Fortunately it's not 1934 anymore, unfortunately much of the best legislation which led to the boom of our economy has eroded away because benefiting the working folk is no longer en vogue.

And taking the position of "It's a labor shortage, not a pay shortage" is a risky one on this sub, as drivers as a whole have been tired of the driver shortage bullshit for sometime now.

And America needs workers like I need headaches. They have plenty and won't take care of them.

A contracting labor pool will kill an economy faster than anything else.

Ideally, I agree with you. The practical issue are the last few decades of economic K charts from the BLS and FRED which show an ever widening gap between productivity and compensation, inflation and compensation, land prices and compensation, auto prices and compensation, education and compensation. List goes on. To be fair though, TVs and food are actually cheaper!

I'd also like to mention that immigrants are extremely, much more likely to be under a 1099 classification across the board, in particular, trucking. Compared to a native born American.

Which means those immigrants you're defending aren't contributing to shared healthcare plans, unemployment insurance, workers comp and MOST IMPORTANTLY the margins which keeps businesses afloat, particularly in squeezes like the one the trucking industry is in.

So yeah, I agree with you some on that one.

There are simply not enough people in America to fill the jobs we have and will, hopefully, continue to create. Especially at the lower levels. Bringing in a group of younger, highly motivated people who will do the work is good for the economy.

We can create all the jobs in the world. If we don't compensate those jobs fairly to the requirements of that job within the scope of the costs of raising a family and owning the basics, then those jobs are ONLY to the benefit of furthering the wealth gap and leaving more Americans behind.

"Good for the economy" means good for the investors, the wealthy elite.. what's "good for the economy" has no equivalence or consideration on what's good for the largest group of contributors to that economy.

And the young, highly motivated immigrants? They're motivated because their homelands are often shit. Particularly those in trucking. I've been to several of those countries myself. If you dropped a North Korean in the Punjabi province, he'd see heaven. We'd see hell. It's easy to be highly motivated when you're raised in that and have a chance of getting out. That doesn't mean we have to walay the future of our youth for "overall good" when that good doesn't benefit overall.

The biggest concern should be why our youth are so unmotivated. Between selling your soul for a college degree, to get replaced by AI; the prospect of 50 year mortgages (which is something the silent generation would've called communism, because it is), and feeling relationships are meaningless because you know you can't afford a family.

Then our country welcomes, with wide arms, random ass people their age who have free degrees from their home country. If trucking then they join the family business, contribute the bare minimum and drive rates down while doing it.

My care about my peers ends when people who want to hold a steering wheel and swing doors want to demonize a group like OP's father who followed every rule and were here legally doing the right thing. I absolutely would never demonize an entire group of people. Unlike yourself, apparently.

I don't demonize anyone who tries to escape their personal hell for a better chance. However, it's not my burden to save them until my fellow countrymen are cared for first. They are not.

I have to ensure my family is fed and clothed, with a roof over their heads before I can care for the neighbors. This logic scales.

Look to the people hiring them and enabling the system that exploits the immigrant, not the man trying to feed his family.

You're absolutely correct, which is why I said I think immigrants holding a CDL should be illegal. If they don't hold a CDL and get hired, punish the company that hires them and or anyone that gives them access to requirement and freight.

Get into a specialized field of trucking or, God forbid, get your hands dirty. Everybody starts somewhere.

This feels like a twisted argument about Bic Macs costing $10. Van drivers aren't part time. They often work more hours and are gone longer than us in specialized fields.

I started in Van, and while I was there I never felt I should get paid more than a RGN or hazmat tankers.

However the thought of any job which requires special licensing, ungodly time commitments and has real personal legal and financial liability - that not paying enough to put a down payment on the median home, a newish car in the drive and a wife with a couple kids at home when it was early possible less than 50 years ago says a lot about the shift of our economy away from looking at our "essential workers" to benefit the already fat.

Where exactly do you draw the line of which people should work full time jobs and yet own nothing? And if you say "let the market decide" without any consideration to leadership being the ones deciding the market...

I know that we're both very special boys because we have specialized jobs, we aren't afraid of chemical burns and bad weather.

But it's called specialized for a reason. These jobs are harder to come by, harder to do and most people carry out their careers in ordinary fields.

Yes, we should be compensated more than van but that doesn't mean we give them the same financial outcome as a waffle waitress, effectively demonizing them for working longer hours in a thankless role. So we can feel like special boys.

But sure buddy, demonize fellow American to benefit Volodymr Singh or some shit.