Except Americans don't really want to do those jobs... that's the point.
Again, told you the wonderful story about how we used to have undocumented day laborers at a previous company. Then they insisted that they stop using them, and they could only find white trash methheads that got high and left after they got their first and only paychecks.
Correct, because they don't want to pay anything. But the solution is not to bring in foreigners, the solution is to starve the market until businesses increase their offers. We are blowing a perfect opportunity with that given our booming economy.
A farmer can not just increase wages without being able to get more for his crop and getting more depends on the market.
It might seem like the farmer raising blackberries has a unique crop but the fact is if the cost of blackberries rise significantly, many consumers will switch to blueberries, raspberries, strawberries, or other fruits.
Also the market is not local or even national. It is global. The blackberry farm in Oregon is competing with farms all over the country, Mexico, Canada, Central America, and the Caribbean. So if the Oregon blackberry farmer raises his pay from $16/hr to $23/hr, he will have a crop he can't sell and still make a profit.
American companies of all kinds compete with the global market. Most of them do not hire illegals. American companies are doing fine competing with places like China who's workers labor for a few bucks a day.
If you're going to tell me this country would collapse tomorrow without foreigners, I have a bridge to sell you. You people on the left have more excuses for bringing in foreigners than you have for guys in dresses being allowed in girls restrooms in public school.
The market will take care of itself as it always does without cheating.
I didn't say the country would collapse without foreign labor. I am saying we would be worst off without it.
Without foreign labor, farms would be forced to spend a lot on automation pushing food prices up in the US. Domestic production of fruits that had to be picked by hand would be replaced by foreign imports.
We would lose 42% of our STEM workforce (science, technology, engineering, and math) as they are immigrants.
Yes, the US would survive but our economy would shrink, as the government would attempt to protect more and more industries that would not be able to compete against foreign producers who can hire the best regardless of nationality.
Riddle me this: the left has no problem increasing costs to American companies when it comes to increases in minimum wage, Obama Care, environmental costs, taxes, regulations, but now worried if we get rid of foreigners, it would have such negative effects.
If farmers had to automate or otherwise pay fair wages for labor, I think I could tolerate paying 10 bucks for a watermelon instead of $6.50. I think I could pay $3.00 for a pack of carrots instead of $1.85. In fact I wouldn't even notice.
You do realize that not that long ago, we started to burn up our food supply to create ethanol. But that was okay, because supposedly, it was to reduce our dependency on fossil fuels. It's still happening today and we are still paying 20% more for groceries than we did before. But again, that had Democrat stamp of approval, even though ethanol forced distributors of fuel to revamp their equipment and still known for it's destructive properties to engines.
But now the tragedy is getting rid of people that should't be here in the first place. Just one more excuse to keep foreigners coming to this country. It has nothing to do with cost, because if it did, Democrats would have addressed that when ethanol, taxes, and environmental regulations increased our costs as well.