A day without a Mexican

[OffWithTheirHeads]

I have this group of friends, I call them the "woodside trust fund baby's" who periodically e-mail me the usual right wing bullshit.

The other day I received one of these "missives" about how we should all go to Mexico and demand welfare and schooling and medical care etc. basically implying that the Mexicans up here were a bunch of lazy, welfare grubbin, ...Well, you know the spew. I replied that if they were serious about curbing the flow of illegal aliens, they needed to start penalizing the people that were doing the hiring as they were the ones benefiting the most from the cheap labor, oh, and by the way, what language does your gardener speak? (These are the type of folks who have gardeners, maids, nannies, etc.)

So, last night, just before I went to sleep, I hear on KGO radio that, due to the vigilantes, the migrant workers are not showing up. Strawberries are rotting in the fields and the strawberry farmers are losing up to $10,000.00 per day because they can't find any pickers!

How funny is that?
BE CAREFUL WHAT YOU WISH FOR!

Needless to say, I e-mailed this info to the good ol boys. No response yet though.
Bud

[sam sarrha]

1. that is ONLY because they dont PAY people Good money to work..PERIOD !!

the mexicans do it because they live 8 families in a van and eat rice and beans

The REAL problem is the Mexico is exporting their poverty up here to raise the standard of living for the "Haves" there.. the "Haves" in Mexico enjoy a standard of living second only to FRANCE...!!!

I lived 6 years in El Paso... all the complaining isnt racest

[OffWithTheirHeads]

4. The cheap, exploitable labor

Isn't exactly hurting the "haves" here either. The predominantly Republican controlled, and very wealthy agribusiness would be in dire straits if they had to pay a living wage. BTW, your salad would cost a lot more too. It is a complex problem.

[Warpy]

5. The Mexicans also do it

because they can save dollars by living in a van or a shack and eating practically nothing for 4 months and have those dollars translate into a small fortune in pesos when they go gome.

The smartest ones work a couple of seasons here and save enough to start a small business like a street food stall or other small retail operation.

The dumb ones live well for the other 7 months of the year in Mexico then come back here broke and do it all over again.

As for exporting their poverty up here, that's certainly part of it. The other part of it is that US corporations want US workers to compete on a head to head basis with workers who are right now benefiting from having depressed currencies. When a subsistence wage elsewhere is exchanged for dollars, it translates into something that won't support a dog or cat, let alone a human being. That's the other mechanism at work.

[OffWithTheirHeads]

6. I think that was my point.

For all the bluster and hollering, if the cheap labor didn't directly benefit corporate America, either by being able to exploit illegals for profit, or as a wedge to drive American wages down, the flow of immigrants would be stopped post haste.

[Viva_La_Revolution]

12. Insourcing. nt

[Ms. Clio]

7. Yeah, it is racist

And I have lived in El Paso, too.

[vogonjiltz]

8. Yeah, the mexican stereotype is so conflicted...

They are simultaneously vilified for both being lazy and for taking all of our jobs. They are the uberminority apperantly. Can't these wingnuts get their stories straight?

[Ms. Clio]

10. "Uberminority" -- that's perfect

Dead on.

[datasuspect]

11. there is no conflict

it is straight up hatred.

middle to low-middle class to dirt poor white people who lash out anything darker than they are.

plain and simple.

the funny part is, white people are famous for lashing out at each other.

take for example, chicago.

chicago at one time was a predominantly german city. german immigrants, fresh off the boat. but you still had sprinklings of slavs, poles, hungarians, ukrainians, etc. etc.

now answer this: how much different is a pole from a german? from a czech? from an austrian?

especially in the border areas where lots of these different kinds of people speak each other's languages.

still, as late as the 1930s in chicago, a pole could get the shit beat out of him for walking into a german bar. or vice versa.

don't even get me started on how they ALL villified the irish.

you can take dark-skinned people out of the picture: white people will just turn on each other.

[Ms. Clio]

13. Yes, I agree

Ben Franklin penned a racist rant about the Germans in Pennsylvania back in the mid-eighteenth century.

Look at some mid-nineteenth century newspapers, and you will see the Irish depicted as oafish, ape-like creatures.

The U.S. has always been a highly volatile "melting pot."

[datasuspect]

9. like these kinds of immigrants

czech, slavic, polish immigrants who lived ten deep in dilapidated tenements?

who rented spaces on the floor in 8-hour shifts?

who lived 10 families in a 2 room flat and ate cabbage and potatoes?

oh, that's right.

they were WHITE.

[catzies]

2. Have you seen the movie by that name? It's worth it.

http://www.adaywithoutamexican.com/index1.htm

[OffWithTheirHeads]

3. Yes, In fact I have

good flick.