We do not need guest workers - Assignment Example

“Short Takes” By Elizabeth Penfield Report on “We Do Not Need Guest Workers from Abroad” by Robert Samuelson “We do not need guest workers from abroad” written by Robert Samuelson, is one of the fifty three short readable selections in the 267 paged books, “Short Takes” by Elizabeth Penfield. This is an article in chapter 8 of Penfield’s book, published in July 2012. Samuelson’s article collection talks about the immigration issues that America has to deal with if the trend continues.

According to Samuelson the hiring of guest-workers in America, has led to increased rates of illegal immigrants and unskilled workers with minimal education (224). Samuelson emphasizes that these factors are to blame for increasing population growth and decreasing resources. Samuelson argues that legalizing the inflow of illegal immigrants such as the guest-workers in United States will be the same as importing poverty (221). He supports his argument by pointing out that an increase in population growth and depletion of national resources is likely to result into an irreversible economic problem.

Samuelson’s writing and opinions are powerful given the fact that an increase in illegal immigration, not only for America, is likely to lead to depleted resources. For example, in page 222, Samuelson says that since the year 1980, the number of low-income Hispanics in United States has risen to 162% (222). However, it is my view that the author criticizes the issue with a lot of harshness. He uses sarcastic phrases and statements such as “Its a myth that the U.S. economy needs more poor immigrants” and “we’d be importing poverty” (Samuelson 222).

However, the author still manages to present his opinions with substantive evidence and reasons showing why more guest-workers in the country will lead to future problems. The author’s article is interesting and informative at the same time. For example, I was not aware that 400,000 guest workers get admitted annually in United States (Samuelson 222). In conclusion, Samuelson’s article, like all the other collections in Penfield’s book has many elements that make it essential for development of a student’s argument skills and critical thinking.

For such reasons, I would recommend my friends to read chapter 8 and other chapters of the book, in Robert Samuelson’s part of the book.Work CitedSamuelson, Robert. "We Don’t Need ‘Guest Workers." In. Short Takes: Model Essays for Composition. . 11 ed. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education, 2012.