A story came across the news wire and my senior
research analyst brought it to me in the studio while I was on the air. It was an AP story out of Atwood, Mich. about
how farmers were complaining they wouldn’t be able to bring in the cherry and
apple crops without illegal aliens.
American workers, they claimed, were either not available or not willing
to work.
George W. Bush was fond of saying that illegals are
doing the jobs Americans just won’t do.
The truth is illegals are simply doing some of the jobs Americans won’t
do for the money. Americans won’t live
15 to a room just so they can find employment.
There’s not a job in America that Americans didn’t used to do before the
illegal aliens came in, undercut them and stole their jobs.
That’s not to say that the American worker is
blameless. Atwood, Mich. is about four-and-a-half
hours from Detroit where the unemployment rate is 16 percent, more than double
the national rate. One would think that
Detroit and Atwood might be a great match.
Farmers are looking for workers and Detroiters are looking for
work. So why are farmers in Atwood still
resorting to hiring illegal aliens?
Part of the problem is some of the farmers are
lying. The unemployment rate in Michigan
is 8.4 percent. Detroit may be driving
that number higher than it would normally be but there’s no doubt that workers
are available for the farmers of Atwood.
Some farmers would rather deal with illegals because they can pay them
low wages or even lower wages if they pay cash under the table. But part of the blame should be placed on the
shoulders of the workers themselves, or, should I say, the government that
encourages them not to work.
Before the sequester, unemployment benefits had been
extended so that many unemployed workers could draw unemployment benefits for
99 weeks. That’s nearly two years! As a result of the sequester the number of weeks
was cut back. Total benefits vary by
state but in Michigan you can still conceivably stay on unemployment for 67
weeks. That’s almost 16 months! Granted, unemployment benefits are
substantially less than what one was making while employed but you’re also not
working. There’s something to be said
about doing nothing and getting paid.
I’ve never drawn unemployment. I don’t begrudge anyone who has. I’ve just chosen not to do it and I’ve been unemployed
a number of times. This is radio, after
all. The worst time came when I was
program director of a station and got washed out in a format change. I was let go with no severance pay. I worked on straight commission for an ad
agency and made a whopping $100 in three months. It never even occurred to me to file for
unemployment.
In retrospect, I’m glad I didn’t. It was my lack of success in sales that
prompted me to pack up everything I owned and move to Nashville without a
job. Within two days I had a fulltime
job selling memberships at a health club and a part-time gig at a radio
station. Within three months I was back
in radio full time.
The point is, poverty is a great motivator. As long as we’re paying people not to work,
they won’t. Time was when Americans
would do what needed to be done to put bread on the table. Nobody’s going to drive four-and-a-half hours
if they’re getting paid to sit at home but they’ll drive a lot further than
that if it’s the only way they eat.
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