Reply #22: You've bought the neo-con line on this. [View All]

[Cleita]

Unscrupulous people who hire desperate people under the table should be heavily penalized for this, but they are not because there are no enforcible laws to do it. And when you paint all immigrants as working under the table with that broad brush of yours be aware of the fact that most of the steadily employed do not. They pay taxes like anyone else and may even get health benefits. Be aware also that many Americans engage in the same practice of working under the table often at second jobs. If you are going to focus on this then make sure your backup stats and studies reflect the true demographics.

If there are no studies or stats for this then maybe some investigative reporter types should get in there and dig up the dirt. Just saying so isn't good enough and these points seem to have been gleaned from conservative and business journals who don't seem to have any real figures and studies to back them up.

Also, anecdotally, having spent a good part of my time when my husband was alive in emergency rooms with him, the indigent people who were treated there cut across the board from homeless to working poor, white, black and maybe immigrant because none of those people have insurance. So don't blame just one class of poor people for what is a breakdown in our system.