Man coming in late there is a lot that I want to say about this.
First off illegal immigrants are proof positive that minimum wage laws are not great. Looking at firms that higher illegal immigrants and you will find they have a higher number of employees and a higher level of output than similar firms that do not have illegal immigrants employed. It is basic supply and demand and labor market economics. At the minimum wage, w, firms only want to hire N workers while more than N people want a job. Lowering the minimum wage moves the market towards equilibrium and removing it will eventually push the market into equilibrium. More people get a job at a lower wage, the firm makes more money, and there is a gain to the aggregate economy.
America has not held a comparative advantage in manufacturing for years (for those who do not understand basic principles of trade, a comparative advantage is simply when I can do something more efficiently for you. So for example if you can make either 1 car or 2 boats and I can make 2 cars or 3 boats I should make boats because I can make 1.5 boats per car while you can only make 1 boat per car, that is I hold the comparative advantage in boat making). That is why manufacturing jobs are so often outsourced, the jobs that America does hold a comparative advantage in are jobs that cannot be performed by unskilled immigrant labor. Illegal immigrants help by giving American industries an advantage, they cut costs and increase production, this makes them more viable in world markets.
Lastly, and although this may sound mean or insensitive, I in no way intend it to be. This is simply how the situation looks from an economic standpoint.
asdf wrote:My Dad lost his job to the lousy because the idiot said he would work for 1/4 of the pay as long as the boss didnt rat him and his family out.
Your father lost his job because his job was one that an illegal immigrant worker could perform equally as well at a 1/4 of the price. That is economics. If your dad was working in an industry where illegal immigrants could not undercut his wage he would have a job. It isn't the workers' fault that all firms are profit maximizing entities. Legally, should your dad have lost his job? No, but economically it makes sense.
sharinganerror wrote:My father got laid DUE TO HIS AGE and the most ridiculous part is that he was the hardest working employee in his field at his job and yet he still got axed. Now I hear they're sending in some damn Indians to take over his entire department.
First of all, there is nothing illegal about getting fired due to your age. In fact in America unless you have a contract that specifies the terms of your termination you can be fired or quit for any reason or no reason at all, that is called at-will employment. Secondly again, your dad may have been told he was fired for his age but apparently these Indians can do your dads job and achieve his level of production at lower cost to the firm. Again that is simply how capitalist economics work, and it seems like neither of you are advocating socialist economic policies so these are part of the problems of the system.
