Posted on 10/14/2003 1:12:52 PM PDT by VU4G10
| The U.S. unemployment rate today is at the highest level in 20 years. |
| Millions of hard-working Americans who are desperate for jobs can't find them, and both the short term and long term prospects do not bode well for many American workers. The economic problems we face would be bad enough if all we had to contend with were a recovering economy, the continued threat of terrorism, and increased competition from foreign companies. But a Congress that should be looking for ways to help unemployed Americans is busy opening the floodgates to millions of new immigrants who take jobs away from Americans - and also helping companies take the remaining jobs offshore. It almost appears that our government is committed to making sure everybody in the world has a job - except Americans. Historically, the U.S. admitted around 300,000 legal immigrants per year, but Congress changed our immigration policies back around 1965 and opened the floodgates. We now allow more than a MILLION legal immigrants into the country each year. A small number of these are refugees; some have special skills not easily found here. But an increasingly large percentage of those pouring through our borders are undereducated, unskilled workers who threaten the income of blue-collar workers, the backbone of America. Millions more come here each year ILLEGALLY, and the government does nothing to stop that either. It's no secret that most immigrants - legal and illegal - come to the United States for a single reason: money. They know that no matter what a job pays here, it will be far more than they could ever hope to earn in their own country. A job in America is a ticket to what appears to them to be a fortune, letting them live better than they could have imagined at home. It's also no secret that those same immigrants will underbid any American for any job. Their arrival by the thousands corresponds directly with thousands of Americans being pushed out of a job. In effect, every visa given to an unskilled foreigner is really a pink slip handed to a hard-working American. Worse yet, the pink slips are being handed to Americans by their own government, paid for with their own tax money! And the cost of this flood of immigration is not just being borne by those who lose their jobs. American taxpayers are increasingly funding the health, education and welfare of millions of immigrants at a cost of tens of billions of dollars per year. The Federation for American Immigration Reform recently released a report that detailed the fact that educating illegal alien children is costing the U.S. over $7 billion a year - enough to buy a computer for every middle school child in America. Health care for the two million illegals in California runs in the billions of dollars a year; and it is estimated that the annual health care costs of delivering illegal alien children in Denver, Colorado alone is in excess of ten million dollars. All of these costs are borne by American taxpayers. Clearly, we have a broken system, one that lets hundreds of thousands of unskilled immigrants - legal and illegal - into the United States at random to take American jobs, stifle the American economy, and put little or nothing back into strained local, state and federal tax coffers. This has to end. Congress needs to immediately enforce our immigration laws to stop the flood of illegal immigration and change our outdated laws to reduce legal immigration back to more manageable numbers. A step in the right direction is a bill introduced by Rep. Bob Goodlatte of Virginia, H.R. 775, which would end the totally unnecessary visa lottery program. It would help give us a "time out" while we assess other ways to manage immigration into this country. America has always been a land of opportunity and a nation of immigrants. But when the opportunity is for today's flood of immigrants to put Americans on the unemployment line, our system is out of whack. Instead of maintaining policies that hand out pink slips to America, Congress needs to get serious about stopping illegal immigration and reduce legal immigration to reasonable levels that will allow the millions who have flooded into this country in recent years to assimilate. Every day of delay is another stack of pink slips for Americans. |
They're all just trying to buy a vote. This is one issue I'm disappointed Dubya and limp-wristed Republicans in our Congress haven't addressed and put a stop to.
Hopefully in 2004, Republicans will gain an even greater majority in the House and Senate.
Once the UE benefits run out, the unemployed person ceases to exist for statistical purposes. He is no longer counted as either employed or unemployed.
I really don't see that as anything profound. There has always been a number of those people regardless of the levels of the official unemployment rate. If you want to add them to the 6.1% rate, fine, but you'd also have to add that number in when that rate was at the 6.4%, 8% and 10% levels too. It still shows the unemployment rate is on a downward trend.
Miss Pie, you're also not very good at basic reading comprehension, so please, read this sloooowly:
I did not, in any of my comments, defend illegal immigrants ... so why do I keep getting replies from folks (like you) flaming me for doing so? The people you cite are breaking numerous laws, including illegally immigrating. I wholeheartedly support their arrest and conviction if guilty.
At 44 billion a year we can form a new government agency, "The Promotion of Menial Jobs" agency and hire Americans that will be perfectly happy to mow lawns for the kind of salary and perks they will be taking home to mamma with that kind of bottom line, not to mention keeping that 44 billion circulating in the American economy.
Huh?
"Folks, somebody's gotta harvest the crops, process the poultry, landscape the yards and perform the many other tasks that most Americans consider "beneath" their dignities! If these immigrant workers are willing to do this work, more power to them ... and if they are performing their services at low,low pay, that is a form of taxation in itself, and we all benefit"
Try to find a white english speaking brick layer. You won't .... illegals have been running americans out of construction like you wouldn't believe.
I guess in my initial statement on this thread I did not make it sufficiently clear that I strongly oppose illegal immigration. All of my comments in support of immigrant workers must be taken in that context. It is possible to see the benefit of having immigrant workers (legal, documented immigrants) in this country without getting caught up in the fanatical frenzy about how illegal immigrants are taking over and destroying this country. I support the policing, even militarization, of our borders and would like to see all illegals deported.
As far as all the comments I've seen about how these immigrants pay no taxes and take advantage of all the free benefits from the government, I have no basis to enter into that argument EXCEPT to say that there are a vast number of Americans who do the same thing ... and being a leach is not made OK because you are a citizen leach.
You know, there are American workers in probably every nation on this planet. They are immigrant workers, and they are generally there because they bring knowledge and expertise that the host nation can benefit from (and the American business can profit from). Why is that a good thing, while it is a bad thing for foreigners to come here and provide something we need (even if it's just a strong back and willingness to work hard)?
Whether we like it or not, the use of immigrant workers (again, repeat after me, legal immigrant workers) is beneficial to our economy. These people often take jobs that most Americans don't want (I know some of you argue that point, but I think it is a fact) at wages that most Americans would not settle for. They also are much more willing to take temporary jobs, whether it is seasonal work like harvesting or providing manpower for a construction project.
Excellent Point!!!! You absolutely NEVER hear this point on any immigration debate. It's just accepted as a given fact that illegals do the jobs that NO American would do. Most of these jobs have always been around and before 1965 they were being done by Americans. What has changed is that these jobs paid a wage you could support yourself (modestly) at one time. Not true today.
but I guess now that the American economy has morphed into the "global" economy, the rules of capitalism no longer apply
Quite the opposite, the law of supply & demand is to economics what the laws of motion are to physics, it can't be repealed. Capatilism always seeks to minimize costs, it's up to the government to see that this is done in a way that doesn't destroy society.
Proof positive that the whole point of the flood of illegals over the border, and the flood of jobs offshore is to produce a massive supply of cheap labor on both ends of the employment spectrum.
As you point out, the lower wage, physical labor work now done by illegals would cost more if done by Americans. Just as the high tech/engineering jobs are now being done for a pittance by the army of wage slaves now employed to do the work offshore.
I just wonder how many JDAM guidance systems the People's Republic of China will be willing to supply the US Military if we get into a shooting war with North Korea. At any price.
Well my theory is that republicans are so addicted to corporate contibutions, who in turn are addicted to cheap labor that they won't do anything, even though illegal immigration will eventually spell the end of the GOP. How many "minorities" vote GOP? On the other hand, expect even less from the Dems. They KNOW which way the immigrant vote will go. Already places like NYC are pushing to allow non-resident (a.k.a. illegal) aliens the right to vote in local electons. Another more insidious reason the that the main enemy of liberalism is a strong middle class. If a person can earn a decent wage , he doesn't need any liberal vote buying schemes , so no reason to vote liberal. Take away his ability to earn a living on his own and guess where his vote goes.
Bottom line is that both parties have a vested interest in keeping the flood of illegals pouring in and the country be damned. How else do you explain no changes being made after 9/11?
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