"There is nothing compassionate about driving down the wages of any nation's middle class. It's the most cynical, self-serving, greedy, and sociopathic behavior you'll see from our 'conservatives.'"
"It's frankly astonishing to hear "progressives" reciting corporatist/racist/conservative talking points, recycled through "conservative Democratic" politicians trying to pander to the relatively small percentage of recently-legal (mostly through recent amnesties or birth) immigrants who are trying to get their relatives into this country by means of Bush's proposed guest worker program or the many variations thereof being proposed."
"It's equally astonishing to hear the few unions going along with this (in the sad/desperate hope of picking up new members) turn their backs on César Chávez and the traditions and history of America's Progressive and Union movements by embracing illegal immigration."
"Every nation has an obligation to limit immigration to a number that will not dilute its workforce, but will maintain a stable middle class - if it wants to have a stable democracy. This has nothing to do with race, national origin, or language ... and everything to do with economics."
"The Republican (and Democratic) corporatists who want a cheap labor force, and the Republican (and Democratic) racists who want to build a fence and punish humanitarian aid workers, are equally corrupt and anti-progressive. As long as employers are willing and able (without severe penalties) to hire illegal workers, people will risk life and limb to grab at the America Dream. When we stop hiring and paying them, most will leave of their own volition over a few years, and the remaining few who are committed to the US will obtain citizenship through normal channels."
"The reality is that we don't have an "Illegal Immigration" problem in America. We have an "Illegal Employer" problem. Yet it's almost never mentioned in the mainstream media, because to point it out could slightly reduce the profits and CEO salaries of many of America's largest multi-state and multinational corporations - who both own the media and contribute heavily to conservative politicians. Republicans would prefer that the "criminals" covered in the press are working people, and that corporate and CEO criminals not get discussed."
True AMERICAN progressives and populists must decide whether to care more about their fellow American citizens or to overload lifeboat America with illegal immigrants and sink our middle-class – all to benefit the companies that benefit from low cost labor. To be sympathetic to the plight of poor foreigners is fine, but not when it means screwing the legal American workforce. The only rational and cost-effective solution to this immigration problem is to forcefully identify and seriously penalize ILLEGAL EMPLOYERS. If true progressives and populists do not loudly demand this, then who will?
Even local governments that are beginning to crack down on illegal immigrants have mostly stayed away from hitting illegal employers. One notable exception is Hazleton, Pennsylvania where a new ordinance revokes the business license of any employer who hires an illegal immigrant. Better yet is a California lawsuit by Global Horizons against several companies that hire illegal immigrants and thereby gain unfair competitive advantage. Global Horizons President Mordechai Orian said, "Competitors hiring illegal immigrants is hurting our business badly... It's to the point that doing business legally isn't worth it."
If illegal employers were nailed and massive numbers of out-of-work illegal immigrants decided to get out of the country would there be some significant economic impacts on Americans? Of course there would be. The question that must be confronted is simple: Would it be better in the long term to suffer these impacts than to decimate our middle class? I say yes. Let consumers pay more for many products so that their fellow Americans will take higher paying jobs once held by poorly paid illegal immigrants using expensive government services costing the rest of us taxpayers real money. If illegal employers are not stopped very soon, the many employers not using low cost illegal immigrant workers will be forced to use them to remain competitive. If things are bad now – and they are – this awful situation will only keep accelerating as more employers become illegal and more American CITIZENS lose their jobs.
The insanity of letting corporate greed ruin the lives of American citizen-workers just adds another nail in the coffin of American "representative" democracy. Without a middle class American democracy will more clearly be delusional, but then it will be too late for all but the rich.
[Joel S. Hirschhorn's new book is Delusional Democracy - Fixing the Republic Without Overthrowing the Government; www.delusionaldemocracy.com.]
Joel S. Hirschhorn is the author of Delusional Democracy - Fixing the Republic Without Overthrowing the Government (www.delusionaldemocracy.com). His current political writings have been greatly influenced by working as a senior staffer for the U.S. Congress and for the National Governors Association. He advocates a Second American Revolution, beginning with an Article V Convention to propose constitutional amendments. He is Chair of the Independent Party of Maryland.
Outstanding article by Joel Hirshhorn. Illegal immigration is all about supplying cheap labor for big business and Corporate America. Hirshhorn is right on the money when he challenges the amnesty/open-border advocates on their claims to be progressives or populists. The amnesty/open border advocates most certainly are not either.
The biggest problem created by uncontrolled illegal immigration is wage suppression. According to economics professor George Borjas, immigration reduces the average annual earnings of U.S.-born men by an estimated $1,700, or roughly 4%.
If that reduction is applied to the roughly 143 million employed Americans, that reduces aggregate annual worker income by $243 billion, or $0.243 trillion. That's roughly 2% of our $12 trillion GDP. That's a loss in consumer spending of $243 billion (less taxes). Given that our entire GDP growth in 2005 was $384 billion, this is a significant amount. Considering that consumer spending is approximately 70% of GDP, that makes the "growth" in consumer spending around $269 billion.
Again, the loss of that $243 billion is no small amount. And it is also $243 billion less money that could have been taxed, costing the Federal government anywhere between $36-61 billion per year. (Increasing the taxable income of a single taxpayer making $42,500/year by $1700 increases Federal income tax by $425. Increasing taxable income of a married taxpayer filing making $42,500/year by $1700 increases Federal income tax by $255. Multiplying these numbers by 143 million amounts to $61 billion and $36 billion, respectively. Thus the income tax revenue lost is somewhere in between.)
Right-wingers will argue that this wage suppression is offset by business profits, and that these profits fuel investment. But investment capital is OVER-abundant at present. Increasing this excess even further will not result in more capital investment. It will result in higher CEO salaries, further overinvestment in the stock market, and further investment in foreign production facilities, the latter of which puts even further downward pressure on American wages.
Furthermore, business profits don't fuel consumer spending. And consumer spending is the engine that drives our economy, not investment. Without consumer spending, there are no returns on investment. And if no returns are anticipated on investment, no investment takes place.
The immigration-fueled reduction in wages does NOT help our economy. It hurts it. It reduces aggregate consumer income and the consumer spending it finances. The reduction in consumer spending reduces consumer production demand, further reducing demand for the labor to provide that production. The reduction in labor demand drives down employment and wages. The resultant labor demand reduction further reduces aggregate consumer income and further reduces consumer purchasing power.
As consumer buying power declines, so do investment opportunities, since those opportunities are created by consumer demand for production. Thus the increased profits resulting from reduction in labor costs create even more excess capital, while reducing investment opportunities still further.
Does anyone really think that wage suppression is "good" for the economy? Doesn't someone have to purchase the goods produced for business to profit? Won't reducing consumer income also reduce consumer goods purchasing? Won't a decline in consumer goods purchasing reduce business revenues and reduce potential profits? Once again, is immigration-fueled reduction in worker/consumer income really "good" for the economy?
and I thought that I was the only progressive who "got it"..
Thank you. And thank Thom Hartmann. At last, some people in the progressive camp are starting to "get it".
Illegal employers need to face heavy civil and criminal penalties -- serious fines and prison time -- for each undocumented worker, for each day worked. Put them OUT OF BUSINESS.
Not just that -- "guest workers" have destroyed certain careers for American workers. No sane parent would encourage their child, regardless of interest or apttitude, to pursue a career in engineering or high tech. The jobs are going to H1-Bs.
After Katrina, a friend of mine with an engineering degree thought that he had a chance to work in the reconstruction of the Gulf Coast. WRONG! The American Gulf Coast reconstruction is being farmed out to foreign labor.
American citizens are already losing their jobs. American citizens are already losing their communities, their hospitals and schools, their environment, their retirement security.
The simple, cheap solution to illegal immigration is to make illegal employment criminally unprofitable. But we can't stop there. We must roll back "guest worker" visas also. It is the only way to save the future for the American worker -- especially for the American working class and the relatively lower-skilled, but even for those with degrees and training, as H1-Bs have proven.
by
Robin in the 'Dale (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 12 comments)
on Monday, August 28, 2006 at 9:31:09 PM
All of us who hope for changes in these unethical and illegal corporate practices will be whistling dixie as long as campaign funding is not reformed. The corporations put up the money to have representatives who will do their bidding. And they do this very well.
by
Bacchus (16 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 34 comments)
on Friday, October 6, 2006 at 12:06:29 AM
3 comments
How would you rate this?
You must be logged in (if signed up) to do ratings.
It's free to signup! And easy. And takes just a minute or two....
Must Read (
Well Said (
News (
Touching (
Funny (
Supported (
Interesting (
Inspiring (
Valuable (
