Posted on 06/11/2014 10:46:34 AM PDT by illiac
Opinion: Immigrants are productive and make us a richer nation
With House Majority Leader Eric Cantor’s primary loss to tea party candidate David Brat, federal immigration reform looks dead. But the Tea Party should favor sensible immigration reform with border controls. It would result in additional economic growth, allowing the government to cut spending and lower taxes — key tea-party demands.
Immigrants increase gross domestic product growth. Immigration expands the American workforce and encourages more business startups. In 2013 the labor-force participation of foreign-born workers was higher than native-born workers (66.4% vs. 62.7%). Their unemployment rate was lower (6.9%, compared with 7.5% for native-born Americans). If people want to come and work, that adds to our economy.
(Excerpt) Read more at marketwatch.com ...
You think he wanted to replace the American voters to overcome them, out of patriotism?
Yes, though he never would have thought of it in those terms. He would have thought of it more that he was in the greatest American tradition of accepting immigrants. Note that he sometimes would quote the text on the base of the Statue of Liberty.
He was a bit of an idealist. He also wanted to shut down the Federal Reserve, as an example of his idealism.
(Yes, I am yelling)
ENFORCE EXISTING LAWS, DAMMIT! YOU WASHINGTON PUKES HAVE PI**ED DOWN OUR LEGS AND SWORN IT’S RAINING FOR SO LONG, AND NOW YOU WANT TO TELL US HOW YOUR SOLUTION IS THE ONLY ONE?!?
/rant
every conservative that uses that service should cancel, TODAY.
If someone wants to come to this country and build a life here, I welcome them. My ancestors did it a few centuries ago (pre-Revolution). My wife's ancestors did it about a century ago. I don't want to "close the door", simply because I'm already here.
But, I expect them to apply for citizenship as soon as they are eligible, or return to their country or origin. You want to live in American, you become an American.
And until you are a citizen, you are on your own. No welfare, no Social Security, no government freebies or benefits of any kind. If you need help, there are many mutual aid societies organized by religion, culture, or nationality.
Until then, you are a guest, and are expected to act like one. If you wear out your welcome, it's time for you to go back to your home.
If we eliminated all the handouts, there would be very little illegal immigration.
A life of just scraping by on handouts in the US is much, much better than life in the third world. As long as that is true, we can't stop illegal immigration. Despite their draconian efforts, even the Berlin Wall couldn't keep all of the East Germans in.
He wasn’t an idealist, he was an absolutely corrupt individual, who wanted to replace the American voters with immigrants that would vote democrat, he knew his voting data.
I agree with Reagan’s private evaluation of him in 1960.
I also know that his election is what killed America, if Eisenhower’s veep had won an election that is widely seen as having been stolen by JFK, then the 60s and the Vietnam war, federal union bargaining, and the resulting state take overs by unions, the Bay of Pigs, the emptying of the mental hospitals to the streets, and so much of what came from his administration, and his remaining goals that came to fruit under his veep, LBJ.
Without JFK the 1960s would have been pretty normal, and we would have survived as a nation.
I’m in favor of immigration when immigration is useful to the American people as a whole. I’m not in favor of immigration for the sole purpose of allowing the CoC to drive down the wages of working class and middle income workers. How in the world can the people push for $15 minimum wages turn around the very next moment and push for 20 million more unskilled workers. The cognitive dissonance seems like it’d be migraine inducing.
I don't think I would use these stats to support the need for more immigration. They point directly to the fact that (mostly)illegals are taking jobs from our citizens.
No limits? Is that the sole criterion to allow people to enter this country? Immigration to America is a privilege, not a right. And our immimgration policy should promote US national interests. There are literally billions of people who want to come here. We take in 1.1 million legal permanent immigrants a year, more than the rest of the world combined. We need to drastically reduce legal immigration. In 1970 we had 9.7 million foreign-born; today it is approximately 45 million.
No one is saying we should close the door, but our immigration numbers need to correlate to our needs. We decide who comes in, not the intending immigrant. We shouldn't be importing poverty and hundreds of thousands of high school dropouts annually.
And until you are a citizen, you are on your own. No welfare, no Social Security, no government freebies or benefits of any kind. If you need help, there are many mutual aid societies organized by religion, culture, or nationality.
No Social Security? Do you expect them to pay into the system and not receive benefits? Or if you make them exempt from paying in social security, you make them more attractive to employers than the native born. Their American-born children are automatically citizens thru birthright citizenship. They are entitled immediately to all the benefits any other American citizen is.
I can see where new immigrants would be getting more jobs than born Americans do because by definition they are moving.
But in time they may fall in the same traps as Americans do, not wanting to move.
Then are the ones who got here jumping line by getting family based Green cards.
"sensible", the Dems' favorite (and among the most deceptive) adjective.
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I don't think I wrote "no limits". I don't think we have had "no limits" in modern history, and I'm not proposing to change that. I just think that people should have the opportunity to apply, and expect to be considered -- rather than feeling like they are last in line, behind all the illegal immigrants.
Without the freebies, legal immigration would either drop significantly, or shift immigration to more productive people. And those are who I welcome: the ones that are willing to work.
In 1970 we had 9.7 million foreign-born; today it is approximately 45 million.
In 1970, we had 200 million people in the US. If you subtract out the estimated 20 million illegals, 25 million in 2014 is only about 66% more than the 15 million foreign-born that would be expected after a 50% increase in population.
No Social Security? Do you expect them to pay into the system and not receive benefits?
If they don't become citizens before retiring, yes. We can use those excess taxes to help dig Social Security out of the hole.
Their American-born children are automatically citizens thru birthright citizenship. They are entitled immediately to all the benefits any other American citizen is.
I agree, this is an issue. The US is unique in this respect, and I've read arguments that it was never the intent of the 14th Amendment. But, it would take another Constitutional Amendment or a Supreme Court decision to address it.
America has 5 million unemployed science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) workers. The only 'shortage' is in STEM workers willing to take the Third World wages that gobalist corporations want to pay.
That is exactly what is happening. Between the first quarter of 2000 and the first quarter of 2013, the native-born population accounted for two-thirds of overall growth in the working-age population (16 to 65), but none of the net growth in employment among the working-age has gone to natives.
The overall size of the working-age native-born population increased by 16.4 million from 2000 to 2013, yet the number of natives actually holding a job was 1.3 million lower in 2013 than 2000.
The total number of working-age immigrants (legal and illegal) increased 8.8 million and the number working rose 5.3 million between 2000 and 2013.
They already have the opportunity to apply. Four million are waiting their turn overseas to enter. There is no direction connection to being considered legally to enter and just flouting our laws and entering illegally. The illegals are not in line. They are working and staying here. What they are doing is a slap in the face to legal immigrants who followed the rules.
Without the freebies, legal immigration would either drop significantly, or shift immigration to more productive people. And those are who I welcome: the ones that are willing to work.
I don't know if you ever lived or traveled to the Third World, but living in America even without the "freebies" is far more desirable. They are willing to work, but many qualify automatically for benefits just like Americans. They are part of the working poor.
In 1970, we had 200 million people in the US. If you subtract out the estimated 20 million illegals, 25 million in 2014 is only about 66% more than the 15 million foreign-born that would be expected after a 50% increase in population.
The government claims there are only 11.5 million illegals. We do know there are 30 million legal immigrants. We have just had the two largest decades of legal immigration in our history. And immigration quotas are not connected to our population increases. Immigrants and their American-born children drive 80% of our population growth.
If they don't become citizens before retiring, yes. We can use those excess taxes to help dig Social Security out of the hole.
You don't have to be a citizen to collect SS benefits. If you pay into the system and accrue the required number of quarters, you get benefits. We have 15 million green card holders, many of whom don't want to become citizens. Many retire back in their home countries and collect their benefits there.
SS is a pay as you go system. Today's workers pay for today's retirees. SS has been running in the red since 2010 and will continue to do so until 2033 when it runs out of IOUs in the SSTF. Immigrants won't help SS get out of the hole. They are making the hole deeper.
I agree, this is an issue. The US is unique in this respect, and I've read arguments that it was never the intent of the 14th Amendment. But, it would take another Constitutional Amendment or a Supreme Court decision to address it.
There are 33 countries that have birthright citizenship. Most of them are in the Western hemisphere. The US and Canada are the only two developed countries that have birthright citizenship. Mexico has birthright citizenship.
No thank you very much.
The highly educated hyphenated idiot author never mentions illegal immigration...Hmmmm I wonder why?
###### Ms. Furchtgott-Roth received her B.A. in economics from Swarthmore College and her M.Phil. in economics from Oxford University.
In a very Sociopathic sense, it does make some sense. If you look at conservatives having their best chances post-collapse, then of course we would want to expedite the collapse.
I’m not a sociopath, so I’m not so keen on that. Collapse will come soon enough. No need to hurry it along.
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