I thought that we were against slavery.

Why is it ok for the people and corporations of the United States to take advantage of people so we can have cheaper clothes, cheaper
bananas, cheaper corn, cheaper construction, cheaper whatever, etc.

And the second issue that comes with that is the corporations, which we rail against each and every day. They are getting rich off the backs of light brown skinned persons and we are willing to oblige for some cheaper goods and tell ourselves that we are doing the immigrants a favor, because it is better than what they had. That sort of sounds reminiscent of Barbara Bush (remember her comments after Katrina in Texas).

I might have supported the boycott if they had been out there demanding higher wages, better working conditions, etc.

But no, these demonstrations were put on by the corporations who want (not need) these low wage workers to make more profits. And no, we are not doing the immigrants any favors.

Sorry, I just couldn't hold my opinion in any longer. Flame if you must.

So many in our "blessed" land are more interested in their personal pleasure than anything else. Sacrifice, don't make me laugh!

of the how it gets to my door. Don't threaten my upstanding goodness by telling me I sponsor slavery in the third world, our inner cities and rural areas. Get a damn edumacation and stop having babies.

Meanwhile I can fuck everything that walks (man or woman) in the privacy of my own home that is far far away from the squalor that is your life.

But if they were to gain legal status, they would be much more willing to form labor unions and demand higher wages that the complacent American workers who are all too willing to bend over and take the shaft, so long as the freakshow in the whitehouse believes in desert spawned folktales and creation myths.

Like you, I wish that there would have been a greater emphasis on social justice, much like I remember from the 80's when there were largescale immigrant organizing efforts locally, esp. as regards agriculture.. But do you think that this kind of thing might be a natural outgrowth of amnesty?

I maintain that we do not attack the illegal alien population, but wage war on anyone that employs them - including middle class McMansion owners that have them mowing their lawns and cleaning their houses, as well as corporations.

will at some point demand equality, but with never really fixing the problem, I believe illegal immigration will continue and the corporations who are driving this bus will make profits off of new illegals and these new legal immigrants will have to eat it to make any money at all.

It's a viscious circle and it has to do with corporations making money, period.

let me offer an idea. Slavery was eliminated, but
NOT for the benefit of the slaves. Instead, the
owners - or, more aptly, the owner class - decided
it was cheaper to rent slaves instead of owning
them.

If one owns a slave, a capital investment exists.
One must concern oneself with the slave's health,
one must feed the slave, one must track the slave
down if he escapes.

Ah, but if you pay meagre wages, then you rent
the slaves. If they are sick, one merely replaces
them. If they eat or not is not the owner's concern.
If they escape, they are - again - simply replaced.

Look at some of the sweatshops, both foreign and
domestic, and refute the premise if you can. The
people trapped there have little chance of escape;
their chains are the invisible bonds of necessity
instead of iron, but they exist.

So our low prices to consumers have a high
price - part of which is the sweat and tears
of rented slaves.

you are argument is crap. They wouldn't be here if they were able to make this kind of money in the country they are from. It's a far cry from slavery.

And the reason these immigrants come to this country is because we fucked them with NAFTA. They are our responsibility. And if you think it's as simple as getting rid of the immigrants to force wages to rise, then you must be drinking somebody's Kool-Aid.

what I am saying is that it is the corporations who take advantage of the immigrants and the people who go along because they are convinced it helps keep the price down on certain goods and services.

Immigrants aren't as easily manipulated as the OP suggests.

was already a fact of life before "outsourcing" and illegal immigration. It was just on a slightly higher level. That is to say that the slave were paid somewhat higher wages. If the 19th plantation owners had understood what current businesses have figured out, there would have been no civil war. The "trick" is to not OWN the slaves but simply "rent" them by the hour. In that way the company doesn't have to be responsible of living necessities. The "slaves" take care of those items out of the pay check.

Any person whose primary life style is working all day five or six days per week, getting just enough food and rest to be able to stay on the job for long hours, with maybe a few hours of free time once per week is, by my definition, a "slave". "16 tons and what to you get? Another day older and deeper in debt".

"America can do better than that." Jerry Springer in a speech circa 2002.