Immigration Quickly
One of our newspapers has a "What do you really think?" feature called Quickly. Readers telephone or e-mail comments anonymously. Today one quickly read:
"I own a company that does landscaping. When I can't find people to work, I hire illegal aliens. Listen I didn't let 'em in here. You can thank President Bush for all that. So if they want to work, I'm gonna let 'em work. If they wanna help build America, then let them help build America."
I found this comment very interesting and had several questions for the anonymous employer. First, as much as I do not care for Bush I would not hold him responsible for letting illegal aliens into the United States. The illegal immigration problem existed long before he was president.
Second, what type of wage does this business owner pay? The inability to find workers may be a direct result of the low wage the business pays. If that is the case the business owner is using illegal aliens to improve his bottom line and take jobs from legal Americans. I believe that is one of the reasons that hiring illegal aliens is against the law and subject to penalty.
Third, is this business owner admitting to willingly breaking the laws regarding the employment of illegals? He must pay them cash and therefore reports no taxes or social security. It would seem to me that the owner is taking money away from the government. This would be the government money that provides services and infrastructure to the rest of us citizens.
Kinky Friedman who is an independent candidate for governor in Texas plans to impose fines of $25,000 and $50,000 on companies that hire illegal immigrants. Bet that landscape business owner is glad he doesn't live in Texas if Kinky is elected.
Finally, I do not believe that this business owner is acting in the best interest of anyone but himself. Sure illegal aliens need to make some money in order to survive, but I do not believe that is this owner's real interest. Then again, maybe it is benevolent greed.
-Willi
"I own a company that does landscaping. When I can't find people to work, I hire illegal aliens. Listen I didn't let 'em in here. You can thank President Bush for all that. So if they want to work, I'm gonna let 'em work. If they wanna help build America, then let them help build America."
I found this comment very interesting and had several questions for the anonymous employer. First, as much as I do not care for Bush I would not hold him responsible for letting illegal aliens into the United States. The illegal immigration problem existed long before he was president.
Second, what type of wage does this business owner pay? The inability to find workers may be a direct result of the low wage the business pays. If that is the case the business owner is using illegal aliens to improve his bottom line and take jobs from legal Americans. I believe that is one of the reasons that hiring illegal aliens is against the law and subject to penalty.
Third, is this business owner admitting to willingly breaking the laws regarding the employment of illegals? He must pay them cash and therefore reports no taxes or social security. It would seem to me that the owner is taking money away from the government. This would be the government money that provides services and infrastructure to the rest of us citizens.
Kinky Friedman who is an independent candidate for governor in Texas plans to impose fines of $25,000 and $50,000 on companies that hire illegal immigrants. Bet that landscape business owner is glad he doesn't live in Texas if Kinky is elected.
Finally, I do not believe that this business owner is acting in the best interest of anyone but himself. Sure illegal aliens need to make some money in order to survive, but I do not believe that is this owner's real interest. Then again, maybe it is benevolent greed.
-Willi
posted by willi at 8:34 PM
6 Comments:
You hit the nail on the head with this one. I'm glad you posted. Your items, 1-3 all seem likely.
I thought it was funny that he hid under the "help build America" phrase. Like that was going to make it all right.
Benevolent Greed - that's a good one. It seems to me that Kinky has the best plan - hit them where it hurts. The pocket book is all they are thinking of anyway.
He probably hires the illegals for the same reason that the construction companies in Texas hire them. The can pay them way below going rates, no health care and no social security taxes. And, they can work them to death.
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAND if they get hurt they just send them to the emergency room and remind them that they can't tell where they got hurt or they'll get fired.
Jay: I forgot about the health insurance aspect. That emergency room strategy pushing the costs of health care up for everyone else. Good point, my man.
Yes, that is right there. The bottom line dollar, no doubt. Things can be easy if one wants to make them easy for one's own self.
I sometimes wonder about a newspaper column that publishes anonymous comments. Certainly, the validity of such comments has to be questionable. If anonymity were necessary to protect the innocent, that would be understandable. However, the comment of the anonymous employer seems to protect guilty.
In this post, you make several valid observations.This illegal employment seems to be a lose-lose situation. The working illegal aliens lose by working low-paying jobs without benefits. The legal unemployed people in America lose this chance for employment. Furthermore, the United States loses tax dollars when workers are paid cash under the table. As you point out, the owner is only one that really profits. Benevolent greed is an interesting concept and may be an oxymoron.
There have been several responses to the employer in "Quickly" echoing the sentiments on this post.
Sometimes those that comment in "Quickly" appear to be protected by their anonymity - however their absurdity gererally gets bashed the next day or so. Often I am tempted to reply, but never have. As it usually turns out someone with my same thoughts takes care of it for me.
Although at times the validity may be questionable, it's a fairly accurate way to get the pulse of views on current events - equal to water cooler conversations.
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