Getting by on the cheap…low cost labor, part II

Our nation thrives on the low cost labor enabled by the deliberate national policy of allowing legal and illegal aliens to cross our borders at will. What are the consequences of this low cost labor? We know the apparent benefits, which can be boiled down to these:

• Lower cost goods and services
• We “natives” don’t have to do the “dirty” jobs
• We compete better in international markets
• We improve our standard of living

There may be others. But this is the essence. But again, what are the consequences?

I believe they are subtle, many, and of greater significance than we currently understand or admit. And several of the above-listed “benefits” may not be as beneficial as we think they are.

For the purpose of this discussion, I will call the wages paid to aliens (mostly illegals) “sub-American wages”, because they are lower wages than most US citizens would work for.

Sub-American wages result in:

• A deficit of US citizens who will work for the wages offered
• The need to attract masses of people from other countries and cultures who have no intention of being assimilated
• Loose or ignored immigration laws; a national policy of looking the other way
• A mockery of the solid concept of the US being “a nation of laws”
• A mockery of the pride of our forefathers (my grandparents) who were proud to abide by whatever laws necessary to enter this land as their permanent home
• A growing number of disenfranchised underclass
• Inability to afford housing without socialized housing programs in most urbanized areas
• Unabated, unmonitored threat to our national security
• Tremendous, yet uncalculated cost to our social services system overburdening the diligent citizen tax payer

Low wages, like easy credit, is another means of using future resources for instant national gratification. The laborer is not being paid what the job is worth. The labor market is being distorted. There will be future consequences.

There are huge and grossly unfair situations created in our economic system by allowing and relying on the illegals, the non-citizen, and the never-intend-to-be citizen to undercut the diligent citizen's wages. This national calamity can be compared to a local scenario where road side stands are allowed to be set up willy-nilly, without parking, without permits, without licenses, providing extremely unfair competition to established businesses who built their buildings, provided their parking, paid for their permits, and earned their licenses. The so-called “free market” is grossly distorted by our immigration and unfair low wage practices.

Looking a decade or two into our future, it becomes apparent that even the four areas of perceived benefit listed above will be short-lived. We will have lower cost goods and services, the “natives” won’t have to do the “dirty” jobs, we will compete better in international markets, and we will improve our standard of living with these low wages enabled by our misguided immigration policies for only a limited time.

Our nation’s indulgence in getting something for next to nothing will have a price we have not yet fathomed. The price will include our national security, our culture, our limited government, and our sense of independence and dignity.

France may be two or three decades ahead of us down this road – the consequences in that nation are quite clear. They’ve created a dual and opposing culture because of their lust for cheap labor, their aversion to paying the needed wages to attract their own employees, and the lack of desire of their native population to get their hands dirty doing the “lesser” jobs. National self-indulgence and giving little heed to the long term consequences of these current indulgences: This is the bane of France and much of western Europe, and the United States is not far behind.