Yes, Build the Wall, But Realize That We'll Still Need Seasonal Agricultural Workers

[thackney]

If you are hungry enough (mentally or physically) you will work at what ever you can find and then work on finding something better.

Amen.  When I was younger, before my engineering degree, I collected garbage, run the honey wagon (septic suck truck).

[IsailedawayfromFR]

My nephew has the work ethic but no ambition for anything more than a career at Little Ceasars. He's learned to weld and went to work in fast food.

Wish his uncle had been able to instill some ambition into him.

I have a nephew with three kids laid off four years ago when unemployment benefits were extended.

After being out of work for almost a year, I asked him when he would get a job.  He told me he was not looking as he was still on unemployment and would look after they ran out.

His uncle wanted to throttle him as I told him he was being paid by me and others not to work.

[IsailedawayfromFR]

Amen.  When I was younger, before my engineering degree, I collected garbage, run the honey wagon (septic suck truck).

You could have been a sanitation engineer then (sic).  I actually knew a guy I worked with in the government who was a non-degreed sanitation engineer working as a professional engineer among us.  He told me he was up to his head in shit more than once.

[Cripplecreek]

Amen.  When I was younger, before my engineering degree, I collected garbage, run the honey wagon (septic suck truck).

A garbage man is a pretty solid career choice in itself these days. My neighbor makes probably 60 grand per year driving a garbage truck.

[skeeter]

Of course we'll need ag workers. But since they currently constitute about 2% of the jobs held by illegal aliens the problem can easily be remedied via some sort of seasonal work pass. In fact I think there's already such a program.

[geronl]

I've got another nephew I think has made the right choice in ditching his mother's dream of him being a doctor to run a UPS store that he's now buying.

That sounds like a real business prospect to me

[driftdiver]

Wish his uncle had been able to instill some ambition into him.

I have a nephew with three kids laid off four years ago when unemployment benefits were extended.

After being out of work for almost a year, I asked him when he would get a job.  He told me he was not looking as he was still on unemployment and would look after they ran out.

His uncle wanted to throttle him as I told him he was being paid by me and others not to work.

@IsailedawayfromFR

I just don't get that.  Here in Florida unemployment is about $236 a week at MOST.   Many people receive less.   When I was laid off for an extended period that amount didn't go far with a house payment and a family to support.

[Victoria33]

The farmers I used to work for are paying $12 to $15 per hour these days and still can't get local kids to lower themselves to do the work.

@Cripplecreek

I have a significant lower back problem, not much cartilage left between L3, L4, L5.  I could bend to pick veggies maybe four times and have to stop before pain set in and I couldn't walk the next day.  I can do a lot of things, but repeated bending is not one of them.

Looking at those workers, who are not young kids, bending to pick veggies makes my mind see the pain I would be in, not including the heat those people must endure.  If it were up to me to pick veggies, the country would starve, along with me.

I appreciate every veggie I buy, knowing someone had to bend to get it.  If the illegals weren't there to pick veggies, would that encourage citizens to do it?  If citizens won't do it, even if the wage goes higher, then we all have no veggies.  I don't know the answer to this picking problem.  Perhaps it is God's fault for not making backs better in their construction. 

[Cripplecreek]

That sounds like a real business prospect to me

My uncle is looking into the legalities, insurance issues, and feasibility of me operating out of my garage as a sort of shipping and receiving hub for UPS, FedEx etc. Kind of like a UPS store without the tie to UPS. Now that our post office closes at 11 AM every morning has become a real problem for people who work normal hours. I know the neighbors I've spoken to about it say they love the idea of it because I can be open and available from 6 AM to 10 PM. I'll even call to tell people when their packages arrive and possibly even deliver directly to the elderly folks right here in town.

My uncle always wanted ti go into business with his son or sons but ended up with 2 daughters who don't have any interest so my male cousins and I have taken the place of sons.

[geronl]

@Cripplecreek  If the illegals weren't there to pick veggies, would that encourage citizens to do it?  If citizens won't do it, even if the wage goes higher, then we all have no veggies.  I don't know the answer to this picking problem.  Perhaps it is God's fault for not making backs better in their construction. 

Someone will invent a machine to pick them

[Sanguine]

Someone will invent a machine to pick them

There are already machines to pick a lot of things. 

[Cripplecreek]

There are already machines to pick a lot of things.

Like this lettuce harvester. The lettuce is picked, cleaned, and packaged right there in the field.

[truth_seeker]

There have been laws and provisions for seasonal Ag. workers since WWII or before, and there are still such provisions.

An guess what? The law is  "H -2A seasonal guest workers "

[IsailedawayfromFR]

@IsailedawayfromFR

I just don't get that.  Here in Florida unemployment is about $236 a week at MOST.   Many people receive less.   When I was laid off for an extended period that amount didn't go far with a house payment and a family to support.

I forgot to mention that he had his wife working already, so the bum was living off her income and welfare.