This might sound like a silly question, but just how much is a lettuce picker supposed to earn? The reason I ask is because after listening to Ankarlo Mornings and Gaydos After Dark many of you said you would be willing to pay more for lettuce, provided the work was done by an American. Would I? The answer is quite simple. No.

My reasoning is quite simple. Let’s use a completely arbitrary number. Say lettuce picked by an illegal immigrant costs $2 and the head that says “Picked by an American” costs $4. And I only have $100 a week for food. After picking the American lettuce, I’m done to $96. Is the extra cost worth it? To me the answer is no.

Being a lettuce picket is not a 50K a year job. It doesn’t require a Master’s degree. It isn’t a highly skilled job. We all benefit from having cheaper lettuce because it lets us open up our wallets for more goods. Again, I buy the cheap lettuce for $2 and then I spent the extra $2 on bananas. Because I buy both lettuce and bananas I keep people in both industries employed. In addition, I have more food to feed my family. If you just bought expensive lettuce you are only supporting one (at an over inflated wage).

This principle goes beyond food. For example, Chrysler pays workers about $29 per hour to build a car. However, the total labor costs per hour comes to $76. Obviously, there is a ton of overhead because of health care costs, taxes, workers comp, pensions, etc. Several Asian automobile companies build their cars right here in the States for $30 per hour less. Why? Toyota, Honda and Nissan let the free markets set their wages instead of labor unions. I also might add that workers in those plants are much more productive than those at the Big 3.

You have two cars to choose from. One is a Ford Edge. The other is a Ford Edge. One is made by a non-union worker and costs $20,000. The other is produced in a union factory, but costs $23,000. Which one would you choose?

Rob
rhunter@ktar.com