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I think that one of the biggest problems which contributes to the current job situation in the United States is simply corruption and greed on the part of the Big Business sector. I am talking about the popular practice of importing cheap, foreign labor -- such as H-2 workers -- as well as companies moving their production facilities overseas where they can exploit foreign workers who earn a mere pittance per hour, working under very poor conditions, in what are typically described as "sweat shops". Through a combination of these two very questionable practices, American corporations -- such as Apple, Nike, and many others -- are able to maintain their product quotas, while at the same keeping a very hefty profit margin.

In such a scenario, there is not much room for home-grown, American-educated college kids who expect and demand to earn a decent living wage, and who expect a return on all of the money, time, energy and sacrifice that they invested in order to obtain a better education, so that they could get a better job. So how do all of these selfish and greedy companies deal with this problem? How about by changing the narrative, and intentionally lowering the expectations of American workers? In other words, "If you aren't willing to work for the same amount that we can pay this immigrant foreign worker, then we will just hire him instead of you." True or not? I bet some of you reading this have experienced this very thing.

But that is not all. It gets worse. They have to cover their greed and deception, so they try to cloak it in decency and spin a yarn which, quite frankly, I don't believe for one single minute. In fact, what I am going to tell you is the very same excuse that is used here where I live as well. It goes something like this: "We need to let in all of these foreign workers, because they have the skill set that we require."

Say what?! You are trying to tell me that although there are literally piles of highly educated college kids -- now young adults -- born and raised in America who are just clamoring for good-paying jobs -- and more of them become available each and every year -- you still have to hire some guy from India? Give me a break! I don't buy it! I am willing to bet that the Indian fellow is just willing to work for a lot less, because the pay scale in his own country is probably worth crap. Thus, what they are offering to pay him in the USA -- even though it is substantially less than what they would have to pay an actual American -- seems like a really good deal to that immigrant. And this is probably true for all of the other foreign workers who are allowed into the United States each year as well, such as Filipinos, Mexicans, etc.

Please note that I mean absolutely no disrespect to any of these nationalities. I am simply trying to paint a clear, honest picture of the situation as I personally see it, so that my readers can understand what I believe is really going on, and why the U.S. job market is in the current dismal state that it is in. Blaming it on so-called "market forces" is ludicrous. There are actual human beings behind every business decision that is made in the United States. It is not some invisible, uncontrollable economic force that holds us hostage. Selfish business decisions are made by selfish and greedy business leaders and owners.

On a side note, let me add that in my online experience over the years -- particularly since I joined Facebook -- I have come to realize that there are in fact Filipinos living all over the world; particularly in places such as the Middle East. I thought about that a bit, and I arrived at the same conclusion as to why there are so many Filipinos here where I live as well. It is because they are cheap labor; at least cheaper than the local labor force. Many of them will do anything to escape the poverty of their own country, and I suppose I really can't blame them for wanting to do so.

In my opinion, the same holds true with America's Mexican immigrant problem. Many of you will know that the Democrats try to spin their open-the-floodgates-to-everyone policy as a demonstration of American compassion. Quite frankly, I do not think that is it at all, anymore than the Statue of Liberty's call to foreigners is about American compassion either. I am of course referring to the excerpt from Emma Lazarus' sonnet, "New Colossus", which states the following:

----- Begin Quote -----

"Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"

----- End Quote -----

Some of you reading this may disagree with me, but I think it has been about cheap foreign labor all along. In the days of her youth, America needed to build up a strong, cheap work force, a strong economy, a strong military, etc. After all, she was vulnerable at the time. So the "New Colossus" excerpt was the perfect call to acquire such things. It was basically an employment tactic simply disguised as American compassion, just like politicians continue to do today as well with their extremely liberal immigration policies. It is no different, in my view, than America going to fight a war in a foreign nation, under the guise of taking freedom and democracy to that nation, when the real motivations are something entirely different. By the way, are you still impressed by the freedom and democracy that the George W. Bush administration introduced to Iraq? Exactly my point.

If there is one thing I have learned in this life, it is that things are not always what they seem in this deceptive world of ours where the rich rule over the poor. You would be wise to learn this important lesson too. There is always an ulterior motive just hidden from view. If politicians say one thing, you should probably look elsewhere for the truth.

Allow me to give you another example of what I view as this deceptive doublespeak. I've heard it said that some of these greedy corporations try to justify their action of hiring so much foreign labor, by claiming that they do so -- aside from their other claim that there is no home-grown skill for the job so they really have no choice -- because Americans refuse to take the jobs. You see, that is another half-truth. What they don't tell you is why Americans don't want to take some of those jobs.

I already gave you the answer earlier in this series. Many Americans simply cannot support their families adequately with a part-time minimum wage job. It is totally impossible without supplemental help from public assistance programs, or without some financial help from rich relatives. Now, if anyone tries to tell you otherwise, either they are simply totally ignorant of the facts on the ground, or else they are outright lying to you for whatever their reasons.

Furthermore, even if the job seeker does acquire a full-time job, if that job only pays minimum wage, or if it does not include medical and dental benefits, it still leaves them in basically the same position in a financial sense. Even if there is something left after paying the rent and utilities, expensive medical bills will quickly gobble up what remains. If it is more than a one-child family, forget it. You don't stand a chance even with a full-time minimum wage job; that is, again, unless you humble yourself and apply for public assistance. I am speaking hard, cold facts here, my friends. I am not going to sugar-coat the situation for you the way that politicians and bogus government reports like to do. Those folks have their heads so high in the clouds that it is unbelievable. They are totally disconnected from the average every day American who often struggles to make ends meet.

Lastly, considering everything that people invested in order to acquire a higher education, contrary to what that writer said, in my view, they certainly deserve to start out at much more than the minimum wage. At the very least, they need an actual living wage -- not minimum wage -- which from what I understand, is at least fifteen dollars an hour now for a single individual. As you may know, that is why there is now such a push in this area to raise the U.S. minimum wage to $15.00/hour. People want to do better than just being able to barely survive. What is the point of working so hard if they cannot even enjoy the fruits of their labors? Even the Bible supports this concept with such verses as the following:

"Thou shalt not muzzle the ox when he treadeth out the corn."


"Who goeth a warfare any time at his own charges? who planteth a vineyard, and eateth not of the fruit thereof? or who feedeth a flock, and eateth not of the milk of the flock? Say I these things as a man? or saith not the law the same also? For it is written in the law of Moses, Thou shalt not muzzle the mouth of the ox that treadeth out the corn. Doth God take care for oxen?"


"Let the elders that rule well be counted worthy of double honour, especially they who labour in the word and doctrine. For the scripture saith, Thou shalt not muzzle the ox that treadeth out the corn. And, The labourer is worthy of his reward."


Now, I am sure you already know that a lot of businesses are pushing back against this effort. They are doing the very same thing here where I live. They are trying to stoke fear, by saying that if the minimum wage is raised, it will make the situation worse, and it will supposedly just be a vicious cycle. As to the specifics of their arguments -- which are really just to disguise and protect their own greed, in my view -- smaller, more vulnerable businesses claim that they will be forced to take one or more of the following actions in order to remain financially viable, if the minimum wage were to be raised a significant level:

1. Increase the cost of their products which will hurt the consumer.

2. Pay their employees less.

3. Negate health and dental benefits.

4. Downsize their business so that they can afford to pay the remaining employees more.

Well, to the previous arguments I say this: Here where I live, one of the local politicians has been pushing for a minimum wage increase for several years now. However, his goal is much more modest than $15.00/hour. He hopes to raise the local minimum wage to $10.10/hour by January of 2018. However, due to strong opposition from some of the local business community, rather than do it all in one shot as he had initially intended to do, he backed down somewhat, and decided to implement the wage increase incrementally over a period of three years. After the first increment -- which was just under a dollar an hour two years ago -- an economic impact statement was supposed to be drawn up in order to assess the effect of that first wage increase on the local economy.

Well, guess what? That assessment was never done, financing for it was stalled for a very long time, and it is now long overdue with empty promises to get it finalized soon. On top of that, the second wage increment was never implemented last year -- 2016 -- due to that same strong opposition from the business community, who of course will do anything to protect their profit margin. Yet even without an official assessment, there have been other indications which were published in our local newspaper. Following are some of their findings:

1. The unemployment rate is down.

2. The employment rate is slightly up.

3. Last year was our best tourism year ever.

4. DPHSS attributed fewer SNAP and Welfare recipients to the minimum wage increase and reduced unemployment.

In short, all of the dire warnings about financial disaster occurring if the minimum wage were to be raised, came to nought. It was all hyped up nonsense. I would imagine that some of you folks in the U.S. mainland are probably hearing some of the very same negative warnings regarding a wage increase. Each local situation is obviously very different, but I would take what any detractors say with a grain of salt. Fight for what you believe you deserve.

As for us here, due to the above good news, not even a week ago, a majority of our local politicians voted in favor of implementing the long overdue second wage increment in May of this new year, 2017. If the bill is then signed by the governor, local workers will automatically begin earning a minimum wage of $9.20/hour. Then, next year, it is supposed to go up again by almost another dollar. I don't recall what the governor's position is off hand, but even if he chooses to veto the bill, going by how the vote went this past week, they have enough votes to override the governor's veto.

Before concluding this series, there is another subject on my mind to discuss with you. Depending on your own particular leanings, some of you may possibly form the impression that I am not a very compassionate person, due to my views regarding the presence of illegal immigrant workers in America. If that is your view, allow me to state the following. I understand what it means to be poor. As I noted earlier, I grew up in a rather poor, one-wage-earner, struggling family comprised of five children. I grew up wearing hand-me-downs. To this day, I remain poor -- well below the poverty line income-wise -- based on American standards. Furthermore, I have seen what poverty looks like outside of the continental United States. So I can understand why some people will do whatever they can in order to try to escape it; even engaging in certain risky things, such as illegally crossing into and remaining in the United States, or entering legally, but then staying beyond the valid time that is stamped on their visa.

I also understand what Jesus taught regarding having love and compassion towards those who suffer, and who have less than ourselves, as we discussed earlier in this series. However, it needs to be said that there is another side to this coin. Because of the fact that over three and half decades ago, I lived in Mexico for a period of about six years, and then on the Tex-Mex border as well for another three years, I will use Mexico, and Mexican immigrants in America, as an example to illustrate my point.

The bottom line is that the United States cannot possibly help every single poor individual in the world, whether they are Mexican, Indian, Filipino, islander from the Caribbean, Syrian or anyone else. There are simply not enough resources to go around; and if those resources are stretched too thin, someone is going to have to pay the price and suffer for it. It is my understanding that this is precisely what seems to be happening right now in the United States. I am not going to sit here and say that it is only because of immigration out of control that so many Americans are now suffering, but I do believe that foreign immigrants are a major factor towards their suffering, and the lack of jobs availability to many American citizens.

As I have already amply explained, because they are willing to work for a lot less than actual American citizens, these immigrants -- legal or illegal -- are pushing these Americans out of the job market, and in certain cases, on to some of these public assistance programs. Whether we're talking about a ditch digger or someone who works in a high tech scientific laboratory, if the immigrant worker has the required skills, and is willing to work for a lot less than an American who has the same skill set, it is highly likely that the foreign worker will be given the job. In my view, this is simply not right. I believe that this is one of the reasons why the message of Donald Trump was so powerful, and why it resonated with so many struggling working class Americans. They were actually living the experience in real time.

So limits, requirements and legal standards must be set, and must be duly observed. International laws regarding borders, labor, etc., must be respected. I can assure you right now that if you, as an American citizen, were to head south over the border into Mexico and were to try to live and work there illegally, they would not hesitate to kick your butt out of their country, and maybe even worse. You could find yourself rotting in some Mexican jail. So why should Americans feel so guilty regarding kicking Mexicans out of the United States if they are also there illegally, and being a constant drain on the nation's resources? If they go to the U.S.A., even with their children, and eventually get caught, whose fault is it but their own? They were willing to take the risk, so they must also be willing to face the consequences of their illegal actions if and when they are apprehended.

Taking this a step further, if Mexican families intentionally cross over illegally into the United States with pregnant women in tow, because they intend to use those children which will be born later to their legal advantage -- yes, they do this sort of thing -- it is still the same, in my view. In fact, it is despicable that they would even do this. As you may already know, in the Bible, God at times laid the sins of the parents on the children as well. The children had to suffer right along with their parents. Consider this group of verses:

"Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me;"


"The LORD is longsuffering, and of great mercy, forgiving iniquity and transgression, and by no means clearing the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation."


"Thou shalt not bow down thyself unto them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me,"


"Pilate saith unto them, What shall I do then with Jesus which is called Christ? They all say unto him, Let him be crucified. And the governor said, Why, what evil hath he done? But they cried out the more, saying, Let him be crucified. When Pilate saw that he could prevail nothing, but that rather a tumult was made, he took water, and washed his hands before the multitude, saying, I am innocent of the blood of this just person: see ye to it. Then answered all the people, and said, HIS BLOOD BE ON US, AND ON OUR CHILDREN. Then released he Barabbas unto them: and when he had scourged Jesus, he delivered him to be crucified."


Children or not, those illegal immigrants are still taking jobs away from Americans. They are taking money out of the pockets of Americans. And they are draining resources and services which rightfully belong to legal American citizens first and above all. They are overtaxing the system and all of the safeguards and programs which have been put into place for the benefit of struggling Americans first. We see the very same thing occurring here as well. Yet believe it or not, there isn't much that the local government can do about it, because we do not have control of our own immigration policies. One thing the governor has been doing, is sending home off-islanders who get into serious trouble and wind up in our local corrections facility. He has already sent home quite a few of them.

And actually, this applies to legal immigrants as well. In other words, as I noted earlier, their job competition and willingness to work at cheaper rates is hurting Americans. So legal or illegal immigrant, it really doesn't make much of a difference insofar as how it affects job availability to bona fide, home grown American citizens.

Let me reiterate a point that I made earlier. Guilt does not lay alone on the shoulders of these immigrants. It also lays on the backs of the unscrupulous American business people who are willing to hire them, in order to save some money, and to maintain their profit margin, at the expense of the cheaper labor. In short, it is these corrupt and dishonest business owners who in fact encourage and support this huge influx of foreign workers. As long as they leave the door open, the foreigners will just keep on coming. Period. No doubt about it. My gosh, even Hollywood stars have been caught employing illegal immigrants as maids, gardeners and such.

By the way, as many of you will have already heard by now, and as even the President-elect mentioned, I believe, Mexico has erected a wall on its southern border with Guatemala for very similar reasons. So isn't it a bit hypocritical to even complain about Mr. Trump's intentions to work towards a more secure southern U.S. border, when the Mexican government has done the very same thing to protect its citizens? Does not that amount to practicing a double standard? Why is it so permissible for Mexico to protect its own with a border wall while concerned Americans are condemned for desiring to take similar action for similar reasons?

On a side note, I honestly don't recommend that you travel to Mexico anyway. If news reports are to be believed, it's a lot more dangerous in that country now than it was when I visited and lived there so many years ago. There is a lot more crime, a lot more violence, more powerful drug cartels, more thugs willing to rob tourists on the highways, etc. You visit that country at your own peril. You've been warned.

Now, some of you may argue "Well, doesn't everyone deserve an opportunity to live a better life than what they're currently living? Is it not our Christian duty to help all of these foreigners? Shouldn't we just open our arms and embrace all of those poor people?" I believe that I have already amply and clearly responded to such thoughts. We as a nation can only do so much within our means. We cannot help those people at the expense of our own people. It just is not right in my book, or in God's Book for that matter. Let me share that verse with you again, because it actually works both ways:

But if any provide not for his own, and specially for those of his own house, he hath denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel."


In short, if that verse applies to the American government, then in order to be really fair and impartial, we need to likewise apply that same standard to all of the governments in the countries where those legal and illegal immigrants originate. Just as it is the responsibility of Washington, D.C. to make certain that all of America's poor, sick, downtrodden and elderly are fully and properly cared for, so too, it is the responsibility of those governments to do the same with their people as well. It is not the responsibility of the American government, or the American people, to do it for them. I don't care what anyone says. America is not the world's babysitter, and should not be expected to be such. Neither should the world expect the United States to be the automatic dumping ground for all of their undesirables.

Now, if those foreigners and immigrants who come to America have it bad in their own country because their government is corrupt, their business owners are corrupt, etc., that isn't our fault. Instead of just running to our country, legally or illegally, to take jobs away from American citizens, and to tax our systems, it is my view that they need to remain in their own countries, and collectively endeavor to repair whatever is wrong. That is the right thing to do in my book. Doesn't this make sense? Doesn't it sound fair?

In fact, in thinking about it, that is what should have also happened in Iraq. Instead, the American government under both President Bushes went in and meddled where it simply did not belong. After so many years over there, and so many dead, and so many people coming home maimed and messed up in the head, what did the U.S.A. really accomplish over there? Not much. There is still an oppressive, divided government in power. There is still civil war raging there. It is an ugly mess.

You see, we can and should practice niceness, kindness and compassion on a personal level in our own lives. Nobody will disagree with that. And as we have already clearly seen, it is in fact what God's Word instructs us to do. However, as I already said, when we elevate it to talking about a national government, a national economy, and a national labor force, there simply needs to be a point where we have to finally say "Enough is enough. We have done our part. We can do no more. You need to deal with it now." Democrats and other liberal thinkers have not been willing to do that, and we now see where that kind of thinking has led us.

Please go to part four for the conclusion of this series.

⇒ Go To The Next Part . . .

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