Rich, like you, and Robert Samuelson, I quite agree that the idea that Americans “will not do” these jobs is nonsense. It’s bad economics too. As you know, there’s a clearing price for just about everything.

It’s worth adding that these issues are not confined to the US: for example, there’s mounting evidence in the UK too that a large influx of unskilled immigrants (or immigrants prepared to do unskilled work) has hit the wage levels of those who can least afford it. And it’s not only a question of wages. There’s also the question of what such immigration does to unemployment levels (and remember that current employment statistics conceal a great deal of ‘hidden’ unemployment), again, amongst the most vulnerable. If you want to see where that can lead, go to those countries in continental Europe (notably France) where high levels of immigration (defended as a remedy for supposed labour shortages) coexist, absurdly, with significant pockets of very high unemployment. That makes no sense. None at all.