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5_dollar_tomato
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Dafremen
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So mijo, I was thinking about taking some food down to these people at the border.
That sounds nice. Who are they? Don't they have any food?
Oh they have food son, but they're on a hunger strike. They're trying to help people.
What's a hunger strike?
A hunger strike is when people decide not to eat because they feel really bad about something, mijo. These people are not eating for 5 days because they feel bad about what's happening to people that cross the border without papers.
Wow, they must be really hungry. What's happening to the people that cross the border, Dad? Are they getting arrested?
No mijo, they're dying. They're dying because they have to go through the desert. The government in the United States has made it really hard for them to get across the border, so they have to go through the deserts and other places that are really dangerous. A lot of them are dying because they don't have enough food or water. There are rattlesnakes in the desert too.
They're dying? Why do they let them die like that Dad? That's mean. No one should let anyone die.
I agree mijo, but the law says that you have to have papers to go to the United States, so they don't want them going to the U.S. without papers. I guess the worst part is that these people really HELP the United States a lot. They help people like you and me mijo.
Yea..they help us. Umm...how do they help us Dad?
Well mijo, it's a long story..are you sure you wanna hear it?
Umm...ok...if they're really helping us, I mean they shouldn't be dying should they, Dad?
No son, I don't think they should be. So tell me, when you go buy a tomato in the grocery store, how much do you think you pay?
Umm...5 dollars?
Heheh, no mijo...I don't think it's that much. Let's say it's about 20 cents. Well, when the grocery store guy sells you a tomato he's gotta make money right?
Yea..
So how much do you think HE buys the tomatoes for?
Uhhh...a dollar?
Nooo mijo, if the tomatoes cost YOU 20 cents each, then the grocery store guy has to pay less than that doesn't he? He wants to make money too, right?
Ohh yea. Right. Ok so...umm they cost him 15 cents?
Close mijo, probably more like 10 cents. So if the grocery store guy buys 'em for 10 cents, then the farmer has to grow em for less. The farmer has to do a lot of things to get that tomato to the grocery store mijo.
Like what?
Well, he has to buy the seeds. Then he has to plant them. Then he has to give them fertilizer so that they'll grow big and juicy. Then he has to put bug spray on the tomatoes so that the bugs won't eat them. Then he has to pay someone to pick them. And then he has to put them in packages and put them in a truck and take them to the grocery store where he sells them to the grocery store man for 10 cents each.
Uh..huh.
Well mijo, if you were the farmer, you would wanna make money too right? I mean he wants to take his family to the movies and send his kids to good schools and pay his bills too right?
Yea. I mean..I guess so.
Well if he's selling the tomatoes to the grocery store guy for 10 cents each, he has to buy the seeds and grow them and bugspray them and fertilize them and pick them and pack them and ship them for less than 10 cents each then doesn't he? In fact more like 3 cents each huh?
Yea..he has to grow them and stuff cheap huh?
Yep. He sure does. Well son. How do you suppose he does that?
Ummm...I dunno Dad, how?
Well, he buys the cheapest seeds he can find. Then he buys the cheapest fertilizer he can buy. Then he finds the cheapest bug spray that he can find. He finds the cheapest packages that he can find and he finds the cheapest gas for his trucks and the cheapest insurance for his trucks to get those tomatoes to the grocery store. OR maybe he just finds a company that uses trucks to move stuff. But you can be sure that he finds the cheapest company that will ship his tomatoes to that grocery store. But that's not all mijo. If he has his own trucks, he has to find drivers for them, but most important of all, he has to find people to pick his tomatoes and he has to find people to pack those tomatoes. Mijo, you can BET that that farmer wants to find the CHEAPEST people he can to pick and pack his tomatoes...you know why?
Nope. Why Dad?
Because picking and packing tomatoes is what takes the most time of all. That's why the farmer hires the people that cross the border without papers son, because they work cheaper than anyone else.
Cheaper than people with papers?
Much cheaper than people with papers, mijo. See people with papers want more money, and they also want insurance to pay for when they get sick and they also want the farmer to pay for them to take vacations too. All of that costs money son. The farmers couldn't afford to sell their tomatoes to the grocery store guys for 10 cents each if they hired people with papers mijo. Instead, the tomatoes that we buy at the grocery store would cost a lot more. You know how much?
Uh uh..how much?
Remember your first guess?
A dollar?
No you said 5 dollars, but you're probably right, it'd probably cost us somewhere around a dollar for a tomato if the farmers didn't have the people without papers working for them. That's why it's so unfair what the government is doing to them. See, mijo it's like they're stabbing the people in the back that help them.
Whadda you mean?
Well son, if you had a friend who helped you in your garden every day..I mean he helped you EVERY day, faithfully tending to your tomatoes, faithfully helping you harvest them and pack them? Then what if your friend said he was hungry or broke his leg? Would you say to him, "Why don't you go back home where you came from? You're more trouble than you're worth!" Would you get rid of him just because he needed your help?
No way! I would NEVER do that! That would be a rotten thing to do.
Well that's what we're doing to them son. We're telling them to get lost and we're telling them to stay out of our country, even though we still need them and they're still coming and helping us in our gardens.
We aren't being very good friends, are we Dad?
No mijo, no we're not. Not at all.
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021218
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b.i.r.d.m.a.d.
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as someone who has spent even just a few days in the fields and a summer in the "empaque" packing produce to ship to market, i think that may well be one of the best things i've seen you write, daffy.
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021218
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mijo
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That's a load of crap, Dad. Don't you see? We are simply supporting illegal immigration, and bypassing laws that were set up to protect the people. The people who are hiring those without papers are breaking the law. They drive down the prices of products and hurts those farmers and businesses who try to run an honest business. If the U.S. government opened up their borders, they would be flooded with cheap labor. Cheap labor may be good for certain, irreputable businesses, but it's bad for the average person. Think about it, Dad. If suddenly companies could start paying people less, and charge the same, the standard of living would suddenly drop. Furthermore, the rise in cheap labor would make the employees even more dispensible than they already are. Thirdly, large companies that can afford to hire lots of cheap labor could force smaller mom and pop stores to close with their cheaper prices, thusly creating a de facto monopoly. If people obeyed the law and only entered the U.S. if they had the
proper papers, then they would have rights, and couldn't be thrown out like so much trash.
By the way Dad, what's the point of bringing food down to people who are on a hunger strike. Especially those that already have food and simply make the choice not to eat it. Dad, you're retarded.
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021218
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The Spork
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market economics are the only law our government really adheres to.
if the US government really cared about workers and small businesses they wouldn't allow so many businesses to relocatre their operations abroad.
our immigration laws are there as lip service to people like pat buchanan or trent lott who think that anyone who doesn't look like they fell out of a leni riefenstahl film is an undesirable.
market economy dictates that if so few of our own hardworking americans can be found to harvest our produce at a reasonable price, then we must find someone who will, and if we can get away with paying them near slave-wages, all the better.
is that fair?
not likely
is it ethical?
hardly.
doest it exploit the desperately poor?
damn skippy.
do you see anyone who looks like they are "aware of their rights" lining up to do any of these jobs?
don't make me laugh
would food prices skyrocket if any of those people started doing any of that stuff?
in a heartbeat.
Could most of us afford it if that happened?
shit no!
this is an issue of supply and demand that reaches a number of levels, going beyond the legal and venturing into the realm of the cultural. quoting the law and its intent is all well and good, but the practical reality ensures that somewhere in the heirarchy of things, somebody's gonna get shit on somewhere in the exchange
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021218
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x
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start a garden
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021218
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Dafremen
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I agree with your asessment on all levels Spork. If the job is pleasant enough, or the money is good enough, people with paper will do certain jobs, but NO ONE wants to pay a fist full of dollars for a carrot and noone wants to work out in the hot sun doing back-breaking labor for the amount that most farmers can afford to pay and still get a reasonably priced product to market. Immigration laws and hiring practices are two different things. If American businesses are as concerned about American workers as our anonymous friend, they will simply refuse to fill positions that Americans are willing to take with cheaper non-American or non-legally immigrated labor. Operation Guardian has nothing to do with hiring practice laws, it has to do with keeping willing low-priced workers out of a business which needs willing low priced labor.
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021221
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slick
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Mmmm on my six dollar burger
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021227
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Dafremen
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I was bringing them food because their hunger strike was ending at 4:00AM. I met them there with some burritos. They were very appreciative...the feeling was mutual.
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021230
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