Greg and Paul (TGO)'s posts really hit a nerve. Corporate America, by squeezing the middle class, is really killing the goose that lays the golden egg. If the current trends of outsourcing jobs abroad and to illegal immigrants continues, there will be no more middle class in America. America will be like a third world country, with an ultra-wealthy ruling class and hundreds of millions of desperately poor people (with a living standard equal to that of most illegal immigrants).
Corporate America doesn't care that there will be no more customers here; they will sell their products to the new middle class in India.
I especially agree with Greg's post about illegal immigration. Not only is it adversely affecting California's finances, but more important, it is driving down wages. Many contractors, for example, are hiring illegal immigrants because if they don't they will be underbid by their competitors who do. The worst part is that politicians in both major parties have more incentive to pander to illegal immigration than to do something about it. Democrats and Republicans both want to court Latino votes, and Republicans want to enure a reliable supply of cheap labor for their corporate benefactors.
Before anyone flames me as a racist, reactionary, right-wing wacko etc, I should point out that:
- I am very liberal and have never voted for a Republican. I voted for Nader 2x, Ron Daniels (Peace & Freedom party) in 1992, and Dukakis in 1988. I voted No on the recall of Gray Davis.
- I voted No on Prop. 187 because I thought it was poorly written and obviously unconstitutional.
I am not anti-immigration or anti-Latino, but I oppose *illegal* immigration because of its economic effects (and resent the efforts of those who deliberately confuse immigration with illegal immigration).
Joe
