There is an old joke which has the rowers on a slave ship being given a short break. It's only after they cheer and praise the good graces of their captain that they learn the reason for the brief respite [See: post title].

The point to this "joke" is that the employer is seen as only caring about the needs of the work force when there is an immediate and direct personal benefit to the employer. Such is the case in America today, exemplified by the news that Elastic Corporation of America will lay off all 230 employees at its Columbiana, Alabama plant as the company moves operations to Honduras. Do they care that they were the town's largest corporate taxpayer ($60,000 each year, or about two full-time jobs at decent wages), and the source of the bulk of the town's economic activity via employee wages?

Such a slap at the economic propserity of the South roused one Confederate, South Carolina Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham, to join four Democrats and independent Sen. Bernard Sanders of Vermont in sponsoring a bill that would allow U.S. firms to sue competitors that they believe are selling imported products made in overseas sweatshops.

"Believe it or not, ladies and gentlemen, there's a world out there where people are exploited - sometimes literally to the point of death - just to make a buck," Graham said at a news conference in the Capitol.

"If you're a business person engaged in exploiting people to build up market share, I hope you get fined, I hope you get sued," Graham said. "That's not the way to build up an economy. That's not the way to have global trade, and it's not in the best interests of America."

But Senator, we're shocked - SHOCKED! - to discover that your concern for the American worker doesn't extend to the point of supporting employers paying a living wage. You, and several other right-to-work state Republican Senators, voted for an amendment offered by Senator Wayne Allard (R-CO) that would have eliminated the Federal Minimum Wage entirely.

I'm sure that you also supported a measure introduced by your Georgia neighbor Republican Sen. Saxby Chambliss that would have exempted farm labor from minimum-wage provisions, a move which would reduce wages for all farm workers and encourage more of the migration you "patriots" claim to oppose. But we know you Republicans all feel that labor immigration is OK as long as you can deny them citizenship, decent wages, and human rights.