Scarcity is the primary determinant of value.....?

Question

Considering that the scarcity of a commodity determines its value, shouldn't we rid the country of the 12,000,000 illegals, thereby shrinking the labor pool in order to drive up the natural price of labor? Afterall, if we do not pay our poor through prices which have been inflated due to their hire, we will pay for them via welfare + the costs of the welfare bureaucracy. Also, we need a method of transporting people from high unemployment regions, such as my own - 12% -to locals where there is work. This to me answers the argument that people here won't work. They will work at higher wages if they are transported to them, and perhaps if they even continue to receive welfare benefits for 2 - 3 months to help them get on their feet. What are your thoughts?

To Mikaelia, the white man is not here illegally. My family and most white families here went through Ellis Island, or some other point t begin the process of naturalization. Also, take as a given that the unpapered Mexicans and the corporations that hire them are both illegal.

Answer 1

How about this? Instead of punishing the "illegals" that had to escape mexico because NAFTA ruined their crops with an affluence of cheap US-subsided grains, why don't we punish the corporations that hire them for lower wages instead?
It's not the fault of the pig, but of the hand that feeds it.

Another error in your logic is that labour is not a 100% commodity, since it's "price" (wages) can also be risen through collective bargaining and pressure. Why don't we pressure the corporations that make obsene amounts of money on our backs, instead of pressuring the immigrants that are trying to work just like the rest of us?
Isn't "free competition" what America's all about? If somebody else is willing to work harder than you for less money maybe he deserves to be here, and not you.

Nice try using economics buzzwords to justify idiocy, by the way.
By promoting hate between us and the immigrants, all that right-wingers like you do is deflect attention from the real, common enemy: the big corporations that give low-wages and break the law.

Answer 2

Think about the jobs those laborers do. I'm not defending illegal immigration at all, but they do the lower income jobs for lower wages. This allows us to buy a tomato for 50 cents because illegals are willing to be underpayed. Increasing the cost of the labor pool increases the costs of goods and services of the majority of people thus lowering the Quality of living for the majority. The less affected will be the rich. Besides, there will always be people here illegally as long as the living here is better than "there" wherever there is. The only way to truly evenly balance that out is to make the Quality of living(wages, etc) in other countries good enough to keep them "there".

In response to peppermint and her comment about Labor cost, the whole reason for minimum wage is because people were willing to work for less than they could get by on, put their kids into the labor market, and basically enhanced the gap between rich and poor. Meaning the shop owners reaped the rewards and the basic people suffered. For more information look up the depression and the industrial revolution.
KT

RLW:
To answer your question "Wouldn't you rather pay $1.00 for a tomato if you were able to save your contributions the welfare system in addition to paying a bureaucrat to hand out the check? "

Of course I would, but reducing illegal immegration wouldn't do that. Why? Because it won't save the welfare check, instead you will revert to a cost competitive market where only the people at the top are making money. By increasing the cost of labor, the cost of living gets raised for all the commodities in which we purchase. Doing so will cause people not to be able to be self sufficient. We already have a dilemma of poverty level being defined as well above minimum wage. Increasing the cost of living by increasing the cost of labor pool will have ripples not just through the unemployed but through the vast majority which is not considerd upper class. This will push the poverty line higher. In short it is good you have goals of reducing the welfare check, but if you increase the cost of living for everyone, you will create more poverty in our country not less resulting in more financial assistance needed than less. What you should be looking into is a greater distribution or taxation on accumulation of wealth which doesn't get redispersed into our economic system when it is hoarded.

Answer 3

Scarcity is due to the increase in population is faster than the increase in resources. If we consider that the illegal population tends to increase its population faster than the American population, of course labor wages will decline or just not increase very much. But other varibles must be considered, such as companies keeping wages down by hiring illegals, and many others in an econometric model for employment issues.

Answer 4

First off we have laws that are not being enforced. If the laws were to take effect there would be no problem. If the states just cut off support to illegals that would stop a lot of the problem. It would also help the states to stay on budget. Only two states in the union are not overspending.

People will naturally migrate to the jobs if they know where to go. Unemployment is a good motivation to find a job.

Answer 5

Driving up the price of labor does not serve the plans of those who pay those wages. Keeping those wages down maximizes profits. dont be a dummy! rid the country of illegals? Who the hell are you? Last time I checked the white man was an illegal invader on the land we stand on right now. Send the immigrants in droves I say!

Answer 6

Theres something very pre-1950 to your question...and very authoritarian...scary! Anyway, isn't the price of labor one of the reasons why we lost so many jobs to China and India? The higher our wages over here...the harder it'll be to compete with other countries...it's called "the race to the bottom" and technically...any 'tinkering' with the natural price of labor will cause a lose in jobs for us all....even though the unemployment level where your at is fairly high, at 12%, it is far better than the unemployment levels in most of the world (one of the reasons why France had all those riots).

Answer 7

Actually it's demand, you've got it backwards. Oil isn't scarce at all but demand has been engineered to exceed it so price hikes until the artificial market comes crumbling down.
The poor and illegals are doing far more work for their money than Americans so that's another equation you've got backwards.
With the money and power the US has having exploited the globe for generations you should be able to afford to set up a proper welfare state w. health care provision for all citizens and you should happily accept as many illegals as bright legal immigrants that you cherry pick from poor countries who really needed their brightest and best.

Answer 8

Yes, in most cases. Busing people to and from a job costs a great deal of money. Would you propose and support raising my taxes to pay for such a plan?

Answer 9

I think your at least thinking about an issue that needs to be thought about. I'm not so sure that your logic is "leak-proof", and I'm not completely sure about your math. But at least your thinking about it. You got that going for you, keep thinking!