We're a little past the 4th and we're all done blowing up our hands in a blaze of glory celebrating the good ol' red, white and blue. So let's focus on them damn illegals again! This time, it's all about getting non-illegals to actually work for shit pay.. I have no idea what the hell the concept of this is, but it's a fantastic thing..
TAKE OUR JOBS
There are two issues facing our nation--high unemployment and undocumented people in the workforce--that many Americans believe are related.
Missing from the debate on both issues is an honest recognition that the food we all eat - at home, in restaurants and workplace cafeterias (including those in the Capitol) - comes to us from the labor of undocumented farm workers.
Agriculture in the United States is dependent on an immigrant workforce. Three-quarters of all crop workers working in American agriculture were born outside the United States. According to government statistics, since the late 1990s, at least 50% of the crop workers have not been authorized to work legally in the United States.
We are a nation in denial about our food supply. As a result the UFW has initiated the "Take Our Jobs" campaign.
Farm workers are ready to train citizens and legal residents who wish to replace them in the field, we will use our knowledge and staff to help connect the unemployed with farm employers. Just fill out the form to the right and continue on to the request for job application.
Bu-bu-but my business model doesn't work if I have to pay my laborers a living wage!
-Every American Employer
Clear proof that American agriculture needs more subsidies. Even then, while I don't have the link I do remember reading somewhere that even if you double the wage of a certain kind of agricultural worker (maybe strawberries?) it would only raise the price in to the consumer by a few cents.
Used to be they could just pay something called farm wages that were officially allowed to be like 10% of minimum wage. Oh how times have changed. I'm sure that everyone now a days is just thrilled about being bussed out to a field to detassle corn for $2 an hour 15 hours a day... Yes sir, that's gonna wor- Oh, what's that? It's not? Yeah. Pretty much. I know people who would turn to a life of crime to pay rent before they ever consider detassling corn.
If you like your arugula trucked in from California to be fresh, then some sacrifices are going to have to be made. And while the idea that Farmers are the heart and soul of America seems to be tossed around a lot, it's not being backed up by anything. Especially when they have to depend on subsidized income to stay afloat.
Maybe they should just pay the farmers a huge amount to grow a tiny crop like they do in Japan. Farmers make more than doctors and everyone can enjoy the taste of white rice. Though with our farm fishing dependency, I really wouldn't want to try the worm infested sushi we produce. Maybe we should attempt to keep illegal immigrants away from the workforce, ideally by the means of fully legalizing immigrants.
Do you even realize how much farm equipment of any kind costs these days? I realize that physical labor is strictly a theoretical concept to the average person, but try to imagine how it would be more desirable to employ dozens of undocumented Mexicans at $2 an hour rather than invest in John Deere shit that runs into the hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Let's face reality. They're not going to take those jobs unless they start paying a living wage. That's why they exploit the Mexican immigrants. To them it's more money than they've seen their entire life and it's a quick way to make money to send back home.
The last time I talked to someone about all this, the first thing I heard was "Yeah, how are they going to be able to afford to pay min. wage and the new health care requirements?" To which I replied "Farm work is generally legally exempt from both." Then they just called me a socialist and went about their way.
Then there's always those smart farmers who take advantage of those gullible people. You know the places "Pick your own berries" type of places. Ha, yes. There's a cherry farm near me and they do a tourist thing where you can pay them to pick your own cherries alongside day laborers. Don't white people do the darnedest things?
There was a documentary on the other night about the American working poor and they had a dude who literally sleeps on the street, goes to the gym at 5, work at 7 and then back to sleeping on the street at 5pm. America - what a country.
You ever wonder why salads cost so much? Well, here's a chart.
But still, the obesity epidemic in America is directly related to food subsidies, which is cool because even more tax dollars go to treating the resulting chronic diseases like diabetes and congestive heart failure through medicare and medicaid.
Maybe the answer is just to go full tilt here. Let's subsidize more grains, stop growing any fruits or vegetables. Replace all fruits and veggies with artificial flavoring for our high fructose corn syrup.
This is why I make it a habit to buy produce from old guys sitting besides the road with trucks full of produce. Better stuff, locally produced and you're eliminating the middleman. Sure, they have some sort of pimp making sure they sell the produce, but you gotta pick your pimp's. One's named Jorge and the other, you have a club card for and his name is Ralph's. It also encourages people to grow diversified crops in a 100 mile radius.
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