Monday, March 12, 2012

Should the Europeans Be Taking Away the Jobs?

     I realize what I am about to say, some may strongly disagree with or even get mad at me, but I am not here to be a people pleaser.  This article is more a question to think about, rather than a blank statement.  In other words, it is only to question your mind, not to condemn.
     Living in a tourist town in a poor southern state where the unemployment rate is high along with domestic violence and other issues I will not discuss today, I see a lot of Eastern European young people, especially girls, who by the way are tall and skinny, have sharp features and look like models or the bad guys in 
Hostile II, working everywhere especially during tourist season.  I know that it is not easy to get into this country on any kind of work visa unless you are from a rich family or foreign mafia or something.  So, no, I do not welcome them with open arms.  For one thing my very intelligent, articulate and handsome son who was born and raised here, had to search and search for a job and then seek employment elsewhere.  
     You may ask why do I not gripe about the Mexicans.  Well, first of all, Mexico is a poor country with a lot of corruption and problems.  The Mexicans take lesser jobs for lesser money.  Also, I think that due to racism, the white Europeans may get preferential treatment even though some do not speak any better English than Mexicans.
Also, Mexico is part of North America and one of our two border countries.
      Should the United States really let foreigners take the jobs?  The U.S. is a poor country in some ways now due to our deficit.  We have had to borrow from China.  We are drained by the wars we have recently had.  Times are bad.  Budget cuts are everywhere and Americans are suffering from it.
     Just before President Obama was elected president, the stock market crashed on Wall Street, with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.  People have lost their 42K's and their homes.
     In fact things are so bad in this country, children from inner cities like Chicago are being adopted by foreigners in countries like Germany.  I suppose it is good the kids are getting adopted, but I think all this is a wake up call.
     An American cannot just go where they want and get a job.  Other countries have policies about foreigners not working and taking jobs away.  So, my question is, should we be allowing the Europeans to come take jobs away here?
Just wondering.  You are free to tell me I am wrong if you think so.  It is just a thought I had.

2 comments:

  1. It is very difficult to get a work visa in the US, just as it is very difficult to get one in other developed nations like the UK, Canada or Australia.
    If Europeans are coming in and getting jobs you can bet there are reasons why this is seen as necessary. What you might be seeing are people working on temporary visas - as in, coming in for a brief time to meet a need but not staying.
    I don't know exactly how the US system works but I do know it is very difficult to get work visas -
    In terms of Americans going elsewhere and getting a job, of course they can and do - lots of Americans working in the UK, Europe and Australia - they have the same opportunities anyone else does to work overseas.
    The problem the US has is not about foreigners coming in and taking jobs from locals, it is the corruption of the system which allows illegal labour where people work for $1 an hour and this puts locals out of work more than anything else. End illegal labour and you have a lot more jobs. The US economy floats on millions of illegal workers in a way which other developed nations do not.
    And the other problem is outsourcing - big corporations are sending jobs overseas to the Third World where people are paid a pittance. This is not particular to the US - many developed nations do it - but it remains a huge factor in why the US has the lowest minimum wage of developed nations and why there are so many unemployed. Just some thoughts.

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  2. I have often wondered how all of these eastern Europeans get here. In certain cities, there seem to be hordes of young, 20 something year old beautiful girls who barely speak english doing just fine, but then there are so many Americans here, like myself, with decent educations that are struggling to find jobs and keep our ships afloat, but couldn't afford to move to another country if we wanted to. Yet these people who are coming from supposedly poor countries like Ukraine, come here and seem to have enough money to do whatever they want - buy nice cars, nice clothes, take trips to other countries, etc. They don't seem to exactly be working their asses off to get these things either. I haven't researched what it takes for them to get a Visa, temporary or otherwise, to come here, but I have researched what it takes for us to get a Visa to move to another country. In most countries, it takes a lot of money, including health care coverage for a certain amount of time, and a job or enrollment in some sort of educational institution. So, how do all of these people who can't possibly have that kind of money, just hop on a plane, land in the U.S., get a nice apartment and just party all the time? I try not to be prejudiced towards anyone based on their nationality. I've always liked the fact that America is a melting pot and that we have so much variety of culture here. Admittedly, I don't know every single one of their life stories and can only speak about the ones that I do know, but I can't help but feel a little envious of how easily they seem to be living their lives coming from places that supposedly don't have anywhere near the amount of freedoms that we do. I would love to visit their home countries and others....if I could ever afford to.

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