Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire wetback shortage?

I don't have any illegals that work for me. Never have.

We don't have illegals in my area. We are probably 99 percent white. Jobs seem to get done.

I think anyone who knowingly hires an illegal alien should go to prison. I also think there should be a reward for turning in illegals for immediate deportation. I don't give a [bleep] what the conditions are where they came from.

Cut the vast majority of government welfare and tell U.S. citizens to work or starve. I'd rather pay to bury most people than pay to feed them.

Good luck with that...

Zero chance it will ever happen...

Ds and Rs are courting the wetback vote... NEVER will they go against wets... NEVER.

Truer words were never spoken. Amen, brother!!! 👍🤠

I'm under no delusions that my desires will ever become reality. The only people that our fine government will go against are Americans. I do distinguish between real Americans and those, like JeffO and eric308, who are merely U.S. citizens.

I decided on a career in the trades after seeing how well the folks in various trades that I knew lived. Nice homes, nice vehicles, kids treated well and most had a cabin or land at a lake.

Dang! Looked like a means to a good life to me.

Fast forward to the early 80’s with jobs being raided by various law enforcement groups because of illegals working for drywallers.

Fast forward a few more years and I can’t even bid competitively against companies with 40 employies and one ss number.

Wages driven down, ability to support family went away and good people left the trades in droves looking for better employment to support their families.

Fast forward again… seems there are few middle class white folks taking up the trades… well… the stigma was hard to get over. When I was a lad one of the better paying jobs in my home town was a bricklayer… now? Phhhhttttt…. Third world wages and third world quality on a lot of work.

It will take more time than we are willing to admit for the trades to attract quality people looking for a quality income and lifestyle.

The life that many of us grew up in, the nurturing of an inborn mechanical ability wained…

Dang, how many youngsters can change a flat yet alone trouble shoot a mechanical problem???

Reminds me of when Vietnamese refugees were coming to the states… you would see 10 people standing around a car trying to guide the driver into a parking space… Same with the trades, no background, no growing up of fixing and taking care of things….

Will take a bit to develop that again in the mindset of the American young….

Funny… I should be retired but consistently get called by folks looking for someone to do a quality repair/work by someone they can trust….

Thank goodness there are tradesmen like you still around.

There's still a place for a legal white tradesman but their niche may be more in the remodeling market than new construction. People are a bit pickier who they deal with when the workers will be in their home. I know I am, and I found that to be the case when I was contracting.

Thank you for typing all of that out...

It is an excellent recap.

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Sidenote... I was formally trained as an architect and an engineer, but spent my entire career in the field solving problems in real time.

My dad was trained in Capitalist economics and made a living in sales. "Fair Value" has been pounded in my head since forever... Pure Capitalism...

The customer deserves "Fair Value"... the trades deserve "Fair Value"... The land developer deserve "Fair Value".

ALWAYS... "Fair Value".

Labor burden was 37% last time I was in the big boy game...

I suspect it is north of 50% now...

North of 100% in certain trades.

Permits, code, regulations etc. at the hands of .GOV feed ONLY .GOV.

Imagine building without permits, code, regulations etc. with cash exchanged for "Fair Value" labor and materials...

Most cannot... .GOV has trained them to kiss the Emperor's ring in EVERYTHING...

.GOV has ingrained itself in EVERYTHING... EVERYDAY... Top to bottom.

Paul Samuelson (and others) called this "Featherbedding"...

Darryl is a friend of mine... GC with a plumbing ticket on top of it.

Got a call a few weekends ago on a dead well.

He bills at $175/hour.

No pumps were available until Monday (except bullchit HD pumps)... he asked the customer to wait until Monday...

Customer declined and called FH Furr (biggest ass in the trades). Furr sent out a man and a $13k quote for a 1/2 HP pump (what he happened to have on the truck).

Customer ALMOST bit on $13k, but the Furr guy was rude as fugg.

SO... the customer called Darryl at 6am on Monday morning...

Darryl bought and installed a 3/4 HP pump (PROPERLY SIZED) for $2,800...

And the Customer bitched the pump ($800) was too expensive.

Point being... "Customers" are an equal problem in exacerbating "Fair Value" exchange.

Why send American jobs overseas when you can just send the 3rd worlders here? Wouldn't have anything to do with future voting blocks. Not at all.

Had an IT guy that worked for me years ago...

One day he came in my office saying how unfair it was that his IT counterpart in India made less then him... he was really quite incensed about it actually... i.e. downright angry to be honest.

I told him we could lower his pay to that of his Indian counterpart...

He got even madder at that...

And said I should raise the Indian guys pay to what he was making...

I said "Isn't that exactly the same as lowering your pay?"

He became furious...

Economics 101...

He never got it...