500,000 Jobs Available in Arizona...as Mexican Migratory Workers Abandon Farms Fleeing SB 1070

Mother I agree with you...it could be part of their "service to the country" in exchange for lowered tuition for college.

Reverandg...thanks for your input....my fondest memories as a child were spending time on the farms and ranches in Ecuador.

On a small farm...its more like a commune (yes I know that is a dirty word in some circles). We need to see more communal farming going on...cities could give up tracts of land for organic communal farms to help people understand the work and process that goes into producing the foods we eat. Children and teens could do service work on these community farms.

Congoboy needs to watch the Grapes of Wrath, The Best Years of our Lives, and Salt of the Earth...then maybe he'll understand.

That would keep the young people out of gangs and trouble , good idea .

Heh. Good-un . +^d

Working outside is VERY rewarding,....if it isnt slowly physically wearing you down,....and you have some energy left at the day to do things like, say, read.

yes it is rewarding and what can be better for a pre-teen or teen age children an hour or two a day during the summer?

Keeps 'em out of trouble !

yeah but the return on grapes for wine is way more than the return on peppers for salsa

Prices will have to go up, then the entire nation will understand why Arizona's actions where so misguided.

its always about money isnt it

+^'d

Peppers are about $1.50 to $4.00 a pound. The money is there to pay a living wage.

it is and it is

Of course, we claim to a capitalistic society therefor prices and money are the bottom line of our society. In America the people speak but, money speaks louder.

Treewolf, the problem is not the price the end user pays for the product, its how much gets eaten up in fuel costs and profits for at least three levels of middlemen that take a cut. What we need is to figure out to put more money into the pockets of the worker, by cutting out some of the unnecessary middlemen.

I agree fully. I frequent the farmers markets and Co-ops to try to buy as close to the source as possible. I've seen some mighty cheap peppers coming out of Mexico and cutting into the local market. Damn NAFTA.

yup

F ing right on ! +^d. I may have to abandon this thread,....I think I am becoming progressively more pissed of,......and I really dont have much left to say. Fuck the syteem,...fuck the powers that be,....and FUCK the all mighty dollar.
Fuck it.

I feel a tad better now.

Well, yeah, why else would you complain about people living off the government?

Tommic...that is brilliant...no wonder you got 13 votes up. You always synthesize the essence of what is needed. Thank you so much for your contribution.

even though $200 a month is a pittance by most standards you do a disservice to the reader by failing to mention the cost of living in those country's is much lower than the u.s. in most latin country's the majority of people dont own cars and those that do most likely dont insure them. depending on how socialistic they are utilities may be government run and provided. so even though $200 seems like and is little compared to u.s. standards it is a living wage in many of these country's. also with a strong faith in catholicism and strong family bonds these people are more inclined to help each other out, unlike people in the u.s. in many ways the latin culture, with their faith in god, their strong family ties and values are in better shape than many north americans. would they like to make better money and increase their standard of living? who the fuck wouldnt? are we obligated to provide them with what they seek? other than minimum wage for honest work, fuck no. do we owe them health or medical care? fuck no. do we owe them an easy path to citizenship? fuck no. should we be sympathetic or empathetic to their plight? fuck yes, create guest worker programs, document the workers and allow them to work here according to our laws.

Bravo +^d

Jubal, thank you very much. I do try to make things as simple as possible for people to understand. But a lot of what I write flys right over some people heads.

They use Mexicans all the way up here in NJ too, from trimming X-Mass trees to picking flowers.

yes and my parents living in michgan had mexicans refinish our roof... almost all companies in america use mexicans for manual labour

I think the REAL PROBLEM is revealed by the use of such phrases as " companies in America - USE - Mexicans. ( and they treat them as tools to be used )

Right on. +^d

janforgore for president yeah!

Yes, I marked your BS comment down too you hypocrite. If anything, this bill may wind up hopefully having an up side in exposing the human rights abuses and working conditions of those who are exploited and in many instances treated no better than slaves. The only good thing to come out of this bill may be shining a light on that injustice.

congoboy's a hypocrite congoboy's a hypocrite congoboy's a hypocrite, yeah! thanks jannygirl i appreciate your invalid vote and comments. you know though that in some states they allow non existent democrats to vote, try there

Thanks for adding it Jan...I have been so busy with school, but I wanted people to be aware of this story on Telemundo. I tried to find a link to the video online, but they don't post all their videos online. So I had to create my own transcript and translate it myself.

I am going to send a message to Telemundo that they should start editing clips of their news broadcasts and make them available online...even though they are in Spanish, they serve as source documents of many things they report that no other station reports.

I am proud of Barat and his work on this issue and I want to help him get he word out to an English speaking public that cares about the issues facing agriculture and immigration.

and you know, we teabaggers would gladly do it too if we had to support our families, unlike those who sponge off other peoples taxes.

I doubt many tea party members would even support their families on $1.00 per hour for such back breaking work.

These people walk for 6 days in the desert sun, crossing the border...to do this work.

Show me 5 tea party members that would be willing to do that.

if the $1 an hour myth were reality you might have a point jubal

The $1 an hour calculation is based on the testimony of one farmer who was discussing how he paid his illegal workers. Many workers make more than this...obviously as has been pointed out.

But you are getting hung up on technicalities...you need to look at the bigger picture which is worker exploitation both of illegals and legals. When employers higher illegals and pay them substandard wages...that drives the wages down for legal workers....that is why we don't have livable wages in this country. The crack down is not focused on the perpetrators but on the victims.

able bodied americans who are sponging off the system or who have been on 99 weeks of unemployment could benefit form arizona's sudden job availabilities. you go arizona!

that is just retarded...did you even read the article...how is picking peppers for $1/hour beneficial to anyone -- except for the asshole running the operation?

$1 an hour, i call bullshit

sexy!