OUR FRIENDS, THE BUSINESS MEN

The wingnuts are full of nothing but praise for businessmen, small and otherwise but having worked for some who treated me and others like we were scum, I am not convinced that they are the backbone of America.

One of them in North Carolina comes clean about how many of them feel about illegal immigrants:

Citizens, illegal immigrants jostle for jobs
Hard times alter the debate over undocumented workers and their role in economy
By Kristin Collins - Staff Writer
The News & Observer
Charlott, NC
Published: Sun, Mar. 15, 2009 12:30AM
Modified Sun, Mar. 15, 2009 03:59AM

Bill Downey, a Durham construction company owner, said immigrants have been willing to work harder and more reliably than native workers -- and those are the types of workers that employers will keep as they try to remain solvent in a tight market. He said he doesn't employ illegal immigrants, but he acknowledged that many laborers are in the country illegally.

"When it comes down to the bottom line, more people are going to be interested in good workers than whether they're legal," Downey said. "I've got a good worker, and I'm going to send him away? I don't see that happening."

Here in Tucson, businesses have been open about their need for illegals, though they frame the subject in terms of labor shortages instead of quality of workers.