Do you not understand that if there is no cheap labor, then the farmers would have to raise prices just to make a living and cover costs? Oh, and you can stop putting words in my mouth any time.

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So if the cost of food is roughly 1/3 labor (assuming you are correct) and that labor doubles, triples, etc... what happens to the cost of food?

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The biggest and best financed group is the scumbag Republican employers of illegals with their lobbyist arm the US chamber of commerce. Their hired legions of activists are the ones whining that the economy will take a big hit and prices will go up without the so called cheap subsidized illegal labor. In actuality, though, what would take the big hit would be the lucrative profits that the Republican employers would take if they were forced to stop hiring illegal Mexican scabs. They are throwing a lot of money to fight the employers of illegals sanctions laws, particularly mandatory e-verification of the legal status of employees.

There are plenty of other pro illegal OBL groups with overlapping agendas, that don't want employers of illegals sanctions laws passed, also.

Do you not understand that there IS no cheap labor, just so called cheap subsidized illegal labor. So that a few American industries can have so called cheap illegal labor, which is subsidized by American taxpayers, we have millions of illegals aliens running wild and ruining America.

Running wild and ruining america - wow. You must live in quite a neighborhood.

Farmers and food processors are getting hit with far higher energy costs - now you propose making them pay minimum wage to american teens who will spendall their time whining about the weather and textimg there friends. That should really boost the economy!

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It is not the function of our Government to keep the citizen from falling into error; it is the function of the citizen to keep the Government from falling into error.
-- Robert Houghwout Jackson,
Chief Judge at the War-Crimes Tribunal in Nuremberg

Farmers and supermarkets also don't exist in a vacuum - their prices are rising, so they pass the raise along to consumers in order to stay in business.

Not to worry - some places are recording record profits - like oil companies and insurance companies.

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It is not the function of our Government to keep the citizen from falling into error; it is the function of the citizen to keep the Government from falling into error.
-- Robert Houghwout Jackson,
Chief Judge at the War-Crimes Tribunal in Nuremberg

The price of food would rise because the costs of production will rise. Illegal immigrants, being illegal, don't have the benefits of legal employment protections such as minimum wage. In addition sending out the statistically insignificant 'welfare bums' to work in the fields won't put a dent in the amount of labor required for the continuation of sustainable food prices. So we would be spending more on fewer workers with lower output (continuing the analysis that 'welfare bums' are indeed bums).

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Political Wrinkles
Kizzume Forum :: Index
Political Fever

Yes, they make the choice to pass the costs on to the consumers.

More evidence that there is no such thing as a "law" of supply and demand and no such thing as prices just sort of magically rising and falling all by themselves.

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A panda walks into a cafe. He orders a sandwich, eats it, then draws a gun and fires two shots in the air.

"Why?" asks the confused waiter, as the panda makes toward the exit. The panda produces a badly punctuated wildlife manual and tosses it over his shoulder.

"I'm a panda," he says at the door. "Look it up."

The waiter turns to the relevant entry and, sure enough, finds an explanation.

"Panda. Large black-and-white bear-like mammal, native to China. Eats, shoots and leaves."

They make the choice to pass on the cost? Are you kidding me? Have you ever been on a small to medium sized family run farm? They are not making millions. In order to make a living, they HAVE to pass the cost on. If they are forced to pay minimum wage, then the price of food will rise. There is nothing about choice involved.

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They're still making the choice and there aren't quite so many of these small-to-medium-sized family farms left. More and more of the agriculture, at least in the industrialized world, is being accomplished by big agribusiness.

__________________
A panda walks into a cafe. He orders a sandwich, eats it, then draws a gun and fires two shots in the air.

"Why?" asks the confused waiter, as the panda makes toward the exit. The panda produces a badly punctuated wildlife manual and tosses it over his shoulder.

"I'm a panda," he says at the door. "Look it up."

The waiter turns to the relevant entry and, sure enough, finds an explanation.

"Panda. Large black-and-white bear-like mammal, native to China. Eats, shoots and leaves."