Thread: Tomatoes and Cheap Labor

I received this by email. It's so good that I will share it here.

Cheap Tomatoes

THIS HAS GOT TO BE PASSED ALONG TO AS MANY AS POSSIBLE OR WE WILL ALL GO DOWN THE DRAIN BECAUSE A FEW DON'T CARE.

This English teacher has phrased it the best I've seen yet.


Tomatoes and Cheap Labor

CHEAP TOMATOES?
This should make everyone think, be you Democrat, Republican or Independent

From a California school teacher - - -


"As you listen to the news about the student protests over illegal immigration, there are some things that you should be aware of:

I am in charge of the English-as-a-second-language department at a large southern California high school which is designated a Title 1 school, meaning that its students average lower socioeconomic and income levels

Most of the schools you are hearing about, South Gate High, Bell Gardens , Huntington Park , etc., where these students are protesting, are also Title 1 schools.

Title 1 schools are on the free breakfast and free lunch program. When I say free breakfast, I'm not talking a glass of milk and roll -- but a full breakfast and cereal bar with fruits and juices that would make a Marriott proud. The waste of this food is monumental, with trays and trays of it being dumped in the trash uneaten.

I estimate that well over 50% of these students are obese or at least moderately overweight. About 75% or more DO have cell phones. The school also provides day care centers for the unwed teenage pregnant girls (some as young as 13) so they can attend class without the inconvenience of having to arrange for babysitters or having family watch their kids.

I was ordered to spend $700,000 on my department or risk losing
funding for the upcoming year even though there was little need for anything; my budget was already substantial. I ended up buying new computers for the computer learning center, half of which, one month later, have been carved with graffiti by the appreciative students who obviously feel humbled and grateful to have a free education in America ..

I have had to intervene several times for young and substitute teachers whose classes consist of many illegal immigrant students, here in the country less than 3 months, who raised so much ---- with the female teachers, calling them "Putas" and throwing things, that the teachers were in tears.

Free medical, free education, free food, free day care etc., etc, etc. Is it any wonder they feel entitled to not only be in this country but to demand rights, privileges and entitlements?

To those who want to point out how much these illegal immigrants contribute to our society because they LIKE their gardener and housekeeper and they like to pay less for tomatoes: spend some time in the real world of illegal immigration and see the TRUE costs.

Higher insurance, medical facilities closing, higher medical costs, more crime, lower standards of education in our schools, overcrowding, new diseases. For me, I'll pay more for tomatoes.

Americans, We need to wake up.

It does, however, have everything to do with culture: It involves an American third-world culture that does not value education, that accepts children getting pregnant and dropping out of school by 15 and that refuses to assimilate, and an American culture that has become so weak and worried about “political correctness" that we don't have the will to do anything about it.

If this makes your blood boil, as it did mine, send this to everyone you know.

CHEAP LABOR? Isn't that what the whole immigration issue is about?

Business doesn't want to pay a decent wage.

Consumers don't want expensive produce.

Government will tell you Americans don't want the jobs.

But the bottom line is cheap labor. The phrase "cheap labor" is a myth, a farce, and a lie. There is no such thing as "cheap labor."

Take, for example, an illegal alien with a wife and five children. He takes a job for $5.00 or 6.00/hour. At that wage, with six dependents, he pays no income tax, yet at the end of the year, if he files an Income Tax Return, he gets an "earned income credit" of up to $3,200 free.

He qualifies for Section 8 housing and subsidized rent.

He qualifies for food stamps.

He qualifies for free (no deductible, no co-pay) health care.

His children get free breakfasts and lunches at school.

He requires bilingual teachers and books.

He qualifies for relief from high energy bills.

If they are, or become, aged, blind or disabled, they qualify for SSI. If qualified for SSI they can qualify for Medicaid. All of this is at (our) taxpayer's expense.

He doesn't worry about car insurance, life insurance, or homeowners insurance.

Taxpayers provide Spanish language signs, bulletins and printed material.

He and his family receive the equivalent of $20.00 to $30.00/hour in benefits.

Working Americans
are lucky to have $5.00 or $6..00/hour left after paying their bills and his.



Cheap labor? YEAH RIGHT!
THESE ARE THE QUESTIONS WE SHOULD BE ADDRESSING TO THE CONGRESSIONAL MEMBERS OF EITHER PARTY. 'AND WHEN THEY LIE TO US AND DON'T DO AS THEY SAY, WE SHOULD REPLACE THEM .

The problems in this article would continue to exist even after the illegal aliens were given amnesty. However since the welfare state beneficiaries would be grateful they are good prospective clients of patronage machine politics. So even if we can take the information in the article with dread the politicians promoting amnesty perceive it with delight. It would not be neccessary for the politicians to buy votes out of their own pocket since the funds would be coming in from us as taxes through the government.

This has been posted before but it's nice to see it agian. I would like to add that many of those who work on farms do alot of drinking and illegal drugs. A physicians assistant was telling me that many day laborers smoke crack and end up with heart surgery at the tax payers expense to repair heart damage. Immokalee has lots of farms and if you monitor the Collier County who is in jail you see what this so called cheap labor gets arrested for. It's too early for today's list to post a few examples. You see alcohol consumption in public, disorderly conduct, DUI with no valid licesne or insurance, driving without a valid driver's license and they find illegal drugs in the vehicle, giving police fake ID, battery charges, and many times those caught without a driver's license have a warrant from a neighboring county for the same thing as they did not go to court.

I have seen this too, but a good reminder that a few cents saved at your produce department is actually costing us more in taxes than if the produce was picked by American hands instead of cheap labor.

If you have even a patio, get some large pots and plant a few things, you will lessen your own dependence on produce picked by illegal aliens. Once the amount of people buying cheap picked produce goes down, the less illegal aliens the farmers will need to hire!

We have our garden set up, have 11 tomato plants, plus a lot more, of course weather willing (Oregon is having a late wet and cold spring...the tomatoes are looking sad).

Originally Posted by AmericanElizabeth

I have seen this too, but a good reminder that a few cents saved at your produce department is actually costing us more in taxes than if the produce was picked by American hands instead of cheap labor.

If you have even a patio, get some large pots and plant a few things, you will lessen your own dependence on produce picked by illegal aliens. Once the amount of people buying cheap picked produce goes down, the less illegal aliens the farmers will need to hire!

We have our garden set up, have 11 tomato plants, plus a lot more, of course weather willing (Oregon is having a late wet and cold spring...the tomatoes are looking sad).

Dang...you are always having trouble with those darn turmaters...

I used to have a garden up north when I lived in a house but I had to give it up after I was stung by a bee. I am allergic to bee stings. Now I live in a condo. I might try growing my own tomaotes in pots on my screened belcony. They can be cross pollenated without bees. My daughter and her boyfriend are renting a house and have a garden so I do get some herbs and tomaotes from them.
When it comes to produce this is one thing I avoid buying from American farmers. I would rather buy from another country than buy from a farm who hires illegals. The Italian store where I shop alot actually have tomatoes from Canada when in season and they are cheaper than the ones from Florida. Canada does bring people in to pick crops but it is all done legally and when the season is over they leave. They have too much too loose if they don't and little to gain as there is no anchor baby system like we have here.

We grow all of our own produce in a large garden every year. We have 9 tomato plants right now and some other things. The tomatoes are doing better right now than they have been in the past few years. I almost never buy produce from a store. I try to do everything I can to avoid supporting illegal aliens.

This terrible state of afairs originally started to allow migrants into California so that big American agri-business didn't have to pay such high wages to farm workers. It was sold by claiming it would bring cheaper prices...the real reason was to impoverish working folks.

http://www.alipac.us/ftopict-201214.html

I SUPPORT immigration reform that makes our borders secure, aggressively enforces Title 8 Section 1325 of the U.S. Code and other immigration laws, aggressively seeks out and finds and gives HIGH fines and felony prison time to ANY employer of illegal aliens, checking citizenship status in ALL law enforcement activities and deporting illegal aliens discovered, placing high tariffs on nations using wage-slave labor like China, and giving JOBS and HELP for the 17% U6 American Voters without full time employment.

I OPPOSE any "path to citizenship" for illegal aliens, guest worker permits, amnesty for illegal aliens and their employers, incentives for illegal aliens like licenses and welfare and lax enforcement and citizenship, any anchor baby citizenship, dual citizenship or dual allegiance of any American citizen, offshoring of jobs, NAFTA.

The illegal alien problem could be fixed with just a few steps.

All illegal alien employers need to be fined so much that it really hurts them where their hearts are, they need to go to prison for at least 10 or 20 years, and they need to lose their business license. Then they won't have a chance to keep hiring illegals and keep on breaking the law. Some illegals will self deport from that.

Next, all 50 of the states need AZ's SB1070. More illegals will self deport.

Catch and deport all of them that don't leave on their own and make them take their anchor babies and close the borders so that they can't come back.

Then if they want to come here, they can get in line and come legally and learn english.

No amnesty for any of them.

Yep hardlineconstitutionalist...the weather has been awful for this time of year up here. It has just been a constant wave of rain storms, and cold air. Last few days it has started to get warmer, and honestly, with seeds in the ground the constant moisture is good, so is the warm air, but after they come up they need that sunshine.

The last batch of tomato starts are looking bad again, some leaves are yellowing (too much moisture, lack of sun?). We are going to try some lime and see if it helps, they do need it anyways.

Our corn is sprouting good, and the other seed starts, but we need the sun to come in soon.

We have this moderately ok sized yard at our duplex rental, we have taken all of the grass out and put down garden beds (made from fence boards), our corn is in a 10'x6', carrots in a 4'x4', potatoes and onions in a 8'x6', cucumbers in a 6'x6', and then there are six - 6'x2' beds. I would say our yard (where the sun is) is aproximately 16 feet by 20 feet. We just decided we needed to do what was best for us (less chance of foreign grown bacterial infected produce), and what was best for our local community and state (depending less on illegal cheap labor that the farms hire).

So, hopefully it will thrive and we can harvest enough to have made it worth our while.

I will tell you all, cucumbers, grow them yourselves, we did last year and the taste freshly picked is phenomenol compared to the ones in the stores. Crisp, mildly sweet, no bitterness and not spongy or chewy. Corn, well last years did not do well, but I can bet fresh it is great and we hope to know for sure this time.