Guys (or girls) come on. Think about why this is happening. Someone has to do the shit job, and I say shit job in reference to the pay. Nobody wants them because they don't pay enough and there is usally no insurance. Think back to when Americans worked those type jobs and how much they got paid. A man could afford to take care of his family. Now he can't. Cheap labor is found in third world countries and the work is going there. The factory jobs of yesterday are gone. Wages have dropped considerably as compared to the standards of say, the 60's or even 70's. A man can't feed his family on minimum wage. You all know what I mean. So where do we start? Bring the jobs back to America and give them to Americans, but pay them enough to be able to take care of their families. If the jobs aren't available, the illegal immigrant problem will go away. Don't you think?

Appreciate your comments, but I don't care for your language selection on this board. If you are a teacher in Fayette County, as your moniker suggests, your posting using such language is inappropriate.

But don't worry, Cal will edit it out before too many others see it.

Now for a rebuttal to your comments; Minimum wage is not designed to feed a family. If a man has a family and all he earns is minimum wage, then there are other issues. Besides, minimum wage should not be set high enough to force a high standard of living; it is for survival only.

You're right, it is just for survival, however (and I'm copying from a book) "min wage may have been ony $1.40 as late as 1968, but a person who worked for tha amount full-time, year-round, earned 118% of the poverty figure for a family of three. By 1995, a full-time min-wage worker could earn only 72% of the poverty level." I haven't done the calculations for 2006, but I suspect it's even lower. With that in mind, one can ponder what else has not kept up economically-speaking. I became interested in this problem when I had to quit teaching and look for a job in the corporate world because I could not take care of my family on my net pay. The curious can access the pay scale at the FCBOE website. I had nine years and a T-6 (a bachelor's and two post graduate degrees) when I "retired." Thirty years ago, single income families were quite common. One income would buy a modest home and a car and still have money for a week's vacation. A job was usually for life and good insurance was provided at a minimal cost to the employee. That's not the norm anymore. I know, growing up, that there were families where the father was a teacher and the mother didn't work. They weren't on medicaid and food stamps. They were just like everyone else. If teacher pay has not kept up with inflation, what other industry pay hasn't? Steel? Auto? Shipping? Landscaping? Construction? There must be other factors that have contributed to this change. I just wonder when it happened; where is the demarcation line? Unfortunately, I no longer have Christmas break and summer to ponder such notions.

Many jobs have been handed to illegals not because they skilled, but because the employers can get away with it.

And it shows in the workmanship.

But, they will not return to using real craftsman as long as their competitors are willing to get by on less, counting on consumers not having the knowledge it takes to see the low levels of craftsmanship they are getting.

Pleading pickers and unskilled labor to justify all illegals is a false and bogus claim.

Saying it is only factory and similar work that got the better wages in the past is not true.

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Keeping it real and to the core of the issue, not the peripherals.

I do not use them. They use me. They are my customers.

But I agree on the flip side. Only pay companies that do it right.

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Keeping it real and to the core of the issue, not the peripherals.

The Boston Tea Party?

The American Party?

America First?

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Keeping it real and to the core of the issue, not the peripherals.