Ruben Navarrette offers a "Special to CNN" called "U.S. workers can't hide from competition" [1] which can be summarized thusly: "suck it up, American workers! You have no right not to have your wages fall to Bangladeshi levels".

He discusses Luis Gutierrez' bogus "hire Americans first" provision, and says:

Both parties use lies and demagoguery to exploit fears and convince frightened Americans that we can fence ourselves off from competition. Build a wall. Impose a tariff. All so we don't have to put up with the annoyance of being forced to out-work, out-produce and out-hustle someone else to make a living... ...What our own parents and grandparents came to expect decades ago when they went after a job, we think we're above... ...Why should U.S. citizens get a benefit not from education or hard work but from something they had nothing to do with -- where they were born? If a job is available, U.S. workers should be free to compete for it, but not have it handed to them on a silver platter. Likewise, foreign workers who come here legally should have a shot at competing for that same job.

Only recently has it become possible for millions of foreign workers in their own countries to compete with U.S. workers for U.S. jobs, and various plans (such as George W Bush's anti- and un-American guest workers program) would have ramped up immigration by foreign workers. Navarette is like Bush turning his back on U.S. workers, supporting lowering previously middle class wages - such as that for call center workers, nurses, and a whole host of other jobs - to the global level. The global level is quite low and those coming here temporarily have shown that they're willing to endure privations while in the U.S., such as living dozens to a house and living in shantytowns. While competition is a good concept, it's a better concept not to encourage bringing third world levels of living to the U.S. as Navarrette would have us do.

[1] cnn.com/2009/OPINION/11/27/navarrette.competition.immigration/index.html