The Ignorant Investor

From the L.A. Times:

Cyndi Smallwood is looking for a few strong men for her landscaping company. Guys with no fear of a hot sun, who can shovel dirt all day long. She'll pay as much as $34 an hour.

She can't find them.

Maybe potential employees don't know about her tiny Riverside firm. Maybe the problem is Southern California's solid economy and low unemployment rate. Or maybe manual labor is something that many Americans couldn't dream of doing.

Link.

This sounds like a snow job to me. If there's one thing experience has taught me, it's that in a fight between pride and money, money usually ends up leaving pride in a quivering lump of bruises on the floor. I don't know what the situation is with this woman's company, but there's more to it than the reporter is seeing.

Fortunately, there is one bright spot:

Telling Americans there are jobs they won't do isn't necessarily a way to endear yourself to them. Addressing a group of union leaders in Washington last month, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) said the members of his audience wouldn't pick lettuce even for $50 an hour.

When some in the crowd angrily dissented, McCain demurred: "You can't do it, my friends." Three dozen demonstrators later showed up at the senator's Phoenix office, bearing lettuce-picker applications as well as heads of lettuce.

You want to know what the toughest manual job in America is? Being the guy with a crowbar who has to help McCain squeeze his enormous head through the door. This is the second time in a week one of our oh-so-hardworking senators have told Americans that they have no work ethic. Get a real job, douchebag. Then shoot off your mouth.