Posted by
Husker Jeff on Thursday, July 26, 2007 12:45:49 PM
I have had several blog posts about Immigration, and as most of you who read them can tell, I don’t trust the government and want them to prove enforcement before I will move any further in the process. No amnesty or guest worker programs until AFTER the wall is built and AFTER we fine companies who hire illegals.
The other day though, I was listening to an economic issues show on TV and I heard something that made me reconsider my position.
The speaker noted that problem is that due to government action and inaction, we are where we are. We have 15-20 million illegals employed in the country harvesting crops, cutting meat, and doing other important work and unimportant work. I will not accept as others say that these jobs are ones Americans won’t do. Currently though, these are jobs that they are not doing.
The problem lies in the answer to the question “What would happen if all of the illegals were forced to leave?” The gardeners and pool cleaners would not have much impact and the drug dealers and gang members would be a net positive. But what happens when there are suddenly 8-12 million entry level jobs in the food and manufacturing industries? I know that many of you say “who cares”, but lets walk into it a bit.
The first impact would be a lot of harvesting that would not get done. For at least a year or two (until mechanization and other labor sources came in to play), crops would rot in the fields and products would not be made. This would result in immediate massive inflation in food (mainly) but also in some manufactured goods. At the same time, many farmers and small businesses would fail while they try to replace their labor. To hire new people, wages would soar, pulling labor from other industries and raising prices. Finally, as the prices rise and the supply shrinks, it will become more effective to purchase the products off shore. And once the markets have gone off shore, it will become harder to get them to come home again. This will result in permanently shuttered plants and shrinking domestic farms. In short, a national recession (at least) would be the immediate result.
I still don’t trust the politicos. I think they will lie to me and con me in so many ways. I still want them to prove to me that they really mean it this time. But…. I am no longer sure I have the right answer to this problem.
Anyone care to help me?