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Friday, November 21, 2014

How the argument against illegal immigration should be framed

Both Republicans and Democrats have always claimed to speak for the middle class, the backbone of the country. But in fact, the Republicans have by and large promoted policies designed to help the upper class, and the Democrats policies which helped the lower class (along with a few select cronies in the upper class).

As a result, the middle class has been squeezed from both ends. Blue collar wages are lower than they were 30 years ago, recent college graduates have had a much tougher time finding jobs than graduates in previous generations, and the percentage of the population receiving various forms of welfare (like food stamps) has increased, putting a strain on everyone else.

Obama's executive order on immigration -- which in the long run will only encourage more illegal aliens -- is just the latest nail in the coffin of the middle class.

Whichever party wants to truly help the middle-class will:

(1) Secure our borders, and not just pay lip service to that end.

(2) Abolish, or at least weaken, NAFTA (and the exporting of American jobs that has resulted in).

(3) Lower the corporate tax rate to the point where it is no longer economical for companies to do inversions. In the long run that will increase revenues from corporate taxes, the same way Reagan's lowering of personal income taxes resulted in more tax revenue.

(4) Make it less economical for companies based in the US to export jobs. Every time you phone the help department of a major company and are answered by someone speaking in an Indian or Filipino accent, that's a job which has been lost to an American. Every time you buy an article of clothing or computer which has been assembled abroad, that's another job lost to an American. If that requires tariffs, so be it.

And (5) balance the budget. In the long run, the only way for the US to escape its debt burden is to inflate its way out of it, and make no mistake, that is what will happen eventually. That hurts the middle class most. The rich, with their financial assets, have all sorts of ways of staying ahead of inflation. But the middle class, whose biggest asset tends to be the house they live in, do not. And the poor, who have almost no savings anyway, have no stake in ensuring that the dollar keeps its value.

I know I'm oversimplifying here, and I know that free trade has always been what's best for the world overall. But recently, more than ever, what's best for the world has not been what's best for this country, and it's time for this country to act in its own self-interest -- and the interest of the majority of its people.

China has four times the number of people in their military that we have in ours, but doesn't waste its manpower or money intervening in the civil wars of other countries, or "nation building," or trying to act like the world's policemen. And they have economic policies in place which benefit their country, period. That's why their economy has grown so much faster than ours in the past two decades, and thats why it's projected to overtake ours in the near future.

We are the only country in the Americas whose immigration policy is basically, "What can we do for you?" Every other country in this hemisphere asks, "What can you do for us?"

It's time for us to start acting more like our neighbors, and our competitors abroad. We can't afford not to.

Frankly, it doesn't look as if either party has the political will to do these things. But they are what needs to be done to save the middle class.

The more the middle class shrinks, the less the US will be like the US, and the more it will be like Latin America.

17 comments:

Anonymous said...

John Craig for President!

:)

I agree with everything you're saying but the chances of either party enacting these sane policies is nil.

I'm really angry at the Republicans here, because I've written the Democrats off. I come from a 100% blue collar factory worker background, completely Democrat. But those days are long over. I wrote off the Democrats years ago.

But I can't go Republican, because I see them as the party of Bain Capital. (Speaking in shorthand now.) Yeah, Sessions says good things about Obama, but he'll do nothing. He just wants to whip up a frenzy until 2016 to elect a Republican President and then he'll screw us too. Meanwhile Sessions will not do anything to stop amnesty. Obama is a dictator now.

Both parties are run by billionaires and bundlers.

Speaking of which, have you heard the latest?

http://tinyurl.com/q53ks8x

And nothing will happen! He's connected.

I've come to the sad conclusion that however stupid the Occupy movement was, they had a point about the 1%. They party while the country burns.

Coco

John Craig said...

Coco --
Ha!

I actually "ran" for President once (via this blog):

http://justnotsaid.blogspot.com/2011/10/important-announcement.html

http://justnotsaid.blogspot.com/2011/11/more-planks.html

http://justnotsaid.blogspot.com/2011/11/even-more-planks.html

(Don't worry, I'm not crazy, it was all done in jest -- but I suspect you'll agree with most of my positions, we're pretty simpatico.)

Yes, George W. Bush was never anything more than a whore for the big corporations. It was embarrassing. I still prefer the Republicans to the Democrats, who are basically the part of lies, but I could actually like the Republicans if they did something for the middle class.

No, I hadn't heard of that, and yes, that would be a huge scandal if it happened to a Republican. But what else is new. The most amazing thing is that the fact that Obama himself is gay is still covered up. (In case you haven't seen it):

http://justnotsaid.blogspot.com/2012/09/is-obama-gay.html


John Craig said...

PS -- That "The new Puritans" post in which I quoted your comment was linked on Reddit yesterday and so the post got a huge number (1800) of hits. It was on the "pussypassdenied" threat though for some reason it was taken down this morning.

Baloo said...

Reprinted and quibcagged!
http://ex-army.blogspot.com/2014/11/immigration-made-simple.html

Anonymous said...

"Some reason" the pussy patrol must have complained. Figures.

I read your Obama is gay post. I've seen stuff to that effect elsewhere. It may be true. I think it is also true that a lot of other top pols, mostly Democrat but not entirely, are gay, and that a lot of the people we never hear about in DC are gay.The ones who are not "out" are susceptible to blackmail.

It's very similar to Hollywood.

When one starts to talk that way, you sound a bit touched, but it's true. Hollywood and DC are full of gays and they have shoved their policies on an uncomprehending public. It went on for years and finally resistance collapsed.

I think that most of the assent that the public has given is, "Leave me alone already" - and they think that if they vote for gay rights, that will be the end of it. It won't.

Coco

John Craig said...

Coco --
I"m convinced it's true about Obama. His entire life makes no sense otherwise; no record of any girlfriends, no women coming forward to say they dated him?

I have nothing against gays, but I do have something against con men, and his marriage is part of Obama's con. What's more, he's had people on the federal payroll he's had sex with, people who reported directly to him, and that should be another Lewinsky-Gate, but for some reason, isn't.

Having said all that, I'm for gay marriage, about which the vast majority of people who read this blog disagree. If they do go further, as you suggest they will, to demand unequal rights, as the "civil rights" movement has, that would be another matter.

Spychiatrist said...

Spot-on my good sir, spot-on.

The top using the bottom against the middle is what I've always said. The middle class is being decimated by the top of BOTH parties.

The two main parties are indistinguishable except in name only and they are both ravenous wolves picking the carcass of the working classes in this country.

John Craig said...

Thank you Spike.

I wouldn't say the parties are identical, but certainly neither of their top echelons have the best interests of the middle class in mind.

Anonymous said...

"What's more, he's had people on the federal payroll he's had sex with, people who reported directly to him, "

Do tell. Any hints?

Coco

John Craig said...

Coco --
It looks as if Reggie Love, his "body man," was one of his lovers, and likewise Kal Penn (of "Harold and Kumar" fame), who also worked in the White House for a while. I can't prove either of these, of course, but I'd bet on both.

Anonymous said...

John,
As usual another "spot on" post. Both party's suck and only exist to further their own agendas and line their pockets with our money. Yes, there probably is a few good souls in each who truly care about the public but they are few and far in between. Only when the day comes that the majority of the public see's the truth will things change. I wish that would happen, but also know it won't occur in our lifetime. mark my words, this country will go through another depression, hopefully we will come out of it and then that generation will be as our parents were. respectfull for the basics in life and helping one another regardless of race, creed or color. in the mean time, I can only hope that our children will learn some of the skills needed to survive from us and make it on their own.

Best Regards,

Mad Dog

Lucian Lafayette said...

Good morning, John,

As is often the case, the solutions to the problem are relatively simple. Getting some entrenched group to surrender their governmental power is difficult.

John Craig said...

Good morning Lucian --

Agreed, except I'd change "difficult" to "impossible."

Glen Filthie said...

The idea is not to fix America, but to control power. The Democrats and Repubs are both trying to attain it and any benefit to the middle class is purely random and coincidental. And - they are doing it correctly!

The most unproductive, illiterate and slothful 13% of the population is black. In spite of this they are the new noble class: we must hire them for jobs they are too stupid to do, we must never say anything to offend them, and if we DO offend them, we must trip over ourselves, wailing and sobbing, to prove how much we love them.
Non-black middle class people aren't much better. The average home owner is dead if interest rates rise like they did in the 80's. The average middle class citizen is deep in debt from buying things he cannot afford. How can the nation balance the books when it's citizens are too stupid to do it themselves? Candidates have run on platforms pushing financial responsibility - and got torn to shreds for their troubles. America has a third world president, the intellectual class has become mentally ill - and sooner or later the brown stuff will hit the fan.
I think a large part of the problem is the fact that you have a third world president and until that changes, America is getting exactly what it deserves.

Anonymous said...

I blame blacks for this epidemic of illegals. If they only accepted the fact that they're the bottom rung and they should be the ones cleaning toilets and washing dishes, we'd have no use for illegals.

If the majority of blacks had any sense, they'd be protesting in the streets against Obama's recent legislation. They're will now be further aced out of jobs. Of course, this anger only applies to the few that are interested in employment. If they did protest and threatened to bolt away from the Democratic Party, proper action would be taken. The thought of the Dems losing their most ignorant voting block would scare them to the point of going further to the right than Pat Buchanan on the issue of illegals.

Anonymous said...

I agree with your analysis.

As a political negotiating start point - I endorse Buchanan's idea: drop US corporate tax to zero, and enact tariffs on imported goods made with outsourced labor to exactly offset the loss in US corporate tax revenue.

An economy that doesn't manufacture anything is based on nothing.

Are we going to have an economy based on financial services, retail stores, super markets, and installing granite counter tops for those cashing in on the current system?

With 92 million+ not working in this country, there is a huge shortage of work to do. Manufacturing is labor intensive. Bring manufacturing home - put US citizens back to work - and we will be on the road to true prosperity.

I see references to 1.6 to 3 local economy jobs created for each US manufacturing job.

Standard of living has increased dramatically in countries benefiting from US outsourcing of labor to them. At the same time US standard of living has stagnated and we now have the first generation here that can expect a lower standard of living than their parents. Who is benefiting? Warren Buffet, China, India, etc. Who is suffering - the good US middle class citizen.

They will threaten us with more expensive products, trade wars and economic downturn. Any of these negative results from the 0% corporate tax / increase in tariffs will be dramatically offset by the prosperity of a US where people work and there is a fluid labor market.

The US needed a kick in the ass from high quality Japanese imports in the 70's. The US learned valuable lessons in quality systems. And the excesses of unionism needed to be reigned in. The US now makes high quality product and private sector unionism has been knocked into line.

Outsourcing has created an illiquid labor market in the US where employers hold all the cards, and employees are overworked and abused.

- Ed

John Craig said...

Ed --
Thank you for those thoughts. I agree on all counts.