An Immigration Lesson On Finding The American Dream

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Once the BLS issued the January unemployment report last Friday I expected BO to give his usual short disingenuous comment that the economy is getting better & then get back to what he really is interested in these days – comprehensive immigration reform, gun control, man-made global warming, & getting Chuck Hagel confirmed as Secretary of Defense.

 

With the U6 unemployment rate unchanged in January @ 14.4% with over twenty-two million people in this category (12.3 million unemployed + 8.0 million working part time but wanting full time employment + 2.4 million marginally attached to the labor force of which 800,000 have become discouraged & stopped looking for work @ all) some of us wonder how BO gets away with avoiding the effects of such a bad economy he inherited from the last administration – namely his.  Could it be that half of the citizenry (& the media) don't care about jobs any more?  Has the government provided enough dependent programs that gainful employment is no longer desired in America?

 

I would like to see a U7 category that would include all of U6 plus those employed full time who make a fraction of their former pay.  This category really describes the economic wealth spend down condition in America today.  But the above two questions still apply.

 

But BO's new tack is not to brush the economy off but to tie an improving economy to comprehensive immigration reform.  In a twenty five minute speech he delivered last week in Nevada that was supposed to be on immigration BO referenced the economy ten times – a record for him in that he rarely mentions the economy that often in speeches billed as being on the economy.

 

Although the Republicans did beat BO by one day in presenting their immigration reform plan they are still letting BO control the agenda – meaning by definition it is only a matter of how much of the issue they lose.  After the trouncing Republicans took in the last election where Mitt received only 27% of Hispanic votes many Republicans are looking to Rubio to lead them out of the Latino wilderness. 

 

Rubio's tone seems reasonable but sooner or later he comes out with things like 1) secure our borders first, 2) pay fines & back taxes, 3) go to the back of the line, & 4) learn English – none of which sounds friendly to Latinos.

 

The biggest mistake in every Republican immigration control plan I have ever heard is that they always start with "secure our borders".  No - the first point is to determine if we want these people in America or not – are we better off with them here?  Starting with "secure our borders" takes for granted that all eleven million people in the country illegally are here to stay one way or another which is exactly what BO & the Democrats want.

 

Now there are many reasons both for & against having the eleven million people who are here illegally stay, some of which are summarized as follows:

 

1.  They are already integrated into the economy.  For instance, Dan Henninger has said for years that the NYC restaurant business would collapse overnight without them.

 

2.   More workers will be needed when the economy starts to grow again.  The native born fertility rate in the U.S. is 1.6  The overall fertility rate in the U.S. has been about 2.1 (minimum number required to sustain a population) for the past several decades when you take into account immigration.  The above fertility graph shows that we dipped to 1.93 in 2010 meaning that if not for immigrants (legal & illegal) the population of the United States would be falling fast.  There have been over 55-million abortions in the U.S. since the Roe vs. Wade decision in 1973 – looking @ this case from a labor shortage standpoint resulting from a below replacement fertility rate adds another dimension to Roe's significance.

 

3.  Since the 1920s most of America's immigration policies (& laws) have been based on quotas that restricted racial composition.  This should be rethought so we let in the people we want & need – like engineers & scientists who graduate from American universities.

 

4.  Solving the illegal immigration problem has the benefit to the U.S. that we would no longer have a growing underclass of people working in the shadow economy.

 

5.  Guest worker programs have worked before but the unions would have a large problem that could turn ugly.  In the event that the illegal immigrants gain legal status & join a union their wages will sky rocket sending the cost of everything they work on much higher.

 

6.  Many conservatives believe that any program that lets the eleven million people who are here illegally stay is amnesty & is a reward for breaking the law.  They reason that anyone who arrives hiding in the trunk of a car @ midnight is off to a very bad start.

 

The biggest problem with the position "we must secure our borders first" is the separate issue that this is admitting that our borders are not secure.  When Arizona Governor Jan Brewer pointed this out to BO her state was sued by the federal government.  The point being that if our elected representatives were interested in securing our borders & protecting our citizens they would do so regardless of the legal status of any eleven million people.  Regardless of any immigration reform program our borders should be secured.  What are our elected representatives waiting for? – but of course you know the answer to that.

 

But are Republicans smart to even get into an issue that may very well turn on whether they or Democrats offer the sweeter package – really just starting such an issue means that you lose if you withdraw later or more likely if BO drops out but successfully blames Republicans for any negotiation breakdown.  I say "may turn" because Republicans have an almost impossible task of winning a majority of Hispanics with an immigration reform approach.

 

Wouldn't Republicans be on firmer ground - rather than trying to beat the Democrats @ an immigration bidding war game that Democrats specialize in - to explain to Hispanics, & really everyone, that America under free enterprise is a far superior way to lasting prosperity than the unsustainable way of life that is being promised to them by BO.   Hispanics are quite capable of seeing the declining standard of living that the future holds for them under BO if it is pointed out to them consistently & sincerely by people who believe it themselves.  The American dream is the most optimistic gratifying way of life ever realized on the face of the earth & people who really want to experience it will respond when they understand the stakes. 

 

Part of the message is to unmask BO as someone who is trying to kill the American dream & cheat everyone out of reaching the potential in life they were born to live.  Under BO people will never experience the thrill & triumph of high achievement - the highs of life - so that to reverse paraphrase TR - everyone's place will always be with those cold & timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat. As such the true cost to any socialist society like BO's, namely the opportunity cost, is more than just enormous - it is literally unimaginable.

 

Whether you start with the 47% of Americans who are "dependent on government, believe they are victims entitled to government handouts, & pay no income tax" or with the eleven million people who are in America illegally the message has to be delivered that there is a better way.  America's future depends on finding such a messenger – how apropos on President Reagan's 102nd birthday .