Prices reflect the cost of production

Kathy Ellis
Published: February 5, 2008

In a Jan. 30 story titled "Illegal immigrants costing us all money," Jan. 30 Jerry Beckett put it well: "It is very difficult to discuss any issue into which illegal aliens are not woven like a piece of fabric."   

There are no easy answers, but to find the best one, we must first correctly identify all the threads in the fabric.

Clearly, there are costs to having illegal immigrants in the community.

But Mr. Beckett did not discuss one important "thread." Their cheap labor keeps our consumer prices low. His statement, "It's time to put American citizens first, not workers who are just here for a job" doesn't tell the whole story.

Labor prices are always passed on to the consumer.

When we choose to purchase the lowest-priced lettuce, for example, we are supporting the farmer who can get his produce to market for the lowest cost.

The way he does that is by using the cheapest labor, which may well be illegal immigrants.

Exactly how much would we have to pay for a head of lettuce if farm workers were paid a sufficient salary and benefits so that Americans would take the jobs-

The same reasoning extends to the outsourcing of American manufacturing jobs. Exactly what would we have to pay for a sweater if it were produced in the textile mills of North Carolina with American labor rather than in China-

Most of us go to a "big box" store for both our lettuce and also our sweaters because the prices are cheapest.

Every dollar we spend there is a "vote" for the system. We thus support farmers who use illegal immigrants and industries which have moved abroad - both seeking the cheapest labor possible.

The point is, illegal immigration and the loss of manufacturing jobs in America are both very serious issues with no easy answers.

We, as consumers, are partly responsible because we want to buy products at the lowest costs without thinking about why those costs are so low.

We can't ask for illegal immigrants to be sent home and ask for cheap food prices in the same breath. Some of the suggested amnesty programs begin to address this problem.

We need to be careful what we ask for because cheap products don't come to market from expensive labor.