Sen. McCain offers AFL-CIO $50 per hour to pick crops this summer

[ARCHIVED THREAD] - Sen. McCain offers AFL-CIO $50 per hour to pick crops this summer

Posted: 4/6/2006 12:50:36 PM EDT

McCain got another laugh when he finished the speech and asked whether anybody had "questions, comments or insults." One audience member obliged with a pointed question on his immigration plan.
McCain responded by saying immigrants were taking jobs nobody else wanted. He offered anybody in the crowd $50 an hour to pick lettuce in Arizona.
Shouts of protest rose from the crowd, with some accepting McCain's job offer.
"I'll take it!" one man shouted.
McCain insisted none of them would do such menial labor for a complete season. "You can't do it, my friends."
Some in the crowd said they didn't appreciate McCain questioning their work ethic.
"I was impressed with his comedy routine and ability to tap dance without music. But I was impressed with nothing else about him," said John Wasniewski of Milwaukee.
"He's supposed to be Mr. Straight Talk?"
Others said McCain showed some moxie, if not the best political judgment.
"Most of us don't agree with him on immigration," said another man from Milwaukee, Chris Schoenbeck. "But I give him credit for trying."

http://www.boston.com/news/local/new_hampshire/articles/2006/04/05/mccains_straight_talking_image_called_into_question/?page=2
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Posted: 4/6/2006 12:58:27 PM EDT

[#1]

Dupe, but holy crap, $50 an hour? HELL YEAH I'd work for that. I'd work for half of that.

Posted: 4/6/2006 1:00:07 PM EDT

[#2]

I'd work for a twentyth of that.

I guess I could now.

Posted: 4/6/2006 1:02:16 PM EDT

[#3]

$50 an hour? is that tax free? I've worked harder for less. I'm in.

-JTP

Posted: 4/6/2006 1:03:48 PM EDT

[#4]

McCain's offer is empty just like Hillary's claim she helps everybody...I doubt she helps anybody unless there is publicity involved and plenty of hoopla praising her for her giving...I'm sure "if" McCain hired an illegal he would pay below minimum wage to keep the willing American workers in the unemployment lines.
I wrote the NYTimes suggesting the New Yorkers and especially Hillary, welcome the illegals into NY and put them up in their homes and take care of them with their own resources...I doubt whether they will do anything to actually help.
It is easy to blow smoke...
Look at what McCain is doing in his own state...

Posted: 4/6/2006 1:04:11 PM EDT

[#5]

Would they actually have to pick them or would this be one of the typical union jobs where 4 old farts watch while the young guy does all the work? They can then pat themselves on the back for their great team effort.

Posted: 4/6/2006 1:04:12 PM EDT

[#6]

Hell thats more than I make as an Engineer. Sign me up.

That's $8000/month or $96000 per year assuming on overtime.

at 10 hour OT per week (at straight time) $120,000 per year.

(at 1.5 time) it's $132,000 per year

Posted: 4/6/2006 1:06:56 PM EDT

[#7]

Strap a Camelback on me, put some Bullfrog on my skin and a sombrero on my head and I'm in!

Posted: 4/6/2006 1:10:09 PM EDT

[#8]

I've done summer jobs roofing, painting, drywalling, laying tile, and other general construction work for 7 dollars an hour.

50 bucks an hour, holy crap. Thats more than public school teachers make.

Posted: 4/6/2006 1:10:13 PM EDT

[#9]

Just suppose he’s right and there aren’t a bunch of middle aged middle class union guys willing to work like that. Hell, I’m old, fat, and out of shape it would be really rough for me, I’d give it a try though.

But, does he really think there aren’t millions of Americans that would do that work? I would have jumped at it when I was in my teens/early 20s. Several years ago I hired some movers and the two teenagers that showed up busted their asses to get the job done. (I tipped them $50.00 each. They could have cost me a bunch more if they had assed off since I was paying the moving company by the hour.) Something tells me those kids would be real happy picking crops for $50.00 an hour.

If anything this shows just how out of touch McCain really is with the American people.

Posted: 4/6/2006 1:11:28 PM EDT

[#10]

Quoted:
50 bucks an hour, holy crap. Thats more than public school teachers make.

that's 6 figure territory

Posted: 4/6/2006 1:11:28 PM EDT

[#11]

This just goes to show how clueless McCain is. I wonder if "oh shit" entered his mind when it heard his mouth make that offer or if he really believes Americans wouldn't gleefully pick lettuce for $50 an hour.

Posted: 4/6/2006 1:13:06 PM EDT

[#12]

Quoted:

If anything this shows just how out of touch McCain really is with the American people.

Bingo

Posted: 4/6/2006 1:18:13 PM EDT

[#13]

Quoted:
This just goes to show how clueless McCain is. I wonder if "oh shit" entered his mind when it heard his mouth make that offer or if he really believes Americans wouldn't gleefully pick lettuce for $50 an hour.

How much does a union auto worker with 15+ years make?

Posted: 4/6/2006 1:19:43 PM EDT

[#14]

www.ar15.com/forums/topic.html?b=1&f=5&t=452061

DUPE

Posted: 4/6/2006 1:23:46 PM EDT

[#15]

Quoted:
Dupe, but holy crap, $50 an hour? HELL YEAH I'd work for that. I'd work for half of that.

That's more than I'm working for here in AZ.

McCain can suck my taint.

Posted: 4/6/2006 1:24:29 PM EDT

[#16]

$50 an hour...must be a union job

Posted: 4/6/2006 2:57:37 PM EDT

[#17]

Costs to a farmer for a head of lettuce are around 23 cents, 15 cents of that labor.. Assuming a present wage of $8.50 per hour was boosted 6 fold to $50 per hour, the labor costs would soar 75 cents per head to $.90 cents, the farmer's overall cost $1.13 and maybe you have $2.50 for lettuce instead of $1.50. Is that some big deal? $50 per hour for one day is a decent week's wage in many areas of the country. You could almost afford to commute

. $2000 for a week of picking would be a sweet job for schoolteachers out for the summer. Screw summer school...$80 - $100 for a half day.

If we have some god-given right to under $2 lettuce it would stand to reason we had the same right to under $2 gas and cheap ammo.

Posted: 4/6/2006 2:59:20 PM EDT

[#18]

Quoted:
www.ar15.com/forums/topic.html?b=1&f=5&t=452061

DUPE

Thank you for following proper dupe ettiquete.

Posted: 4/6/2006 3:02:07 PM EDT

[#19]

Quoted:
Hell thats more than I make as an Engineer. Sign me up.

That's $8000/month or $96000 per year assuming on overtime.

at 10 hour OT per week (at straight time) $120,000 per year.

(at 1.5 time) it's $132,000 per year

No shit, for $50 an hour I would pick up piles of Elephant Diarriah.

Posted: 4/6/2006 3:34:44 PM EDT

[#20]

I'm not necessarily buying into the good Senator's offer but here's a point he might have been trying to make. The people that come across our borders illegally leave everything behind when they go but what they can carry on their back. Then they work long hours in the hot sun with nothing but a long row to hoe and very little to look forward to after that. If they are lucky enough to survive the work, the poor food and the vultures circling their campsite they may have a few dollars to send back to Mexico, Honduras or Guatemala. Who among us would walk for hundreds of miles, scratch for a few dollars in a field somewhere and then go on to the next job like the Joad family did in Grapes of Wrath?

Posted: 4/6/2006 3:35:17 PM EDT

[#21]

That guy is a nutz as Howard Dean is. He can suk N Pelosi's dick.
I'd do it for $50 an hour any day of the week. I spent 9 years in the gas trenches, 5 years with a firewood biz, time in service, and working a utility store room, and picking lettuce would be a walk in the park. Sign me up, ya retard.

Posted: 4/6/2006 3:38:03 PM EDT

[#22]

Quoted:
I'm not necessarily buying into the good Senator's offer but here's a point he might have been trying to make. The people that come across our borders illegally leave everything behind when they go but what they can carry on their back. Then they work long hours in the hot sun with nothing but a long row to hoe and very little to look forward to after that. If they are lucky enough to survive the work, the poor food and the vultures circling their campsite they may have a few dollars to send back to Mexico, Honduras or Guatemala. Who among us would walk for hundreds of miles, scratch for a few dollars in a field somewhere and then go on to the next job like the Joad family did in Grapes of Wrath?

you're joking right? they dont live in tents, they take over older neighborhoods and turn them into "barrios". the majority of them dont work in the fields, they work in restraunts, construction, and other jobs. and considering that the money sent back from the USA is the #2 money maker for the entire nation of Mexico, I'm pretty sure that they arent "lucky enough to send a few dollars back to Mexico"

take your apologetic ass back to DU

Posted: 4/6/2006 3:42:45 PM EDT

[#23]

Quoted:
I'm not necessarily buying into the good Senator's offer but here's a point he might have been trying to make. The people that come across our borders illegally leave everything behind when they go but what they can carry on their back. Then they work long hours in the hot sun with nothing but a long row to hoe and very little to look forward to after that. If they are lucky enough to survive the work, the poor food and the vultures circling their campsite they may have a few dollars to send back to Mexico, Honduras or Guatemala. Who among us would walk for hundreds of miles, scratch for a few dollars in a field somewhere and then go on to the next job like the Joad family did in Grapes of Wrath?

Mormon kids were picking pineapples in Hawaii not that long ago. My uncles came to CA from the Dust Bowl and survived. This isn't the Depression but if it was then we'd have competition from Mexico and the Joads would (according to you) be shit out of luck trying to compete with Mexicans who would work for less?

But you're right who would work in the fields of Congress for minimum wage and live in a shack. The real facts are we could easily pay enough to a field worker that he could afford health insurance and live pretty good in the Imperial Valley where house prices are no where near what they are in other areas of CA. He could probably afford to send his kids to private school at $25 per hour, especially if the wife sold Mary Kay.

Posted: 4/6/2006 3:47:00 PM EDT

[#24]

$50 an hour to pick lettuce in AZ? I would jump on that in a heartbeat. I only made $5 an hour picking peppers as a teenager in the late 90's. $50 is more than I make now doing a profesional office job. McCain's a dumbass to think Americans won't a hard job for big money. Not all Americans live on welfare or demand that government give them everything they need.