BOURDAIN's stunning love letter to Mexico and Mexicans

[Major Nikon]

100. I get tired of hearing the "jobs Americans won't do" bullshit

I like Bourdain and agree with everything else he's saying. But the idea that these are "jobs Americans won't do" is provably nonsense when you consider there are many areas in this country which don't have that many immigrants and you'll find Americans doing restaurant work. Regardless of what your job is, there will always be an immigrant willing to do it for less. If an immigrant is doing the job, they should be paid the same as anyone else doing the same work. Bourdain is right in that we are now living in a country that is largely dependent on immigrant labor working at or near minimum wage, but we have done this to ourselves to our own detriment. Just because there's no shortage of people willing to live in squalor working for shit wages because they are still better off than where they came from doesn't mean it's a great idea to allow them to do so and to keep the minimum wage lower than what it takes to live decently.