Posted on 01/11/2004 9:46:08 PM PST by quidnunc
The most obvious point to make about George W. Bush's new immigration initiative is that he didn't have much choice. Political, economic, social and cultural imperatives forced the creation of a "guest worker" program — and thus the vast expansion of America's immigrant population.
To be sure, the president spoke in the soothing language of "reform." But Mark Krikorian, director of the Center for Immigration Studies in Washington, has seen many such "reforms" in the past, and they all opened the door to millions of newcomers. "By any name, the Bush proposal is an amnesty for illegal aliens," he says.
The first imperative pushing Bush toward a wider opening is politics. All Republicans seeking re-election this year feel the need to cultivate Hispanic voters. Part of that cultivation, of course, is improving relations with Mexico, the mother country of most American Hispanics. If Bush enjoys a harmonious session with President Vicente Fox at the economic summit in Monterrey, Mexico, tomorrow, that happy meeting will win him favor with a huge ethnic constituency, just as successful grip-and-grins with leaders of, say, Ireland, Israel or Italy help with other ethnic constituencies.
The second imperative is economic. The United States is booming, but more workers are needed to keep it booming, especially in the service sector. Here, a pro-business White House and labor-intensive industries see eye to eye — indeed, word for word.
-snip-
The third imperative is social. Most people believe that a young country is a dynamic country — and they're right. America doesn't want to end up like Japan, where falling birth rates and rising longevity have grayed the society — a quarter of Japan's population will be older than 65 in just a few years — to the point that the economy has been shriveling for most of the past decade.
At the same time, the United States grays. Its median age was 35.3 in 2000, up from 28.1 in 1970. So the appeal of new immigrant blood — the median age of Hispanic Americans is just 25.9 — is readily apparent. Indeed, the two trends — the aging, affluent "Anglo" population and the young, hungry Hispanic population — mesh well together, as rich white people look for affordable nurses and attendants to take care of them in their elder years.
-snip-
(Excerpt) Read more at omaha.com ...
Yes it is. A great move, imho.
| Rank | Location | Receipts | Donors/Avg | Freepers/Avg | Monthlies | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 43 | Idaho | 110.00 |
3 |
36.67 |
92 |
1.20 |
45.00 |
2 |
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Then how do you explain the high unemployment rates? If this need was so great then would not the unemployment rate be close to nill?
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That's a lie.
Because I don't think unemployed IT workers and financial analysts are rushing to go roof houses. Do you? They are still unemployed yet those houses still need roofing.
And fwiw, our unemployment rate is not high. Historically, it's actually very low, and fell dramatically throughout the 1990s, during this deadly "Invasion". (You'll notice the chart is rolling over, making an identical pattern to previous economic cycles.)
Stay Safe !
If you won't do your job for minimum wage, it becomes a "job Americans won't do" and is given to someone from Bangladesh.
And the notion that we have to keep bringing people in to fill service jobs because the expanding population is growing the economy, is a circular-logic recipe for a population of 600 million.
As for poor little low-immigration Japan. Whatever the population and economic adjustments they have to go through, in 20 years the Japanese will still recognize their country as Japan -- which may be more than any of us can say about the USA (or whatever it will be called then).
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The invaders support it. As the invasion becomes increasingly successful, support here increases as does creation of a group mechanism to bring in more invaders.
A Year To Clear The DecksFortunately, Democrats seem determined to nominate an angry apostle of reactionary liberalism, ready to die on the barricades in defense of the unsustainable Medicare and Social Security status quos. If Democrats do that, the electoral aftermath could be a creative moment for welfare state reform... The baby boom generation is twice as large as the generation it follows and 50 percent larger than the one that is following it. By 2030 the nation's population will be older than Florida's is today. Unless there are politically difficult changes, such as raising the retirement age, there will be twice as many retirees as there are today. And there will be perhaps only 18 percent more workers to pay for the retirees -- unless there is a much higher rate of immigration, which would involve its own political difficulties.
by George F. Will
Washington Post
Thursday, January 1, 2004
Notice how he talks about this program as if it has already been created?
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