john mccain offers $50/hr to pick lettuce..

It's not so much that Americans don't want these jobs, it's more like our standards of living are so high that we turn our nose up at low-wage jobs.
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Yes and no. What Americans won't do is work for slave wages while living 20 to a house like hive insects. I see it around here more often than I'd like to.

When I was in school and working several low paying, hard labor jobs to get by, I knew plenty of folks doing the same work to put food on their table. In the past 10 years, they didn't suddenly catch a case of the lazies, they got priced out of the market by people who's standard of living is so low anything is acceptable. Kinda hard to compete with that unless you want to shack up with your neighbors and sleep on the floor...

Chris
 
I suggest to the good Senator Mccain that he give up his job in the Senate to someone who is willing to do what needs to be done and is capable of doing it.
 
I'd pick lettuce in the arizona sun for a measly $30 per hour, provided I was promised 35 hours every week. That's a cool G a week, over $50K per year, for a pretty short work week in an extremely low stress job. I've got 45 SPF suncreen, and I'm skinny and dissipate heat well. McCain is a buffoon.
 
Arizona agriculture is primarily done in the winter. It's hard to get anything to grow out here with 110 degree heat and keep it hydrated.

I worked in a vegetable cannery in eastern Oregon along side illegals for 4 years to put myself thru college, making the same amount (but costing the employer more due to worksman's comp, insurance, paperwork) as the illegals.

It was a fun job... a good job. It paid about $5.50 when I started at age 16, and about $10 after I had a few summers' experience and was over 18 so I could operate machinery without liability issues. Peaked at $12 after demonstrating that I was bilingual and could lead a mixed hispanic/anglo work force.

There were americans that wanted those jobs, though. No doubt about it.
 
I've heard the idea of putting prisoners to work. You could pay them a decent wage and solve the worker shortage all at the same time. I bet many convicts would like a program like that.



You mean I have to commit a crime to get a good paying job? Wow, will drunk and disorderly work? I'm not a criminal, but for $50.00/hr, I'll do the above! Work that out to FREE room and board, 50/hr, total bliss.:)
 
As far as a prison labor solution goes, I think another thread had the right idea... Make them pay for that room and board with the work they do. Maybe set things up so that maybe a 38 hour work week will pay off your room and board as well as whatever taxes you get (thankfully I've never been in prison, so I'm clueless as to whether or not they pay taxes in there or not)... Then give them opportunity to work 40 to 45 hours a week.

Prisons would cost less to run, they'd produce food, and they'd quit being a free alternative to life in the "outside world".

Cheers,
Wolfe.

(EDIT: Those numbers are pretty arbitrary, I might add. I just included them to give a general idea of the sort of "work to pay off" vs. total work ratio...)
 
Cant say that have any respect for McCain or any of his nonsense. And i sure dont like the idea of Mexicans crossing the border in ever increaseing no.
But i've seen alot of changes in my VERY rural area over the last several years. When i was in highschool us young folks hauled hay or cut tobbaco or did any no of labor jobs to earn extra money in the summer months.
The farmers depended on this source of labor and us young folks learned what hard work was all about.
Now days most highschool kids dont need to earn extra money. They already have a car and spending money courtesy of mom and dad. Shucks some dont even mow the lawn because mom and dad pay someone to do that.
Now this does not cover every family because there are others who learn a completly different lesson from mom and dad.
This lesson is learned early and very seldom changed. Your houseing medical care food any other needs are the goverments responsability.
And then there are still a very few who will take any job offered while they seek a better one or better training but they seem to grow fewer each year.
The local farmers now rely mostly on Mexican workers because they have no choice.
Our young folks are to busy playing vidio games or other well funded activites. And the other type have never worked a day in their lives and aint about to start now.
I hate too see crowds of forighn workers in our country.
I hate even more too see houseing projects filled with young healthy Americans who are payed too do nothing.
 
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