Few people want to be seen as racist or xenophobic. Few people want to risk being on the wrong side of history. This means that a broad swath of decent Americans who are uncomfortable about rewarding and encouraging illegal immigration keep their views to themselves. In recent years, immigration advocates have moved to calling the millions of people who cross the southern border or arrive on our shores illegally, simply “immigrants” as if there were no other path to American citizenship. They draw an equivalency between the tired poor who arrived at Ellis Island after applying and waiting for the privilege, and those who paid criminals to falsify visas, modify stolen passports, or sneak them into cargo shipments.
Do nation states have the right to regulate immigration and citizenship? It could be argued that human beings and even other species should be free to live where they will. But unless and until that agreement is reached and we find ways to adapt to the implications, there are solid, non-racist reasons to be concerned about granting citizenship to those who arrive in the United States under false pretexts. I would argue that there are also reasons for every American citizen to want thoughtful policies that limit the flow of even legal immigration and that are enforced rather than ignored.
Growth doesn’t equal family prosperity. Economists and pundits talk as if growth and prosperity were synonymous. By this accounting if immigrants produce or buy anything, immigration is a net positive. That is because major economic indicators like GDP measure aggregate wealth rather than what we care about—the wellbeing of individual families. Parents want to provide for their children: young people just want a decent start in life. If we remember what the economy is for, to promote well-being, then we are confronted with the fact that more money divided between more people doesn’t necessarily make individuals better off. In fact, GDP can grow when quality of life is declining.
America’s savings account is being subdivided. Americans have a kind of inherited wealth that people in most countries don’t share—our vast natural assets. Natural resources are like a savings account, one that we can keep drawing interest off of for generations if we are careful. So are the infrastructure investments that have been made by our forefathers. But like any inheritance or bank account, the more people have to share it the less each has. Our inheritance is finite, and whether we are talking about forests or minerals or farmland or natural recreational attractions and wonders like the Grand Canyon, at some point dividing them among more people means each American child inherits a little less of the vast natural bank account that has fed generations of prosperity.
Crowding deteriorates quality of life. Not long ago one of my friends, a physician, bought a little row house with just enough room for her two kids. It was about the same size and quality as the houses that company towns built for their workers 100 years ago—only farther from town, because she couldn’t afford to live in close. She’s not alone. White collar professionals pay exorbitant prices for houses that once belonged to mechanics. Mechanics are forced to make long drives on stop-and-go freeways. What has changed? Well, a lot of things, but the bottom line is that crowding drives up land and house prices and means that we all have to pay more or drive farther and sit in more traffic and keep building more roads just to get home. And the price is real, even if we don’t usually measure it. Economists Bruno Frey and Alois Stutzer found that a commuter who drives an hour each way has to earn 40 percent more to have the same level of life satisfaction as a non-commuter.
Economics are changing. In the late 1970’s, China’s southern neighbors were promoting high birthrates, encouraging women to produce foot soldiers so that they could fend off the northern threat. But today winning a war depends on smart technology, not “cannon fodder,” and they have reversed course. They realized that the combination of large population and scarce resources was a disadvantage. Like warfare, economics are changing. Most jobs that were once done by human or nonhuman slaves are now done by machines. So are many of the jobs that were once done by economic foot soldiers. If we are to compete internationally and to thrive here, we don’t need more grunt labor, we need smarter, more efficient, more productive labor.
Rewarding bad behavior increases bad behavior. The amnesty that Ronald Regan granted to illegal immigrants sent a message around the world: Get to the United States—somehow, anyhow—and if you can just hold on long enough you will get to stay. The current round of conversations about “comprehensive” immigration reform proves the point. Right now illegal immigration is down because of economic conditions, but once conditions improve the message will once again echo loud and clear. All of the same arguments that have been made for why we should grant citizenship status to those who are already here now will be as relevant in the future as they are today. Rewarding illegal immigration now sets up conditions for repeated cycles of amnesty.
Cycles of poorly regulated immigration followed by amnesties disadvantage people who try to play by the rules. They reward an underbelly of traffickers and employers who rely on shady dealings and make honest competition virtually impossible in some sectors. They obscure important conversations about thoughtful, legal immigration, which can play a critical role in innovation, and in protecting human rights, both at home and abroad.
Each political party in its own way benefits from having more people at the bottom of the American economic pyramid. Democrats benefit because poor, powerless people tend to vote Left because of their need for a social safety net. Republicans benefit because well-heeled corporations who fund them benefit from a glut of laborers, which drives down wages and benefits. Immigrants in particular are often grateful for what they can get, and illegal immigrants are in no position to negotiate, which puts the bosses in the power position. This means that neither party—not the one that is scrabbling for votes at the bottom nor the one that has been bought by big business—can be trusted to represent the interests of ordinary middle-class and working class Americans in the current immigration debate. Nor can they be counted on to acknowledge the inconvenient truth that what serves the Democratic and Republican leadership and their corporate funders in the short-term may not serve our children and grandchildren.
49 Comments
The U.S. government CAN round up and deport all of the illegal immigrants if they want to. The reality is that the powers that be WANT the illegals here for cheap labor. Do not believe the popular horse crap that it can’t be done-it has already been done SUCCESSFULLY in 1954 under President Eisenhower ; see the following link for yourself:
http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/0706/p09s01-coop.html
We can do this again and put OUR people back to work.
I have no problem oposing the no amnesty thrust. I would oppose amnesty (If that is what you want to call it.) if I felt there was any way to deport between 12,000,000 and 16,000,000 illegal immigrants. I have written to all the Congressmen from the state of Georgia. From those who bothered to answer, I received the identical letter you received if you wrote them. No one read my letter. They just glanced at my letter to see what it concerned, put it the stack for that subject and mailed me a copy of a letter prepared for that subject, then filed it in file 13. I feel my letter was read by no one.
The one thing everyone seems to agree on is that the first thing that must happen is to stop the illegal influx into this country. Unfortunately no one had a solution.
Today we have between 12,000,000 and 16,000,000 illegal immigrants. There are those think those who are illegal immigrants are criminals which cannot be redemmed. There are those who say the are all trash. There are those who say they are a drain on our economy and are the cause of our depression. Then there are some who claim they are here robbing good American of their jobs. Apparently there are none here to escape oppression and find a better way of life.
It really doesn’t matter, because there is no way we are going to deport 16,000,000 people. Our Congress needs to get busy and find a solution. It will be impossible to please everyone, but if it gets us back of track, we need to accept the action of Congress with some compromise to our own desires. Certainly keeping both the sheep and the goats is not acceptable, and that seems to be what are currently doing.
Being almost 87 years of age, I do not expect to see a complete resolution in my life time, but hopefully we will be moving toward a solution.
We will never stop illegal immigration as long as we have a system which allows anchor babies, maternity hotels and chain immigration. No country in the world does what the USA does. If my parents had been in another country when I was born I would not have received citizenship in that country. I would have been a citizen of my parents country. The 14th amendmennt was not meant for this purpose. It was set up to provide citizenship to Africans who were forced to come here. If we give amnesty to every illegal here it would only be a short time before we would have the same problem. If they can have a child here, that child is given citizenship then they are entitled to food stamps, welfare and all other assistance because their child is an American.
I have written to many in Washington regarding this but they never reply. We are stupid to allow this to continue. My neighborhood here in Oklahoma has been taken over by illegals and what was a nice quiet, manicured neighborhood is now nothing but trash. The girl across the street, who is illegal, had 3 children in 2 1/2 yeaars.
According to Mexico’s citizenship laws, all children born to Mexican citizens are automatically citizens of Mexico, no matter what country they are born in. According to Amendment 14, this puts them under the jurisdiction of Mexico, and therefore they CAN NOT BE AN AMERICAN CITIZEN.
Yes they can I think. The law was changed in Mexico in 1998 to make this possible. US law has no provisons that prohibit dual nationality. So as long as the contry of origin is OK with it, sombody can live in the US with two passports.
Illegals do a lot of shopping and not for food, they usually have 2 shopping carts that they are pushing down the highway. One cart has babies and some toddlers and a legion walking with that cart and another cart that an adult is pushing w/clothing from Walmart, Burlington Coat Factory, etc. They are in utopia, while we are caught between a rock and a hard place.
It is astounding to me that car loads of illegals show up at town hall meetings to support amnesty, while local politicians are talking about no amnesty! This could only happen in this country! Washington is turning a great country into a cesspool! We all know what is needed re:immigration, it’s just washington is not listening to us, washington is listening to illegals, and illegals think we the citizens should listen to them. The illegals’ arrogance of demanding amnesty! That alone is a reason to not want them here… if they get amnesty you know what they will be like! I would like to see no amnesty to anyone from south of the border ever! Too many of them are here already!
I would like to invite our simple minded and corrupt Washington officials and their families to walk the walk with the legal citizens of Texas, Arizona, Florida, California, etc. Initially, I can guarantee that the family members will never be included and secondly, acceptance of this offer will never receive a response, were it to be constructed in a legally decisive request, for our elected officials sit in their pristine environment and deny that the illegal alien population explosion is having any effect on our nation’s future!
The facts are simple: our schools and our cities are overwhelmed with people who are living off of our society, having babies by the thousands and paying nothing for their birth or their care, and who are the only ones who do not work but have abundant cash flow due to their abuse of (in Texas, anyway) the Lone Star card. This card is legally only to be used for basic food necessary for life, not as a method for maintaining a never-ending cash flow for the family members and their satellite families, similar to having their own private bank! The trend here is for these people to drive new vehicles, wear designer clothes and diamonds from the jewelry stores.
I watched (and reported) three people one day who were in front of me in line at a local corporate store. They each had only one purchase (hair spray for one; another had a bottled drink: and the third was purchasing a bottle of shampoo). Apparently these people knew to go to the garden department to make these purchases for each one, in turn, had the clerk slide his/her card and then waited for him to systematically count out over two hundred dollars change for each purchase! Each person used a Lone Star card!!!!
It is illegal for anyone to obtain cash from this card, but each of these people knew to follow this process and not one of them was able to speak English! Quite a haul, would you not agree?
I confronted the clerk, after waiting to verify that this process was going to work for each of the other two, and was told that this was legal. NOT!! The individuals were anxious and worried when I confronted them, and all three of course left before the authorities could arrive. I filed on the clerk and have yet to hear a word from the store or law enforcement and I am not a person who sits back and waits for answers. I maintained communication vigilantly with the hot line team and it was of course reported that this was a crime, but due to privacy laws, I cannot be informed regarding the outcome of my complaint. Way to go, America!
In fairness to the immigration and naturalization officers, their authority has been completely denigrated thanks to obama and janet napolitano rewriting our nation’s Constitution.
It is time Americans get really, really angry. Mexico is simply cleaning house. These people are NOT immigrants. This nation was founded on the beliefs and the dedication of people from other countries. These people were immigrants.
The illegal aliens are simply that: ILLEGAL. It is time that we follow mexico’s lead, but in reverse:
America needs to clean house and enforce our borders. We must demand that our Constitutional rights are represented in Washington, not the rights of people from another country who crossed our borders illegally.
The illegal aliens do not want to be American citizens so cut the drama, president obama.
These people have no intention of becoming citizens who must work and pay into our society when they can live a parasitic life within our borders!
Again, I ask: “Will 2013 be recorded by historians as the year Americans regained our freedoms from a corrupt government?”
We must try. The alternative is to awaken one morning to see the mexican flag flying above the White House!
Agree with every eloquent word you wrote! As a recently retired labor/delivery nurse, I can tell you that it is the same in Kansas; I believe most other states as well. I resent the hell out of it. The “anchor baby” concept is just WRONG; should never have been enacted; not ONE IOTA of this is fair to AMERICANS!
Think on this. Forty six cents of every dollar in the proposed 3.4 trillion dollar budget will be borrowed money. That equals1.564 trillion we will owe and can’t pay back.
So true. What happened in FL was that Average White Guy had to have a contractor’s license and pass a series of tests and also get licensed in the State and each county he worked in. The illegals got grandfathered in under the protection of the crooked White Guy’s contractor license.
And, some trades are exempt. The landscaping biz has so much rotation of illegals in & out, depending on their wants & needs, that they don’t have to keep records on them up to a certain number of people.
I could go on….
What a great article, why can’t we elect people who think that way. OOPS we do but once they breathe the air and drink the water in Washington and find their personal wealth that no longer matters. My own Senator The Traitor Rubio is a fine example.
Percy —you are so right two Tea party favorites Rubio(FL) and Brown (ma) turned out to be Rinos and then the organization picks like McCain,Graham are Rinos obviously we the people do a lousy job of vetting our representatives..We must do better and get active.PEACE
Percy, Rubio claimed to have been against amnesty. But why SHOULDN’T he have claimed so? It was a win/win for him. Consider: as the child of Cubanos, his parents had the benefit of Wet Foot/Dry Foot, the only group to have that. That is why the Haitians & the other groups down in FL despise the cubanos. They are more “special” than anyone else. That, and their phoney baloney of Castro “persecution”, which they acknowledge is nonsense. It’s all about getting here and getting the freebies.
Moreover, for Rubio to claim he was against amnesty coincided with the rise in the political ranks. He needed to play it that way. Now, he sees an opening to tell us what he really thinks (within boundaries, of course, as with any other political game).
Any Republican who thinks they are getting brownskinned votes thru amnesty better realize it’s not about “freedom” or “liberty”, it’s about the social goodies. And those are given by Dems. And the immigrants know that. In fact, there has been no appreciable rise in immigrants voting for Repugs since the 1986 amnesty! Plus, a new study came out showing that children of those immigrants are even more firmly entrenched in the Dem party than ever before!
So, why would the Repugs do it? Misguided beliefs or something else? Why, it’s the chance to make that cheap labor all the more legal! Mystery solved.
Baron unfortunately you are correct.The only minor correction I see is that Bush did get 46% of the latino vote once.
Bush was a RINO
Au contraire. The problem is not that we don’t say what we feel about illegals. The problem is that we have no venue to say it. The media in total, including progressive web sites, refuses to give us air time of any sort.
When a voice against illegal immigration is heard, the media portrays that individual as a bigot . Illegal behavior used to be frowned upon by all lawful citizens, no matter who was committing the crime. Now we are supposed to believe Hispanics are a special category, (another one), to be handled like small children that wandered into our yards!
Many of these people are voting in our elections so they can continue to enjoy freedom without sharing in the price the rest of us pay for hospitals, schools, roads, jails, emergency services etc. They use many tax programs in much larger numbers than citizens care to!
People who don’t enter countries legally are usually deported. Nothing is impossible if we put our minds to enforcing the law!
People who speak up get shouted down. Tom Tancredo is a very clear-headed thinker on immigration issues. He has all but disappeared, having been nearly driven from public life by the national press, which continues to misconstrue immigration issues as “racial” issues.
The racists on this issue are the Latinos who assert that it is a Latino right to waltz across our border.
“Para La Raza, toto. Para los otros, nada.”
Politicians do not think with their brain. they do with their incoming vote. They don’t intend to run once but many because of the perks.they get.
Their children don’t have to pay back their college debt. Illegal is illegal. In Mexico they put you in jail. The economy is bad and add 11 -12 million more these people will be robbing you for food and money. They have money to pay a pimp to come here and give their fake identification..What does that tell you about them. Illegal is as illegal does They do not want to learn English as required. The whole thing is communisn get from those that have and force to give for those that do not have That is called stealing. One of the commandments. According to the Bible if you give it voluntarily, they you get a blessing.Poli stands for double minded They change their mind if it is going to help them. Many voted last year from twice to 5 times that is why Obama got elected.There is a lot of voter fraud.It is not our fault that parents brought kids here illegal or had them here illegal. Obama’s aunt in Massachusetts being here illegal was in Katie Curric show and she asked her do you work. She said three times everything in America is free,Obama’s uncle found in Massachusetts driving drunk illegal. The president gave them both legal status. Believe me he is going for a third term.
Silvia that is a scarey thought but with his ego and his slavish followers and the “in the tank media” he could attempt it.The next American revolution will be worst than the first.It will be a civil war inside of a revolution.
Silva is right on the money! I went to school to teach English as a Second Language and found that most of the liberals in my college classes, were in favor of learning the culture and language of the people they were teaching!
I was stunned! I was there to help immigrants learn English so they could feel at home and start to contribute to our culture!
I’ve seen most of these comments and they really seem to be well-reasoned and thought-out. I am a Democrat from California and happen to agree with this article. I’m nervous that the people that support this article and the author who wrote it and myself included are on the losing side of this debate. It’s situation that will perpetuate our decline as a nation according to the article.
There is another argument to all this: the evils brought by the theory of multiculturalism, the notion that people from other nations can move in en masse and retain their languages & culture. That we will all live happily together ever after. Will we? Once upon a time “Americanism” was the accepted doctrine. People would come here, learn our language and adopt to our society: No more. Spanish is already the de-facto second language. When Spanish speaking people become the majority in this country- which will happen if present ways of dealing with the issue are allowed to continue, are we prepared to Press 2 for English?
Nico you are almost there keep reading and eventually you will see that most but not all of our problems emanate from Democratic(socialist) programs.John Adams said” there are two ways to conquer an enemy ;by the sword or by debt””Our bond rating has already been downgraded once under Obama and still he continues to add to our staggering debt.The Congressional budget office in January said “our spending is unsustainable”and that is an Obama agency.We must stop spending our money will eventually have no value.
It seems that the squeeky wheel gets the oil, it’s getting time for a million person march to stop any more talk of amnesty, we better demand that our politicians put the interests of Americans first. We’re suffering in just about every area of lifestyle and they’re not listening to us.
Groups like FAIR, NumbersUsa, Dustin Inman Society, CAPS, Border Patrol website followers have all defeated amnesty 3 x in the past 11 years. We can do it again. Speak up, fax, email, repeatedly!
Amen! And we are paying them whatever salaries they decide they want to be given,…can’t say earn! Why are we letting them take all our money and redistribute it?
Helping fellow citizens is a right and some think, an obligation. We have churches and community groups for this-let us stop filling the pockets of illegals and letting them raid our piggy banks!
We would have more law and order without illegals. Once you commit the big crime and there is no punishment, what is to stop you from doing more? Like gangs and planting pot farms in national parks.
As Shelley said, amnesty doesn’t work. Time for something that does! Enforce our laws!
The illegal immigration problem has been around for much longer than the general public knows. I live in Arizona and today we see a different “immigrant”. These people do no assimilate into our society but demand we change to accommodate them. They refuse to learn English and then we are expected to learn Spanish to get a job in our own country! There are an increasing number who believe the southern US belongs to Mexico and they are here to take it back. Our communities are being destroyed, in fact there is an area of Arizona that even LEGAL Hispanics won’t go in to – it is called “Little Mexico”. Our schools are being overtaxed and our children are suffering – having to provide language learning for these illegals – who often times don’t finish their current grade as they leave at the end of the year and go back to Mexico – then return the following year and are put into the next grade, even though they didn’t complete the previous one. The school my children attended in the 1990’s at that time had very few Hispanics – today it is 85% Hispanic, the education has gone downhill and any parent that can transfer their children to another school. Jobs that many citizens need are not available because the illegals have them. My daughter was denied a job in a hospital because “that is where they put everyone who doesn’t speak English.” We have had 7 amnesty programs and NONE of them has helped detour immigration but actually increased it. We MUST secure the border!
It gets to the point of where does it start to affect our quality of life, and our future quality of life? A country can’t accept millions and millions of people in a “wave” of illegal immigration and expect to keep their standard of living, and especially not if these immigrants are allowed to bring families in with them, thus potentially doubling, or tripling the so called “amnesty” amount of people
It ALREADY HAS affected our quality of life. Consider the construction industry. Illegals flooded into that field, driving down wages for those legal tradesmen and also helped to inflate that housing bubble even quicker. They caused unions to lose projects, and those that did join unions swamped the services, largely the medical plan, causing reduced bennies and higher prices.
They clog the schools, often paying next to nothing in property taxes. Think 8 or kids in one house using the schools pays what the neighborhood that averages only 2 kids to a house? No. They clog up our roads, too. Often, with no license nor insurance. That causes our rates to rise, and us to sit in traffic.
Again, the natural resources are used up. Look what the folks flooding into Los Angeles did to the water supply. My goodness, I can go on and show you that the fiasco started back in the 1980’s. The damage already has been done & will only get worse under an amnesty.
We need ENFORCEMENT, not amnesty.
I live in S Texas and the problem is much worse than people realize. Illegals can get almost any kind of fake papers they want. Which they use to get jobs, social programs and housing. They live several families together and split the expenses.
Our Western Union is in a grocery store. By the service desk there is a form holder with a special form just to send money to Mexico. I have watched as payroll checks are cashed and most the money is wired back “home”. That is money removed from our economy, not used to support American businesses or local economies. They don’t buy houses so they don’t pay local or school taxes, but we pay for their kids to go to school, and usually have to feed them too.
With the money they send home, is it any wonder the president of Mexico thinks he has a right to interfere with OUR immigration laws? We are providing a big boost to the Mexico economy.
We need to tax foreign remittances. Not only would this provided needed revenue, but also encourage the capital to remain stateside.
This is a list of why we don’t want to listen anymore. Texas and AZ are bell weather states for this issue as well as California. The best way for families to improve their economics in Mexico, is to come over here and reproduce with wild abandon. Everything is “free” here.
We need to get back to the idea that with freedom comes responsibility. Many of us have remained silent for fear of being called bigots. It isn’t race or color that offends, it is lack of personal responsibility. We want fellow citizens who help keep streets clean by picking up after ourselves. We don’t want to hear sirens constantly alerting us that our overworked police forces are having to tax their limits every fifteen minutes for the crimes of people who aren’t even here legally.
We need good church-going people to stop seeing these illegal aliens as puppies who need a home. They are not fleeing oppression, they are fleeing their failed government and trying to ruin ours as they did their own!
“Growth doesn’t equal family prosperity. ”
The best way for most families to improve their economic lot is to build their own home. This immediately boosts net worth—-and home building has gotten easier, and more fool-proof, all of the time. What is making it more and more difficult, though, is the new urbanist planning schemes, which de facto require you to buy a corporate built condominium. This means you are locked into a corporate job, in order to pay your thirty year mortgage, and the corporations are ultimately going to demand more immigrant labor. And when your life is dependent upon your corporation’s success, then you become part of the demanding process, too. Plus, a home in the city tends to be a better investment than one in a small town, and it is very hard to build your own home in a lot of cities, at least where there is decent value.
Politics has really gotten to a horrible point, where trade unions, instead of helping people be self sufficient are now behind some of the most awful graft and corruption schemes. Think Chicago politics. Still, building your own home is one of the best things to do, if you can possibly do it.
Mexico is a prime example of that. Mexico is one of the wealthiest countries in the world, #13 or 14 in GDP, and home to the world’s richest man. If you look at GDP in terms of purchasing power parity, Mexico ranks even with Canada at around 11. If you look at per capita GDP, Mexico falls to around 60. That’s what having a large population does to you.
I am not so sure of that anymore, about building your own home in a city or elsewhere. If one thing has been taught, it’s that banks, brokers, realtors, derivative swappers, Fannie, Freddie, etc all got away with screwing the American public, while the Middle Class got screwed. The poor got to live scott free during this housing bubble and simply walked from one Section 8 to another, and the rich never lost out while sitting in their mansions. Not sure home ownership is so wonderful anymore. And it can turn into a huge albatross when you need to sell.
I agree Baron. I bought my home in a very modest neighborhood so my wife could stay home with our kids. We fixed the property and have kept a nice home but apartments in the neighborhood were cloned after a fire and then turned the hood to section 8!!! We also have half-way houses for criminals released from jail-this is small town KY, not a city!
Rep. Paul Ryan, whom many are eyeing as a possible 2016 GOP presidential candidate, will be stopping in Newport Beach on Thursday for a couple events and some private meetings.
The 2012 Republican vice presidential nominee is scheduled to attend an 11:45 a.m. luncheon at the Pacific Club hosted by the New Majority, a group of well-heeled Republican business people. The event is open to members and their guests. Membership is $10,000 and is by invitation only.
Anyone that lives in Orange County please give ryan a mouthful on immirgation he suppports the gang of 8 plan. Let’s crush every anmesty supporter in the GOP,
This tragic game our useless pandering politicians play, to the detriment of all legal American citizens is beyond criminal. These supposed gov. representatives that where elected to serve us, have to remove their heads from whatever dark recess they’re embedded and grasp reality. The status quo response since the 80’s have come back to haunt this nation in an extremely big way. But the truth of the matter is, a country that does not enforce it’s laws or protect the sovereignty of it’s citizens, will not survive for long!
Absolutely correct. GDP in and of itself is not the end of the argument. If there is a STABLE population and GDP grows, that IS a step forward. India’s overall GDP grows rapidly, but it’s because of population growth. Their PER CAPITA, per person, GDP is terrible. Among the lowest in the world and behind many countries we call third world. The vast majority of Indians live in grinding poverty, without even clean water.
And absolutely correct on the relationship between immigration, growing population, and housing prices. I was watching a news piece a couple months ago and it featured a couple living in San Fransisco, both making good incomes, and they paid a fortune for a 300 sq. ft apartment. That’s not a typo, 300. It’s that or drive two hours on horribly congested freeways. Some people say build higher. But does San Francisco want to look like Hong Kong? Then you get mega rich mayor Michael Bloomberg urging more immigrants for New York. Of course, he’s not the one who has to live with a roommate in an apartment the size of a broom closet.
Ever listen to the song I Am I Said by Neil Diamond? He says about Los Angeles “palm trees grow and rents are low”. That was the early 70s, well before the mass immigration that this country and that state has had for over 30 years now. No low rents now.
Immigration Overpopulation Caused the Housing Bubble Price Crash Too
Its lowered wages, increased unemployment all added to low interest rates pegged at zeo to keep housing price degradation mitigated….but not contained. Meanwhile retirees can’t live on 0% interest 401Ks.
My home in the Seattle suburbs was property assessed 40% down the last year, my property taxes went down 30%. MASS OVERPOPULATION layoffs in the horizon?
You’re right about the downtown city living costs….but if SF and NYC are like SEA….there’s no parking [an in city monthly parking space gets auctioned for like $2000/mo, the condos have like $1000/mo HOA fees besides mortgage payment, and basically NO REAL grocery stores if you live in the downtown area]. Add decrepit Chinese oil tankers polluting MASS arsenic around the city center waterfront [that nobody talks about]….this overpopulation has destroyed Seattle and its suburbs.
Worse in Illinois, where the illegals know to head immediately to Aurora IL for all the help they need to set up shop illegaly here. Anyhow, home prices went down 65% or so, I kid you not, but the property taxes stayed the same! The same! Why? Because the crappers built in a stopgap measure that said the values may go down, but the multiplier must raise to safeguard the “schools” and “hospitals”!!!! When challenged, our total bill went from $8,888 down to a measly $8,400. Whoooo hoooo.
Gotta keep those illegals schooled, but with ESL programs. Gotta give them that free healthcare in the E.R. rooms. And the rest of the buffet as well. You know who is paying for that, and how it gets done.
Amen! We need to stop making freedom free for this “minority group”. Illegals are criminals, not a minority group. I do feel sorry for their children, but I feel worse for OURS. Our kids won’t be able to live as well as some of these illegals! They have nicer cars and homes in some cases. They’re not paying health insurance and taxes-even if they do work. Most of the work is illegal.
softwarengineer I have no idea if you still realize we live in the USA and that Cities hold one of the highest costs in Real Estate. Besides NYC like any other city have meters…………….
All the Salient Points, Well Done
A small seasoning I’d to this excellent article….100% MANDATORY E-VERIFY in the workplace NOW, no excuses either….its current immigration laws already on the books and needs no more TWO PARTY FOOT DRAGGIN’!!!
E-Verify needs to be tweaked (see link) but it’s still not a magic bullet–you can still work for yourself or get paid under the table. Crooked employers will just bypass the system. I like housing verification–it could even use the same system as employment verification. It would be irrational to rent to people who can’t prove legal residency if the eventual penalty were forfeiture.
They’d Live in Their Cars Then
No system is fool-proof….but either of our ideas [I like your’s too] is a million times better than doing nothing, like today…