Besides, if they aren’t going to pick the strawberries you eat, who will? You wanna pay $10/lb for strawberries when farmers hire unionized ex-UAW to pick the fields??????
The way I see it, the real price of strawberries isn’t the price you pay at the store. The real price would take into account the cost of unemployment benefits and welfare of the displaced native-born U.S. citizen who won’t pick strawberries for $3/hr or whatever a Mexican will do it for. Plus, you need to take into account the cost of subsidized shool lunches for children of illegal immigrants. Plus, trips to the emergency room for the illegal immigrants. Plus the cost of overcrowded schools.
I see this bill as a way for rich business owners and farmers to push more of their true costs onto the taxpayers. Instead of ponying up for healthcare and fair wages for their workers, rich business folk push those costs on to taxpayers who make up the difference between what the a-hole, money-hording business owner is paying and what constitutes a livable wage in this country.
I would have no problem with strawberries going up to $10/lb or $20/lb or whatever it would take to get an American worker to pick them because then I could stop subsidizing the wealth of rich farmers and business folk through my taxes. People who actually eat strawberries would be paying their true costs which is the way it should be.
Actually, I agree with a couple of previous posters. Strawberries and other produce would probably only go up a couple of bucks a pound if native-born citizens were hired to pick them. This increase in price would spur innovation and then someone would eventually invent a machine that picks strawberries cheaper than any person could.
