Posted on 12/14/2004 6:02:37 AM PST by OESY
...Think about the Kerik example: The man and his wife have two small kids.... A nanny offers that help, and she seems both nice enough and gets along with kids. Whether or not she's "legal" seems less important to most American parents than whether she's trustworthy and hard-working.
As for the nanny, she's traveled hundreds, if not thousands, of miles from home to make some money and get ahead. Her primary concern isn't running some Immigration Service gantlet but is to find a good family that pays decently and treats her well. Are we really supposed to believe that this kind of transaction between consenting adults jeopardizes our national security?
...Congress made some progress on the so-called nanny tax issue back in 1994, raising the threshold for complying and simplifying the process by which employers file taxes for their domestic help.
...Most Americans calculate the costs -- in time, legal advice and hassle -- of filling out all the forms, and they simply pay cash instead. The wage threshold should long ago have been raised far higher.
As for immigration law, the Bush Administration is headed down the right path with its guest-worker program. That proposal acknowledges that immigrants fill vital jobs, that movement across borders is inevitable as long as there is the lure of opportunity, and that merely adding more border guards won't stop migrants in any case.
The Bush plan would provide a legal means -- a three-year work visa -- for new immigrants to enter the country and take jobs Americans don't want. Some of them could even be nannies. That system would make it easier to track all foreigners, freeing up our homeland security forces to concentrate on terror threats, rather than rounding up the usual nanny suspects....
(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...
Excellent post.
Dear FITZ,
In my part of the country, Maryland, about 24% of my premium dollar is tied to state-required mandates for things like mandatory coverage for drug and alcohol rehab, mandatory coverage for contraception, abortion, and fertility treatment (that's right - I am obligated to purchase policies for my workers that cover $10K per shot IVF treatments). Another 30% is tied to administrative costs. Another significant percent (I forget how much) is tied to malpractice insurance. In our state, as of Jan 1, OB/GYNs will pay an average of $190,000 per year for malpractice insurance.
Covering the uninsured is mostly done through our tax dollars, not through our health insurance premiums.
At least, that is the case in Maryland.
$700 per month doesn't have much to do with illegal aliens being paid $3 per hour by mean old rich people. Not here.
sitetest
Thanks. You got freepmail, BTW.
In this region of the country, because of massive immigration from Mexico only one-third the population now has private health insurance --- all the rest are on the socialist government plan. At some point this will become a problem.
Dear FITZ,
I don't support illegal immigration, and neither did the poster, Clemenza to whom you responded, and which provoked my own post to you.
sitetest
I knew an American family in the Midwest --- the man worked a full-time job --- they had 8 kids. The wife would supplement his income by cleaning house for $8 an hour --- that was 20 years ago. She apparently was efficient --- and in demand and could clean a large house in just 3 or 4 hours --- that still comes out to just $24 or $32 dollars --- but it gave her extra money, she had health insurance --- the whole family did. It wouldn't exactly break her employers either for paying her $30 or so to get a clean house. Even with inflation --- if you had to pay $12 an hour to get your house cleaned and it took 3 or 4 hours it wouldn't be that terrible --- and you could likely find an American or legal immigrant.
Ping to 199
Check ur mail.
You know, when we have copy written for marketing purposes, it *ALL* boils down to effective thought-bites...period. Most people comprehend 8th grade level thought-bites. That's how Bush won in fact. You in fact can see Hitlery's team starting to do the exact same thing.
Great post!
Bingo. Marketing is the key word. Corporations and politicians pay 100s of thousands of dollars to put out carefully crafted 60 second messages, to mold opinion and drive consumer behavior.
And every once in a while, we peons get lucky, and a story just lends itself to becoming a natural thought-bite. Like Kerik's illegal nanny, living in the home of the (almost) homeland security director.
...he who can seize on effective thought-bites in a timely manner seems to win.
But he who controls the MSM editorial decisions still has the edge. It's hard to beat ABCNNBCBS when it comes to the ability to mold and shape thought bites. The internet and talk radio are still mainly preaching to the conservative choir.
Yes, my FRiend, but just as we will discuss at the Blue State Conservatives Caucus, our echo chamber ultimately can break a thought bite's spin...in our favor.
It's part of the same mentality of a person who can't keep a job because he doesn't have a clue as to how a good employee should act, that he can't imagine any reason for an employer hiring an illegal than lower pay.
Great La Raza talking points, bayourod. Did you pick them up at the La Raza meeting last night?
It's not that they're low-priced that the liberals like.
It's that they are not black (sssssh!).
No it isn't.
It's to avoid African-Americans.
It's almost certainly not that he's too cheap.
When Edward Kennedy (D-MA) wanted an Irish nanny for his children, he got the law changed for her so she could get a green card.
Most parents are not United States Senators who also happen to chair the committee that deals with immigration-but they sure don't want to hire from the domestic nanny pool.
Why do you think there are so many Mormon missionaries in Massachusetts?
Two-thirds of them are swapping nanny services for a place to live.
What every liberal wants is a WHITE nanny. They will settle for Mexican.
They WILL NOT hire from the available US legal labor supply, and it has nothing at all to do with taxes or laws.
They would rather not break the law, but not if it means getting a nanny from the Massachusetts Job Bank.
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