Well duhhh . . .

Farm Bureau report says "enforcement only" immigration reform will lead to a sharp increase in food prices. Now, it is true that if farm labor offered better pay and working conditions, we'd need fewer undocumented immigrants to fill those jobs. And yes, food would cost more. The teabaggers may or may not understand this, but to the extent they do, they are likely to say that instead of us letting furrriners into the country, some of those shiftless moochers who are currently getting Medicaid and food stamps should take those jobs even under current conditions.

Of course, if they took those jobs, they'd still be eligible for Medicaid and food stamps. It's one thing to come up north for nine months out of the year, work 70 hours a week and send enough back to Michoacan to keep your kids alive, it's quite another to try to do that for your family in LA. The Farm Bureau wants to split this baby with a guest worker program that would at least make the people legal -- even though they wouldn't be allowed to stay in the U.S. long term -- and give them some legal protections. But that doesn't seem quite right either.

Here's what I think. Farm workers should be paid better, meaning that food should be more expensive, but we should raise the minimum wage and create a full employment economy -- by making investments that put people to work -- so that everybody could afford that more expensive food. No need to split any babies!  We just need for rich people to pay taxes. Oh wait, that's never going to happen.