Posted on 05/25/2006 8:02:05 PM PDT by A. Pole
I took a long road trip last week and was delighted to hear the unanimity among conservative radio hosts in favor of halting all illegal immigration on my car radio. They also denounced President George W. Bush’s TV address a few nights before offering "guest worker" status to millions who had entered the United States without permission. I had expected these views from Laura Ingraham and Sean Hannity, but was somewhat surprised by the strong language of Rush Limbaugh and Neal Boortz.
Limbaugh is a Republican Establishment icon, usually very supportive of President Bush. Yet he was praising a nation-wide grassroots conservative revolt against the GOP leadership. He said the revolt was spearheaded by city elections in Herndon, Virginia, just outside Washington, DC. On May 9, the incumbent mayor and most of the city council were replaced by candidates who opposed to the creation of a "day labor" site catering to illegal workers (and their illegal employers) that the defeated incumbents had funded. Only one of the council members who supported the site was re-elected. Limbaugh added other issues of concern to conservatives, such as failure to fight hard enough in Iraq and excessive domestic spending by a GOP-controlled Congress. But it is clear that immigration is what has the grassroots up in arms.
Neal Boortz was surprising for a different reason. He is a libertarian; an advocate of capitalism and minimal government. Most people of this ideology are for unrestricted migration, placing the desires of individual people and business firms ahead of national concerns and government policy. Yet, Boortz was extremely critical of the Senate, declaring, "By their actions our elected officials in Washington are sending us a rather strong message: We are not going to take any affirmative action to insure that the Mexican invasion across our southern border is brought to a halt. We must consider the possibility that these politicians want this invasion to continue because it serves their political needs. For the Democrats, this one is easy....to get those who were once illegal aliens, but by virtue of the amnesty program are illegal no more, to the polls to vote, presumably for Democrats. As for the Republicans? Well, there's always those heavy-duty contributors who benefit from the cheap labor offered by the invasion force."
He sounded just like Ingraham, who noted how "the business lobby [is] desperate to keep the flow of cheap labor coming into this country." Limbaugh denounced "country club Republicans." This line of criticism is not confirmed to radio. Back home on May 22, I was watching Fox News before heading to work. I was happy to hear "Fox & Friends" host E. D. Hill blame the Chamber of Commerce for lobbying on behalf of an "amnesty" in the Senate bill for employers who have hired illegal workers in violation of Federal law. They will not be subjected to fines or back taxes if their employees are eventually enrolled in a "guest worker" program (though the workers themselves will be).
In taking this stand, the Chamber of Commerce is siding with criminal firms against honest employers who have not hired illegals. When a business hires illegals, it is to gain a competitive "cheap labor" edge against other firms that obey the law and hire only Americans or legal immigrants. Most firms do not employ illegals. Even in those fields where illegals are thought to concentrate, such as construction, restaurants, agriculture, and cleaning services, they are still only a minority of the labor force. By taking the side of the illegal business sector, the Chamber is clearly favoring its growth at the expense of the rest of the economy.
And here is where the immigration issue comes into sync with another major economic issue that too many conservatives have been ignoring – the dangerous trends in international trade. In both cases, rogue corporations are pitting foreigners against Americans. Whether they bring foreign workers here, or send jobs to foreign workers overseas, these self-seeking firms are in alliance with foreign interests against American-based firms and their citizen-employees. Moving factories out of the United States is even more damaging to American society than hiring illegals, as the resulting enterprises are put completely out of reach.
The loss of millions of skilled industrial jobs, as well as managerial and technical positions, due to the de-industrialization of the American economy, sets the country up for the invasion by unskilled foreign migrants. As Chamber of Commerce President Thomas Donohue testified to the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration, Border Security and Citizenship on May 26, 2005, "of the top 10 largest job growth occupations between 2002 and 2012, all but two require less than a bachelor’s degree. At the same time, six of the top 10 growth occupations require only short-term on-the-job training. Some of these top 10 occupations that only require short-term on the-job training include: retail salespersons, nursing aides, janitors and cleaners, waiters and waitresses, and combined food preparation and serving workers."
The skill level of the American labor force is being dumbed down by foreign outsourcing and trade deficits. In addition, we allow less educated illegal aliens to enter the country and compete for the low-level jobs that are all an economy hemmed in by overseas rivals can create. And when jobs skills are dumbed down, pay and living standards are also brought down. We are in fact importing poverty.
The invasion of foreign products has taken a larger toll on the U.S. economy and society than the invasion of illegal immigrants. Last year, the U.S. imported over $1.6 trillion worth of goods produced overseas. Foreign firms are responsible for much of this assault on American industry. But it is the political influence of nominally American firms that keeps Congress from taking action to secure the U.S. border against foreign economic rivals. The Chamber of Commerce represents these new "transnational" firms that no longer feel any allegiance to the United States and have joined forces with the alien onslaught by moving their operations overseas. These arrogant firms feel they are above the law and outside the bond of patriotism. Only strong government policy, based on the truly conservative (i.e., time-tested) doctrines of economic nationalism, can educate people like Donohue that being a "man without a country" is a ultimately a dead-end choice.
Thus the grassroots rebellion against political leaders who are in the pockets of the transnationals must prevail. If the United States is to survive as a powerful nation whose people are prosperous and whose economy can support their security and preeminent place in the world, then what happened in Herndon must happen in Washington. And with the expanded agenda needed to combat illegal foreign competition in all its forms.
In California they definitely aren't 'unlicensed'- our own government has been busily licensing foreign language stations by the dozens. The Spanish language stations were the organizing committee for the May demonstrations.
-PJ
We have a couple of Mexican stations that broadcast into LA. They broadcast with more power than American stations, and that may be the cause of the bleed over you were experiencing. We have a local station that gets walked on by a Mexican station- but the local station shills for open borders so it's poetic justice.
-PJ
Or maybe we should continue to buy this cheap crap made in China or some other nickel and dime labor paying country.
Who's talking about buying "cheap crap"?
Americans are buying more and more Toyotas and Hondas because they find their quality superior to most American cars.
The same goes for all kinds of consumer products made overseas...Americans are buying it because it is as good or better than the more expensive Union label American goods.
You need to wake up. We are in a world economy now and your claim that foreign goods are inferior is as outdated as the "made in Japan" insult from decades ago.
I never said that.
What I said is that I see the realities of businesses competing in a world economy and if outsourcing is a necessity to compete, you do it, or you go out of business.
I don't see what is so hard to understand about that.
I began to suspect the game was rigged when Greenspan began increasing interest rates to cool off the economy 'cause competition for employees was forcing employers to offer higher pay and that could result in inflation.
That's right, we only have 14,246,000 manufacturing workers. We only made $3 trillion worth of stuff last year. Damn those large corporations!!
| U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Postal Square Building 2 Massachusetts Ave., NE Washington, DC 20212-0001 |
Phone: (202) 691-5200 |
That's just my point.
We can cry all we want about how unfair it is, but it's reality.
We either deal with it or we get left behind in the world economy.
Most of those "foreign" cars are made right here in the USA. Even though the factories aren't unionized, they pay union equivalent wages and benefits. None of your "union thugs" straw dogs there...
We affirm the integrity of the international borders of the United States and the Constitutional authority and duty of the federal government to guard and to protect those borders, including the regulation of the numbers and of the qualifications of immigrants into the country...
Feel free. But you're right, data that you make up is much better than data from the Feds. LOL!!
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