Oldtimer said:PORKER said:The meat packers are confirming what we know," says University of Maryland economics professor Peter Morici, "and that is that this large group of illegal aliens in the United States is lowering the wage rate of semiskilled workers, people who are high school dropouts or high school graduates with minimal training."
In fact, a meat-packing job paid $19 an hour in 1980, but today that same job pays closer to $9 an hour, according to the Labor Department. That's entirely consistent with what we've been reporting -- that illegal aliens depress wages for U.S. workers by as much as $200 billion a year in addition to placing a tremendous burden on hospitals, schools and other social services.
Porker- Thats what we saw in our area...Montana at one time had many small slaughter plants... The local one hired locals, paid good wages and benefits-- had more of a family working for him.....Had to close the doors- couldn't compete with the BIG boys, who were cutting costs by using illegals and cutting every corner whether it was legal or not- Local manager refused to use pay offs to officials... (SH's being more efficient)
Plant sold for a dime on the dollar to one of the Stanko operations- Reefer truckloads of Nicaurauguans, Mexicans etc. started arriving-Operated for a couple years with nothing put into upkeep....Illegals lived in squalid company housing- without even running water... Depressed the local economy with social costs, rather than adding to it...The new ownership took what they could out of the facility- then walked away leaving the county the building and the cost of cleanup....
Building still standing- now is mechanics shop and junkyard......
OT you have hit the nail on the head. The subjective enforcement of laws for the benefit of your "buddies". It is the political mexicanization of our system of government. The rule of law does not mean a thing in these circumstances, and yet this is the mantra that the president has used in foreign talks. There are reasons the U.S. is not popular in the world today and this type of thing may be emblematic of the way the world views us.
We definitely did not fool the Japanese.
When other companies do not employ the same comparative advantages as a company that is breaking the law, the economic reality is that they lose in the economic game. Tyson has been involved in these type of actions for years, with the protection of the government regulatory agencies, law enforcement, and more recently with the Pickett case, the judicial system. It is the good old boy system at its finest and Agman continually speaks up for them in these abuses. MRJ does the cheerleading, and some of the Canadians on this board speak out for their self interest rather than principles of fairness (some are a little wiser than that).
We are allowing self interest, greed, and illegal behavior to rule instead of principles of character that should give us the moral high ground. It might work in the short term, but in the long term it may do us in.