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Mark Cromer: Shovel Ready? More Like a Shovelful
As Labor Day passed, replete with obligatory headlines heralding the latest grim economic news, one could find a variety of narrative threads running through the major stories that were printed, broadcast and uploaded over the holiday weekend; from the rising misery of America’s working class to the political price Democrats appear likely to pay for it less than two months from now.
Another common theme could be found in what was dutifully missing in most of the media’s holiday tie-in reportage: immigration.
Even as the real unemployment rate is more than 20 percent in many areas of the country — and pushing 40 percent or more among various race, age, geographic and skill-level demographics — the federal government is still allowing an average of more than 100,000 foreign workers legally into the United States every month.
That number of immigrants — the highest in the world — is matched or exceeded by immigrants illegally crossing the border or overstaying their visas to effectively squat in the United States.
A 5-year-old could connect the dots between rising joblessness and hardship with continued mass immigration and the increased competition for shrinking resources that it brings, but the rank-and-file of the Fourth Estate refuse to even acknowledge the obvious association. While the reasons for the media’s silence are varied, most stem from ideological conditioning.
Newsrooms now tend to reflect the dynamic so prevalent at universities, places where certain truisms are neither explored nor challenged, but rather sung in unison, as if the chorus itself celebrates some self-evident truth.
And few truisms enjoy more certitude in these circles than the axiom that “immigration is good.”
Conversely, to suggest that immigration is perhaps not always good, or that it should be curtailed, or that the United States should consider a moratorium on mass immigration during this economic crisis, is to invite indignant howls of heresy and risk being rebuked with smears of racism, xenophobia or worse.
Thus it’s hardly a surprise that Associated Press business writers Christopher Rugaber and Michael Liedtke can deliver a lengthy deconstruction of how only the highly skilled and highly educated will have ample job opportunities in the near-future, while “others will face a choice ... a job with low pay or none at all” and yet not offer even a solitary line about the more than 24 million foreign workers in the United States — or the million-plus who arrive every year.
This intellectual dishonesty and perverse dereliction of duty throughout much of the media (and the academic institutions that feed it) have allowed Democrats and Republicans to play a cynical double-game without fear of widespread journalistic reproach, at once claiming to be fighting for the American worker and their families, all while demanding massive increases of foreign workers and their families who will compete not only for jobs but critical social services.
Over at The Atlantic, writer Chris Good celebrated the approaching Labor Day weekend by hailing Republican warhorse Haley Barbour’s “straight talk on immigration,” noting that the Mississippi governor was celebrating the American worker by praising the illegal immigrants who poured into the Gulf state following Hurricane Katrina to take construction jobs.
Barbour’s backhanded slap across the face of the American worker was hardly subtle, as the former Republican National Committee chairman declared that it was the “Spanish-speakers ... (who) looked for the work.”
This is classic Republican corporate establishment-speak, of a George W. Bush and Karl Rove vintage. Translated it means: “Jobs Americans don’t want.”
Barbour goes on to demand more H1B visas so millions more foreign workers — yes, millions — can legally come to the United States for work, evidently maintaining a straight face as he declared that it’s better to have Ph.D. graduates from India create jobs for 1,800 people in Des Moines than it is to have them return home and create those jobs there.
Good at The Atlantic did not disappoint, dutifully hitting his mark on cue by not questioning just how many immigrants have created companies with 1,800 employees in Des Moines (or anywhere else in the United States over the past two years for that matter), or exploring just what jobs the vast majority of H1B visa holders end up taking, or why Barbour and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce claim there aren’t enough Americans for these jobs?
Not a single word about it.
And, of course, there was President Barack Obama, re-energized from his holiday on Martha’s Vineyard, taking a stump speech to Wisconsin where he vowed to push for a $50 billion defibrillation of the job market.
Obama’s plan to roll some stimulus dice again and the Republican opposition to it has caught fire in the media, of course, but it’s a safe bet there will be precious little ink or airtime devoted to the hundreds of thousands of foreign workers who will have entered the country between now and the time one single job is created from that bill if it passes.
While most of the elites in this country may not be talking about it, they are deluding themselves if they believe Main Street isn’t. They know the difference between “shovel-ready” jobs they haven’t seen and the shovelful they are being fed.
Barbour may well be right that immigrants are coming here looking for work.
But American citizens are increasingly looking for their country — and their future.
— Southern California journalist Mark Cromer writes frequently about immigration issues. He can be reached at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).
Comments
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» on 09.12.10 @ 01:01 AM
Thank you for noting that this is a bi-partisan issue created at least in large part by the pressures brought to bear on Washington by big business for an endless supply of cheap labor. The lineage of this persistent problem, which seems far from being resolved, has its roots in the agricultural and textile industries dating back many decades and continuing with Ronald Reagan’s 1986 amnesty for over 9 million immigrants and the GOP endorsed union-busting which continues today, ensuring that the workers that are in no position to demand benefits and rights are preferred over those able to protect and fight for livable wages and a decent quality of life. Congratulations America’s industries and Washington’s lobbyists, you’ve succeeded in turning a once prosperous middle class into consumers with virtually no disposable income. Unfortunately for our retailers, auto manufacturers and other industries dependent upon the decimated American consumer you’ll find that without money they make rather poor customers for your products and are a no longer reliable engine to power the U.S. economy. Hope you’re happy.
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» on 09.12.10 @ 02:26 PM
Good article. Thank you. I put an ad on Craigslist for one boring minimum wage job that was using a shovel, basic manual labor. In two days I had about 45 responses and a month later about 100, and they keep responding. The vast majority being non-hispanics. Some of them even have college degrees. One was even an former executive, retired, who just wanted to work with the earth. I am convinced, if we snapped our fingers today and there were no illegal residents working in the US, there would be a period of tough adjustment and change, no doubt. But I believe it would be surprising how quickly our country would adjust, get back on its feet and get back to work, and back to health.
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» on 09.12.10 @ 03:33 PM
The United States of America - the best tax dodge Microsoft, Nasscom and other greedy corporations can buy from corrupt politicans.
Investigative journalists - here’s a story that’s easy to tell and backed up with hard facts - hiding in broad daylight in US Government compliance reports.
1. H-1b DOL Data - go to the website to see how difficult it is for companies to fill US jobs… You’ll be shocked with the results.. Literally thousands of English Teachers, Pharmacists, Teaching Assistants, Nurses, and Programmers.
Did you know Arizona must hire H-1b Transportation experts to fix Phoenix traffic?
Apparently the Washington State Employment Security System had to hire H-1b programmers because even with 10% unemployment,the state cannot find qualified technical resources?
In Chicago, the Girl Scouts of America hired H-1b leaders, apparently there must be a shortage of moms willing to help their daughters so they had to recruit exclusively abroad.
Another big deal just exposed, did you know that USAid uses US taxpayer dollars to fund the outsourcing of US jobs together with Microsoft in Sri Lanka? And, that’s just one of hundreds such USAid public/private tech partnerships. Check the USAid global partnership database to find hundreds more of documented misues of taxpayer dollars for the exclusive benefit of greedy corporations. The numbers are black and white. Just need to know where to find them.
In closing, VOTE THEM OUT!!!! Party makes no difference
Vote out all of the corrupt politicians who think the American public is too stupid to see that the emperor has no clothes. These elected officials only focus on their corporate benefactors and callously dismiss their electorate.
These corrupt politicians must be held accountable for their actions. Send them to both the unemployment line and jail for defrauding American taxpayers.
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» on 09.19.10 @ 05:32 PM
Did you hear about Cowlin Powel’s promoting of hiring illegal immigrants???
Well, that’s a disgrace. When there are so many United States Citizens going hungry; that’s nothing to brag about. That’s the problem in this country. These rich folks are out of touch with what the average American citizens has to endure. I’ve always liked Cowlin Powell, but am totally appalled by this!!!!
Some people don’t get it!!!! There are many American Citizens who have worked so hard and followed the rules, who are negatively being effected by the wave of illegal immigrants. In many big cities like Chicago, there are so many illegal immigrants that have sneaked in, the past 30 years from Mexico, and the federal government has basically looked the other way and in some ways this has even been encouraged. They have given no regard for US CITIZENS.
Many teachers, in inner cities like Chicago and LA, cannot find work unless they speak Spanish. It’s hard in your 30s, 40s, having to learn Spanish. And why should we, all due to the fact that many people sneaked in Illegally, why should we have to be the victims and suffer, because of the government’s lack of protecting the people. I went back to school for teaching and am now in my 40s and had to move back with my parents, because I cannot find work now; however, if I knew Spanish, I most certainly could, which is totally…...
I’m personally sick of all this political correctness. It’s time we start looking out and helping the true citizens and people who didn’t take shortcuts and break the rules. Why she we reward breaking laws???? IS THAT THE MESSAGE WE SHOULD BE ADVOCATING???? I’m very disappointed in Colin Powell’s and others who are being short-sited on this issue. This topic is very complicated and definitely having a negative impact on U.S. citizens and I would bet my life on that…. We have enough uneducated, U.S. citizens who cannot write and speak proper English. Why would we welcome more into our country. Why not try to recruit people who speak English and are educated. Cowlin Powell obviously is very aware of the reality of this issue.
This is the kind of narrow-minded thinking is what is causing more problems and animosity.
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