Windy

Another morning of rain and wind. I can hear the wind chime faintly ringing. And all of this will end, when? I know…rain is good. For farmers. Well, it looks like the forecast is good for those farmers, with rain forecast for next week as well.

I was just reading another article on the perils of the Guest-Worker programs. Back in the “old days”, and that would be my days…we had the “Bracero” program and it was a form of legal slavery. Agricultural workers couldn’t ask for higher wages or they would lose their status as braceros and be deported. The growers would like to return to that program as it gives them complete power over the cost of production. But, if the borders are closed, cheap labor will become scarce and the cost of production will be in flux. But what is the cost of labor as we see it, as the consumer? Let’s say that we pay Jose 3 cents for each head of lettuce he picks. And he picks 200 heads per hour. Or about one every 25-30 seconds. That will give him $6 an hour. And if I pay him a nickel per head of lettuce, he makes $10 an hour. And I have to pay 2 cents more for my lettuce. So none of the arguments that try and tell me that the growers are only trying to protect the consumer from higher prices…are valid. Can’t we attract American workers to agricultural work with wages of; let’s say $12 an hour? That will cost us 3 cents more per head of lettuce, or a total of 6 cents over what we used to pay. Oh, let’s be really crazy and pay a dime more for our lettuce! Can you afford a dime? $26 an hour.

Of course it’s not that simple. With free trade and fast container shipping around the world, every country has a chance to sell produce at a lower price. Look at the supermarket ads and see how much of the produce came from outside the U.S. It’s in small print, so you have to look carefully. Or put your glasses on and read the little labels they attach to the fruit. That has the country of origin printed on it as well.

Where does it all end? Guns, steel, and concrete walls at the borders won’t stop market forces. Never have and never will. But that’s one of those history lessons and no one likes to pay much attention to history. Our current crop of leaders seems to prefer to learn their history the old fashioned way…by repeating it.