Here again, confirmation that Comprehensive Immigration Reform is a priority for the 111th Congress. Perhaps the silver lining in this dark cloud that’s hung over our County is that it has caused the federal government to acknowledge their short-comings and finally force them to address this issue. Could I end up thanking Corey Stewart & John Stirrup? Let’s wait and see….
For Immediate Release
Another Reason to Give Thanks:
Leaders in Both Parties Agree Immigration Reform is a Must Pass PriorityNovember 25, 2008
Washington, DC-In recent days, leaders from both sides of the aisle indicated that comprehensive immigration reform is a legislative priority for the 111th Congress. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid reassured the public that Congress will “move forward” and pass immigration reform legislation. Meanwhile, the renowned Republican strategist Karl Rove included immigration reform as part of a roadmap for the future survival of the GOP. “Republicans must find a way to support secure borders, a guest-worker program and comprehensive immigration reform that strengthens citizenship, grows our economy and keeps America a welcoming nation,” said Rove.
In fact, the lessons from this month’s election are stark. An analysis by America’s Voice of 21 “battleground” races for House and Senate seats found that pro-immigration-reform candidates beat enforcement-only “hardliners” in 19 of the races. “Americans voters have shown they prefer fair and practical solutions over anti-immigrant rhetoric that sidesteps the real problem,” said Angela Kelley, Director of the Immigration Policy Center. Now leaders must show that they got the wake up call. Reid and Rove know that the American people are counting on Washington to offer answers that strengthen and sustain all of America’s workers, families and communities, native born and newcomer alike. Immigration reform is a part of the solution for a stronger America, and one that policy-makers have to get done and get done right.”
For more information and background on these comments and more, visit ImmigrationImpact.org.
Wow. And here we thought we had a “fight and a bite” to deal with next year from the Republicans. If it’s not the John McCain Republicans, and it’s not the Karl Rove Republicans, and it’s not the George Bush Republicans, who is it going to be that stands in the way of Comprehensive Immigration Reform?
Sarah Palin Republicans?
This is really good news! Thank God for some good news these days.
I think Obama’s pledge to look at the nation’s budget “line by line” will reveal immigration enforcement is an area they are spending a ton of money on without getting anything out of it. Think of the cost of plotting the raids and then the cost of getting “raided” immigrants through the current system…two years of visits to ICE and court visits before they finally are told to self deport within 4 months…but no one follows up to see that they do unless they have a GPS tracking device. It’s ludicrous. They can implement a fine of a few thousand $$ on 12-20 M people. Getting that many new legal resident’s will create thousands of jobs paid for by the fines. And then these people can come out of the shadows and launch the business they have wanted to launch, attend college, learn English, obtain driver’s licenses. Not to mention the boon to the airline industry. There are people who have been here for over 10 years…as soon as they get legal residence they will fly home to their country of origin to reunite with their parents or spouses without fear that they won’t be able to return to their job and family here. More to say…but 7 year old is yelling!
I’m with you TWIN! So many things are going to improve with the new President. The answer was right in front of our faces: effective government with concrete goals and fiscal responsibility, instead of year-round electioneering with government as necessary just to make it look like they are governing.
I hope he rescues the economy. I am happy to see him taking a centrist position on most things.
I’m starting to think, I might get my old life back. It’s feeling like a weight could be lifted off my shoulders. No offense to anybody but I had a life before all this non-sense.
I hope the immigration backlog is cleared. There is a very deserving girl who’s application was conditionally approved in ’05 but could have to wait another 4-6 years before she’s granted entrance.
Congress needs to listen to the voices of reason rather than the loudest few. That’s the problem. Most people who were the voice of reason just felt that common sense would prevail. The loud-mouths ruled the day. The voices of reason who had remained silent were blind-sided.
I too am hopeful that a reasoned approach to immigration will come to pass, allowing us to look back on these dark times in PWC, feeling pride that we helped stem the tide of scapegoating and prejudice. In the next election, the words and actions of John and Corey, hopefully, will come back to bite them (not literally of course), but electorally, their actions and rhetoric apprearing that much more offensive to the average person.
I am with you, too TWINAD. This is an answer to many, many prayers.
Everyone who really cares about this issue, who cares about the people who have been here 10, 15 and even 20 years waiting, needs to get the pen out and write to your Senator and Congressman. Heck, write to all of them!!!! The only way change will take place is if WE THE PEOPLE demand it.
Too many spout immigration ‘facts’ that are not true. Most people know nothing other than what FAIR or some other organization with an agenda has spread amongst the masses. Playing to people’s fears is the only way to amass support.
Fear! strangers! different customs! ‘others!’
Lets discuss logical “facts”.
1. What causes poverty instead of business wealth distributed to a high standard of living?
Cause: too high and too rapid a population growth rate causes a “bubble” in demand for jobs that is larger than the ability of business growth to create jobs. When people outnumber jobs by a significant percentage, poverty increases rather than decreases (India and China are global examples of this “truth”).
2. What causes wealth to not be distributed to increase a higher standard of living?
Cause: Greed of people who make money, will always “buy” labor at the cheapest rate possible, to create the greatest margin of profit and personal wealth as possible. They will not care if that “labor cost” is high enough to support a high standard of living in a society and will only do that (pay higher wage), when they cannot get people to accept lower wages, when laws prevent it, when people follow those laws, and when the number of jobs available is far greater than the number of people wanting and needing jobs. Whenever a population bubble increases the number of people seeking work and willing to accept lower wages for that work, the value of the standard of living in a community goes down (often significantly), crime rapidly increases, and the community becomes more impoverished, and the number of people desperately seeking work on the street corners of a city increases. Sal Palo Brazil, India, most nations in Africa, and Argentina are “truthful” examples of that “fact”.
3. What causes overpopulation and more people willing to accept work for less pay, and willing to accept a reduced standard of living?
Cause: People entering a nation “illegally” at a rate higher than the business community can absorb, provide jobs for and keep an “excess” of labor and skill demand “exceeding” the number of people will to accept labor at any cost. When people are willing to accept labor at any cost, the standard of living goes down significantly, poverty increases significantly and the population of poor and low income people increases significantly. In addition the birth rate increases significantly, because people of poverty want larger families rather than smaller families to help them attain “any” source of additional, desperate income, including sending them to foreign countries and obtaining welfare. The more people you have in a poor family, the more money you can make from each individual, the more welfare you can collect for each individual and the more low income jobs you are willing to accept as you pool your resources. The overall affect in this population increase is a large reduction in the standard of living and an increase in poverty. The US, India, China, Russia and poor segments of “socialist” europe are prime examples of this “truth”.
4. What causes an increase in an already overpopulated situation, where more people need jobs than there are jobs available?
Cause: Globalization where jobs can be sold to the lowest bidder in a foreign country, reducing the number of jobs and the value of income in the country selling the jobs overseas to the lowest bidder. This reduces the standard of living of the people fired from thsoe jobs, and reduces the standard of living of the people who live in high standard of living countries. The poorer the nation becomes, the greater the birthrate, and the higher the population of those seeking jobs becomes. As long as any neighboring country has even greater poverty, the nation of poverty will promote larger population growth, to seek foreign jobs, refuse to follow laws that promote high standard of living, and will continune to seek jobs were the pay is higher, even though the number of people competing for those jobs is increasing and the value of wages is decreasing. They are desperate enough to accept and live under any standard of living better than from where they came, even if it means the collapse of the higher standard of living in the country they are “living” off of.
5. What causes an even greater influx of population seeking jobs even though the wages of those jobs is declining?
Cause: the success of previous job seekers to avoid capture, deportation and to willfully break laws that will allow then to remain into the country to compete and take jobs at even lower wages as the number of “illegal” people continues to increase. When large blocks of “illegal” people are legalized overnight by a swipe of a legal pen, it encourages and even greater number of people to expect the same thing will happen for them if they break the law, and are successful in competing for a decreasing number of available jobs, at ever lowering wages, due to rapidly increased population growth. This causes a loss of income, more peole than there are jobs available, increased poverty and lowering of the standard of living.
6. What increases standard of living and reduces poverty?
Cause: reducing population to levels that are consistant with the availabe numbers of jobs. Government infusion of capital into small business that cannot find enough people to work for them at a high skill level. A demand for high skills greater than low skills and less people with skills than the number of high skill job requirements, causes an increase in wages and a reduction in poverty, and an increase in the standard of living in communities. AS innovation and skill increase, as business expands but not so slowly that the number of people needing jobs is greater than the number of jobs available, a nation prospers. Enforcing laws that protect workers from exploitation, and punishing business that break laws causes and increase in willingness to pay a fair wage for a fair skill. This increases the standard of living in a community. A willingness to control population and birth rate at a value less than the number of available jobs, causes the demand for labor to increase, business to seek innovation rather than exploitation as a profit margin (tooling up and reducing labor costs through efficiency and technology, rather than people exploitation) causes wealth to be distributed and standard of living to increase. Enforcing immigration law prevents overpopulation of “illegals” that compete for jobs for less wage, keeps the number of peopple needing skilled work, lower than the number of businesses needing skilled work. This causes a nation to rise in prosperity, reduces crime and cause respect for the value of law to make a stable and profitable society of wealthy people.
China and Russia, are the best current examples of why reduction of population growth increases standard of living, while increasing free market innovation.
For all your “sympathy” for “legalizing” illegal people so they can get even more jobs at less wage, increase the already too large population, you have no idea of the impact to your standard of living this “desire” will create. Look to pre-1980 India and China for your “future world effect of your mis-guided desires”
Fight scapegoating and prejudice, but when you slip into promoting overpopulation, decreasing wages through overpopulation, and encourage lawlessness and “illegal” immigration, and future lawlessness by supporting “reward for lawbreaking and amnesty”, you will find that such beliefs have always historically doomed a nation to poverty and a very low standard of living.
That is a true “cause and effect”
The value of the US dollar has dropped 50% over the past 25 years, due to a lowering of the value of wages and increase in population of the US. There is no end in sight if we do not significantly reduce population to match the number of available jobs and increase “demand” for high skilled jobs regionally.
Rampant population growth threatens our economy and quality of life. Immigration, both legal and illegal, are fueling this growth.
I’m not talking just about the obvious problems that we see in the news – growing dependence on foreign oil, carbon emissions, soaring commodity prices, environmental degradation, etc. I’m talking about the effect upon rising unemployment and poverty in America.
I should introduce myself. I am the author of a book titled “Five Short Blasts: A New Economic Theory Exposes The Fatal Flaw in Globalization and Its Consequences for America.” To make a long story short, my theory is that, as population density rises beyond some optimum level, per capita consumption of products begins to decline out of the need to conserve space. People who live in crowded conditions simply don’t have enough space to use and store many products. This declining per capita consumption, in the face of rising productivity (per capita output, which always rises), inevitably yields rising unemployment and poverty.
This theory has huge implications for U.S. policy toward population management, especially immigration policy. Our policies of encouraging high rates of immigration are rooted in the belief of economists that population growth is a good thing, fueling economic growth. Through most of human history, the interests of the common good and business (corporations) were both well-served by continuing population growth. For the common good, we needed more workers to man our factories, producing the goods needed for a high standard of living. This population growth translated into sales volume growth for corporations. Both were happy.
But, once an optimum population density is breached, their interests diverge. It is in the best interest of the common good to stabilize the population, avoiding an erosion of our quality of life through high unemployment and poverty. However, it is still in the interest of corporations to fuel population growth because, even though per capita consumption goes into decline, total consumption still increases. We now find ourselves in the position of having corporations and economists influencing public policy in a direction that is not in the best interest of the common good.
The U.N. ranks the U.S. with eight third world countries – India, Pakistan, Nigeria, Democratic Republic of Congo, Bangladesh, Uganda, Ethiopia and China – as accounting for fully half of the world’s population growth by 2050. It’s absolutely imperative that our population be stabilized, and that’s impossible without dramatically reining in immigration, both legal and illegal.
If you’re interested in learning more about this important new economic theory, I invite you to visit my web site at OpenWindowPublishingCo.com where you can read the preface, join in my blog discussion and, of course, purchase the book if you like. (It’s also available at Amazon.com.)
Please forgive the somewhat spammish nature of the previous paragraph. I just don’t know how else to inject this new perspective into the immigration debate without drawing attention to the book that explains the theory.
Pete Murphy
Author, “Five Short Blasts”