Pessimists ignore two things, illegal immigration and environmentalists are holding back US resources to recovery. Cut off illegals and Americans who work with their hands have a chance to get work and get good salaries for it. Push the environmentalists aside and out of power, and God’s blessing to America her oil, natural gas, timber and coal is available for export to generate blue collar jobs, income and yes tax revenues to help pay off our debts, put money into the pockets of American workers and jobs.
All wealth starts with natural resources —to which labor is added. Choke off access to natural resources and you destroy the fount of wealth. Newt, Gore and the others thought we could harvest other country’s natural resources and become a service or information economy. Service economies are secondary and only circulate wealth around. The information economy quickly went to India.
This nation has an abundance of natural wealth that is set aside, locked up and rendered too expensive to access, Environmental policies, a burdensome and expensive bureaucracy and over-regulation have destroyed rural economies and has put the source of wealth out of reach. Soon the know-how for developing natural resources will fade with the older generation. Our economy is tarngled in its own red tape and concern about preserving things for future generations while this one founders.
The U.S. adds one international migrant (net) every 36 seconds. Immigrants account for one in 8 U.S. residents, the highest level in more than 80 years. In 1970 it was one in 21; in 1980 it was one in 16; and in 1990 it was one in 13. In a decade, it will be one in 7, the highest level in our history. And by 2050, one in 5 residents of the U.S. will be foreign-born.
Currently, 1.6 million legal and illegal immigrants settle in the country each year; 350,000 immigrants leave each year, resulting in net immigration of 1.25 million. Since 1970, the U.S. population has increased from 203 million to 310 million, i.e., over 100 million. In the next 40 years, the population will increase by 130 million. Three-quarters of the increase in our population since 1970 and the projected increase will be the result of immigration. The U.S., the world’s third most populous nation, has the highest annual rate of population growth of any major developed country in the world, i.e., 0.963% (2011 estimate), principally due to immigration.
125,000 brand new foreign workers with work permits each month -- HERE'S THE PROOF,/p>
57 percent of households headed by an immigrant (legal and illegal) with children (under18) used at least one welfare program, compared to 39 percent for native households with children. The poverty rate for immigrants and their U.S.-born children (under 18) is 17 percent, nearly 50 percent higher than the rate for natives and their children. While government works to reduce the number of poor persons, massive low-skill immigration pushes the poverty numbers up. In addition, low-skill immigration siphons off government anti-poverty funding and makes government efforts to shrink poverty less effective. Milton Friedman said, “You cannot simultaneously have free immigration and a welfare state.” We have both.