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Immigration See other Immigration Articles Title: Poem Threatens a Very "French" Reaction http://www.seguingazette.com/story.lasso?ewcd=880230194f721299 Work, money and the problem By Chris Lykins The Gazette-Enterprise Published March 31, 2006 Work — who does it, why they do it and how much they get paid for it — seems to be the center of attention with the ongoing immigration debate in the United States and a new round of riots in France. Proposed laws provide the battleground in both countries, with the idea of a “guest worker” program fueling the fire as part of a broader immigration issue here, while a new labor law that would allow companies to easily fire employees during a two-year trial period is stoking the blaze in France. The furor over the French law may seem particularly bizarre to many in the United States — especially to Texans who function in what we call an “at will” state. That means you can be terminated for no reason at all. Of course, that’s not the only oddity in France that confuses Americans. It’s a European country often held up as a glowing example by some in this country of how things should be. That is as long as you ignore the fact that the glowing comes from burning cars and buildings as another riot gets started in the streets. In all honesty, what do you expect the young people in France to do but riot? According to a Reuters story, the “youth” unemployment rate in France runs close to 23 percent. That means a quarter of the young adults in France don’t have a job. Not only are they mad about the law — they’re probably bored. The unemployment rate in the United States for age 16-19 is 15.4 percent — but the French figure takes into account those people under the age of 25. If you were to scale the number upward for the United States, the “youth” unemployment number would drop quickly. Of course, the French express their outrage about unemployment by destroying shops and stores — essentially creating additional unemployment, or at the very least, shrinking the pool of potential employers. Blame it on the wine. Not that the level of discourse in our immigration debate seems to be that much higher. While most of the U.S. protests and marches have been peaceful, there seems a steelier undercurrent lurking below the surface, which threatens a very French reaction. A poem written on one of the Web sites organizing the protests said, “You can’t calm us down. You can’t keep us quiet. You pass HR4437, I swear to God we will riot. We may be humble. We may be poor. But go against our people, we won’t hesitate to start civil war.” The guest worker proposal put forth by the Bush administration has split both parties from some in their base, with some Republicans calling it a reward for lawbreakers and the labor unions — big supporters of the Democratic Party — also opposing the idea. Some of the arguments for supporting such a program — undoubtedly designed to placate Americans who worry about having their jobs stolen — are disturbing. One statement repeated over and over by both sides of the political aisle is that the program would allow workers to take the jobs that Americans won’t do. In essence, the law would advocate the creation of a caste system. Those who do the jobs that fall below our notice are somehow lesser people. That is an extremely slippery slope. That burden falls on Americans, who deem themselves to be above certain types of work — many of whom would rather collect a government check than “lower themselves.” Some would argue the best way to fix that problem is to force a pay increase for those positions — inevitably by raising the minimum wage — and that Americans would flock to them. That ignores the fact that one of the key reasons illegal labor is used now is that it’s cheap, tax-free and not tightly bound by red tape. Raising the minimum wage doesn’t fix those incentives. But raising the minimum wage is a great plan if the money came from a magical money tree or a financial fairy. Instead it will come from businesses, which, seeing their costs go up, will have one of two options — raise prices or cut jobs. Ok, three options, the third being do both. Cutting jobs ends with more unhappy people looking for work, while raising prices ends with the generously-mandated government pay raise being devoured by all of their bills going up. That’s basic economics. The money has to come from somewhere. It doesn’t spring into being at the whim of a politician. Neither, unfortunately, will the answers to immigration and employment concerns. It’s depressing enough to make me wonder if the French have the right idea. Someone pass the wine. Chris Lykins is the managing editor of the Gazette-Enterprise.
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#2. To: nc_girl_speaks_up, All (#0)
This article likes to give the impression that those rioting are ethnically French, when in reality the rioting "French youths" are Algerian Arabs.
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