Thursday, June 23, 2011

They Should Be Proud It Worked So Well

The state of Georgia recently passed a bill intended to rid itself of illegal immigrants. And it worked! (Atlanta Journal-Constitution)

Thanks to the resulting labor shortage, Georgia farmers have been forced to leave millions of dollars’ worth of blueberries, onions, melons and other crops unharvested and rotting in the fields.

Nobody wants to harvest fruit and vegetables for eight bucks an hour. So what if they offered more money?

Georgia farmers could try to solve the manpower shortage by offering higher wages, but that would create an entirely different set of problems. If they raise wages by a third to a half, which is probably what it would take, they would drive up their operating costs and put themselves at a severe price disadvantage against competitors in states without such tough immigration laws.

Sometimes you need to be careful what you ask for.

1 comment:

John Speare said...

I've seen this posted a few places now. The cricket sound from the usual right-ish commentators is deafening.
The obvious solution to our illegal immigration "problem" has been obvious for years.
This is one version of it and how it looks like in practice.
The other solution is just to fine those who hire illegals a huge sum that would cover the cost of adequate enforcement and deportation.
But then a bunch of politicians would loose a particularly reliable tool to wind up their right-wing bases.