Some “conservatives” are in a bit of a quandry. They oppose illegal immigration because (they claim) that illegal aliens lower wages for hard-workin’ and God-fearin’ Ameruhcans. Then these “conservatives” claim that we shouldn’t raise the minimum wage.
Luckily for the readers of Naked Villainy, your humble Smallholder, while he may be an inbred agrarian, understands economics.
I have argued that illegal immigrants don’t actually harm hard-working Americans. Hard-working Americans are working. For better wages than illegal immigrants. Illegal immigrants are doing jobs that would not exist if their employers had to hire less-motivated native-born slackers.
Perhaps some of you think I am a numbskull for arguing this. If so, it behooves you to explain why dairy farmers are hiring immigrants (in many cases illegal immigrants) to milk their cows. The USD statistics bear this out. My conversations with dairy farmers reflect this as well.
It turns out that the demand for illegal workers isn’t just in agriculture. Evidently the going rate for illegal day laborers in Houston is FOURTEEN dollars an hour. Fourteen dollars an hour paid for being willing to work. I’m not crying for an American who doesn’t have the skills to outcompete someone who doesn’t speak English. Folks who complain about the injustice of the labor market should go milk cows or get a construction job in Houston (dang, look at ‘ol Smallholder bein’ harsh).
It strikes me that a true conservative should be in favor of letting the market work - with both the minimum wage and illegals in the workforce. At least on a purely economic basis - I can see that it is possible to favor the marketplace for wage-setting AND oppose illegal immigration on cultural preservation grounds - but on an economic level, I don’t see a rational argument.
If any of our dear readers suspects that your Libertarian Smallholder is a numbskull, please explain how artificially raising wages can be bad (minimum wage) and good (cracking down on chicken plant workers) at the same time.
UPDATE: It appears that the link above to Mr. Dondero’s website may be ill-considered. Dondero may (or may not) be an uncivil moonbat. I suspected that he was a pompous fellow (he taglines his own blog entry with: Note - Eric Dondero is fluent in Spanish and speaks about 10 to 15 other languages. He has been a Mulitlingual Interpreter in Houston for 10 years, and has worked for numerous businesses including construction companies and contractors. He is currently a Political Consultant, and CEO of www.mainstreamlibertarian.com” Um, doesn’t he know how many other languages he speaks?), but figured that his evidence was solid. But evidently he hasn’t let the facts get in the way of some of his other internet postings, so perhaps my reliance on his claimed personal observation was unwise.
But the invitation to a “conservative” to economically justify cracking down on illegal immigrants still stands.
