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Thursday, June 13, 2013

Hurting America's Working Poor

There is a large group of people across America who can best be described as the "Working Poor".  These are the millions of folks who have less education, work at lower paid jobs, and are nearer the edge of the cliff of poverty than the bulk of the country.  This group was particularly hard hit by the last recession, and they have been the slowest segment of society to recover.  Unemployment in this segment of the population is much higher than the nominal 7.6 percent figure that Washington announces for the nation as a whole. 

The amazing thing about this group is that right now, RIGHT NOW!!!, their futures are under attack.  Even worse, the attack on the working poor is being led by the politicians that this very group chose to go to Washington.  That attack is underway in the form of the so-called comprehensive immigration reform bill now pending in the Senate.

The Senate immigration bill will open America to something on the order of at least another twenty million immigrants above those who could get here under the present law.  Nearly all these new immigrants will be relatives of those currently here illegally.  These new immigrants will be relatively uneducated and without many skills.  They will come here and compete for jobs currently held by one group:  the Working Poor.  Simply put, all these extra immigrants will drive down wages, make jobs harder to find, and force millions of Working Poor folks into total povery and distress.  And who is pushing this bill the hardest?  It is the Democrats who see these extra people as future Democrat voters.  If these new immigrants force millions of African American poor over the cliff of destitution, the Democrats don't care; they want the extra voters no matter what it means for their constituents.  And all those other poor people about whom the Democrats perpetually claim to worry and care?  Well, the Democrats are neither worrying or caring about the negative impact on these poor if there are extra votes to scoop up.

So who is really going to gain the most from the immigration bill?  It is the people who employ low paid workers in large numbers.  These companies will have a guaranteed low wage labor pool for decades to come.  There will be no need to improve wages or benefits when there will always be another low skilled immigrant to take any open job.


 

 

 

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