A few hours later than my last post... a few tests, some assignments completed and submitted, I can feel just a little better about surfing the Internet. One of the sites I really like is called One Good Move, @ onegoodmove.org. The webmaster collects tidbits from the Internet found by himself (or herself, as the case may be) and others that point out links, and presents them in a blog type form. Videos from the night's talk show routines are usually there. Definitely a left bias on this one... although a true assessment can't be made until we have a Democrat in the White House.

Anyway, a link to The Salt Lake Tribune was posted recently, about undocumented workers. I've always thought that Bush doesn't mind illegals in the US, cause they provide cheap labor, which brings down costs for business, which is supposed to spur growth in our economy. Lower labor costs can equate to a bigger profit margin, or cheaper goods. I've always assumed the latter, because Americans like their cheap stuff. I know I am always looking to pay the least amount for anything I buy, always looking for the good deal.

But my other supposition, that people in business are out to make a killing rather than a living, belies this, because if businesses were out for steep profit margins, low labor costs wouldn't necessarily equate to cheaper goods. I'm just rambling now. There were some interesting points in the article I read...

An interesting piece in The Wall Street Journal in January illustrated this point. The article described what happened when a chicken-processing plant in Stillmore, Ga., lost 75 percent of its Hispanic workforce after an immigration raid. Immediately the company, Crider Inc., advertised that it had boosted its wages a dollar an hour, and started to provide free transportation and free dorm rooms. The company went to the state employment office to find low-skilled laborers and ended up with 400 candidates, of whom 200 were hired.
It turns out that the local African-American community lined up for these jobs. Though the experience wasn't all rosy.
According to the Journal, ''The allure of compliant Latino workers willing to accept grueling conditions despite rock-bottom pay has proved a difficult habit for Crider to shake.'' The result was a high turnover rate as complaints arose over working conditions and pay disputes.
Powerless employees are so much more attractive than those the law protects.


That last comment is interesting. It brought to mind images I had while reading The Grapes of Wrath. I did a paper in school about this a few years ago, concerning our appetite for cheap labor. When America was young, it was the African slave trade of course. After the civil war it was a milder form of exploitation, black people were considered inferior, so low pay for them was acceptable. Back during the industrial revolution the new world was all about immigration. "Bring us your poor....", right on the Statue of Liberty. There has also been child labor, and women still today seem to have their own pay scale. And somewhere along the line the Native American and migrant Americans have been exploited as well. The point is, in that last sentence is the essence of what is seen as the 'ideal labor' in this country by some.

But what drives it? Sure, a bigger profit margin would be one obvious answer. But is it the only one? I suggested cheap goods. Is my search for the ultimate deal a part of the problem? If one looks at the trials of labor throughout our history, it seems it is a constant struggle between business and the workforce to keep the 'power' away from the workforce. Anyway, just stuff I think about....