wrote in message
ps.com...
On Mar 9, 2:47 pm, Rudy Canoza wrote:
JoeSpareBedroom wrote:
"Rudy Canoza" wrote in message
rthlink.net...
JoeSpareBedroom wrote:
"Rudy Canoza" wrote in message
. earthlink.net...

There are undoubtedly some agricultural functions that can be
achieved
either mechanically or by hand labor. If the labor costs rise a
little,
from their current artificially depressed lows, machinery would move
in.

Erase that idea from your head. Farm machinery manufacturers have
been
working for decades to find ways to harvest certain delicate crops.
If
they
could build such things, farmers would buy them in a heartbeat.
*Some* things are amenable to cultivation and
harvesting by entirely mechanical means, but if the
cost of labor is low enough, it will be used in place
of machinery. If the cost of labor rises enough,
machinery will be used.

Take away migrant labor, and you'd better be ready for your kids to
hit
the
fields to do the harvesting. Nasty, hot dirty work. It wrecks your
back
even
if you're young and in shape. I'll bet a year's pay you'd hide your
kids
in
Canada if our government required that kids put in a year of this
type of
work.
Governments in democratic market-oriented societies
don't ever "require" that people do certain tasks,
apart from (occasionally) military service. That's a
pretty stinky red herring you trotted out there.

Europe manages to grow a lot of food, including a lot
for export, without a large pool of illegally resident
farm workers. In addition, an already large and still
growing majority of illegally resident immigrants in
this country do not work in agriculture. We are
increasingly hearing stories of farmers allegedly
unable to get their crops harvested because of labor
shortages, even *with* undocumented immigrants.

The fact is, people are going to have to pay the price
for their food, and that price is probably going to
rise. Nothing inherently wrong with that. People eat
far too much food as it is, and a price rise will get
them to eat less.

Addressing your comments out of order:

The foods people might eat less of are exactly the ones they should eat
more
of: Crops that are harvested by human hands.

You're trying to pass off a moral judgment as
nutritional advice. Forget it.

As far as crops and machinery,
certain crops CANNOT be harvested by any known machinery,

That's fine. But certain crops can be.

Now, for required work: The U.S., a democratic country:

"The first peacetime conscription came with the Selective Training and
Service Act of 1940. Active conscription ("the draft") ended in 1973.
Currently, male U.S. citizens, if aged eighteen through twenty five,
are
required to register with the Selective Service System, whose mission
is "to
provide manpower to the armed forces in an emergency" including a
"Health
Care Personnel Delivery System" [4] and "to run an Alternative Service
Program for men classified as conscientious objectors during a draft."

I see no reason why we could not have a conscription arrangement
(obviously
with pay equivalent to what migrants make) for agricultural work,

Most Americans see plenty wrong with it. Thankfully,
views like yours are in a decided, unsavory minority.

or
cleaning hotel room, public bathrooms, and doing the grunt work in
restaurant kitchens. It would pay better than what the military pays
new
recruits.

Other countries with required service. [snip crap about military
conscription]

I already covered that. We're talking about mandatory
work in areas other than military service. Democracies
don't do that.- Hide quoted text -



Absolutely amazing how anyone thinks forced labor, as opposed to free
markets, is the answer to illegal immigration. I guess it's partly a
result of not teaching basic economics in high school. Or of teaching
history too, for that matter.


If you take away an entire labor force, what do you suggest to keep
industries from collapsing? Magic? Prayer?