Bennett Hypothesis: Financial Aid Increases Tuition

[sanantone]

We're too good to pick fruit, but a Mexican immigrant isn't?  That sounds a bit racist to me.  I know you aren't, but if you listen to your words, it could certainly be consrtued that way.

How can it be construed that way? It's very simple. Americans don't want to work out in the hot sun. That says nothing about Americans being "too good" to work out in the hot sun. They might think they are too good for those jobs, but I don't think they are. I've worked 12-hour shifts out in the hot sun. That statement actually implies that Americans are kind of lazy and don't like to get dirty. No offense, but "do jobs Americans don't want to do" is a common phrase, so anyone who watches the news or pays attention to politics periodically knows what that statement means. It would only be misconstrued as racist through poor comprehension.

How much an employer pays is also limited by how much customers are willing to pay. Taxpayers in Texas want people locked up, but they don't want to pay corrections officers $40k per year. McDonald's customers don't want to pay $5 for a double cheeseburger that usually costs $1.50 or $2.

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It's easy to construe it that way - and yes, I think when people say it on TV or in the media, they are being racist as well.  It goes along with "the soft bigotry of low expectations."

There are PLENTY of Americans who work in the outdoors all day, every day.  My dad was a lineman, and worked outside 40+ hours a week for 30 years.  115 degrees, or pouring rain at midnight in 30 degrees, and everything in between.  I have great-aunts and uncles who picked cotton alongside their parents for many, many years, because they owned a farm and did the work that needed to be done. Construction workers work outside.  Loggers work outside.  Farmers work outside.  All kinds of people work outside, and PREFER it to working inside.  The difference is, the ones that do it happily are paid a decent wage.  The problem with agricultural work is that Americans won't do manual labor for a pittance.  If the market was allowed to work, the wages would go up until there were Americans willing to do the work, and prices would go up accordingly.  Or AI would take over part of the work. OR we could get workers to come in on limited work visas to do the work.  OR, there wouldn't be enough workers to do the work, for the price buyers were willing to pay, and those crops would go away.  We'd either have to start paying more, or buy those fruits/veggies from somewhere else.  That is how the free market works.

But you can't flood the market with illegals willing to work for FAR less than a wage citizens are willing to work for, depressing wages permanently, and then say that Americans are lazy.  That is just not true.

As for customers not willing to pay the price - you don't actually know how much the people of Texas are willing to pay for locking up prisoners, because they aren't given the choice.  You personally would choose to pay them more.  Just look at CA, where corrections officers are paid WAY more than market, and it costs more than twice the national average to house an inmate.  I don't think we should be paying that much for our prisons, but the CA government, led by unions, has decided that this is reasonable.  As a fiscal conservative, I don't agree, but I don't really get a say.  You don't get a say in your government either.  Neither of these is representative of the free market.

Soft bigotry of low expectations? No one is saying that Mexicans are only capable of doing manual labor. I didn't even mention Mexicans, you did. For you to automatically think of Mexicans when illegal immigration and blue collar jobs are brought up displays your own biases and views about Mexicans. Over the past couple of hundred years, we have had waves of immigrants from different regions of the world. Mexicans are not the only ones who have been in this position. Even now, we have many undocumented immigrants from Asia and Central America.

Historically, unskilled immigrants who didn't have many options due to not knowing the language and not having a high skill took what they could get. The next generation usually knew English and had some schooling, so they did better. A few generations removed, people tend to have higher aspirations than doing low-paying, unskilled jobs. There's nothing wrong with that. That is what the American dream is supposed to be. Millions of immigrants work hard so that their children can have better. If you think that is low expectations, then that shows what you truly think of blue collar labor. 

My only issue is that, when jobs are scarce, too many Americans would rather let their unemployment run out than take what they can get. When people couldn't find jobs during the recession, I directed them to companies that were hiring just to be ignored. Some people would rather be homeless than take a job they think is beneath them.

People get a say in how much corrections officers make. After Perry said that COs are glorified, overpaid babysitters, he was reelected. People knew that CPS had serious issues mostly caused by a high turnover rate, but they continued to vote for the same politicians who refused to increase salaries for decades. They prioritized other things over the safety of children. That was their choice.

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The security guard that just checked my key tag at my pool works in the sun 40-48 hours a week, he says to tell you he doesn’t mind it.

LOL. Nice anecdote. If so many people loved doing security, the industry wouldn't have such a high turnover rate and shortage of workers. I worked security for many years, so your goofy story means nothing. Illegal immigrants can't take those jobs, by the way. It's a licensed field.