Dwight Stewart wrote:

"Dave Heil" wrote:
Dwight Stewart wrote:

(snip)

Salaries are going up.

Compared to the cost of living, salaries are going down. The minimum wage
is a good example. To keep up with the cost of living increase over the last
twenty-five years (to have the same spending power as 25 years ago), the
minimum wage should be over $19 per hour. By the same token, a person
earning $19 an hour twenty-five years ago should be earning well over $50 an
hour today. Check it out yourself. Look at the minimum wage 25 years ago (or
any typical wage 25 years ago) and increase it by the same percentage that
living costs (rent, house payments, utilities, food, and so on) have
increased over the years since.

Salaries are going up. Buying power for consumer items is up. TV's,
VCR's, DVD players, computers, microwave ovens and the like are dirt
cheap. Ham gear, in terms of hours worked to purchase it, is extremely
inexpensive. Houses cost more but are generally much larger than in the
past.

I can think of one, Dwight. Those folks work and
pay social security taxes so that you can retire and
draw SS benefits. They also pay State and Federal
taxes. Many of them are very bright individuals.
Some are doctors. Some do computer design work.
Some do menial labor which most American workers
don't desire.

Americans working at those jobs would do the same things (pay taxes and so
on), Dave.

Do some research on the number of retirees and the number of workers
paying taxes to support those retirees.


Why do we need immigrants to do that?

Because there aren't enough Americans born to do it.

Some of those Americans are
even bright.

....and some aren't. Having been back in the U.S. for about 3 1/2 years,
I've encountered quite a number who just aren't that bright.

As for the "menial" jobs, the only reason those jobs are menial
is because employers choose not to pay decent wages to do those jobs.

No, that isn't correct. Moving dirt is menial work. Lifting boxes is
menial. Clerking at a convenience store is menial. Employers choose
not to pay folks in those positions more than the jobs are worth.


And as
long as employers continue to find cheap labor to fill those jobs, there is
no incentitive whatsoever to increase those wages. If anything, a ready
supply of cheap labor only drives down wages for other jobs, increasing the
number of menial jobs and decreasing jobs that pay decent wages. The direct
result is less well paying jobs for all working class Americans.

So let's all make 30 bucks per hour and then wonder why the cost of
everything skyrockets, huh? Americans want good pay and they want the
price of everything to be dirt cheap. Tell us how to achieve both of
those. Then explain why everything wrong with our economy can be laid
at the feet of black, hispanic or Asian immigrants.

I hadn't realized the extent of your racist views, Dwight.
Maybe you have some insider knowledge of organized
attempts by Africans or South Americans to take over
"our" country through immigration.

Obviously, if you twist what is said hard enough, you can call anyone a
racist.

No twisting was necessary. You laid it all out before us.


I talked about expansion to this country, not "organized attempts"
or "take over." Those were your words. For my reply to the charge of racism,
see the last paragraph below.

We aren't discussing my words, we're discussing your words.

I lived in four African countries over a period of nearly ten
years. In all of those places, I found thousands of whites
who live in harmony with blacks. (snip)

A few exceptions don't change the rule, Dave.

What "few exceptions"? I wrote of thousands of whites in four African
countries.


With the exception of South
Africa, there are few countries in Africa where large numbers of whites work
in government, the military, or in black owned businesses.

I submit that you don't know what you're talking about. In many cases,
the whites build or operate a business employing hundreds of Africans in
all kinds of jobs.


In South Africa,
whites (the minority) were loudly criticized for taking jobs, money, and
power, away from blacks (the majority).

Poppycock! For taking which jobs were whites criticized? For taking
what money were whites criticized?


The people leveling that criticism
were not called racist - only those in the majority here are called racist
for saying such things.

You're making this stuff up.

After blacks gained control of the South African
government, white employees were routinely replaced with blacks throughout
the country.

That statement just isn't true.


There was no criticism of this. After all, since South Africa
belonged to the blacks (the majority), they should obviously have the jobs,
money, and power. Of course, if a white (the majority) says that here, it is
immediately called racism.


There are large numbers of white-owned businesses and farms in South
Africa. The white owners provide jobs for blacks. No one in South
Africa seems poised to change that and to do a full "Robert Mugabe" ala
Zimbabwe.

Clearly, there is an absurd double-standard when
it comes to the words "racism" and "racist."

....or there is a clear misunderstanding of what is taking place in
Africa (both inside and outside of your only example, South Africa) by
you.

Dave K8MN