Work and worth

The NYT had one of their Opinionator series focused on the case of a Colorado farmer complaining he couldn't find American workers willing to harvest his onions and corn for slightly more than minimum wage.  Of course most of the people offering the opinions don't take on the underlying assumption that farm labor must be cheap.  If farm workers worked a 40 hour week and made enough to be above the poverty line, they would have to be paid about $12.00 per hour on a year round basis.  Meanwhile, due to the constraints forced on the grower by the former abundance of cheap immigrant labor and the seasonal nature of his business, he can only offer $10.00/hr. for a few weeks.  So a 40 year old who has worked behind a desk for the last 20 years and was laid off is going to jump on a short term back breaking job with no benefits that precludes him from collecting unemployment.  Right.  I can tell you that after putting in a full day outside working a 5,000 calorie/day job, the last thing on my mind is trying to polish my resume so I can get back behind a desk and make enough money to feed my family.  I just want to get some sleep so I can get through another day.  Some days, the cluelessness of our supposed leaders makes me want to scream.