Labor Lost
Anytime there is a vulnerable labor class, business will exploit it. I was reminded of this while visiting the Oklahoma Museum of History. When desperate “Okies” left their dusty homes for better—that is, any—opportunities, they were at the mercy of unscrupulous employers with no enforceable rights. Today’s illegal immigrants have no legal status to sue, to unionize or even to collect a paycheck for that matter.
Far too often, pundits decry that only Right wing extremists oppose illegal immigration. Let’s be clear: most Americans oppose illegal immigration but for practical rather than ideological reasons. While I celebrate the vibrancy that different cultures add to the American melting pot, the overwhelming number of illegal immigrants that have been a detriment to American workers.
Since the last attempt at comprehensive immigration reform in 1986 (an act signed by Ronald Reagan, by the way), Americans have given business their tacit acceptance of their “don’t ask, don’t tell” hiring policies. “Wait,” one might say, “I never wanted or accepted all these illegals,” when that person didn’t complain about paying a woman $5 an hour cash to clean their homes, and didn’t balk at paying .99 for a hamburger. “They do the jobs that Americans don’t want to do,” is the tired justification that always fails to complete the thought, “…for what businesses want to pay.” Post a wage of $18/hour to pick celery and American workers will line up down the block.
So, let’s separate the Tom Tancredo’s of the world from those of us who want to end illegal immigration and replace it with a sensible immigration policy that benefits American citizens, businesses and the imported workers themselves.
Our country was built on the backs and brains of immigrants, illegal and otherwise. As we aging boomers make that whining transition into our dotage, we will need them more than ever.
European countries with strict immigration policies are already suffering from economic stagnation from population declines. Even amid recent economic booms that saw the world’s economy growing at a 4% clip, Europe registered an anemic 1.5%. According to some economists, the EU’s unfunded pension liabilities total 285% of GDP. They will need massive increases in their already staggering tax burden to fulfill social welfare promises to aging pensioners.
America’s economic engine has no reverse gear. We must grow to survive, and one can easily predict that self-centered boomers will not quietly accept a reduction in benefits or tax increases. Yet there won’t be enough workers left to support our Social Security and Medicare obligations, and America’s younger generation seems incapable of doing anything more productive than networking, socially, that is. The only solution is to welcome a new wave of young, ambitious foreigners to fill our labor gap.
Close the gates. Build a wall. Do whatever it takes to keep foreign residents from entering our country without proper status. But leave out the welcome mats in new Ellis Islands so that the world’s best and brightest can prove that the American Dream is still and will remain…alive.
Happy Labor Day. Now, get back to work.
