Illegal workers only take jobs that Americans don't want Bush tells us. I

[patricia92243]

recently had my hardwood floors refinished. There was a total of six foreign workers - only one could even speak English. I can't figure what part of that job an American would not want?

Is it running a sanding machine? Maybe it's pouring and smoothing the finish on it? I just can't figure it out. Maybe it was vacuuming up the sawdust on the floor? Now that is way too hard for an American to do!

Floors have been refinished for years and years. Who did that work before foreign worker took over ? I guess this is all above my little head. I'm sure there some very good answers to all this, because Bush told me it was!!

[SCDem]

1. natural born Americans are just tooo greedy

I guess.... If we would just accept slave wages like foreigners do and those stupid minimum wage laws would go away then Americans could get to work

<sarcasm off>

[displacedtexan]

2. That's how "in touch" Bush* is.

He's not a liar or a crook.
<sarcasm off>

[Scout]

3. my soon to be nephew-in-law

has a business in Arizona ... he hires exclusively Mexican laborers ... not sure if they are illegal or legal immigrants. I asked him why he doesn't hire Americans? He said because the only time he hired an American they stole from him! He claims that Americans don't want to work for the $15/hr wage he offers, the work is too hard and only Mexicans will do it. I don't think he pays any benefits with that $15/hr wage.

Tried arguing with him, but was an out-of-state guest in his home ... couldn't afford a hotel for the balance of my trip!

I found it appalling that he assumes from one bad experience that all Americans will steal (I think that was just a very lame excuse). He's a Repub who doesn't vote. I found out later that he had to have a lot of dental work, and was quite unhappy with the crappy dental insurance he has ... he had to pay quite a bit out of pocket. HAH! serves him right.

[BR_Parkway]

6. I was working with a drywall company

that had great benefits - health/dental/disability insurance, vacation, sick leave AND company ownership thru the ESOP program. Obviously, the commercial construction industry has some major up & downs in hiring and employment due to area demand - but you would have thought this company could have attracted the best people around. We would practically have to beg people to fill out application, at times I had foreman riding to other companies job sites to talk to people to come to our firm -

But people who DIDN'T have a job? They weren't interested, it was demeaning work to them - somewhere along the line it's gotten to be "less than" somehow to do physical labor. I had foremen making $60K a year, average workers making $45K, hell the guy who swept the floors was getting $8/hour. And all were getting benefits after 90 days (180 on the ownership thru the ESOP). Most of the guys working were Hispanic - some who had been lawyers and engineers in their previous countries - yet, the "born in the USA" guys who did apply were drunk, drugged out or recently out of prison. I got so tired of comments in my family about these "foreigers" taking all the good jobs - but the simple fact is that the pampered and spoiled; who had been media glamorized that all the office jobs starting at six figures with a shiny new BWM were the only way to go, just weren't interested.

[KharmaTrain]

4. Let's Try Some Logic...

If we don't need it, then why are we sending it to India to be done cheaper?

The corporate greed we're suffering through is of epic proportions and the complacency of our government (sorry, gotta slam Clinton as well) in bending over backwards to large corporations is the greatest threat to our long-term economic and thus social health.

I still suggest that we fine those who hire illegals in the five, six or seven figures (based on their INVESTOR corporate P/E reports) and taxes on importing labor that would make it very worth their while to keep jobs here.

Eventually the money our corporates are dumping in India will really help this country as the new flow of dollars will give people who've lived in one of the poorest regions of the world a chance at a better life...and eventually (just like in the case of Japan & Korea), the status of the nation will rise and workers will want more money and be more competitive. Sad thing is there will always be another third world country to exploit.

My bets are they've tested the theme of cheap goods are more important that losing jobs and that's gonna be the tactic they're going to stick with...appealing to the selfish who likes buying that $100 TV or computer or SUV or Walmart special over their poor cousin or the slob down the block who lost his job.

Keep in mind the theme of "selfish" in everything the Repugnicans put out.

[mopaul]

5. slavery

i heard bush make that comment last week, mexican immigrant workers, filling the jobs that 'americans can't fill' or some such shit.
what he really means is, we don't mind them coming into our country to do hard labor at the least pay possible, like prisoner chain gangs, and then give them none of the benefits that u.s. workers enjoy, not even citizenship. they are booted out as soon as their work visas expire.

as long as we allow slavery, so that giant corporations can make a few more bucks profit, this battle between classes will continue.
slaves in mexico, china, india, slaves all over the world are busting their asses while we all grow fat and luxurious

[Jim__]

7. Bushit!

Back in the late 70's early 80's I was living in Oregon There was a crackdown on the immigrant workers that picked apples.The orchard owners were saying that the apple crop would rot on the trees. American workers would not do that kind of work. A week later the orchard owners were paying for ads on local radio telling people not to bother to come to the orchards. They already had more help than they could use.

Americans won't do that type of work is just more Republican lies. Put it in the same basket as Bush's misinformed opinion that the only reason people are poor is because they are lazy. Rich Republicans - make that trust fund babies - have no clue as to the financial stresses working class Americans live under, nor the things people will do to relieve that stress

[cryofan]

8. Hey, you're not supposed to point out our politically correct fictions

you're only supposed to point out the GOP politically correct fictions...of wait, that is a GOP politically correct fiction, too.

Well, the fact is that immigration has lowered American wages. Which is why I did not vote in the Dem primary in Texas yesterday--I may want to help get Nader on the ballot, as it appears he may come out against immigration. And if he does, watch the F*CK out, Dem and GOP parties, because Hell Is Coming To Town....

[11 Bravo]

10. If by "Hell is Coming to Town" you mean

that * will be coming back to Washington, you are correct; and that will be Nader's legacy.

[FlaGranny]

9. I was born and raised in a small community

where farming was the only local employment. When I was a kid, in the 40's most of the work was done by local people. Local women worked in the packing houses and fields along with teens, the farmer and his family, and some farm workers from Puerto Rico. By the 50's, the farmers could no longer find enough local people to work on the farms and more and more workers were imported from Puerto Rico. It was actually cheaper at the time to have local workers, because when importing the Puerto Rican workers, the farmers had to provide transportation, housing, and food for them. You will find a rare American willing to pick potatoes, or tomatoes, or strawberries, but it is backbreaking labor. Older persons just can't do it. I've tried my hand at farm work as a teen. Believe me, it's not fun - it involves stooping over or crawling on your hands and knees in the dirt in in the sun in 100 degree weather and/or carrying and loading heavy baskets of produce to trucks. It is the just about the hottest, dirtiest, most backbreaking work you can do. As a work choice, it would be the last choice for most people. The Puerto Ricans no longer do the work - they've found better jobs. The Guatemalans and Mexicans who do it now will no longer want to do it either, if ever they can get good paying jobs in their own countries. Years ago, before the megafarms, the farmer and his family (and maybe some neighbors) did the work themselves, on their small farms.

To sum up, if you've ever done farm labor, you never want to do it again and won't, unless you're starving. At least, not me.

Edit: So, I hate to say it, but I agree with * that there are some jobs most Americans won't do. I believe this is mostly true only for farm labor, though. Certainly not IT and most other work.

[The Backlash Cometh]

11. That is EXACTLY the meme that the Republican sheeple have been

saying about OUTSOURCING!!!! A Republican told me that exact comment on Tuesday! She said that the problem is that Americans DON'T WANT TO DO THE JOBS THAT ARE BEING OUTSOURCED! I told her that Americans do too want to do those jobs. And she said, "What Americans?" And I told her the Americans that had the jobs BEFORE they were outsourced, at the salaries that they were being paid BEFORE they were outsourced.

She said that's the problem, corporations can find other people to do it for cheaper in other countries. And I said, fine, take the tax breaks away from those corporations who outsourced -- they can't have it both ways.

It's fun to see how Republicans shut up when they no longer are debating along meme points. They really don't have creative thoughts of their own.

[Missy Vixen]

12. Floor follies

>There was a total of six foreign workers - only one could even speak English. I can't figure what part of that job an American would not want?<

I was confused as well. We had Pergo installed several months ago, and like those who worked on your floor, one of the workers could speak broken English. The rest spoke Spanish. It was very difficult to communicate with them at all.

I am happy that these folks have a job. At the same time, I'm wondering how many are legally in the USA, and why those we know that have been out of work for quite some time could not have gotten these jobs.

Julie