Of Immigrants and Economics | The Source Weekly - Bend, Oregon

Of Immigrants and Economics

Illegal immigrants impact on the economy.

One of the major reasons for the declining economy and unemployment numbers always seems to shift back to the illegal immigrants coming into the country and stealing jobs. Obviously we all know that large numbers of people are crossing our southern border for work, but how much are they really affecting the economy?

Now I am not much of an economy wizard, but something is a bit rotten on the whole "blame the illegals" thing. I had recently talked with a carpenter from California and he told me how his wage had dropped from $25 per hour to $21 per hour and (finally) to $16 an hour. The drop happened as the work force became more and more [Hispanic] in the house-building industry.

So when I asked him if the price of the houses dropped also he said "no, it increased." So where is the extra money going? Say I am building a widget and it costs me $50 to build it. I sell it for $100 and make $50. I cut labor costs back so the cost to build is $25 and I sell it for $100. I now make $75 dollars off the widget. More money in my pocket.

There is also an issue about taxes and welfare and Medicaid. [Supposedly] the illegals are "stealing" from us. I know that when I get a paycheck my employer has taken out income tax, Social Security, and other various taxes. Even if I am using a stolen or made up Social Security number, there is still tax money taken from the check to help pay for all the government sponsored services. Sure, the net of the check might be sent over the border, but we still get money for the taxes.

That's the case as long as the employer is doing [its] side of the books in the legal manner. Of course if I want a few more bucks, I hire a cheap worker and pay him under the table and save myself a whole lot of money that otherwise I would send to the government.

I am not saying that the illegals are innocent of all wrongdoing; they should come in legally and work the same as us. What I do see is that we, the American people, are promoting the flood of people coming into our borders. We hire the illegal and promote them to come here. The low wages are high wages compared to home.

If you did not have drug addicts then you wouldn't have a market for drugs. If you did not hire the illegals, then there would be no reason for them to come up here. Of course a business owner might have to pay a more realistic wage and have to pay real tax money, which would mean less profit for them at the end of the year, and that is not the American dream.

- ktg

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