[ilbegone]

Originally Posted by Jeanfromfillmore

Back in Sept of last year Feinstein asked for millions in federal money to restock the food banks in Fresno because there was a 50% unemployment rate among the farm laborers. This was done a week before signing legislation asking for more migrant workers, and she answered an email I sent her about an excess of migrant labor by saying the fruit were rotting on the trees because there weren't enough migrants to pick the fruit. At the time I had spoken to at least 75 migrant workers here in Ventura County that were only getting two days of work or less each week. All that money Feinstein asked for went to the nonprofits to distribute to the migrants.

Rose recently tried to get work picking strawberries, but they told her they weren't hiring. Does something smell foul?

Detroit, Michigan may have an unemployment rate of 50%.

Michigan has an official unemployment rate of 14.1%, and ranks 51 on a Bureau of Labor Statistics chart (which includes the District of Columbia).

California's official unemployment rate is 12.5%, tying with South Carolina for ranking 47 among the states.

The Inland Empire region of California has about a 15% unemployment rate


So, what has been done for Detroit, how are those people hanging on? It's been going on for a long time, was there and why not now a fuss about it? Is it the fact that they are American citizens and the "news" is more than three days old?

I believe Feinstein is double talking because she doesn't believe her American constituents are smart enough to have an insulted intelligence. Hooking illegally present unemployed farm workers on social services while calling for more may be a part of importing a constituency - the more the merrier for Democrat supporters if illegals are made into (PRESTO CHANGE-O) American citizens.

Schwartzenegger's thing might be a business thing - keep "em around till the work comes back so a whole new work force doesn't have to be built from scratch. I actually have seen a few companies do this, spending money on non productive labor, but only for relatively short periods of time. Then the work came back, or they laid everyone off. The thing Swartzeneger doesn't realize is that he is dealing with a relatively unskilled labor force which largely traveled great distances to get there and generally would travel great distances to get another low paying job. And be right back when growing starts up again, a hard core capitalist's dream come true.

As far as Rose not being hired to pick strawberries:

I knew a woman a few years ago who had been born ion the United States, but spent much of her young life following the crops with her parents, working in the fields with her parents during much of it.

And she somehow incredibly managed to get an education enough to be accepted for college enrollment.

To get money during the summer, she got a picking job in the Coachella Valley, but was ran off by the UFW because she was too Americanized.

There are some jobs you will not be considered for if you are an American by birth or by cultural assimilation.




BLS chart: http://www.bls.gov/web/laumstrk.htm