Posted on 08/15/2005 11:07:26 PM PDT by AZ_Cowboy
BUMP
THANKS for the ping!
Thomas Sowells column was in my local liberal rag this morning, but they failed to print the whole thing!
Have you pinged the OBLs and QRLs (Qin Restoration Lobby) on this one yet?
What is 'temporary'?
Weren't the 9-11 hijackers here for months (at least) before they carried out the attacks? Maybe they were not what people generally think of when they think of an immigrant -- someone coming here to gain permanent legal residency and eventual citizenship -- but they certainly were not here just for a weekend sight-seeing tour.
And I won't speak to the welfare aspect, but it is undeniable that large influxes of unskilled laborers serves to depress wages for those jobs. As he says, its simple suppy and demand.
ping!
The thing that is a bit annoying about Walter Williams is that he comes across sometimes as seeing everything in terms of economics, as if our nation, and the world beyond is nothing but a market.
However, I must give him credit in that I have heard him speak eloquently about the abuse of power by the Judiciary, and of how peer pressure and cultural pressures serve to undermine the academic ambition of inner-city youths.
Even townhall..afraid to call it ILLEGAL immigration.
"I fail to see anything brilliant about Sowell's editorial"
Well of course you fail to see it Bayourod, you're an open borders loon.
Bookmark
Sorry, but it is a documented fact that immigrants, both legal and illegal, drive down wages to the point where fewer Americans are willing to do them.
He then changes subjects to terrorism and tries to make one of the dumbest points that has been posted on FR in a long time; that all we have to do to prevent terrorism in the U.S. is to not allow people from Saudi Arabia to immigrate here.
9-11 would not have happened if we did not let in Saudis on student or work visas.
He doesn't even know the difference between an immigrant and a temporary visitor.
The 9-11 high-jackers were not temporary visitors. They either had student or work visas. Most people with such visas end up staying for etended periods of time and evenutally do become permanent residents. You are right, they were not immigrants according to the technical legal definition, but they were according to the way the word is used in every-day speach. Sowell is not a lawyer, so I think he can be forgiven for not sticking to strict legal definitions.
In point of fact, illegal aliens are not immigrants according to the technical legal definition, yet nearly everyone, including you, refer to them as such.
Why did you ping me to this thread?
I agree. I just can't handle Walt Williams on economics. He's a free trade, free market, true believer. He saw no problem with the Chinese snapping up UniCal. He's nasty in other ways too as far as not caring about average Americans getting screwed by NAFTA CAFTA Chinese junk in WalMart, illegal immigration and so called "free trade"
Walt is an ivory tower libertarian
I've never seen any statistics showing that they drove down wages in any other jobs. Yes I know that theoretically one can argue that a roofer who works for ten dollars an hour instead of twelve would lower the wage of a nuclear starship captain, just as the theory that when a person buys a Coca-cola in Hong Kong the price of a donut goes up in Chicago.
But facts vs reality are what count, and I do not believe that Americans are sitting home drinking beer all day instead of working because of some theoretical wage deflation caused by illegals. I think that's just an excuse they give their parents or wives.
More American bashing on your part, which shows what a despicable person you are. So, how many of your illegal alien buddies did you hug today?
If you no longer wish me to ping you about immigration threads, I will cease.
Of course, you are right that not all wages get lowered. Only those wages in which natives compete with immigrants. I don't see why this is important, however. Millions of Americans have IQ's such that they have no choice but to compete with immigrant labor. I don't favor consigning them to poverty simply because they got an unlucky draw in the genetic lottery.
I do?
For instance?
There is high unemployment in some parts of the country (eg, Detroit) and severe labor shortages in other parts (eg, Las Vegas) because some unemployed people are simply not willing to relocate, especially when they have welfare or parents/spouses to sustain them.
Some people would gladly take a job making $15 an hour waiting tables in a restaurant but would not under any circumstances take a job making $20 an hour repairing roofs.
A 5% rate of unemployment is an extremely tight labor market in an era of two income families. 45 million aborted American workers made a difference.
There is wage competition even among illegals. Day laborers will not work for less than $10 an hour and many want an eight hour guarantee, according to many FReepers on a thread last week. I have never heard of illegals making less than minimum wage.
Myths are hard to overcome.
no could find
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