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Farmers Strain to Hire American in Place of Migrant Labor

So... how many of y'all are capable of farm labor?

I'm smart enough to keep a good paying job in another field so I don't have to become farm labor. However, I have mucked stalls, moved hay, rounded up sheep, pigs, cattle, and horses, and a number of other farm duties on occasion in the past.
 
I was born and raised on 365 acres and was feeding the cattle from the age of 6 until we sold the farm. That was enough for me to know that I would never want to be a farm laborer today.

But, if you want wages in increase, you have to either get rid of illegals immigrants or make them legal residents (not citizens) so they are paid for work the same way as legal workers are. I'm for whichever solution is most affordable, and odds are that is giving them legal residence.
 
We could go back to the Bracero or guest worker programs under which Mexicans were recruited to work on US farms.

Problem solved, they just have to go home after the crops are in.
 
I think I must be one of the few folks in American that really doesn't give a sh*t if illegals are working as farm laborers.

I really don't like the direction the immigration issue is taking in America and I don't think i'll ever see illegals aliens as some sort of enemy.
 
I am. How about you?

I could likely do it, I'd feel sore the next day and the Mexicans would make fun of me.

We also forgot about productivity of labor. If the work was too hard for these folks how much work are they getting done compared to a Mexican crew?
 
I could likely do it, I'd feel sore the next day and the Mexicans would make fun of me.

We also forgot about productivity of labor. If the work was too hard for these folks how much work are they getting done compared to a Mexican crew?

Do Mexican's have some sort of genetic make up that makes them more qualified for these jobs?
 
I think I must be one of the few folks in American that really doesn't give a sh*t if illegals are working as farm laborers.

I really don't like the direction the immigration issue is taking in America and I don't think i'll ever see illegals aliens as some sort of enemy.
Democrats see them as an opportunity to shift the balance of political power in their favor for the next hundred years. Democrats have 95% of the black vote despite their horrible record in relation to blacks. Democrats see poor, uneducated, illegals as a significant portion of their power base.

We should change course in immigration. Instead of welcoming the sick, the ignorant, and the dependent we should welcome those with high intelligence, with gifts, with learning, with talent, with beauty. We should not be looking for new slaves to replace the former slaves.
 
This isn't brain surgery. I'm no genius here. We also have a very large PRISON population in this country that needs to be put to work.

maybe working the fields should be a condition of the wealthiest keeping their low tax rate, also.

after all, they are not "lazy people" who are afraid of hard work. and they should be happy to do it for less than minimum wage, as minimum wage is some kind of an abomination that kills jobs.

i think we might have a real solution here.
 
Helix,

Like myself, those business owners have worked their way through school and the industry so they don't have to do that sort of work. They have invested their money, time, and energy into business' so they don't have to do the grunt work. Unless you're one like that kid from Wisconsin a couple months back with the quote about how terrible it is that the restraurant he works at was a dictatorship and not a democracy.
 
Do Mexican's have some sort of genetic make up that makes them more qualified for these jobs?

It serves the Liberal notion that Americans--specifically white Americans--are weak.
 
It serves the Liberal notion that Americans--specifically white Americans--are weak.

It's not that...it's just that US citizens are unwilling to endure backbreaking work for the wage that the job is actually worth. And implementing silly wage-distorting policies (e.g. minimum wage, crackdowns on immigration, "fair" trade, etc) does not change that reality.
 
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Helix,

Like myself, those business owners have worked their way through school and the industry so they don't have to do that sort of work.

what's wrong with "that sort of work?"

i say that there's nothing wrong with it. have the wealthy do it for a season or two. they would get to keep their tax cut, not to mention the extra they'd be bringing in from migrant worker wages. should be all bonus for you.
 
Seriously though, the farm jobs posted on the DOL website list that they're seasonal, pay less than $10 an hour and there is pretty much no room for advancement.

Plus you have to compete with things like unemployment insurance, which makes it really not worth working so hard for the same money.

The only way to get around those things is to pay more.

You do realize that in order to get state unemployment, one (usually) has to prove that they are actively seeking employment (Are you eligible to claim unemployment benefits?). I don't get how so many people think that to get unemployment, you just send out a form and then sit on your ass, or that it lasts forever.
 
It's not that...it's just that US citizens are unwilling to endure backbreaking work for the wage that the job is actually worth. And implementing silly wage-distorting policies (e.g. minimum wage, crackdowns on immigration, "fair" trade, etc) does not change that reality.

Really, backbreaking work is only worth sub minimum wage pay?
 
Really, backbreaking work is only worth sub minimum wage pay?

Yes. If it was worth more than that, then the job would pay more than that. If there are plenty of qualified and capable people willing to do the work for $2 per hour, then the job isn't worth $10 per hour.
 
Yes. If it was worth more than that, then the job would pay more than that. If there are plenty of qualified and capable people willing to do the work for $2 per hour, then the job isn't worth $10 per hour.

They are here illegally. They can not say anything. If not for minimum wage there would be places paying well under that rate and people would take them.

Serious.....you are argueing to get rid of the minimum wage?
 
what's wrong with "that sort of work?"

i say that there's nothing wrong with it. have the wealthy do it for a season or two. they would get to keep their tax cut, not to mention the extra they'd be bringing in from migrant worker wages. should be all bonus for you.

There's nothing wrong with that sort of work. However it is physically demanding, and generally not the most pleasant work to do. So, while there's nothing wrong with it, most people would prefer to avoid it if possible.

Again, I believe we've got plenty of people already sucking on the Government teat who could do this work perfectly well and relieve a lot of the strain on my tax burden at the same time.
 
They are here illegally. They can not say anything.

That is the very issue being discussed. Shielding people from market forces by cracking down on illegal immigration just makes the economy worse off.

If not for minimum wage there would be places paying well under that rate and people would take them.

Good. Then people would have jobs at a wage they could live with, and employers would have workers at a wage they could afford. Win/win.

Serious.....you are argueing to get rid of the minimum wage?

Yes. The minimum wage is horridly counterproductive, and the people it harms most of all are the poorest. It prevents people whose skillset isn't WORTH $7.25 per hour from finding a job at all.
 
That is the very issue being discussed. Shielding people from market forces by cracking down on illegal immigration just makes the economy worse off.

Good. Then people would have jobs at a wage they could live with, and employers would have workers at a wage they could afford. Win/win.

Yes. The minimum wage is horridly counterproductive, and the people it harms most of all are the poorest. It prevents people whose skillset isn't WORTH $7.25 per hour from finding a job at all.

Well, it's certainly interesting to see a liberal argue that people are paid too much.
 
They are here illegally. They can not say anything. If not for minimum wage there would be places paying well under that rate and people would take them.

Serious.....you are argueing to get rid of the minimum wage?
I sure am.....it's an artificial glitch in a free market system. Why should someone run a business to lose money....(except the government of course)..........the wage was always set by the availability of the employees and their value to the business owner........get rid of the illegals and hire high school kids.......or pay a minimum wage and double the price of produce.....or shut down the local farms and buy all our produce off shore, where we don't have to watch the slave labour do the picking.
 
what's wrong with "that sort of work?"

i say that there's nothing wrong with it. have the wealthy do it for a season or two. they would get to keep their tax cut, not to mention the extra they'd be bringing in from migrant worker wages. should be all bonus for you.
That's just what Mao said....and he followed through........how did that work out?
 
Well, it's certainly interesting to see a liberal argue that people are paid too much.

I have argued no such thing. Getting paid $3 per hour is a lot better than getting paid $0 per hour because you can't find a job. An artificial price floor creates unemployment and economic deadweight loss.
 
I sure am.....it's an artificial glitch in a free market system. Why should someone run a business to lose money....(except the government of course)..........the wage was always set by the availability of the employees and their value to the business owner........get rid of the illegals and hire high school kids.......or pay a minimum wage and double the price of produce.....or shut down the local farms and buy all our produce off shore, where we don't have to watch the slave labour do the picking.

It wouldn't double the price of produce. I agree in market principles but they can't be skewed with illegal activities.
 
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