"Unskilled" my ass!

Whenever I hear people talking about "the jobs Americans won't do," I often wonder if they really mean "the jobs that Americans can't do." Looking around I don't see a shortage of unskilled workers, on the contrary, the shortages I see most are electricians, plumbers, HVAC and mechanics. Trades which while dirty and hard, require an education and apprenticeship and can't be outsourced. And yet many kids think that they'll be better off with a liberal arts degree than a trade. Don't get me wrong, I think that a liberal arts education is very important. In a perfect world everyone would have both, but it's not a sufficient substitute for a productive skill.

I also know from personal experience that many so-called "unskilled" jobs like janitorial, child care, food service, and farm labor, while low-paying, actually require a great deal of skill. Seriously, how many suburban American kids know a fucking thing about agriculture? None. They wouldn't last a day on the farm.

And don't get me started on all the idiots who think that smearing a dirty wet mop on the floor constitutes "cleaning". Hell, I watched native-born guys on my crew repeatedly run a vacuum cleaner over a dinner roll rather than bend down, pick it up, and put it in the fucking garbage! Talk about "unskilled". These jobs may require little education, but they certainly require determination and problem-solving skills. You know, the same sort of qualities that are required to, say, cross a desert while pursued by armed men. Of course, anyone able to actually do the job well, is not going to stay in such a shit-paying field for long. I sure as hell didn't.

Naturally, under the current configuration, the system requires a constant influx of service labor, and the outsourcing of manufacturing. However, the rest of the world is catching on to America's dependence, and they are catching up, exploding tires and lead paint not withstanding.