YouName
Posts: 271
Joined: 10/22/2014 Status: offline
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quote:
ORIGINAL: Zonie63 quote:
ORIGINAL: Marini President Obama is scheduled to outline a plan to relax the United States immigration plan on Thursday, tomorrow. The plan is to grant relief to an estimated "5 million" undocumented immigrants. Any thoughts on how this is going to improve our economy and make this country greater? According to this interesting article from NPR, the effects are positive and negative. It appears that this will negatively effect US born hispanic and black workers, because a much larger share of minorities are in direct competition with immigrants. NPR=Q & A Illegal Immigrants and the US economy Life may soon become a lot harder for those scrambling for lower wage positions. I agree that life will become harder, although it won't necessarily be because of more immigrants, legal or otherwise. My whole issue with the way immigration is approached by both parties is that no one seems interested in exploring the source of the problem at hand. They present the issue and our national choices as if these immigrants just popped in out of nowhere. It's treated purely as some kind of domestic issue and not an international issue. We've already tied ourselves and linked the well-being of our own economy to the economies of other nations, so it's not just a matter of the US economy either. When considering the ramifications of a global economy, it can mean billions of people scrambling for lower wage positions. Something's gonna give sooner or later. Ultimately, I think our best bet at this point is to cultivate and develop much stronger ties and relations with our neighbors to the south. Any investments we make in their economies and infrastructure to help improve their quality of life will likely help to curb the problem by reducing the incentives for people to come here illegally. We also should restore our Good Neighbor policy and generate goodwill among the nations in our hemisphere, and this might mean making some allowances for their citizens who happen to be within our borders. The abuses and exploitation would also have to come to an end, although this would displease those who have profited from illegal immigration all these decades. This is another major source of the problem at hand, yet the powers that be would rather play up the issue in such a way as to pit different factions of low-wage workers against each other, not just from within the United States, but from other countries too. I think that if all the nations of the Western Hemisphere could forge a strong, unified alliance and economic bloc, we wouldn't really have to worry about China or Russia or any of the Middle Eastern factions which might be regarded as threats by some. Even if there might be difficulties in the short run, I think it may be our best choice in the long run, considering the overall global situation we're facing and will continue to face in the foreseeable future. Of course, the current policymakers seem to benefit more from the status quo. They're making money off the situation, so they obviously have no intention of kicking the undocumented immigrants out of the country. (Few people would support any kind of mass deportation anyway, and it would likely lead to riots or worse, not to mention the international ramifications.) They also won't go after the employers who hire them, not much other than a few token raids for public consumption. So, both parties seem pretty much in with the idea of letting them stay, but now they're just arguing over the legalities over what their status should actually be. If they're made legal, then they would have the same rights as US workers, which would mean their employers would have to pay minimum wage and follow the same labor laws, OSHA regulations, etc. The way I see it, the undocumented immigrants were here yesterday, they're here today, and they're going to be here tomorrow. Whatever wrangling and paper shuffling they do in Washington DC isn't going to change the situation as it stands. Generally an excellent post. I'm all in favour of isolationist or protectionist policy in shielding your internal market and wages. But the global capitalists are right in one way. Despite it all, trade creates dependency that creates a will between the elites of respective country to maintain peace. Nukes are scary.
< Message edited by YouName -- 11/25/2014 1:36:41 PM >
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