21st Century Slavery? Yes, But…
Thursday, May 29th, 2008From the Peoria Pundit:
Opinion: 21st century slavery in the United States
Glenn Beck can be a real doofus at times, but he is right on the money on the issue of illegal immigration:
The unspoken truth is that these businesses don’t hire illegal aliens because they can’t find American workers, they hire illegal aliens because they don’t want American workers. And it has nothing to do with wages.
Illegal aliens mean no workers’ comp claims, no age, race or sex discrimination lawsuits, no healthcare premiums, no unions, and no demands for raises, vacations or bigger offices. In fact, illegal immigrants are the perfect employees because they’re not employees at all; they’re corporate slaves.
Economist Dr. Thomas Sowell once said, “Blacks were not enslaved because they were black, but because they were available.” Can’t the exact same thing be said for illegal aliens? They’re available and we’re allowing them to be exploited in the name of cheap groceries.
Is the price of fruit really the standard we want to live up to as a country? Is that really who we’ve become?
I’m all for legal immigration. And I’m all in favor of increasing the amount of legal immigration, and making it easier.
But what we’ve allowed to happen here is an environment where good jobs are beign sent elsewhere by companies like our very own Caterpillar Inc., while low-paying jobs that can’t be exported are being taken over by the 21st century’s version of slave labor.
This cannot continue.
Usually I have nothing to say about Bill’s politics. I either agree with them, am neutral on the topic, or disagree, but not strongly enough to bother with it. Today falls under the latter category, but I do have a few things to say about the reasoning of the guy in the quoted snippet.
I disagree with the premise. The guy says “it has nothing to do with wages,” yet lists “no demands for raises” as a reason. It can’t be both. That’s what it comes down to: wages and healthcare. The rest is filler. I also think they’re missing something the corporations have in their favor: the leverage of non-citizenship. Unions? Lawsuits? Honestly, who are these people going to complain to without being deported?
I also think the notion that American workers are an unbearable burden to these companies is bogus. Sure, workers are both a liability and an asset. That’s the nature of employment. The problems listed here are not so frequent or excessive as to warrant this type of behavior from companies. I’ve worked at the same company for over two years and have not heard of a single instance where any of these was an issue, yet the company has nearly 2000 employees. The way the guy in the quoted article makes it sound, American employees are nothing but opportunists looking to make an easy million at a company’s expense, and if that’s the case, how do any companies who employ Americans remain in business?
I think the conclusion hits closer to the mark with its description of the kind of opportunism that leads to so-called corporate slavery. The thing is, certain individuals (read: wingnuts) tend to be mad at the wrong people for causing this. Illegal immigrants may be breaking our laws by being here without documentation, but it’s the corporations who are hiring them or shipping jobs overseas.
This begs the question: are illegal immigrants hurting us by being here, or are companies hurting us more by hiring them instead of Americans?
Yeah, I don’t disagree with the guy’s conclusion, but his reasons for getting there could use some work.
