Debt Free

Krikey! Hearing the media spew forth about “immigrant advocates” and “immigrant rallies” is about enough to make most Americans run to their local pharmacy for a Prilosec prescription. The problem for most Americans isn't immigrants. Many of us either are, or are directly descended from, recent immigrants. The problem is ILLEGAL immigrants. Most Americans actually advocate immigration and believe it strengthens our nation. Illegal immigration is another issue entirely. It's probably why Pat Buchanan's new book is already a best seller. It's about damn time the media makes the distinction when they talk about the issue in their headlines and news briefs.

According to a Fox news poll taken in late may of this year, 57% of Americans feel illegal immigration is a very serious problem. Most of the rest feel it is a somewhat serious problem. Ah! you say, we know that Fox news isn't really “Fair and Balanced”. That poll's probably biased in favor of those right wing Republicans. Well no one would make the same charges about CBS News, now would they? A poll taken by the ex-Dan Rather network on 5/4/06 actually reported higher numbers than the Fox News poll; 59%. How about ABC News and the Washington Post? They're not exactly bastions of conservative thought either. In a poll taken by those news outlets about the same time, an overwhelming 77% of Americans feel our government is not doing enough to keep illegal immigrants from crossing the border, and 74% favor using National Guard troops to assist the border patrol.

Why does America care weather Carlos has papers when he's helping Safeway keep the produce section full of cheap strawberries? Are we really dependent upon illegal immigrants to fill those jobs that nobody in America wants? Are there actually jobs that Americans don't want? Sure there are. And they're not all the crappy ditch digging, crop picking jobs you'd think, either. One of the categories of jobs Americans don't seem to want is high paying, skilled manufacturing positions. “That can't be true.” you say. One would think people must be standing in line for those kind of jobs. Well, one would be wrong.

According to a survey of the National Association of Manufacturers taken at the end of 2005, 90% of the group's 12,000 members are having trouble filling highly skilled positions such as machinists and other technical operator and service positions. Many have resorted to signing bonuses and other incentives. It's so bad that Toyota had to poach many of the 200 highly skilled manufacturing positions it recently needed for it's new plant in San Antonio from other firms throughout the country. That same survey of the NAM found that an amazing 35% of the firms had open manufacturing positions they couldn't fill because they couldn't find qualified applicants. The group is projecting a potential skilled worker shortage of 10 million by 2020 if current trends don't reverse themselves. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (we have bureaus for everything, don't we?) puts the current level of manufacturing employment at only 14.4 million, so we'll need to almost double that in the next 15 years. So there are a great number of good jobs out there that many American either don't want, or are ignorant of.

Part of the blame for our little shortage is that many potential employees have been steered away from these types of jobs by guidance counselors and parents that want Johnny to be a lawyer or a doctor. Well, we've got quite enough lawyers already. Besides that, the percentage of young men (those that traditionally filled manufacturing jobs in this country) that are graduating from college has been dropping for some time. Only 43% of men entering college leave with degrees. This is not because the athlete contingent is dragging them down either. Division 1 college football players actually have a 55% graduation rate, according to the most recent federal statistics. To make matters even worse for the men in this country, fewer of them are even entering college at all. The most recent statistics for the Cal State system show only about 41% of the most recent class entering the system are men.

With fewer men entering college in pursuit of a four year(or more) degree, fewer still graduating, and a shortage of qualified applicants for skilled manufacturing positions, one wonders what the men are doing. Maybe picking strawberries for Safeway's produce section.

Back to the illegal immigrant problem. If any other group of criminals held marches or rallies in the streets, there'd be hell to pay. Can you imagine the purse snatchers, burglars or crack heads milling (often all the same guy) about our downtown metro areas, demanding more rights? Probably not. Why then, do we not have similar indignation over another group of criminals doing the same thing, and why do these ILLEGAL immigrants have groups supporting them? Put that one to your lawmakers in November.