[andyt]

(And for all you conservatives, liberalism has nothing to do with liberals or Liberals)

I used to work in the woods as a juvenile spacer. That's thinning out trees that were planted 10 - 20 years ago, leaving only the best, so that the volume of fiber is concentrated in fewer trees, producing a higher quality product.

At first it was the Finns doing this job. They had done it in Finland in the army, and were tough buggers. They moved over the land like lawnmowers. And because the contract prices were fair, not too much competition, they were able to make a very good living at it.

The rest of us couldn't match the Fins, but we still made very good money. Basically I financed my undergrad education by working only the summers. It was very hard work, but rewarded well.

That was 30 years ago. When I left, the Asian (Punjabi) contractors were moving in, underbidding everybody.

In the news recently, we had a spacing crew that had to be rescued by the govt, because the Punjabi contractor had been starving them but preventing them from leaving. They had not been paid, and were getting welfare etc. These were African temp workers imported just for this purpose.

So in this industry, we've gone from guys making a good living, buying houses, cars, etc, raising their families on the income, to the govt saving a few bucks so scummy contractors can import people from Africa to use as semi-slave labor. Likely we'll have to pay their airfare back home, since they have no money.

The contractor was hit with various WCB fines and blacklisted by the govt. But that company just went broke, paid no fines. A new company, with the same address has been formed which is bidding on govt contracts. It's claimed this is not the same guy heading this, but a tenant living in the same house. Bullshit.

Is this really where we want to go, just in the name of lower taxes? (And, since the forest industry should be paying for silivculture, it shouldn't affect our taxes at all). What are the hidden costs for something like this? What are the costs to health care? The job is dangerous, but I'm sure these half starved Africans trying desperately to make a buck will be a lot more likely to hurt themselves than we were.