Sounds Reasonable
This is appropriate since our next book is on immigration.
I have not spent a lot of time reading or thinking about immigration, but the senate proposal makes a lot of sense to me. There are millions of illegals in this country and I don't think we can or want to kick them all out. Lets make them legal so that they have the protection of labor laws and the legal system while also making sure they pay taxes. Lets get them on track to gain citizenship. I think France and Germany show that the worst possible idea is to have the workers, but alienate them from the general society.
I think we should have nearly unlimited legal immigration (with background checks, no criminals). If the best and the brightest from around the world (engineers and scientists from China, India, Europe) want to come to the US, we are better off for it. Let them all in. The less educated from Mexico and Latin America are extremely hard workers. I see no difference between them and the first generation of Irish, Italian, etc. that came a hundred years ago. We need to make sure they are assimilated (on its face I would support English as the national language, if you come to this country you have to learn it to function, although I could be convinced otherwise if there were good arguments I have not heard).
I don't think we can nor should we try and stop illegal immigration. I don't think we are going to build a 2000 mile fence on the border of Mexico and have a soldier every 50 yards. The resources required would be astronomical.
The bigger point as I made above is that I don't think we should try and stop the immigration. The country is much better off for it. (sorry if this isn't very coherent, this is my first real stab at the subject. I haven't thought much about it before).
I have not spent a lot of time reading or thinking about immigration, but the senate proposal makes a lot of sense to me. There are millions of illegals in this country and I don't think we can or want to kick them all out. Lets make them legal so that they have the protection of labor laws and the legal system while also making sure they pay taxes. Lets get them on track to gain citizenship. I think France and Germany show that the worst possible idea is to have the workers, but alienate them from the general society.
I think we should have nearly unlimited legal immigration (with background checks, no criminals). If the best and the brightest from around the world (engineers and scientists from China, India, Europe) want to come to the US, we are better off for it. Let them all in. The less educated from Mexico and Latin America are extremely hard workers. I see no difference between them and the first generation of Irish, Italian, etc. that came a hundred years ago. We need to make sure they are assimilated (on its face I would support English as the national language, if you come to this country you have to learn it to function, although I could be convinced otherwise if there were good arguments I have not heard).
I don't think we can nor should we try and stop illegal immigration. I don't think we are going to build a 2000 mile fence on the border of Mexico and have a soldier every 50 yards. The resources required would be astronomical.
The bigger point as I made above is that I don't think we should try and stop the immigration. The country is much better off for it. (sorry if this isn't very coherent, this is my first real stab at the subject. I haven't thought much about it before).
posted by hurtleg at 8:59 AM
7 Comments:
"I don't think we are going to build a 2000 mile fence on the border of Mexico and have a soldier every 50 yards. The resources required would be astronomical."
Astronomical is a matter of degree, and priority. As Prof. Pape points out in his excellent concluding chapter, $6 billion - the estimated cost to build/maintain the MexiFence - is what it costs to keep our boys in Iraq for ONE MONTH.
I think the cost goes beyond the 6 bil, but I think it would hurt the economy. If the supply of workers got cut off, I think there would be an inflation spike that would hurt everyone and cost more than just the direct expense. There would be non-monetary hit to the reputation of the US also. I think it would be bad to be seen as the same as Europe as being hostile to outsiders. A great way to influence the third world.
I think it's all about cracking down on evil wealthy types of who pay the illegals 3 bucks an hour. If they paid anything close to living wages, I think the "problem" would resolve itself.
Paying workers is not going to cause the "spike of inflation" that is feared during a dia sin mexicanos, but rather it will cut into astronomical prices. Is there any quantitative proof that lawn care is cheaper today than it was 10 years ago, when it was high school students and college students on break, rather than illegal mexicans?
"Is there any quantitative proof that lawn care is cheaper today than it was 10 years ago, when it was high school students and college students on break, rather than illegal mexicans?"
For those figures, I would check the helpful website of the International Association of Lawn Care Econometricians. Their "Lawn Day Clock" is currently set at 7 minutes to midnight--with midnight representing the point at which lawn care becomes so cheap that even low wage suburban white guys can no longer justify doing it themselves. I think the existential consequences of such a situation speak volumes.
Brilliant!
http://www.ialce.org/lawndayclock.htm
Somehow my computer does not recognize the ialce.org website, but I stand corrected nonetheless. Lawn care is really cheaper? Wow.
You might make me an internationalist before too long. I just realized my tv was pretty cheap, too.
Smart people piss me off. Well done.
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