March 22, 2009

"Immigrants Can Help Fix the Housing Bubble."

The Wall Street Journal has run the inevitable op-ed arguing for more immigration in order to reinflate the Housing Bubble: "Immigrants Can Help Fix the Housing Bubble." The authors are totally disinterested patriots:
Mr. LeFrak is chairman and CEO of LeFrak Organization, a real estate builder and developer. Mr. Shilling, an economic consultant and investment adviser, is president of A. Gary Shilling & Co.

Actually, the Housing Bubble was a bad thing, so why do we want to fix it? The huge inflation in home prices in a few states made it difficult for prudent savers to purchase a home, while making it easy for gamblers and liars to buy several.

Moreover, this is a good example of why I keep harping on where the the Bubble took place. Few in public life seem to recognize the high correlation between immigration, housing price inflation, and the subsequent collapse.

Um, 66% of all home value inflation during the Housing Bubble took place in the state with by far the highest percentage of foreign-born resident of any state in the union, California.

Roughly the same percentage of all money lost on home mortgage defaults since then has been in California.

87% of all home value inflation from 2000-2007 took place in just four heavily immigrant states: CA, AZ, NV, and FL, with equivalent losses on foreclosures over the last two years.

So, how’d that immigration –> home price inflation strategy work out for us the last time we tried it?

Somebody should summon the ghosts of Henry George and Benjamin Franklin to explain why high land prices are not a good thing for America. It's funny how the first great work of social science theory in American history, Franklin's 1751 Observations Concerning the Increase of Mankind, which Malthus credited as the precursor to his work, has been written out of America's intellectual history largely because of its call for immigration restriction.

My published articles are archived at iSteve.com -- Steve Sailer

48 comments:

Anonymous said...

I hate the Wall Street Journal even more than I hate the New York Times.

The WSJ is purely for the investment class...............which is about what folks, 2% of America? What about the rest of us, you know the 70% of those who go work real jobs, aren't government-dependent, fight the wars, obey the laws, play-by-the-rules, wave-the-flag types who don't have second homes in Singapore or Brazil?

Anonymous said...

They'll never stop reminding you, though, that Franklin was a womanizer and supposedly not a very big fan of God.

Anonymous said...

I always thought that the economic collapse would drive all of the nonsense theories out of the marketplace; that suddenly the elite would stop pushing their economic delusions or self-interested theories when they relaized/admitted that they don't work.

I guess they'll do that only as a last resort. I didn't take into account that the snake oil salesmen still control Congress and most of the media outlets.

Anonymous said...

It's a dumb idea.

Yet even LeFrak and Shilling will run afoul of the immigration lobby, what with their attention to people with advanced degrees and call for "productive and skilled people, both current residents and immigrants, who will produce enough goods and services to provide for their own needs and for those in retirement." Nary a mention of "jobs Americans won't do."

What, no illiterates? No sub-minimum-wage laborers? No day-workers crowding around Home Depot? Doesn't sound very diverse. Where is the glee in the changing demographics of the US for their own sake?

Anonymous said...

This is ripe for fraud. Buy a house from a buddy, he recycles the money back to you, and then you've got a green card. Limit this to retirees, don't allow any work visas, and let them stay in the US for 11 months, say, instead of the current six. Then I think it could work. There are plenty of German retirees who would love to buy a house in Florida and retire.

Anonymous said...

Ha, Ha!

I know how to also "fix" Detroit's problems---just give a greencard to any foreigner who buys 30 Ford/GM SUVs, or maybe contracts to buy one SUV per year for the next 30 years, with immediate deportation if they welsh...

Anonymous said...

You're kidding. The guy's actual NAME is "Shilling?" Does he work for Weir, Shilling, Hoares?

Anonymous said...

This lunacy has gone international. From today's Toronto Star:

Does immigration help or hurt during a recession?

Lai, [a realtor in Toronto since 1983], who came here from Hong Kong in 1972, pointed out that newcomers generally are more inclined to own homes. "People from Hong Kong, China and India all believe in home ownership," she said. "The first thing they do when they come here is buy a house. Had we not had immigrants sustaining the (real estate) market, the bubble would have burst a long time ago."

http://www.thestar.com/news/insight/article/606237

Obviously, the first priority of government should be to keep housing COSTS high. God forbid they don't rise faster than wages.

But the news isn't all bad. Immigrants don't take all the jobs from natives, There is always a chronic shortage of medical practitioners, for example, and the hiring of immigrants would not have an impact on Canadians seeking these jobs.

No mention of why the health system is under such strain.

Anonymous said...

The authors are totally disinterested patriots

Richard LeFrak is the son of Samuel LeFrak, who made billions in a reaql estate. Richard LeFrak's 2008 estimated net worth (according to Forbes) was $4.5 billion.

Real estate tycoons are frequently leveraged to the hilt. Recall the 1990s Reichmann brothers debacle - 3 brothers who were estimated to be worth $10 billion (a lot of money back then). LeFrak is probably holding on by his fingers.

Declining home values, for example, are eliminating the home equity that has funded oversized consumer spending for years.

So what we need to do is re-enable that oversized consumer spending!

They wouldn't need to live in those houses, but in order to remove the unit from the total housing market, they couldn't rent them.

Huh? I'm sure the government would be absolutely fanatical about enforcing that one.

But they'd probably live in them, alright: they and they're 14 illegal siblings and cousins they brought in with them.

in today's uncertain economic climate, many wealthy foreigners desire U.S. resident status just as a number in Hong Kong secured residences in Singapore and Canada before the British handover to China in 1997. They rapidly became over a quarter of Vancouver's population...

Is that last bit supposed to be reassuring or frightening? It's fascinating and scary to think that India and China (combined pop: 2.5 billion) could easily swamp the populations of Canada, Australia, the UK and Great Britain (combined: 400 million) and not even feel much of a loss.

The blueprint for a program to sell surplus housing to immigrants is already in place with the EB-5 visa program. Each year, 10,000 EB-5 visas for this country are available for foreigners who each invest $1 million in a new enterprise

Now that's a new one. Never heard of it. It's amazing the immense number of visa programs the USA has. And yet we still need a "guest" worker program.

America's relatively open immigration policy makes this country better off than many other developed lands whose governments also must fund the pensions and health care for growing numbers of retirees. Yet there's still a huge need for more productive and skilled people, both current residents and immigrants, who will produce enough goods and services to provide for their own needs and for those in retirement.

Now paging Mr. Madoff. Now paging Mr. Stanford. Now paging Mr. Ponzi.

And the need for more "skilled people"? That's because we've imported so many unskilled people.

Anonymous said...

We - you, me, VDare - were predicting this back in October, at least - that we'd soon hear calls to boost immigration so they could buy up "excess" homes (God forbid they fall in price to a point where actual Americans can afford them).

When do we ever get credit for, ya know, being right?

We won't. Instead we'll be granting subsidies so that guys like Mr. LeFrak* can keep up their estate in the Hamptons.

* Funny that his name is the BSG version of the F word. Feels like what he wants to do to us.

AmericanGoy said...

Disclaimer: I am an immigrant.

"The Wall Street Journal has run the inevitable op-ed arguing for more immigration in order to reinflate the Housing Bubble: "Immigrants Can Help Fix the Housing Bubble." The authors are totally disinterested patriots:

Mr. LeFrak is chairman and CEO of LeFrak Organization, a real estate builder and developer. Mr. Shilling, an economic consultant and investment adviser, is president of A. Gary Shilling & Co."

Hahahahahahahahahhahaha!

On my lil blog, I have been searching for a way to explain the financial crisis in as simple way as possible.

While we on these blogs love to bloviate and engage in a circle jerk, the sad truth is that 99% of the population get their news from the MSM "news" shows.

I got it down to a short version (10 points) and the super-short version (3 questions).

It is fascinating to me how really simple this whole thing is, and how it takes an extreme effort on the part of the TV "experts" to not explain it in simple, easy to understand terms.

Tanstaafl said...

I got it down to a short version (10 points) and the super-short version (3 questions).

Shorter: pyramid scheme.

Shortest: fraud.

Anonymous said...

A pint of whiskey can often ease the pain of a bad hangover.

Anonymous said...

Why should anyone be surprised at this? The incentives for market speculators are identical to those of an Amway soap salesman - the real value of the underlying asset is less important than the imperative to attract more investors. One way to do this is pump up the price of the underlying asset (immigrants buying houses), then make a big noise about "this is a great time to be in [underlying asset]". With housing it's a hard sell now, but they'll keep trying.

You're asking "didn't you WSJ types learn anything from this?" but that's like asking a pyramid scammer "didn't you learn anything from the last time?" when one of his schemes collapses and he starts running a new one. The so-called "boom and bust cycle" is simply the repeated expansion and collapse of a pyramid scheme. In the old days there was no such "cycle", some craze like tulip mania would hit people, then they would come to their senses for a century or so. Now we have things like the stock market which institutionalize the affair; as soon as the bust comes, Wall Street gets to work on the next boom.

Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Anonymous said...

The WSJ is purely for the investment class...............which is about what folks, 2% of America?

There's a huge disconnect between the WSJ's news-gathering operation and its editorial page. IMHO, the journalism side is excellent while the punditry stinks. This was underscored when I read that the editorial board hired outside journalists to report separately to them on the Iraq war. Maybe Steve could weigh in on this.

--Senor Doug

Anonymous said...

Got to love the WSJ. Iraq, the housing bubble, immigration. When WorldCom went bankrupt and Ebbers was being investigated for fraud they ran some op-ed that had the quote "We need more like him." (rough quote.)

You wonder what country these guys live in.

After Bernie Madoff, the collapse of AIG, Citibank(!), I simply don't believe these guys know what they are doing.

As Bush said "Fool me once, shame.." Oof. Cant do it.

Anonymous said...

Anybody seen the 60 minutes 0bama thing yet? I'd like to know how people who aren't Republican partisans are reacting to the mirth. The link is at Drudge.

Anonymous said...

Unless you want ghost towns of empty houses collecting dust and depressing the price of all real estate so that your property values tank completely, we need those houses full.

Anonymous said...

This brings to mind a story I read in the NYtimes about a small southern town with declining population. The only new people coming in were Mexican illegal immigrants to work in the poultry (?) factories.

Well, the town had the bright idea to "Kick out all the illegals," and started rounding them up.

Businesses tanked afterwards because there wasn't enough population to sustain them. And then the townspeople realized they cut off their nose to spite their face, and wanted the Mexicans to come back.

Anonymous said...

To the two Anonymous:

Loyalty to one's own people surpasses short term economic comfort. Nations go through hard times sometimes. We can handle it.

You attack pride in others because you have none in yourself.

Anonymous said...

"Few in public life seem to recognize the high correlation between immigration, housing price inflation, and the subsequent collapse."

I live in NoCal so I certainly see the correlation, but Steve, what makes you think the pols don't see it? Of course they do. However, it just shows that the Dems are not about to point it out to Mr. and Mrs. Middle America, and the Repubs are still suffering from post-election fear: they're afraid of being called racists should they connect the dots for the public.

And, fear they should, considering the MSM would shout, "There you go again, blaming the immigrants for everything!"

The problem really is that the members of the MSM don't live where you and I live, don't see the effects of mass immigration on everything in this state. Were the connection made between how what goes down in CA affects what goes down in the rest of the country, they might wake up.

I had to grow up and out of my stupid liberal stage before I realized it. How can we expect the Eastern press or those who can buy homes in gated communities and send their kids to private schools to understand?

When I did grow up I realized how liberals flee the very areas they say they wish to help with their social policies, yet they call others who flee racists or anti-immigrants or...whatever.

Anonymous said...

Housing is actually a cost, so when prices go down we are better off as a country.

Think about it this way: If a new technology was developed that allowed you to build houses instantly, at no cost, anywhere, of any size, but because of quantum warps or whatever, they took up zero space, the price of housing would go to zero, and we could all live in a mansion IN NYC if thats what we wanted. Even the poorest starving child in Africa would have a beautiful first rate home. I think this would be a good technology, not a bad one.

Anonymous said...

Unless you want ghost towns of empty houses collecting dust and depressing the price of all real estate so that your property values tank completely, we need those houses full.



Some people would sell their soul for a few baubles.

Are we really any different from the Manhattan Indians giving away their land for a few beads and blankets? I don't think so. And we will reap the same reward for our stupudity.

FYI, I want ghost towns. And I want the brainless and corrupt developers driven out of business, along with their political lapdogs.

Anonymous said...

the Dems are not about to point it out to Mr. and Mrs. Middle America, and the Repubs are still suffering from post-election fear: they're afraid of being called racists should they connect the dots for the public.


Sorry to disabuse you, but the Republicans are for open borders for the same reason as the Democrats - because they, like the Democats, are in the pocket of the real estate business.

Anonymous said...

This brings to mind a story I read in the NYtimes about a small southern town with declining population.

Now there's a reliable source of information about immigration related issues.

Anonymous said...

Somebody should summon the ghosts of Henry George and Benjamin Franklin to explain why high land prices are not a good thing for America.

I don't think the "somebody" will be Mark Skousen. I understand he's emotionally invested in open immigration. Quite unlike Franklin, his sixth/eighth/whatever great-grandfather.

Are we really any different from the Manhattan Indians giving away their land for a few beads and blankets? --Anon.

Actually, those Indians gave away some other tribe's land. The beads and blankets cost them nothing. (In the short run, anyway...)

Anonymous said...

Unless you want ghost towns of empty houses collecting dust and depressing the price of all real estate so that your property values tank completely, we need those houses full.

The will be full, eventually, because otherwise they're a wasting asset. The question is how to fill them. Option A brings millions of new immigrants into the country who buy them and prop up unreaistic housing prices that Americans can't afford to pay. Option B lets the price fall until they find a willing American buyer. Why should Americans have to subsidize Option A so that greedy lenders an/or builders don't have to take the hit? What the hell is the point of rewarding capitalists for taking risk if they're never actually, ya know, taking risks?

Businesses tanked afterwards because there wasn't enough population to sustain them. And then the townspeople realized they cut off their nose to spite their face, and wanted the Mexicans to come back.

Again, Options A and B. Option A: let Mexicans overrun your town until the point that it's part of Aztlan and no Americans want to live there. Option B: new industry or ghost town. Locals find new way to make money or move on. It's happened over and over again in American history. Come to think of it, it's happening in Detroit right now, and they have lots of unskilled labor.

Anonymous said...

a number in Hong Kong secured residences in Singapore and Canada before the British handover to China in 1997. They rapidly became over a quarter of Vancouver's population...

It says something about these greedy traitorous conniving sonsabitches line of thinking that they have no problem with the Chinese becoming one-quarter of Vancouver's population practically overnight.

Just think how many real-estate magnates there are out there, all of them thinking exactly this way, and all of them with your politicians in their pockets.

Massasoit would be proud.

Anonymous said...

What the hell is the point of rewarding capitalists for taking risk if they're never actually, ya know, taking risks?

Yours friends in government will always arrange a profitable outcome...

Anonymous said...

This brings to mind a story I read in the NYtimes about a small southern town with declining population. The only new people coming in were Mexican illegal immigrants to work in the poultry (?) factories.

Well, the town had the bright idea to "Kick out all the illegals," and started rounding them up.

Businesses tanked afterwards because there wasn't enough population to sustain them. And then the townspeople realized they cut off their nose to spite their face, and wanted the Mexicans to come back.


Your solution is suicide to fix an itchy foot.

Anonymous said...

What the hell is the point of rewarding capitalists for taking risk if they're never actually, ya know, taking risks?

Yeah, all those capitalists who invested hundreds of billions in stupid stuff this bubble took no risks. The guys who blew I don't know how many billions in the internet bubble took no risks, etc. I don't know how out of touch with the news you can be to not know that they took risks and lost big. A few of them didn't lose as badly due to their specific positions/connections.

Anonymous said...

Yeah, all those capitalists who invested hundreds of billions in stupid stuff this bubble took no risks. The guys who blew I don't know how many billions in the internet bubble took no risks, etc...A few of them didn't lose as badly due to their specific positions/connections.

Whose money were they risking? Their own? Nope.

That's the disparity between traders for AIG, who weren't risking their own money, and guys like Richard LeFrak and a myriad other real estate tycoons.

LeFrak at least has his own money at stake (presumably), but he and the rest of the real estate industry played a rigged game. They demanded (ad got) more immigration to boost demand and to supply cheap labor and easy loans to drive demand even higher. Now that's collapsed he wants Congress to step in and bail him out, because there's nothing better for America than unaffordable homes. That's what is meant by "no risk." When the market's a boomin', they profit. When it's collapsing, they get Congress to fix the game again.

Anonymous said...

There must somewhere in the world be a population of intellectually gifted people, familiar with "sand State" climates, and at risk of being exterminated by their neighbours, who might be the very folk to immigrate and fill those houses.

Anonymous said...

"Anonymous said...

This brings to mind a story I read in the NYtimes about a small southern town with declining population. The only new people coming in were Mexican illegal immigrants to work in the poultry (?) factories.

..........

Businesses tanked afterwards because there wasn't enough population to sustain them. And then the townspeople realized they cut off their nose to spite their face, and wanted the Mexicans to come back."

Yeah - the New York Times always reports all the facts, and in a completely disinterested way.

You're an idiot. And possibly a shill. Not making many sales lately? No gold star on the big board? This may come as news to you, but most people don't really like real-estate agents. We view them as parasites.

Anonymous said...

I wonder how the population density figures for Franklin's Philadelphia and Sailer's LA would differ. Given the latter's sprawl I suspect it wouldn't be that much.

Anonymous said...

Note: Last time I ever read anything about them (probably 40 or 50 years ago), their name was Lefrak (in other words, the Le sounds like an affectation of some kind). (Sort of like Joe Theismann, whose name was pronounced "Tees-man" until he was a Heisman Trophy candidate and pronunciation shifted to accomodate the rhyme.)

There were various people with some economic insights back in those early years. But their efforts to understand or to formulate cohesive theory were handicapped by the fact that they couldn't explain VALUE, were unanimous in cobbling together explanations based on characteristics of the valued things themselves. Not until about
1850 did it become "discovered" that value is in the mind of the valuer, a concept that underpins all modern economic theory and renders any previous comprehensive theory (Marx, for instance) of no value whatsoever to understanding.

Franklin was plenty smart and plenty well-intentioned (he spurned patents on his inventions precisely so they could spread their bebefits as quickly as possible). But he was as enamored
of paper money as it's possible to be (maybe getting contracts for its printing swayed his judgement).

Anonymous said...

Add:

Now I remember that whatever i read about Lefrak years ago had to do with his "expertise" in negotiating the "pay to play" obstacle course of local regulators and politicians.

Anonymous said...

first anon,
I have the same very low opinion of The Economist which recently ran an hagiographic article on Obama which ended with predicting the end of white America.

Richard...London

Anonymous said...

Mr. LeFrak was once a partner in LeFrick and LeFrak.

Anonymous said...

Again, Options A and B. Option A: let Mexicans overrun your town until the point that it's part of Aztlan and no Americans want to live there. Option B: new industry or ghost town. Locals find new way to make money or move on. It's happened over and over again in American history. Come to think of it, it's happening in Detroit right now, and they have lots of unskilled labor.-Mark

Pittsburgh(still one of the whitest big cities in the country) recovered quite nicely following the collapse of the domestic steel industry.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pittsburgh,_Pennsylvania
(...)
While the city is historically known for its steel industry, today it is largely based on healthcare, education, technology, robotics, fashion, and financial services. The city has made great strides in redeveloping abandoned industrial sites with new housing, shopping and offices, such as the SouthSide Works. While Pittsburgh faced economic troubles in the mid 1970s as the steel industry waned, modern Pittsburgh is economically strong. The housing market is relatively stable despite a national subprime mortgage crisis, and Pittsburgh added jobs in 2008 even as the national economy entered a significant jobs recession.[11] This positive economic news is in contrast to the late 1970s, when Pittsburgh lost its manufacturing base as those jobs moved offshore.

In 2007, Forbes magazine named Pittsburgh the 10th cleanest city,[12] and in 2008 Forbes listed Pittsburgh as the 13th best city for young professionals to live.[13] The city is consistently ranked high in livability surveys. In 2007, Pittsburgh was named "America's Most Livable City" by Places Rated Almanac.[14]
(...)
Pittsburgh(city proper) demographics:
(...)
The largest groups in terms of race were 67.63% White, 27.12% African American, 2.75% Asian, and 1.32% Hispanic (of any race).
(...)

Anonymous said...

Who is to be blamed if Congress capitulates to Wall street gangsters and transfers money from the middle class and working class to the rich? Congress did not try to change the conditions which led to the present situation as a condition of receiving a bailout. Congress ought to break up banks and any conglomerate which uses its size to extort money from working stiffs.

Anonymous said...

"Congress ought to break up banks and any conglomerate which uses its size to extort money from working stiffs."

Congress ought to break itself up. That organization is the most extortionist.

Anonymous said...

There are two fantasies here. The first is that there are large numbers of people in the world eager to come to America and buy houses for $300,000 - 1,000,000. And when I say "buy" I mean buy outright, not borrow money from the banks to buy, which is what got us into this mess.

The second is that this infux of people will have zero impact on wages in the US. Since it must drive wages down, the result will be to lower the cost of the house which the average American can afford. We're already seeing this happen. Median wages have been stagnant for some time now even as house prices have been soaring.

Anonymous said...

From an article in my local paper, on the (current) improvement in Wall Street's mood: "Meanwhile, the National Association of Realtors' existing home sales report was overwhelmingly positive for the market although it showed a decline in home prices in February...

Got that? Home sales rose although prices declined. Does that remind anyone of the old headline that "Prison populations continue to climb even though crime is falling"?

There's a very simple solution to the supposed excess of housing, and it's right under Mr. LeFrak's nose.

Anonymous said...

Unless you want ghost towns of empty houses collecting dust and depressing the price of all real estate so that your property values tank completely, we need those houses full.

I do want the price of my house to fall.

Please see CA's Prop 13. As home values skyrocketed, taxes skyrocketed. Retirees living on fixed incomes could not keep up with the rate of taxation. They were kicked out of their homes.

I don't want to be kicked out of my home.

Anonymous said...

Actually, Franklin's book may not have been written out of America's intellectual history because of its calls for less immigration. It may have been passed over as so much from our founding era is passed over. As far as so many intellectualoids are concerned nothing of value was written in America before 1830 with the Transcendentalists.

Anonymous said...

It is so simple for me to SEE INTO THE FUTURE of America.
The 'Housing Bubble' collapse was caused by all the ITIN's that bought up the entire city I lived in, in Los Angeles County and every single city IN LA and OUTSIDE LA as well.
When the Construction Boom, Stopped, the Males could not find good paying under-the-table jobs and the Women & Nino's Welfare check-in-the-box money was not sufficient for the expensive LA homes they bought.
See, they were using Duel Incomes. The Females-Welfare checks & the Males Construction checks.
Now, here's the Simple Conclusion to the Entire Economic Collapse of the American Monetary system that's coming.
When the Illegals are legalized by Obamie & Pals, and they will FORCE it on us for sure, regardless of what we try to do to stop it.
The Newly Legalized Illegals will be able to Apply & Qualify for the ONE Social 'Entitlement' Program they have NOT been able to collect YET. Hard to believe I know, but there's ONE Welfare Program they have NOT been able to Master yet!
It's SSI-Supplemental Security Income, and in California, SSP-State Supplemental Payments.
In California, the NON-TAXPAYING Recipient gets $907 and the NON-TAXPAYING Couple Recipients get $1,569.
Already, this ONE 'Entitlement' Program has caused California to CUT EVERYTHING. Because there's so damn many people ON SSI & SSP in California that it takes ALL the money in the 'General Fund' and then some, every single month.
And, there's NO WAY the DemoGRANTS in Sacramento will allow this PRECIOUS 'Entitlement' to get any kind of 'CUT'.
The SSI-comes from the Federal Government 'General Fund' and the SSP-comes from the California 'General Fund'.
WHEN Obimbim Legalizes the Illegals that "have been here for a long time", AND they are going to be "legally" allowed to BRING IN their 'Household' of people. Probably like, Mamma, Papi, brother, sister, cousins, 8 to 10 nino's....On and On, get the picture, ALOT of Newly Legalized PEOPLE.
They will do exactly what they did with AFDC-CalWORKS-TANF-EBT Food Stamp Debit Cash Card, HUD-Section 8 and TAKE ALL THEY CAN GET-->GRATIS-FREE..
So, they will Line Up, as they know How to do at EVERY single Social Security Office in the Nation. Although SSI & SSP is NOT Social Security. They go to any SS Office to Apply FOR SSI checks.
SSI is a Welfare Disability Program, that's constantly referred to as "social security" but IS NOT.
Social Security recipients pay taxes, as do Social Security Disability Income recipients pay taxes. These people also pay taxes on their MediCARE.
However, SSI's DO NOT pay a penny for their MediCARE. It's like, MediCARE Part "B" or "D" whichever one is for the "POOR". They pay absolutely NO TAXES, no premiums, no co-pays, nothing for EMS, nothing for PILLS, nothing at all.
It's completely and totally FREE for an SSI.
SSI's CAN own a home of any size or any value whatsoever. It can be worth $750,000 paid for free and clear, it does not matter to qualify for SSI.
BUT, they cannot "have" an Accumulated Total of over $2,000 in "things" IN that home or around that home. Like their belongings IN that home cannot be very valuable. Their CAR does NOT count and can be worth ANYTHING.
It can be a Cadallic paid for, does not matter for SSI.
So, the Illegal ALiens KNOW ALL ABOUT SSI already and are waiting to Apply & Qualify for SSI & SSP in California, that pays the HIGHEST in checks each month, and all the OTHER benefits on top of that, like MediCAL/MediCAID.
When you get another 40 Million MORE people on a NON-TAX Paying 'Entitlement' Program like SSI/SSP, it's going to collapse the U.S., just like when the Illegals owning and getting forclosed on their homes they bought.
The U.S. will NOT be able to sustain all the new legal's on SSI/SSP at all!
Obimdim will TRY to MAKE TAXPAYERS like ME pay, but it will NOT work.
He will probably strangle the life out of every single thing left to keep paying his "people" as this is the specific 'Entitlement' program that MOST of his "people" live on, SSI & SSP.
It's either AFDC-CalWORKS, TANF or SSI/SSP.
So, he will do EVERYTHING to keep paying them these SSI checks.
It will NOT work.
Then the collapse will happen.
But I suppose after I read this link: http://tinyurl.com/6m7ufd and this one: http://tinyurl.com/48htvg and this one: http://tinyurl.com/dhrk9k
These 3 URL's especially the first one I posted, show this is EXACTLY what O'Bom-bim wanted in the first place, so he can FORCE us into his Socialist/Marxist Global Universe Zombie's.
It's so easy for me to see.
I'm not an Economist, and all the blabber jaw of all the Politicians and Experts is silly and a waste of time to me, because it's all going to come down to one low-life thing--->>> SSI/SSP recipients.
They don't pay any taxes, they only take and drain like Locust/Leaches.
SSI was never meant to be a Lazy persons lifestyle that it has become. It was for very poor older people and very handicapped children.
Oh, it goes to these people, but it also is in 3rd place as the highest and fastest growing Entitlement program in the Nation!
To SEE an example of how many people live on SSI/SSP in California, go to: http://www.policymap.com
Click on SSI Recipients for 2007, nothing else at all, just the MAP for SSI Recipients.
Now, look at California, it's a Deep Dark Purple Color Code Number 5 Right? Now, look up at the Border with Oregon, or over at the Border with Nevada. What you SEE is the Color Code for any Other State besides California, is that the Color gets LIGHTER because there's Less SSI Recipients IN the Other States.
That's because California, has the 2-SSI check system. It ATTRACTS SSI recipients from All Over the US to come to California to get 2-checks all rolled into ONE from California, that pays the highest amounts.
There is absolutely NO WORK HISTORY required for SSI/SSP whatsoever. You NEVER have had to work a single day in your life to collect LIFETIME SSI/SSP checks!
This is also WHY all the workers are moving OUT of California. Like ME. And, I'm way, way up now, in far-Nor-Cal. BUT, there's nothing here but SSI's.
They are all "depressed" or have "anxiety" because of being an alcoholic or meth addict.
Oh yes, they CAN collect because they are "depressed" because they are an addict, but NOT because of Alcoholizm. Tricky huh, but they have PhD's in Collecting SSI checks for their ENTIRE Family Members, usually for LIFE.
Look around on the 1st of the Month. See all those Handicapped Placards on rear-view mirrors and license plates? MOST if not ALL those people you see, with NO TEETH, MORBIDLY OBESE are more than likely, SSI's.
They contribute NOTHING.