agreed. where are the native-born americans who are willing to take low-wage sewing jobs? my grandma slaved as a piece sewer and in sweatshops. it's hard unrewarding work and i don't want it for my kids, but somebody has to make clothes. minimum wage is minimum wage, whether you're a legal immigrant or USA-born.


and as far as immigrants coming in and dragging down our wages - at my husband's work (computer engineering) they CANNOT fill the positions with US citizens, because there are not enough US citizens going into the sciences. they can't get qualified candidates who are US-born. my husband's team at his last job was 60% vietnamese, 10% european and 20% us-born. when he left he was replaced by an Indian. At his newer job his team is mainly Indian, with one Greek and a couple of europeans thrown in. his boss is from China. This is just the reality in our little tech-centered area. it's not going to go away.

we are facing a huge problem here with a decline in placing importance on education. science is the future and we are falling behind fast. our culture no longer values education - we pay it lip service but everybody wants to get rich quick. it's why we've had bubble after bubble burst - the stock burst of 2000-2001, the housing bubble that's falling apart now, and the commodities bubble that's currently swelling (although gas won't be coming down again).