Housing Bubble, credit bubble, public planning, land use, zoning and transportation in the exurban environment. Specific criticism of smart growth, neotradtional, forms based, new urbanism and other top down planner schemes to increase urban extent and density. Ventura County, California specific examples.
Friday, June 08, 2007
Crops will Rot in the Fields
Yep. Tis' true, there is no price, no person who will pick crops, no matter how hungry, how desperate. That is UNLESS we change our immigration laws. I heard it on NPR. It must be true.
Second of all, The image reminds me of the signs we saw in Burlington VT which we found quite amusing. They had a similar silhouette but the text said "SLOW CHILDREN". Verb or adjective?
I wouldn't believe a damm thing I hear on that commie radio network. The 'kwa needs its regular supply of slave labor, and part of the overall plan is to keep bringing in large contingents of muds to keep the wages down.
Commie network? Last time I checked Public Radio and PBS were being overseen by a partisan Bushie.
As for calling people muds...get over yourself. I'd call you a racist, but what's the point. I don't want them to have amnesty but they are human beings. Shit.
As time goes on, this blog turns more and more into tedious average-middle-America ranting. Rob has utterly standard, banal middle-aged WASP opinions. He's the sort of person who thinks what the media tells him to think, while simultaneously congratulating himself under the delusion that he's some kind of free thinker, because he manages to find one radio source that disagrees with him. I actually agree with most of what Rob has said, but reading yet another blog from yet another beer-gutted lower-middle class I-worked-hard-all-my-life-nobody-ever-gave-me-nuthin' armchair know-nothing know-it-all is way too tedious, so I'm out of here.
At 4:19 PM, Anonymous said... As time goes on, this blog turns more and more into tedious average-middle-America ranting. Rob has utterly standard, banal middle-aged WASP opinions. He's the sort of person who thinks what the media tells him to think, while simultaneously congratulating himself under the delusion that he's some kind of free thinker, because he manages to find one radio source that disagrees with him. I actually agree with most of what Rob has said, but reading yet another blog from yet another beer-gutted lower-middle class I-worked-hard-all-my-life-nobody-ever-gave-me-nuthin' armchair know-nothing know-it-all is way too tedious, so I'm out of here.
You were ever here? So sorry we missed that. Carry on. Oh and it is/was upper middle class Catholic with several incredible breaks. Then again Edison said most people don't recognise opportunity because it arrives dressed in overalls and looking like work.
It's all about new voters. Whichever party forces this through thinks all those former illegals and their families will vote for them.
Bingo
It also partially disenfranchises (weakens the voting power) of the existing citizenry...!!
@Anonymous Commie network? Last time I checked Public Radio and PBS were being overseen by a partisan Bushie. Maybe in your country, but around here, 1st amendment rules.. PBS is reliant on donations... Joke on PBS is: Good programming interrupted every 10 minutes with requests for donations...
@Anonymous ..I-worked-hard-all-my-life-nobody-ever-gave-me-nuthin' armchair know-nothing know-it-all is way too tedious, so I'm out of here. Don't let the door hit you on the backside TROLL!!
The PTB likes the illegal immies for many reasons. Think about it, I bet you can come up with ten good reasons off the top of your head. It always cracks me up when people who think they're Republicans complain about immigration. I want to say, you're not a Republican, you just think you're a Republican.
Germany realizes the importance of low skilled workers this year. Since Poland's adherence to the EU last year, polish workers can go work anywhere in Europe and prefer going to other countries paying better wages....Now Germany has to turn to other low wage countries that are not part of the EU.....yet!....to fill agricultural, seasonal jobs.
All this DESPITE a German unemployment rate of >12%. Is it that German unemployed don't want to do these type of jobs because they suck? Or is it the extensive social system that makes these low paying jobs unattractive? There are arguments for both sides.....
The US situation is not skewed by the extensive social system but I still wonder if many legal workers would get into (cheap) landscaping and house cleaning business at the same wages to replace illegals. Would people still spend as much money money on all these services if they increased by 50% in price ????? I doubt it....
For arguments sake let’s pretend that they are right and only slaves I mean immigrants can do the work. Then we have machines do the work. This is not Disney fantasy stuff either we have machines that can pick any crop imaginable. Let’s repeat that, there are machines that can pick any crop you can think of, if we don’t have one build we can alter one of the existing ones and do it with that. These machines cost money though; $500,000-$2,000,000 and farms need to be modified in some cases to accommodate them. Why buy a machine when you have millions of slaves that work for pennies on the dollar, that you can break their back for 10 years and Uncle Sam will take care of them in the emergency rooms once you are done with them.
When I was a kid (JrHigh/High School 1970's) I worked in the fields. We were all middle-class white kids and most were athletes/skiers. It was great, we actually got paid to stay in shape during summer vacation (ski equipment and season passes weren't cheap).
We earned double the minimum wage because we were better than the competing migrant crews. Farmers used to tell us that one pass through their fields by our crew did the same job as two (or more) passes by a migrant crew. We got paid more but were cheaper for the farmer.
It was hard work, very long days, and six days a week, but the life-lessons learned were/are priceless (murstercard plug). Casey could benefit from a summer like that...
Casey really hates me and I doubt he'll post this but here it goes for posterity's sake (if he doesn't post it):
Ah come on Casey, ol' boy...I call b.s.
While I may not be a CPA, you are now in my realm of knowledge and experience - publishing, entertainment, et al. Puh-lease with this nonsense.
You restarted the blog because you have nothing else. You need attention like an addict needs his drugs. No REAL publisher, be it a major pub house or an indie, would care if you shut the blog down. In fact, it may be smart, marketing wise due to the fact more people could/would take notice of your book after the blog was long gone. No, not you....more proof that my points in our little discussion a few weeks back keep proving me right and you wrong.
Folks...a REAL publisher doesn't sign deals and give advance money without some kind of full or a partially completed manuscript. They also like you to have a literary agent/manager/attorney as they do not like to be solicited from people they don't know. Casey, you aren't that big for anybody to advance money to on a pitch or even to give you the time of day...sorry we don't buy it. No publisher I know of would care if you told the world the name or not. THAT is how other publishers know you are spoken for and the world knows you are working with them.
Now if you received money from some guy/gal who wants to take your work and get it published themselves, that might be believable EXCEPT why do they care if you shut the blog down? You did damage to it the minute you shut it down.
Face it kid, you are a child playing in a man's world.
Blame Cesar Chavez and Dolores Huerta for mau-mauing the USDA into shutting down its mechanization research program in the '70s. At least for the next several decades, Brazil can easily undercut us when it comes to labor-intensive fruit and vegetable farming. If American fruit and vegetable farming is gonna compete, it needs to become more capital-intensive, because most of the world is a whole lot more labor-abundant than we are.
If the "slow food" hippies want produce that's too fragile for mechanization, they can pay extra for it.
@ha38329 Social security is a PONZI scheme. They always fail. If you want illegals in to pay for your social security, realize that there will be no-one around to pay for your childrens social security.. and the burden will be higher by an entire generation.
Hey Haterz™! Apologies for OT koi (a kind of fish); this is just a friendly reminder that it’s Friday night and another opportunity to play 6 Degrees of Casey Serin™ again!
At 5:59 PM, BJ said... Social security is a PONZI scheme. Yes, but I figure I'm all set if we can get it to last until 2060. As for after that I suspect I won't care.
New Orleans is awash in Mexican laborers who have no extensive training. Many of these men are making $10-$12/hour. The work is nasty and dirty.
Houston is awash in young men from New Orleans who have no extensive training. Many of these men do not work even though there are "help wanted" signs everywhere. They would rather participate in certain other activities.
Now if I was young and unemployed and had no training, I'd take the sh!tty $10-$12/hr job in New Orleans cleaning up debris and stripping houses, rather than relying on government cash and free housing. In fact, I worked a series of sh!tty low-pay jobs for years when I was in college. I paid my own way and lived in boarding houses. Unlike most college kids, I graduated with no debt.
I also hear stories about slaughterhouses being raided, the illegals getting booted out, and Americans lining up for the jobs.
So what should I conclude? There are many conflicting facts. Americans line up in one part of the US for sh!tty jobs, in another part of the country no Americans will do the work even though the pay is very livable for a single person.
meanwhile, millions of skilled legal immigrants have been sitting on their student visas just waiting for America to get its shit together. one i know well, a nurse, a Registered Nurse with two Bachelor's degrees, attends community college, and Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer both warn Congress that H1B is essential to their continued American presence, while America debates about illegals. it has been yet another American failure to appraise its needs.
meanwhile, millions of skilled legal immigrants have been sitting on their student visas just waiting for America to get its shit together.
This chaps my ass royally. We should be encouraging skilled, educated, monied people to move here. Bring in more entreprenuers. Real entreprenuers, not dumbass speculators like Casey. This raises our standard of living by creating jobs and increasing the tax base. Politicians are such stupid shits.
As time goes on, this blog turns more and more into tedious average-middle-America ranting. Rob has utterly standard, banal middle-aged WASP opinions. He's the sort of person who thinks what the media tells him to think, while simultaneously congratulating himself under the delusion that he's some kind of free thinker, because he manages to find one radio source that disagrees with him. I actually agree with most of what Rob has said, but reading yet another blog from yet another beer-gutted lower-middle class I-worked-hard-all-my-life-nobody-ever-gave-me-nuthin' armchair know-nothing know-it-all is way too tedious, so I'm out of here.
BE GONE TROLL! I DONT COME HERE FOR THE ANGRY WHITE MAN RANTS. I COME HERE FOR THE CAMERA REVIEWS!
Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer both warn Congress that H1B is essential to their continued American presence
Yeah, right. Gate accepted an honorary degree from 'vard today. What's wrong with this picture? Gates loves the business environment but has no desire to sustain it. Sure H was god for him and even good for his future employees but not the salaries going forward. He's the anti-Henry Ford. Ford for all his faults paid his workers enough to establish an economy that could afford his products. Gates et al are interested in investing anyplace except the place that raised them up.
H1B is essential to their continued American presence Except when foreign companies use the H1B program to their advantage! If they bring semi-skilled workers to the US and have them trained here only to return home then we haven't gained anything.
I manage a software development team at a large international company (we do scientific and engineering applications). We have repeatedly tried the foreign worker "thing", mostly because we have trouble finding qualified US natives who want to stay in the midwest. I have a friend who writes firmware for medical equipment company who has had similar problems (also in the midwest).
Our experience has been horrible, in the last few years we have hired five Chinese and three Indian programmers, all but one Chinese and one Indian have left...why? "We ask too much", "expect too much", and "want too many hours" from these precious little foreign snowflakes. Pay was never an issue, all have given up the green-cards we got for them to return to their home countries. The Indians were at least considerate and offered to continue through a transition with their replacements, the Chinese have all been arrogant Casey-like assholes (we will never again hire a native Chinese).
We are finding that we are better off hiring native graduates (who may not be from the top 10% of their class) and providing them with further training and incentives. Works for us, not sure what Bill's problem might be...but I suspect he's looking for a loophole to reduce expenses...Vista has not been as huge as he was hoping.
I think whenever an H1B visa is approved, the company must buy the return ticket. I'm tired of us letting people stay after they've been laid off, the company's gone bankrupt, etc. Or better yet, just hire Americans.
All this DESPITE a German unemployment rate of >12%. Is it that German unemployed don't want to do these type of jobs because they suck? Or is it the extensive social system that makes these low paying jobs unattractive? There are arguments for both sides.....
I lived in Germany for years, and at that time there were hordes of Portuguese construction workers. They lived in 20-foot containers with bunk beds in 'em and windows cut out. And at that time I had German friends quit good jobs just because they didn't like them.
The reason? If the German held out for six months with no income, he could get the government to pay to train him in a more lucrative IT specialty (e.g. SAP) than the one he left. Quite popular with some of the younger Germans, less popular, I imagine, with their parents.
As for the Portuguese, better wages and more steady work than back home, though I have to say, when I saw them out there setting rebar in the mud and sleet, I was sure happy to be on the northern European end of that deal.
Now it has perhaps shifted to the Polish to do the real work. It took decades of socialism and unemployment bennies at 2/3 of your income to ruin the German work ethic, but new generations learn very quickly.
To Lou Minatti: I have many acquaintances in New Orleans, some of whom preferred unemployment to actually lifting a hammer or ripping sheetrock. Sad lazy ba5+ards, but I guess that lackadaisical attitude is what made the city what it is/was/will be.
There's a lot of work down there, and yes, it's hard, but nobody should whine that there's *no* job for them. Sorry about the influx to Houston, dude. New Orleans was pretty much ruined crime-wise before Katrina; now two cities are.
My company hires a fair number of them. The best, in my opinions, are English/Irish/Australians, no surprise. They come here, assimilate, want to stay, pay taxes, and their kids turn out more or less just like us (to their dismay, perhaps). Next might be Germans. I have no problem at all with hordes of them coming over.
Indians half seem to want to go back, along with their skills, and compete with outsourcing, but good workers in the meantime. Koreans stay, Viets as well; Russians likewise in our experience, but not with our firm. Chinese are inscrutable, out for whatever is their best deal, best I can tell. These groups don't assimilate as well, perhaps one more generation needed.
And believe me, we're not paying them crap wages either, but they are in fact specialists and deserve it. We sure wouldn't wait the months (or never) it takes to get them here if we could find a Yank to do it, even if we could train him in 6 months, which we cannot.
And for the immigrants' part, most of them hire lots of Americans when they buy houses and cars, get them fixed up, eat out, and basically spend most of what they make. Most of what we pay them goes right back into the DC Metro economy before the month is over.
That's the kind of people we want here, if you ask me, and though I might have a different perspective, being a (legal!) immigrant worker in several places during my life, I'd like the see the US H1B quota raised a full order of magnitude.
As another WASP, I'm offended by 4:19Anon. What is wrong with having traditional values? I'd like to post a little more but it's time for 'All in the Family'.
>> I'd like the see the US H1B quota raised a full order of magnitude.
Then, people wonder why no one goes into engineering anymore. With that attitude, why should they?
I'd like to see the H1B quota at 0. Let companies pay decent wages, and guess what? the market responds -- people go into the field, and labor needs are meant.
I really doubt your needs are THAT specific that you could not find an American willing to do the job. Just not at the crap wages you want to pay.
hurtme said: Our experience has been horrible, in the last few years we have hired five Chinese and three Indian programmers, all but one Chinese and one Indian have left...why? "We ask too much", "expect too much", and "want too many hours" from these precious little foreign snowflakes.
I'm shocked. I thought these folks (esp the Chinese) were supposed to be such hard, eager workers. The Chinese economy is certainly booming.
Regarding the highway sign on this image on this topic: do any of you remember about 10 - 20 years ago where that sign had the man wearing a sombrero and the little girl literally flying in the air being pulled by the mother?
Was that my bad memory or did the PC police change the sign to remove the obvious stereotype?
"New Orleans is awash in Mexican laborers who have no extensive training. Many of these men are making $10-$12/hour. The work is nasty and dirty." That is because the contractors who were chosen by the U.S. government to clean up New Orleans wouldn't hire residents; they brought in the cheap labor so they wouldn't have to pay as much. In fact, many of the Louisiana-based businesses that would have hired folks from N.O. tried to help were cut out of the equation by outside contractors that were brought in by FEMA.
As a person with relatives and friends on the ground in N.O., try to look beyond what your Government wants you to believe, OK?
Sorry for the killer URLs, but I'm in kind of a rush. Lou, I'm not here to debate you, just to say that there's more to this story than meets the eye. The state of Louisiana and other Gulf Coast states had enough infrastructure standing to bring N.O. back with N.O. people.
Throwing a bunch of vague links doesn't prove your assertion. The Yahoo link is broken, the NYT pages links to dozens of unrelated articles, none of which confirm your statement, the NewStandard website is defunct and says nothing about your statement. The only evidence you could provide was a caller to O'Reilly. That's heresay, not evidence. Meanwhile,
"This winter, FEMA put up over 300 Hurricane Katrina evacuees in New York City hotels. Almost all of them have gone back to their lives, their jobs. But not Theon Johnson. He’s currently sprawled out watching Halloween 5 on one of the two full-size beds in his room at the JFK Airport Holiday Inn. He is one of four evacuees still living in a hotel in the city."
http://nymag.com/news/intelligencer/17161/
Only one day after Hurricane Katrina tore through the Gulf Coast, Tranquilino Jimenez already had a job offer. An undocumented immigrant from Mexico, he set off from his home in Mobile, Ala., to join a convoy of 80 other workers hired to rip out soggy carpets and tear down Sheetrock from Biloxi, Miss., to Port Arthur, Texas. He eventually settled in New Orleans, where he's cleaning up schools in St. Bernard Parish, east of the city. Earning $12 per hour, Jimenez, 40, works 10 hours a day, seven days a week, retiring at night to a dingy motel room crammed with four other Latino laborers. Asked how long he plans to stay in New Orleans, he replies, "As long as there's work."
Yep. Tis' true, there is no price, no person who will pick crops, no matter how hungry, how desperate. That is UNLESS we change our immigration laws. I heard it on NPR. It must be true.
56 comments:
First of all, I don't believe your sources.
NR
Second of all,
The image reminds me of the signs we saw in Burlington VT which we found quite amusing. They had a similar silhouette but the text said "SLOW CHILDREN". Verb or adjective?
NR
So,
we should give illegals citixenship while making it more difficult to enter legally. That's guaranteed to reduce illegal immigration -- for sure!
It's all about new voters. Whichever party forces this through thinks all those former illegals and their families will vote for them.
First & Moist on a Friday night?
Even if not, remember that moisture & crops are attributed to the sun.
Illegal Immigrants, 20 million, of them can prop up our housing market, right.
Sarcasm switch off
and MURST!!!!!!
rats, and crap.
I wouldn't believe a damm thing I hear on that commie radio network. The 'kwa needs its regular supply of slave labor, and part of the overall plan is to keep bringing in large contingents of muds to keep the wages down.
Commie network? Last time I checked Public Radio and PBS were being overseen by a partisan Bushie.
As for calling people muds...get over yourself. I'd call you a racist, but what's the point. I don't want them to have amnesty but they are human beings. Shit.
As time goes on, this blog turns more and more into tedious average-middle-America ranting. Rob has utterly standard, banal middle-aged WASP opinions. He's the sort of person who thinks what the media tells him to think, while simultaneously congratulating himself under the delusion that he's some kind of free thinker, because he manages to find one radio source that disagrees with him. I actually agree with most of what Rob has said, but reading yet another blog from yet another beer-gutted lower-middle class I-worked-hard-all-my-life-nobody-ever-gave-me-nuthin' armchair know-nothing know-it-all is way too tedious, so I'm out of here.
At 4:19 PM, Anonymous said...
As time goes on, this blog turns more and more into tedious average-middle-America ranting. Rob has utterly standard, banal middle-aged WASP opinions. He's the sort of person who thinks what the media tells him to think, while simultaneously congratulating himself under the delusion that he's some kind of free thinker, because he manages to find one radio source that disagrees with him. I actually agree with most of what Rob has said, but reading yet another blog from yet another beer-gutted lower-middle class I-worked-hard-all-my-life-nobody-ever-gave-me-nuthin' armchair know-nothing know-it-all is way too tedious, so I'm out of here.
You were ever here? So sorry we missed that. Carry on. Oh and it is/was upper middle class Catholic with several incredible breaks. Then again Edison said most people don't recognise opportunity because it arrives dressed in overalls and looking like work.
Watching the Space Shuttle launch,
from my balcony.
3 minutes to lift off.
@Whoever
It's all about new voters. Whichever party forces this through thinks all those former illegals and their families will vote for them.
Bingo
It also partially disenfranchises (weakens the voting power) of the existing citizenry...!!
@Anonymous
Commie network? Last time I checked Public Radio and PBS were being overseen by a partisan Bushie.
Maybe in your country, but around here, 1st amendment rules.. PBS is reliant on donations...
Joke on PBS is: Good programming interrupted every 10 minutes with requests for donations...
@Anonymous
..I-worked-hard-all-my-life-nobody-ever-gave-me-nuthin' armchair know-nothing know-it-all is way too tedious, so I'm out of here.
Don't let the door hit you on the backside TROLL!!
Just saw the shuttle launch... one of the few reasons that make living in Orlando tolerable.
The PTB likes the illegal immies for many reasons. Think about it, I bet you can come up with ten good reasons off the top of your head. It always cracks me up when people who think they're Republicans complain about immigration. I want to say, you're not a Republican, you just think you're a Republican.
Flying Monkey,
I had the opportunity to be in the area when a shuttle was scheduled for launch so I drove over to the cape to see what it was all about.
The launch was incredible.......
You might be a republican, answer these questions to find out:
1. Do you have a maid or a cook?
2. Have you ever made the following statement: "You can't make an omelete without breaking a few eggs".
3. Did you donate to Bob Dole's presidential election campaign?
4. Do you have a Congressman or Senator on your speed dial?
5. Have you ever attended a $1000 a plate fundraiser?
6. Did your kids have a nanny?
7. Does someone other than yourself drive/fly you to work?
8. Do you have access to a private jet any time you want one?
9. Do you have secret bank accounts in numerous foreign countries?
10. Is your name on any large buildings?
If you answered yes to five or more of the previous questions then congrats!
Germany realizes the importance of low skilled workers this year. Since Poland's adherence to the EU last year, polish workers can go work anywhere in Europe and prefer going to other countries paying better wages....Now Germany has to turn to other low wage countries that are not part of the EU.....yet!....to fill agricultural, seasonal jobs.
All this DESPITE a German unemployment rate of >12%. Is it that German unemployed don't want to do these type of jobs because they suck? Or is it the extensive social system that makes these low paying jobs unattractive? There are arguments for both sides.....
The US situation is not skewed by the extensive social system but I still wonder if many legal workers would get into (cheap) landscaping and house cleaning business at the same wages to replace illegals. Would people still spend as much money money on all these services if they increased by 50% in price ????? I doubt it....
Article
@ Dude and Seb,
Yep, hope the astro-nuts are not going to go koo-koo when they get home from a space luv triangle.
Ain't I a stinker.
No, really, hey Seb. I am Downtown Orlando!
Dude, you were lucky that the lift off happened while you were here. Many are canceled, over and over.
Side note; I actually saw the Columbia explosion.
Anyway, the weather today was picture perfect for space shuttle viewing and pool side reading, whilst not at EN.
Blue sky, not cloud one.
Nice.
LOL, NPR is FOS.
For arguments sake let’s pretend that they are right and only slaves I mean immigrants can do the work. Then we have machines do the work. This is not Disney fantasy stuff either we have machines that can pick any crop imaginable. Let’s repeat that, there are machines that can pick any crop you can think of, if we don’t have one build we can alter one of the existing ones and do it with that. These machines cost money though; $500,000-$2,000,000 and farms need to be modified in some cases to accommodate them. Why buy a machine when you have millions of slaves that work for pennies on the dollar, that you can break their back for 10 years and Uncle Sam will take care of them in the emergency rooms once you are done with them.
Harvest Machines:
http://www.history.com/media.do?mediaType=All&searchTerm=%22Modern+Marvels+Farming%22&action=search
When I was a kid (JrHigh/High School 1970's) I worked in the fields. We were all middle-class white kids and most were athletes/skiers. It was great, we actually got paid to stay in shape during summer vacation (ski equipment and season passes weren't cheap).
We earned double the minimum wage because we were better than the competing migrant crews. Farmers used to tell us that one pass through their fields by our crew did the same job as two (or more) passes by a migrant crew. We got paid more but were cheaper for the farmer.
It was hard work, very long days, and six days a week, but the life-lessons learned were/are priceless (murstercard plug). Casey could benefit from a summer like that...
-RB
Casey really hates me and I doubt he'll post this but here it goes for posterity's sake (if he doesn't post it):
Ah come on Casey, ol' boy...I call b.s.
While I may not be a CPA, you are now in my realm of knowledge and experience - publishing, entertainment, et al. Puh-lease with this nonsense.
You restarted the blog because you have nothing else. You need attention like an addict needs his drugs. No REAL publisher, be it a major pub house or an indie, would care if you shut the blog down. In fact, it may be smart, marketing wise due to the fact more people could/would take notice of your book after the blog was long gone. No, not you....more proof that my points in our little discussion a few weeks back keep proving me right and you wrong.
Folks...a REAL publisher doesn't sign deals and give advance money without some kind of full or a partially completed manuscript. They also like you to have a literary agent/manager/attorney as they do not like to be solicited from people they don't know. Casey, you aren't that big for anybody to advance money to on a pitch or even to give you the time of day...sorry we don't buy it. No publisher I know of would care if you told the world the name or not. THAT is how other publishers know you are spoken for and the world knows you are working with them.
Now if you received money from some guy/gal who wants to take your work and get it published themselves, that might be believable EXCEPT why do they care if you shut the blog down? You did damage to it the minute you shut it down.
Face it kid, you are a child playing in a man's world.
Blame Cesar Chavez and Dolores Huerta for mau-mauing the USDA into shutting down its mechanization research program in the '70s. At least for the next several decades, Brazil can easily undercut us when it comes to labor-intensive fruit and vegetable farming. If American fruit and vegetable farming is gonna compete, it needs to become more capital-intensive, because most of the world is a whole lot more labor-abundant than we are.
If the "slow food" hippies want produce that's too fragile for mechanization, they can pay extra for it.
Without immigrants who will feed the Koi? (a kind of fish) Who will clean the pools infested with algae mostly caused by the sun ?
IMHO, we need a rational plan for legal immigration. I want someone around to pay for my social security!
@ ha38349 @ 5:47 p.m.
"I want someone around to pay for my social security!"
Who says they'll pay for your (or my) social security?
@ha38329
Social security is a PONZI scheme. They always fail. If you want illegals in to pay for your social security, realize that there will be no-one around to pay for your childrens social security.. and the burden will be higher by an entire generation.
Amnesty for illegals is a method to ensure plenty of cheap labor on the low end is available for when inflation really kicks in.
The H1B program is to ensure plenty of labor on the high end.
Is there going to be a fraudcast tonight?
Hey Haterz™!
Apologies for OT koi (a kind of fish); this is just a friendly reminder that it’s Friday night and another opportunity to play 6 Degrees of Casey Serin™ again!
At 5:59 PM, BJ said...
Social security is a PONZI scheme.
Yes, but I figure I'm all set if we can get it to last until 2060. As for after that I suspect I won't care.
Not sure why, when I see "scooter", I visualize a dog with worms scooting across the yard.
-RB
Here is what I know:
New Orleans is awash in Mexican laborers who have no extensive training. Many of these men are making $10-$12/hour. The work is nasty and dirty.
Houston is awash in young men from New Orleans who have no extensive training. Many of these men do not work even though there are "help wanted" signs everywhere. They would rather participate in certain other activities.
Now if I was young and unemployed and had no training, I'd take the sh!tty $10-$12/hr job in New Orleans cleaning up debris and stripping houses, rather than relying on government cash and free housing. In fact, I worked a series of sh!tty low-pay jobs for years when I was in college. I paid my own way and lived in boarding houses. Unlike most college kids, I graduated with no debt.
I also hear stories about slaughterhouses being raided, the illegals getting booted out, and Americans lining up for the jobs.
So what should I conclude? There are many conflicting facts. Americans line up in one part of the US for sh!tty jobs, in another part of the country no Americans will do the work even though the pay is very livable for a single person.
meanwhile, millions of skilled legal immigrants have been sitting on their student visas just waiting for America to get its shit together. one i know well, a nurse, a Registered Nurse with two Bachelor's degrees, attends community college, and Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer both warn Congress that H1B is essential to their continued American presence, while America debates about illegals. it has been yet another American failure to appraise its needs.
meanwhile, millions of skilled legal immigrants have been sitting on their student visas just waiting for America to get its shit together.
This chaps my ass royally. We should be encouraging skilled, educated, monied people to move here. Bring in more entreprenuers. Real entreprenuers, not dumbass speculators like Casey. This raises our standard of living by creating jobs and increasing the tax base. Politicians are such stupid shits.
Ask not what your country can do for you, but what can brown do for you.
4:19 PM, Anonymous said...
As time goes on, this blog turns more and more into tedious average-middle-America ranting. Rob has utterly standard, banal middle-aged WASP opinions. He's the sort of person who thinks what the media tells him to think, while simultaneously congratulating himself under the delusion that he's some kind of free thinker, because he manages to find one radio source that disagrees with him. I actually agree with most of what Rob has said, but reading yet another blog from yet another beer-gutted lower-middle class I-worked-hard-all-my-life-nobody-ever-gave-me-nuthin' armchair know-nothing know-it-all is way too tedious, so I'm out of here.
BE GONE TROLL!
I DONT COME HERE FOR THE ANGRY WHITE MAN RANTS.
I COME HERE FOR THE CAMERA REVIEWS!
Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer both warn Congress that H1B is essential to their continued American presence
Yeah, right. Gate accepted an honorary degree from 'vard today. What's wrong with this picture? Gates loves the business environment but has no desire to sustain it. Sure H was god for him and even good for his future employees but not the salaries going forward. He's the anti-Henry Ford. Ford for all his faults paid his workers enough to establish an economy that could afford his products. Gates et al are interested in investing anyplace except the place that raised them up.
A bit off topic but - as a Haterezz for justice my heart was vindicated today - Paris Hilton is back in jail! That's hot!
When will we see the day Snowflake gets his turn - that will be moist and allgood!
H1B is essential to their continued American presence
Except when foreign companies use the H1B program to their advantage! If they bring semi-skilled workers to the US and have them trained here only to return home then we haven't gained anything.
"A bit off topic but - as a Haterezz for justice my heart was vindicated today - Paris Hilton is back in jail! That's hot! "
Most definitely. I hope she offs herself.
Rob-Dawg, you may find this funny:
My Poopy Diaper Childhood
I manage a software development team at a large international company (we do scientific and engineering applications). We have repeatedly tried the foreign worker "thing", mostly because we have trouble finding qualified US natives who want to stay in the midwest. I have a friend who writes firmware for medical equipment company who has had similar problems (also in the midwest).
Our experience has been horrible, in the last few years we have hired five Chinese and three Indian programmers, all but one Chinese and one Indian have left...why? "We ask too much", "expect too much", and "want too many hours" from these precious little foreign snowflakes. Pay was never an issue, all have given up the green-cards we got for them to return to their home countries. The Indians were at least considerate and offered to continue through a transition with their replacements, the Chinese have all been arrogant Casey-like assholes (we will never again hire a native Chinese).
We are finding that we are better off hiring native graduates (who may not be from the top 10% of their class) and providing them with further training and incentives. Works for us, not sure what Bill's problem might be...but I suspect he's looking for a loophole to reduce expenses...Vista has not been as huge as he was hoping.
-RB
I think whenever an H1B visa is approved, the company must buy the return ticket. I'm tired of us letting people stay after they've been laid off, the company's gone bankrupt, etc. Or better yet, just hire Americans.
Sweet Cashback said:
All this DESPITE a German unemployment rate of >12%. Is it that German unemployed don't want to do these type of jobs because they suck? Or is it the extensive social system that makes these low paying jobs unattractive? There are arguments for both sides.....
I lived in Germany for years, and at that time there were hordes of Portuguese construction workers. They lived in 20-foot containers with bunk beds in 'em and windows cut out. And at that time I had German friends quit good jobs just because they didn't like them.
The reason? If the German held out for six months with no income, he could get the government to pay to train him in a more lucrative IT specialty (e.g. SAP) than the one he left. Quite popular with some of the younger Germans, less popular, I imagine, with their parents.
As for the Portuguese, better wages and more steady work than back home, though I have to say, when I saw them out there setting rebar in the mud and sleet, I was sure happy to be on the northern European end of that deal.
Now it has perhaps shifted to the Polish to do the real work. It took decades of socialism and unemployment bennies at 2/3 of your income to ruin the German work ethic, but new generations learn very quickly.
To Lou Minatti:
I have many acquaintances in New Orleans, some of whom preferred unemployment to actually lifting a hammer or ripping sheetrock. Sad lazy ba5+ards, but I guess that lackadaisical attitude is what made the city what it is/was/will be.
There's a lot of work down there, and yes, it's hard, but nobody should whine that there's *no* job for them. Sorry about the influx to Houston, dude. New Orleans was pretty much ruined crime-wise before Katrina; now two cities are.
More on H1B's:
My company hires a fair number of them. The best, in my opinions, are English/Irish/Australians, no surprise. They come here, assimilate, want to stay, pay taxes, and their kids turn out more or less just like us (to their dismay, perhaps). Next might be Germans. I have no problem at all with hordes of them coming over.
Indians half seem to want to go back, along with their skills, and compete with outsourcing, but good workers in the meantime. Koreans stay, Viets as well; Russians likewise in our experience, but not with our firm. Chinese are inscrutable, out for whatever is their best deal, best I can tell. These groups don't assimilate as well, perhaps one more generation needed.
And believe me, we're not paying them crap wages either, but they are in fact specialists and deserve it. We sure wouldn't wait the months (or never) it takes to get them here if we could find a Yank to do it, even if we could train him in 6 months, which we cannot.
And for the immigrants' part, most of them hire lots of Americans when they buy houses and cars, get them fixed up, eat out, and basically spend most of what they make. Most of what we pay them goes right back into the DC Metro economy before the month is over.
That's the kind of people we want here, if you ask me, and though I might have a different perspective, being a (legal!) immigrant worker in several places during my life, I'd like the see the US H1B quota raised a full order of magnitude.
As another WASP, I'm offended by 4:19Anon. What is wrong with having traditional values? I'd like to post a little more but it's time for 'All in the Family'.
The anger. The whiteness. The maleness.
>> I'd like the see the US H1B quota raised a full order of magnitude.
Then, people wonder why no one goes into engineering anymore. With that attitude, why should they?
I'd like to see the H1B quota at 0. Let companies pay decent wages, and guess what? the market responds -- people go into the field, and labor needs are meant.
I really doubt your needs are THAT specific that you could not find an American willing to do the job. Just not at the crap wages you want to pay.
Lost Cause said:
The anger. The whiteness. The maleness.
And?
hurtme said:
Our experience has been horrible, in the last few years we have hired five Chinese and three Indian programmers, all but one Chinese and one Indian have left...why? "We ask too much", "expect too much", and "want too many hours" from these precious little foreign snowflakes.
I'm shocked. I thought these folks (esp the Chinese) were supposed to be such hard, eager workers. The Chinese economy is certainly booming.
I agree with some..NPR is mostly full of shit.
But we did get stephJ from them when she heard about our little snowflake.
Sure she is a tree hugger that drives a dirty yellowish/brown/green jeep, but we still love her anyways.
PS....I heard she has a friend name lisa with a nice rack.
Regarding the highway sign on this image on this topic: do any of you remember about 10 - 20 years ago where that sign had the man wearing a sombrero and the little girl literally flying in the air being pulled by the mother?
Was that my bad memory or did the PC police change the sign to remove the obvious stereotype?
-Big Cheese
@Lou
"New Orleans is awash in Mexican laborers who have no extensive training. Many of these men are making $10-$12/hour. The work is nasty and dirty."
That is because the contractors who were chosen by the U.S. government to clean up New Orleans wouldn't hire residents; they brought in the cheap labor so they wouldn't have to pay as much. In fact, many of the Louisiana-based businesses that would have hired folks from N.O. tried to help were cut out of the equation by outside contractors that were brought in by FEMA.
As a person with relatives and friends on the ground in N.O., try to look beyond what your Government wants you to believe, OK?
That is because the contractors who were chosen by the U.S. government to clean up New Orleans wouldn't hire residents
Is this heresay, or can you provide a link to solid evidence of your claim?
Sure. I invite you to do the same.
http://newstandardnews.net/content/index.cfm/items/3562
Even Bill O'Reilly said so:
http://mediamatters.org/items/200603010009
Of course, there is statistical evidence that people in NO are working, but they cannot make ends meet:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070510/us_nm/katrina_survivors_dc
And scroll down to the bottom of this page to hear actual stories from Katrina evacuees living in Houston.
http://www.nytimes.com/pages/national/nationalspecial/index.html?adxnnl=1&adxnnlx=1181401757-z0MvDXMsihBEfA+ij6JRUQ
Sorry for the killer URLs, but I'm in kind of a rush. Lou, I'm not here to debate you, just to say that there's more to this story than meets the eye. The state of Louisiana and other Gulf Coast states had enough infrastructure standing to bring N.O. back with N.O. people.
Throwing a bunch of vague links doesn't prove your assertion. The Yahoo link is broken, the NYT pages links to dozens of unrelated articles, none of which confirm your statement, the NewStandard website is defunct and says nothing about your statement. The only evidence you could provide was a caller to O'Reilly. That's heresay, not evidence. Meanwhile,
"This winter, FEMA put up over 300 Hurricane Katrina evacuees in New York City hotels. Almost all of them have gone back to their lives, their jobs. But not Theon Johnson. He’s currently sprawled out watching Halloween 5 on one of the two full-size beds in his room at the JFK Airport Holiday Inn. He is one of four evacuees still living in a hotel in the city."
http://nymag.com/news/intelligencer/17161/
Only one day after Hurricane Katrina tore through the Gulf Coast, Tranquilino Jimenez already had a job offer. An undocumented immigrant from Mexico, he set off from his home in Mobile, Ala., to join a convoy of 80 other workers hired to rip out soggy carpets and tear down Sheetrock from Biloxi, Miss., to Port Arthur, Texas. He eventually settled in New Orleans, where he's cleaning up schools in St. Bernard Parish, east of the city. Earning $12 per hour, Jimenez, 40, works 10 hours a day, seven days a week, retiring at night to a dingy motel room crammed with four other Latino laborers. Asked how long he plans to stay in New Orleans, he replies, "As long as there's work."
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10218343/site/newsweek/
Like I said, I'm not here to debate you..the URLs worked fine when I set them.
The tidbits that you did post here are revealing and tell me all I need to know about your insight regarding this matter.
Thank you.
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