Reply #50: Well said, but don't forget about international trade repercussions

[primavera]

It appalls me how ready we are to blame immigrant workers for furnishing cheap labor when we are the ones who choose to spend our consumer dollars only at those businesses which offer the cheapest prices, knowing full well that they achieve those lower prices at the expense of workers. You're quite right: we have no right to cheap goods and services. Frankly, until we put our money where our mouth is and stop buying the $5 jeans from Mal-Wart and the 79 cent/lb chicken from Tyson's, we have no right to complain about the hiring practices we ourselves are expressly endorsing through our buying behavior.

I agree we ought to be giving our business to companies which hire US workers, who pay their workers decently, and who provide their employees with benefits. But bear in mind, especially for those businesses where labor is the primary cost of doing business - such as agriculture, construction, garment industry, etc. - that will produce a sizable jump in price (at least until we can persuade Congress to do something about the obscene salaries being paid to executives, which personally, I think has an awful lot to do with the cost of doing business, but I wouldn't hold my breath on Congress doing anything about that one anytime soon). When the price of US grown tomatoes jumps to $5/lb on account of our more worker-friendly policies, how many of us will continue to buy them when we can buy the imported tomatoes from Chile for $3/lb? How many countries will want to import tomatoes from us at the higher price? What will happen to our already crappy trade balance if other countries cease to buy our agricultural goods? How many jobs will it cost us then when we no longer produce competitively for an international market? Any brilliant ideas?

ed. for typos