don't come here and try to change us. Stay where you are and change the situation there if you feel like marching. You come to America and then have the nerve to demand that we change to suit you? That is not the spirit that former immigrants came with. They wanted to be Americans. Do these new immigrants want to be Americans or do they just want to be treated as such for as long as they choose to be here? Hey, if you are not legally here, you have no right to bitch about anything. If you are not an American, your opinion, right or wrong when it comes to how we run this country, means very little if nothing.

The other thing that totally drives me nuts is the phrase, "They do the jobs that American won't do." What kind of insanity is that? Let's be clear, these people do not do the jobs that Americans won't do. They do the jobs that businesses are too cheap to pay a living wage for. It is a hell of a lot easier and cheaper to get a foreigner who is just glad to be here to do a job for very little money and no benefits then it is to pay an American who pays taxes and has kids to feed.

You want an example? Look at garbagemen. In most places nowadays, if you get a job as a garbageman you are going to make some good money. Odds are you are working for a city government, probably part of a union, and you get benefits. Now is picking up trash a job that no American wants to do? Hell, no. People covet those jobs. They pay to get them from dishonest officials and nepotism runs rampant. It has nothing to do with the work. It is the pay.

I work for a company that prides itself on thing being clean and orderly. Yet the cleaning department makes very little money. Why? Well, when management can bring in Chinese and non-American-Hispanic workers and pay them minimum wage and no benefits, why shouldn't they? It is good for business. Every few months they bring in so-called, "interns". These are students they bring in from different countries for a few months. Here is the rub, the students want to work like crazy and are guaranteed hours. So they get forty hours a week at least. People who work there all year long as a consequence have their hours cut because the foreign workers are working cheaper and will be leaving soon, which means no benefits. It wouldn't surprise me if there were other savings also for the company. This keeps totally wages for the company down. If labor is cheap then there is no need to pay good wages.

That is supply and demand. I mean, it is hard to fault the companies, all they do is play by the rules. You get labor for as cheap as possible. It isn't the illegal's fault, they just want to live. It comes down to being the fault of us Average Americans.

The government is supposed to do what we want. If we are not protecting our borders or our American way of life, whose fault is that? We have to make the hard choices and I say when it comes down to us or them, I have to choose us. I just think that leaving our borders open, letting companies not pay a wage that Americans can live on, and having millions of people with no loyalty or love for this country living here taking advantage of this country is just not a good idea.

Soon, the hard choices a going to have to be made. Don't doubt that for an instant. If you pass legislation, those "peaceful" protests will turn violent. Building a wall, means defending a wall. If you let the ones who are here stay, you have to keep out the ones who want in, don't you? Then you have to address the fact that here in America, in the year 2006 you can work your ass off, 40 hours a week, and still not have enough to live on, or be able to take your child to the doctor if they have a cold. Is America ready to address those issues? Honestly, I don't think so. Change takes pain. I don't think we are hurting enough just right now. The thing you got to remember is that sometimes, when the pain starts, it is too late to cure the disease.

Laterzzz...

// posted by Biff Manly @ 12:05 AM