Posted on 05/02/2011 4:53:50 PM PDT by DangerZone
The biggest problem with Rep. Paul's (R-Texas) latest comments on immigration is that they are NOT just some ad hoc thoughts tossed off carelessly at some speaking event. These are engraved in a brand new book.
Until the release of the book, Liberty Defined, Dr. Paul had a mixed record in Congress and the fact that he had taken the NumbersUSA "No Amnesty" pledge at the end of his Presidential campaign in 2008.
That had earned him a C-minus on our 2012 Presidential Hopefuls Immigration Stances Report Card. Not impressive, but the third best (behind Rep. Bachman with a B-minus and Gov. Tim Pawlenty with a C+) of all the Hopefuls.
PAUL NOW 2nd WORST OF ALL HOPEFULS ON IMMIGRATION
In the graphic below, you will see how we have had to rate Dr. Paul on the 12 most important immigration categories.
The ratings add up to an overall stance that just barely misses warranting an F-minus and squeaks through just better than Pres. Obama. It is significantly worse than the grade of former Speaker Gingrich who had previously been the worst of all Republican Hopefuls on immigration.
Maybe two. He wants to audit the Fed. Or, was that the one you were referring to?
It just defies all sane thinking that one could be for reducing the debt and still be for illegal immigration.
Well ... technically, those who want to legalize all the illegals are NOT “for” illegal immigration.
I want to know what is so difficult about taking a stand to deport all illegals, while also admitting that the refugee, lottery, and quota system has been a failure.
Instead, we should increase the number of total immigrants allowed (to reduce waiting times), but require that each immigrant have a job waiting for them by an employer willing to put up a $500K bond against their disappearing into society, as well as being on the hook for all the income and FICA taxes that person would owe based on the employment offered. In addition, the job offered would have to pay enough to fully support the immigrant (plus family, if any) and ensure they would never become a public burden. This would allow employers to visa the best and brightest employees from other countries and force Americans to compete for those jobs. We should also specifically disallow any immigrant or their children from ever qualifying for any sort of public assistance.
Even if the economy improves, then unless we deport illegal aliens and their citizen children, demographic momentum will drive population growth to meet the demands of future employment. And that is the optimistic projection.
Likely the demographic momentum will bring more workers into an economy still driven by increasing by international outsourcing and domestic automation that drives down labor demand. This would result in increased unemployment even if population were stable.
So you want to drive down wages for Americans. Got it.
Bump.
Or maybe I just don’t want artificially uncompetitive wages. Free markets should apply to labor, otherwise you are just shipping the job offshore.
Notice that I did recommend deporting all the illegals. Because they are law breakers and freeloaders, not because I think immigrants are a bad thing.
When you talk about demographics, keep in mind that the baby boomers are just beginning to retire. 77 million workers will retire over the next 20 years. After deporting the illegals, we can use some productivity gains by automating unskilled jobs so those illegals have no jobs to come back to. But in skilled jobs we will have an acute labor shortage and wage inflation. Wage inflation will lead to further outsourcing and offshoring of jobs. We will need skilled legal immigrants and we should be picking the best applicants, not blindly via lottery and refugee asylum and family chain migration. It is ridiculous that we educate millions of foreign students every year and then send them home when we could be offering them work visas with their diplomas.
“It is ridiculous that we educate millions of foreign students every year and then send them home when we could be offering them work visas with their diplomas.”
Yet you do not find it “ridiculous” that these same people take American jobs away from Americans?
Ron (and Rand) Paulbots. The song never changes. REAL smart peeps.
Foreign students come to the US, paying full tuition and subsidizing American students. Then they take their educations home, improving their own countries so fewer people feel the need to come here for jobs. I’m looking for the downside.
Are you referring to them taking jobs away from Americans when the job itself is shipped overseas to that foreign factory ? If the American educated immigrant takes a job here, then the job (along with many other jobs) stays in America, right ? What is the advantage in educating foreign students and then sending them home to staff foreign competitors ?
Or are you suggesting that Americans cannot compete on American soil with legal immigrants ? Why would you think that ? Do you think Americans are somehow inferior to foreign born ? That’s just crazy. Legal immigrants paying all the same taxes in America as anyone else have no advantage over American workers.
The problem with *illegal* aliens is that their status means they evade taxes and other laws, which means they cost less to employers than legal workers. That cost advantage does not apply when employing legal immigrants.
BTW, I’m no Ron Paul supporter as you should have been able to tell from my posts. On immigration and just about everything else, my positions are entirely different from his.
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