By Press Release
I return refreshed from my holiday of a lifetime – but I have to say – never again. Considering the environmental impact, lengthy queues and flight delays, it’s a wonder anyone bothers with flying anymore. The travel industry seems to be doing Greta Thunberg’s work for her.
My thanks to Quiggers for sitting in; he seems to have his finger on the pulse, not so easy when so many of us barely have one these days.
I’ve been relaxing in the land of the free, mostly because I could source some much-needed XXL shirts over there. I must report Floridians seem to be counting the days until Trump returns to the White House. When pressed on why this is a good thing, they reply ‘policies’ without explaining what the policies are. I suppose Kier Starmer has a similar strategy here.
Republicans believe Joe Biden is massively over-borrowing and hell-bent on turning their country into an open-border socialist state. I saw a Trump-supporting bumper sticker saying, ‘We need more Bibles and firearms in our schools’. I don’t think it was even meant to be ironic. If the answer to unlimited firearms is more guns, you’ll need to be both quick on the draw and a decent shot to stop someone hell-bent on taking you out.
Reducing the number of weapons doesn’t occur to them. On the local news, a school was showing off its new airport-style screening system. Before morning roll call, students are carefully examined for concealed weapons. That shouldn’t surprise me; some schools scan kids here, although it’s knives they’re looking for. It doesn’t stop the rising number of violent attacks in our parks and outside school gates though. I’m old enough to remember when teachers kept order in the classroom, and security guards were not thought vital at playtime.
The biggest talking point in America is the labour shortage. People told me the old pre-pandemic wage rate of $12 an hour is ancient history. To attract new workers, even the supermarkets offer $20, and still, they can’t find any takers.
Like here, working from home remains a problem, with bosses incapable of cajoling employees away from their defiant new lifestyle choice. Employees have the upper hand and that’s bad news for employers.
Finding a new workforce is made harder because no-one wants immigration. Does that sound familiar?
Florida’s governor, Ron DeSantis is Trump’s presidential rival, and unsurprisingly he blames Biden. In July, he’ll change the way the law treats unauthorised migrants and those who assist them. Around one in four Florida workers are undocumented, mostly they work in agriculture, healthcare, hospitality and construction. Cheekily, the IRS (the taxman) issues them all with national insurance numbers and collects their taxes regardless of their dodgy immigration status. It’s quite a double standard, and naturally, those illegals hand over billions.
From July, employing someone without the necessary checks could lead to a $10,000 fine. Just giving an illegal person a ride to church or home from school can open you up to a felony charge, and 15 years imprisonment. Having an undocumented person cut your grass or clean your windows could do the same. If you’re undocumented and need a doctor, or the hospital, you will risk being turned in to the authorities.
Tough-talking DeSantis says he’ll “no longer turn a blind eye to Joe Biden’s border crisis”. Should his horrid new laws work, they’ll likely roll them out coast to coast. No one realises the crackdown will make life far worse for ordinary people, and when that happens, they won’t even have Brexit to blame.
