JK2000 Posted August 28, 2008 Share Posted August 28, 2008 It's not surprising that a man who doesn't know how many houses he has would believe that American workers wouldn't pick lettuce for 50$ an hour. Wouldn't that be a six figure salary? John McCain: "I don't think I need to tell you that there are jobs that Americans will not do. I don't think I have to tell you that there are ... the backbone of our economy... Audience members: "Pay them the right wages." John McCain: "You know I've heard that statement before. Now, my friends, I'll offer anybody here fifty dollars an hour if you'll go pick lettuce in Yuma this season and pick for the whole season. So, ok, sign up! Ok, when you sign up, you sign up, and you'll be there for the whole season, the whole season, ok, not just one day. Because you can't do it, my friend." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
olivier in france Posted August 28, 2008 Share Posted August 28, 2008 It's not surprising that a man who doesn't know how many houses he has would believe that American workers wouldn't pick lettuce for 50$ an hour. Wouldn't that be a six figure salary? John McCain: "I don't think I need to tell you that there are jobs that Americans will not do. I don't think I have to tell you that there are ... the backbone of our economy... Audience members: "Pay them the right wages." John McCain: "You know I've heard that statement before. Now, my friends, I'll offer anybody here fifty dollars an hour if you'll go pick lettuce in Yuma this season and pick for the whole season. So, ok, sign up! Ok, when you sign up, you sign up, and you'll be there for the whole season, the whole season, ok, not just one day. Because you can't do it, my friend." that's 8,700 dollars a month right?! about 6,000 euros ... where can i sign up? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JK2000 Posted August 28, 2008 Author Share Posted August 28, 2008 that's 8,700 dollars a month right?!about 6,000 euros ... where can i sign up? So McCain thinks that Americans will go work for Halliburton or KBR and risk their lives in Iraq for 50$ an hour but they won't pick lettuce for that amount? The man has lost it! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chef Jim Posted August 28, 2008 Share Posted August 28, 2008 It's not surprising that a man who doesn't know how many houses he has would believe that American workers wouldn't pick lettuce for 50$ an hour. Wouldn't that be a six figure salary? John McCain: "I don't think I need to tell you that there are jobs that Americans will not do. I don't think I have to tell you that there are ... the backbone of our economy... Audience members: "Pay them the right wages." John McCain: "You know I've heard that statement before. Now, my friends, I'll offer anybody here fifty dollars an hour if you'll go pick lettuce in Yuma this season and pick for the whole season. So, ok, sign up! Ok, when you sign up, you sign up, and you'll be there for the whole season, the whole season, ok, not just one day. Because you can't do it, my friend." Unfortunately he's right. Americans have become lazy bastards who have hired illegals to do all the hard work and we've become soft. When I was in WNY recently there was an article about a cabbage farm outside Batavia where all the picker are Jamaican. They said they advertise every year but have not had one local come for a job in two decades. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JK2000 Posted August 28, 2008 Author Share Posted August 28, 2008 Unfortunately he's right. Americans have become lazy bastards who have hired illegals to do all the hard work and we've become soft. When I was in WNY recently there was an article about a cabbage farm outside Batavia where all the picker are Jamaican. They said they advertise every year but have not had one local come for a job in two decades. Were they offering 50$ an hour? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blzrul Posted August 28, 2008 Share Posted August 28, 2008 McCain needs to be tested for Alzheimer's. Seriously. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chef Jim Posted August 28, 2008 Share Posted August 28, 2008 Were they offering 50$ an hour? I think you're missing his point. He was saying that many (not all) Americans won't or can't do the work. I bet you send 100 Americans out in the field, even at $50 per hour, more than half will have quit by the end of the week. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JK2000 Posted August 28, 2008 Author Share Posted August 28, 2008 I think you're missing his point. He was saying that many (not all) Americans won't or can't do the work. I bet you send 100 Americans out in the field, even at $50 per hour, more than half will have quit by the end of the week. Don't you see all the Americans out there cutting lawns, landscaping, working construction, roofing, and laying blacktop? Do you think they're making anywhere near 50 dollars an hour? If he said 5 dollars an hour I'd agree with him. I guess in McCain's world 50 dollars an hour is poor. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
drnykterstein Posted August 28, 2008 Share Posted August 28, 2008 What is 50$? Some sort of foreign currency or something? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KD in CA Posted August 28, 2008 Share Posted August 28, 2008 Well if Americans are willing to do it....................why aren't they??? Did any of the whining, coddled pansies in the audience take McCain up on his offer? Of course not....big shock. Picking lettuce in 100 degree heat for 8 hours? Less than 1% of Americans would make it through the first day without collapsing. And I love the blinding ignorance of 'audience member' who shouts 'pay them the right wages'. What are the 'right' wages? Whatever makes some ignorant college hippie who can't understand Economics 101 feel better about the world? At least until next week when he starts whining about the cost of produce. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JK2000 Posted August 28, 2008 Author Share Posted August 28, 2008 Well if Americans are willing to do it....................why aren't they??? Did any of the whining, coddled pansies in the audience take McCain up on his offer? Of course not....big shock. Picking lettuce in 100 degree heat for 8 hours? Less than 1% of Americans would make it through the first day without collapsing. Americans aren't doing it because NO ONE IS OFFERING ANYTHING CLOSE TO 50 DOLLARS AN HOUR TO PICK LETTUCE! Way to miss the point! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
olivier in france Posted August 28, 2008 Share Posted August 28, 2008 Picking lettuce in 100 degree heat for 8 hours? Less than 1% of Americans would make it through the first day without collapsing. I've picked tobacco in 100 degree heat (can not think of anything worst to pick) for nothing for my grand father each summer as a teenager... so once again if you know ANYBODY paying 50 US dollars an hour to pick ANYTHING ANYWHERE for 8 hours a day, CALL ME!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KD in CA Posted August 28, 2008 Share Posted August 28, 2008 Americans aren't doing it because NO ONE IS OFFERING ANYTHING CLOSE TO 50 DOLLARS AN HOUR TO PICK LETTUCE! Way to miss the point! Read your own post. McCain offered $50 an hour. Did anyone take him up on it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JK2000 Posted August 28, 2008 Author Share Posted August 28, 2008 Read your own post. McCain offered $50 an hour. Did anyone take him up on it? I hope that wasn't serious. Do I have to explain the difference between a politicians rhetorical question and an actual employer offering 50 dollars an hour to pick lettuce? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
In-A-Gadda-Levitre Posted August 28, 2008 Share Posted August 28, 2008 well, some people took him serious McCain has been getting skewered in the media for comments earlier this month to a union group in Washington, D.C., that immigrants are taking jobs no one else wants, and offered them $50 an hour to pick lettuce in the Arizona sun for a summer, suggesting they couldn't do it. The senator didn't stick around long enough to process any applications, despite several offers to take him up on his offer from the audience. So Friday more than three dozen demonstrators showed up at his office, many carrying lettuce picker applications in one hand, and a head of lettuce in the other to show they could do the job. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PastaJoe Posted August 28, 2008 Share Posted August 28, 2008 Three years ago after my job moved overseas and I was looking for a new job, I did landscaping and patio installation from spring to fall for $10 an hour. I'd still be doing it for $50 an hour. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DC Tom Posted August 28, 2008 Share Posted August 28, 2008 And I love the blinding ignorance of 'audience member' who shouts 'pay them the right wages'. Given all of JK's betwetting over the issue, I'm guessing it's more than $50 an hour. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YellowLinesandArmadillos Posted August 28, 2008 Share Posted August 28, 2008 I think you're missing his point. He was saying that many (not all) Americans won't or can't do the work. I bet you send 100 Americans out in the field, even at $50 per hour, more than half will have quit by the end of the week. Maybe the one's who are fat and out of shape, but that goes with any race group. I bet at $50 an hour more 2/3 stay that are in any kind of shape. Hell, I am over $40 and will do, the folks you are talking about are doing it for minimum wage. A picking and packaging plant in western, ma pays $10-$15 dollars and hour and a lot of locals do it, but it is a burn out job, destroys your back. However, migrant workers that travel with their families and pick together. If you are a gypsy type then it works for you, but if you want to put down roots forget about it, because it is seasonal only. At $50 an hour you could afford to be seasonal and still live in the area. My wife is an OR nurse on her feet 8 hours a day, I am photographer and during a job, I am on my feet 8 hours with lots of gear slung over my shoulder. Picking like this would be about the same and I would easily do it for $50 an hour for the consistency of the working hours. But I don't want to have to travel too far to get to the job nor live like gypsy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chef Jim Posted August 28, 2008 Share Posted August 28, 2008 Don't you see all the Americans out there cutting lawns, landscaping, working construction, roofing, and laying blacktop? Do you think they're making anywhere near 50 dollars an hour? If he said 5 dollars an hour I'd agree with him. I guess in McCain's world 50 dollars an hour is poor. First off you obviously don't live in the southwest...he did mention Yuma. Second I really glad you understood the point he was trying to make. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JK2000 Posted August 28, 2008 Author Share Posted August 28, 2008 First off you obviously don't live in the southwest...he did mention Yuma. Second I really glad you understood the point he was trying to make. I understood the point he was trying to make-Americans won't do unglamorous jobs like picking lettuce for 50 dollars an hour. It's idiotic. According to you and McCain Americans won't pick lettuce in the American southwest for 50 dollars an hour yet for 50 dollars an hour they will travel into a warzone to work knowing that there is a possibility that they will have their heads cut off on video by some crazy Arabs, or be ambushed on a highway and burned to death! But I guess there's something about picking lettuce in Yuma that is so extraordinary that no American worker would pick lettuce there for 50$ an hour, right? You really think that people wouldn't pick lettuce in Yuma if they were paid more or as much as Advertising and Promotions Managers, Public Relations Managers, Postsecondary Education Administrators, Personal Financial Advisors, Computer Software Engineers, Actuaries, Mathematicians, Aerospace Engineers, Chemical Engineers, Nuclear Engineers, and about a million other white collar professions? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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