Posted on 04/09/2006 4:49:32 AM PDT by Alas Babylon!
The Talk Shows
Sunday, April 9th, 2006
Guests to be interviewed today on major television talk shows:
FOX NEWS SUNDAY (Fox Network): Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa.; Rep. Peter King, R-N.Y.; U.S. Ambassador to Iraq Zalmay Khalilzad.
MEET THE PRESS (NBC): Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass.; Reps. Henry Bonilla, R-Texas, Luis Gutierrez, D-Ill., and J.D. Hayworth, R-Ariz.
FACE THE NATION (CBS): Reps. Tom Tancredo, R-Colo., and Xavier Becerra, D-Calif.; General Motors Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Richard Wagoner.
THIS WEEK (ABC): House Majority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio; former U.S. Ambassador Joseph Wilson; actress and animal activist Bernadette Peters.
LATE EDITION (CNN) : Kerry; Sen. Jon Kyl, R-Ariz.; Khalilzad; retired Gen. Anthony Zinni..
Back to the $1.50 head of lettuce. Sales tax rises on retail price by 15% with legal workers. Federal income tax receipts rise by roughly 80-100%. All money earned is recycled back into the economy. Worker goes from a net loss to Federal, State, and local coffers to net gain. Win-win. Deficit shrinks, or more tax cuts can be offered stimulating further economic growth. Or infrastructure can be improved upon.
"You could double the wages of a field hand and the price of lettuce would go up by 14%."
By the formula you're using, doubling wages would raise retail by 1.4%, not 14%. ;)
Wages in all sectors would rise slightly. The chances of defaulted mortgages would lessen. There would be slightly less demand for rentals, but not much considering that illegals are prone to living 5-20 per household.
PS-Some theory for your research if you're serious in the past few posts. More micro theory than macro, but sound micro-econ tends to produce good macro results.
"It is quite possible that the porous border is allowed as a sort of flypaper."
Marine Inspector works on the ground. You should ask him if this holds water.
It is true. TomGuy posted statistics from a reliable source. Illegals make-up only roughly 25% of the Ag workforce. The other 75% are US citizens or legal visa holders. It would only take getting roughly 250,000 out-of-work Americans back into the workforce or off of social programs to fill ALL of the agricultural jobs currently performed by illegal aliens. I'm guessing this would be a very real possibility for $25/hr wages with a corresponding 25-cent-per-head cost increase to the consumer.
This would cause a correspondent INCREASE in federal, state and local tax revenues would take TWO people off of government assistance programs, leading to a DECREASE in government spending. Roughly $10,000 per year per head net to the bottom line. I don't know about you, but I'd be all for a decrease in deficit spending, or another round of tax cuts.
I doubt that Marine Inspector is conversant with arrests made south of the border. If he has information that would support or refute my theory, I will be glad to listen.
That is roughly the same wage I was paid STARTING in construction (non-inflation adjusted) back in 1991 in Colorado. Wages have actually dropped in residential construction over the last 15 years here by $2-3/hr. Meanwhile the CPI has risen a good solid 35% over that timeframe.
Housing costs (monthly rent) have risen roughly 40%, as well. 20% drop in wages combined with 35% hike in cost-of-living = 70% loss of PPP over the past decade-and-a-half. Don't know if that applies to MN, yet because the illegals haven't hit as hard up there, but that's the situation here.
Construction is even less labor-intensive as a percentage of cost-of-goods-sold than produce. Runs something like 10%, IIRC. Doubling hourly wage to $25-$30/hr would result in a 2% increase to COGS, and 6% price increase at a 30% net profit margin. Net benefit to Federal Treasury receipts would be 300-500% on income taxes given the difference in wages plus whatever, if any, social assistance benefits that the individual is currently receiving.
Not to mention the fact that now this construction worker can probably afford that $150,000 house he's building.
Precisely. IMHO, this is exactly the reason that every state that has seen an influx has gone from having full coffers to running deficits or having to increase taxes to maintain quality and availability of services.
Exactly. Amnesty will have the effect of creating more artificial demand for illegals, and further glutting the market with unskilled/uneducated labor. Most here get it.
Sorry, MM. Thought you were speaking of the border zone, rather than Mx as a whole.
Big business wants cheap labor and they line the politicians pockets with money to get it.
The politicians need that money and the votes it brings.
Mexico is most likely helping a little. They can't afford to let a terrorists get through Mexico and then into the US. If that happens, the border get closed.
Currently, the administration does not care about illegal aliens crossing the border, unless they might be a terrorist. DHS's complete focus is on terrorism and image.
If I let a Mexican illegal dish washer in accidentally, I'll get a slap on the wrist. But if I let in a terrorist, suspected terrorist or get a DUI off duty, I'll be fired.
I get far more information about Mexico then you think.
kabar,
We attend our state Republican conventions or assemblies and press the case. Party leadership is from the ground up, and these assemblies are where we elect our state and county party leaders.
The bi-annual Denver County assembly was this weekend and I was able to talk to both Bob Beauprez, running for governor, and a representative for Senator Wayne Allard on this very issue. In both cases they were receptive to a constituent's concerns and promised support. Allard especially. I guess he's ticked off at a few Democrats in DC.
I am now a delegate for our state convention, which is in May. We'll be there now too, pressing the case and talking to people about the issue.
Don't know how effective it was, but I did get satisfaction of asking Bob Beauprez what the heck he and other US Representatives thought they were doing in not supporting President Bush better? In his case, he's involved now in the governors race, but he still stuttered a bit in anger over the lack or Republican support in DC.
Thanks for your information. Interesting that the entire focus is on terrorism.
Definitely not where I'm from. Corrupt corrupt corrupt. Why work when you can scam the system and live off the taxpayers.
We can't afford to make a mistake in this Chess game
We have to make the right moves every time, while the terrorist only have to make the right move once.
Lots of US citizens pick lettuce in Arizona and for your information, the season for lettuce is not in the hot summer either.
The earlier season is from August to September and the highs in the area are only about 100 during the day.
The main season, October through December, the highs average in the high 70's.
Some colleges and universities have stated they will not report foreign students who stop attending classes.
Mayors, such as Blooming-idiot of NYC and Hickenlooper of Denver, have declared their cities to be a free zone for illegals.
We can have tunnel vision on the Mexicans but we are in grave danger from many sources.
Other situation here. I live in a really well-run municipality. Our DA even prosecutes illegals and employers. I'm fairly sure the Mexican Consulate got wind of it because we had a visit a couple months back, and now I've got an 'immigration law center' opening up a couple blocks from where I live. So much for being able to defend ourselves at the local level.
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