Then what impact would this have on consumer good prices. You'd be willing to pay more for the stuff you buy on a daily basis so that businesses aren't hiring illegals?
Minimum wage isn't the only reason for employers to pit anmestied immigrants against illegal immigrants. Illegal immigrants have less rights and protections (such as min wage) afforded to them and are thus less inclined to bargain for a competitive wage. While amnestied immigrants might not want to pursue all of the new options (such as different jobs) they'd be granted, seeking a raise or added benefits would be one of them. So there are incentives from the supply and demand sides that would cause a pull in hiring new illegals if amnesty is given.
The fact that they are illegal is the reason they take the lower wage once that barrier has been removed would they not want the same wages as the rest of the workforce or is this a situation in which the suppression of american pay rates down to the former illegal's rate would be 'economically viable' and 'logical' [in which one could see the American worker's concern] Rocket River
Margins are extremely high for drugs. The marginal utility of a low cost illegal worker in other industries does not provide enough profit to make it worth the risk. I would argue that if a business cannot survive without illegal labor, it should not survive.
That's an interesting take and I'm not sure how much of a difference it will make if we flood the labor market with legal immigrants willing to work at low wages. While there will always be an incentive to get workers for less how low can an employer go when they already have access relatively to low wage workers. It would be an interesting thing to find out.
Except that profit margins are very tight for things like construction and labor is usually the highest costs. According to many business associations such as the produce industry they've said they couldn't survive as the cost of things like produce would soar and they wouldn't be able to find the workers in time to pick the produce if they didn't have access to a pool of low cost workers, be they illegal or legal. At the moment we have yet to see Americans lining up to go pick strawberries so for a time and cost sensitive industry like that its not like if you suddenly shut off the supply of illegals others will immediately fill in.
If you paid someone 50,000 a year to pick berries, I guarantee you you could find Americans willing to take you up on that offer. The problem is that markets aren't defined by national borders; countries, however, are.
It's not that new illegals will work a wage lower than the currently set wage, but rather the newly amnestied immigrants who will demand a higher set wage which would encourage employers to seek workers who are willing to work at the past set wage. This is the argument of some who don't want amnesty before solving our border problem. They draw parallels to when a similar form of amnesty was given in the 80s. It's not a flood, but the trickle that resulted to today's problem that they are worrying about.
Proposed Immigration Bill? How much is the bill that immigrants owe the American taxpayer? I think the immigrants should have to pay up or they will be evicted.
How much is the bill that American taxpayers owe immigrants? You know, all the cheap housing and construction we get? The cheap food that is a direct result of illegal labor? Are you willing to pay back the tens of thousands of dollars you've saved on goods & services because of illegal immigrants? Or do you just look at one side of the equation and play the fear card and blame illegals for it all?
Today, immigrants harvest our crops, care for our children, and own small businesses. They serve with pride in our armed forces – 70,000 in all. At this very moment, many are risking their lives for America in Iraq and Afghanistan Finally, they have to get in line for their green cards behind everyone else who has been waiting to come here legally.
It's official Bush is now officially a lame duck. His only domestic initiative just went down in flames. Republicans block Immigration bill. -- WASHINGTON - The Senate drove a stake Thursday through President Bush's plan to legalize millions of unlawful immigrants, likely postponing major action on immigration until after the 2008 elections. The bill's supporters fell 14 votes short of the 60 needed to limit debate and clear the way for final passage of the legislation, which critics assailed as offering amnesty to illegal immigrants. The vote was 46 to 53 in favor of limiting the debate. Senators in both parties said the issue is so volatile that Congress is highly unlikely to revisit it this fall or next year, when the presidential election will increasingly dominate American politics. A similar effort collapsed in the Congress last year, and the House has not bothered with an immigration bill this year, awaiting Senate action. The vote was a stinging setback for Bush, who advocated the bill as an imperfect but necessary fix of current immigration practices in which many illegal immigrants use forged documents or lapsed visas to live and work in the United States. It was a victory for Republican conservatives who strongly criticized the bill's provisions that would have established pathways to lawful status for many of the estimated 12 million illegal immigrants. They were aided by talk radio and TV hosts who repeatedly attacked the bill and urged listeners to flood Congress with calls, faxes and e-mails. http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070628...igration_18;_ylt=Asykw4ANhjkvCAL2bg4At1MGw_IE
It isn't fear, just following the rules in place. Why should one group of immigrants get amnesty? How about they pay back all the free medical care and schooling for their children. Either you have laws or you don't. The wipe the slate clean approach didn't work back in the 80's or maybe you just have to wipe the slate clean every 20 years.
We got two problems. 1. How to stop people illegally immigrating to the US by crossing the souther borders. 2. What to do with 12 million illegal immigrants who are here already. The only way to solve question number 1 is to build a fence or more border patrol. The second, there are two options that the senate cannot just agree on. Republicans want enforcement of the law. Dems are for amnesty. To me the most feasible is the latter. To enforce the law mean that we have to find these 12 million people and deport them. How much this will cost? billions. We do we get th funds? No idea. Now the amnesty solution will create enough funds to be used for border control ( fence and patrol). The problem with legalizing these 12 million illegal is with the current law, they can petition their siblings, parents and bring them all here, and that's bad. So there is a provision to stop chain migration by not allowing siblings and parents to be petitioned, only nuclear family member. Fair enough.
Ladies and Gentlemen, the Lame Duck. <object width="425" height="350"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/KH2QB7p7drQ"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/KH2QB7p7drQ" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="350"></embed></object>
