[Rhodes22-list] Reduce your federal income tax (political humor)

[Bill Effros]

Gregg,

They got Wal-Mart the same way, but it's like spitting in the ocean. 

It's not that I'm "for" or "against" anything.  It's just that when I 
try to protect my neighbors they show up with "Independent Contractors", 
and when I hire them directly they do a great job.  My Colombian 
cleaning lady not only has a green card, she's a citizen and she votes.  
Her kids were both born in the United States, and speak perfect kid 
English.  But her husband isn't a citizen and doesn't work a whole lot.  
I have never met him, I know he can't speak a word of English, and I 
would be surprised to learn he is here legally.

Of course, she can and does plug us into a great South American network 
of independent contractors.

So what's the right thing to do?

Should her kids be American citizens, or not?  Should they be entitled 
to go to our schools?

I'm not sure they will be able to work any better than our kids work.  
Those lawn guys do a better job than we did as kids.  The Korean 
manicure women make our wives feel like queens for an hour at a price 
they can afford.  The Greek diner guys serve a million dishes well.  The 
Asian Green Grocers sell better produce at a better price than Whole Foods.

I can understand Xenophobia, and I can get sucked into it, but when I 
step back from it, and acknowledge that all of us ultimately came from 
somewhere else, I can't quite figure out what's the right thing to do now.

Bill Effros

Gregg J. MacMillan wrote:
> At 11:59 AM -0400 6/28/06, Bill Effros wrote:
>> The alternative is for the local contractors to hire "Independent 
>> Contractors".
>
> In the Cincinnati Fischer Homes case, neither the company nor the 
> individuals were charged with employing illegals....they were charged 
> with knowingly using subcontractors that were employing illegals. They 
> (the feds) got this information by interviewing (while secretly being 
> wired and recording the conversations) upper management at Fisher 
> under the guise of investigating criminal activity involving immigrants.
>
> At 11:59 AM -0400 6/28/06, Bill Effros wrote:
>> Our kids don't know how to work.  They were born rich compared to the 
>> rest of the world, and they believe they are entitled to stay rich 
>> without ever having to work up a sweat.  One way or another, these 
>> foreigner born people are going to eat our kids' lunch.
>
> Couldn't agree with you more (except for my kids of course :-)). I 
> happen to live in the same neighborhood where I grew up. As kids, we 
> and all our friends cut the grass and took care of the yards. When our 
> kids were growing up, they were about the last kids in the 
> neighborhood that were made to cut the grass and take care of the 
> yard. Now, when I go home during the day, I can barely get thru the 
> streets because of all the "lawn maintenance company" vehicles, 
> trailers, etc. parked in the streets. I can't remember the last time I 
> saw a kid cutting the grass in our neighborhood. Of course, that's 
> only one small example.
>