We Need an Immigration Stimulus... Which brings us to our own era, and the debate on immigration reform beginning this week with congressional hearings that include an appearance by former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan. President Barack Obama says he wants to address the issue by the end of the year.
So begins the media rehabilitation of Alan Greenspan: Sure, he helped cause the housing bubble and the mortgage meltdown, but now he's making it up for it by coming out on the side of truth and justice by being for immigration. He's an ideologue screw-up on everything else, but at least he's right about immigration.
How much you wanna bet that nobody at the hearing will ask him about the link between immigration and the mortgage meltdown? What link? Whoever heard of such a thing?
We've all been brainwashed so many time over the last 1 to 2 generations about how Diversity Is Our Strength that it was only natural for the Smart Money to see the flood of Diverse Immigrants into California, Arizona, Nevada, and Florida as a sure thing investment. The supply of land is fixed, but the demand for land in the Sand States keeps going up due to Hispanic immigration, so houses there must rise in price forever.
It usually pays to be skeptical about immigration reform, given the alliance between nativists and labor unions for tighter borders. Still, an economic downturn is the right time to move on immigration, one of the few policy tools that could clearly boost growth.
The pace of lower-skilled migration has slowed due to higher unemployment. This could make it less contentious to ease the path to legalization for the 12 million undocumented workers and their families in the U.S.
The Open Boarders crowd isn't even trying to make sense these days, are they? They just intend to muscle this thing through, babbling whatever nonsense it takes.
My published articles are archived at iSteve.com -- Steve Sailer
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37 comments:
They just won't let it lie:
With the current wealth destruction that we are seeing in the USA, we witness a concommitant destruction in the number of jobs available in the USA, as elementary economics, (note, however that 'clever' men like Greenspan and the WSJ editorial board, are 'too clever' for this little fact, they cite all sorts of 'clever rationalisms' like 'lump of labor' or 'dynamic stimulus'), tells us that in any economy 'wealth' and 'employmet opportunities' are really two sides of the same coin, the thickness of that coin being, literally, the money stock of the economy in question.
This should be an incontrovertible, elementary fact that is drummed into students ' heads the first day of Economics 101, as elementary as ABC to infants, or the law of gravity is to dynmaics.In fact, its one of the very few axioms of economics (the only axioms of economics worth a tuppenny damn are simple and obvious), that mean anything - all the rest is for the birds.
But no.The 'clever' people insist on trying to gull and deceive the masses of asses every day with their 'clever' theories which like the Emperor's new clothes, only the 'clever' can see.
If they deciive themselves , I'm not too sure, but would be frightened if any rational, intelligent human being, let alone seior policy makers, really, truly believe in this guff.
The tooth fairy has more credence.
Oh, and by the way Steve, it's 'borders' not 'boarders'.
'Boarders', are of course pupils at English public Private) schools who literally 'board' (ie recive food, bed and lodging) at the same fee-paying school.
'Borders' is the same term you use you your dahlia and daffodil beds.
WSJ and their partners in crime are just beyond the pale. The banksters, whom the WSJ et al routinely worship, have just pilfered several trillions from taxpayer pockets. Now that we have the tab, they are making money again, and handing out boni to each other. And tell us in the face they are doing well, as opposed to us suckers, ha ha. Greenspan should not be called to a hearing, but be standing in a court, handcuffed. That's about the only place he belongs. But since the politico's are dead-scared of the banksters (who pay their salaries), they cannot put even one in jail because then be extension they would have to clear out 90% of WS.
Seriously, if you consider the outrageousness of the bail-out heist, it makes sense that the WS shills in the WSJ would be so brazen to just pen down random shit and assume it would fly.
From a speech by Alan Greenspan June 10th, 1997
"Much of what we took for granted in our free market system and assumed to be human nature was not nature at all, but culture.... There is a vast amount of capitalist culture and infrastructure underpinning market economies that has evolved over generations: laws, conventions, behaviors, and a wide variety of business professions and practices...."
This speech was in reference to the failure of capitalism to take hold in Russia after the collapse of its centrally planned economy. But why not apply the same principles to the importing of an alien economic culture into the United States? No... that would make too much sense.
Anon,
re, 'boarders/borders.
When you think about it, 'boarders' is probably the more accurate term, except all fees are paid by the US tax payer!!
Richard...London
I get my news exclusively from NBC. They don't criticize Greenspan, Steve, so I can only conclude that you must have some personal axe to grind.
According to star NBC reporter Andrea Mitchell, the Legacy Media covers prominent politicos (such as Greenspan) without fear or favor.
I think that a few decades from now we, whoever "we" is, will see the immigration boom as yet another bubble; another bubble that Greenspan; and almost every politician missed; but that the American public saw clearly
The New American Elite (transnational global citizens) has utterly discredited itself and now comes the hangover after they served up their toxic stew of mindless social experimentation, soulless greed, wishful thinking and Marxist-Gramscian monkey wrenching.
Allowing this post-American crowd (fraudulent intellectuals, finance criminals, mainstream media thought police, Inner Party system behind both major parties) to run the country equates to national suicide, which was exactly their goal: Death of authentic America and birth of a new, transmogrified, fugazi America.
The common thread in our downfall is hostility from an alien elite to the principles of the United States Constitution. The New American Elite has held the heritage of the nation in contempt, and the results were predictable.
Notice the Urinal makes no mention of the current number of immigrants we already receive each year. It's north of 1.5 million people each year, legally and illegally.
Still, an economic downturn is the right time to move on immigration, one of the few policy tools that could clearly boost growth.
Yeah, let's see how that turns out.
If the potential for growth were there it would be happening. No one in their right minds thinks Obama is going to enforce immigration law, and quite a few people even think we'll have an amnesty. Any businessman is calculating that potential labor into his business plan. He assumes unlimited flow of labor from Mexico, if there's enough work to draw them here.
You're right, these people aren't even trying to make sense. They never have. And one of the ways they're not even making sense is by featuring Alan Greenspan in the immigration hearings. He's PR poison, and support for amnesty will drop with his appearance.
It is worth pointing out the demographic shortfall: Immigrants are a smaller proportion of the U.S. population than in periods such as the late 1890s and 1910s, when immigrants gave the economy a jolt of growth.
It's just like the journal to drag up a time period that no one alive can remember, and that thanks to our lousy school system few people remember anything about. "The 1890s and 1910s? That's the period that got 2 pages in our history books between the Civil War and World War I! Something about a bull moose?"
So here's some 1910s history for you: The UMWA decided to focus on the CF&I because of the company's harsh management tactics under the conservative and distant Rockefellers and other investors. As part of their campaign to break or prevent strikes, the coal companies had lured immigrants, mainly from southern and Eastern Europe and Mexico.
Half of Silicon Valley start-ups were founded by immigrants, up from 25% a decade ago.
Yes, and at least half of all Silicon Vally start-ups founded by Indians offshore a significant portion of their work to India.
Much of this activity is being done by foreigners who want to become economically successful Americans.
No, they want to become economically successful, full stop. They do not want to become Americans. They do not act like Americans, even when they have American passports. And when they do become economically successful here their charitable dollars are directed towards their home countries, not here.
Anonymous said...
"Oh, and by the way Steve, it's 'borders' not 'boarders'."I think it is apt: Prepare to repel "boarders."
So much better than: Prepare to repeal borders.
In defense of immigration, if we could get 20 million [or more] young, fertile Chinese Christians fleeing the Chicom's 1-Child policy, and another 20 million [or more] young Caucasians fleeing the onset of Sharia rule in Eurabia, then I'd say open the floodgates.
Along those lines, it sounds as though Andrew Lloyd Webber & his ilk are ready to emigrate.
PS: Did you know that as recently as 1973, Mao offered Kissinger 10 million Chinese chicks? For free? And that Kissinger turned him down?!?
Instead we got 40 million - oh, never mind...
"The supply of land is fixed, but the demand for land in the Sand States keeps going up due to Hispanic immigration, so houses there must rise in price forever."
This is what they always say in the real estate "industry" (assuming that flipping properties back and forth between customers may be characterized as such).
Of course, realtors aren't economists so they omit the always necessary ceteris paribus, "all other things being equal." In Detroit, they can't give their empty land away.
Hatefact: when you fill up land with marginal individuals and the bottom-feeding businesses that cater to them, individuals with high purchasing power no longer want to live there. Realtors used to understand this, but then the federal government outlawed such common sense as a thoughtcrime.
--Senor Doug
Immigrants in Japan are being paid to go back to their countries of origin:
http://finance.yahoo.com/career-work/article/106964/Japan-Pays-Foreign-Workers-to-Go-Home
What a novel idea. A ruling class that actually looks out for the interests of its own people.
"The supply of land is fixed, but the demand for land in the Sand States keeps going up due to Hispanic immigration, so houses there must rise in price forever."
The goal here seems to be to turn the entire United States into Manhattan, if only enough people can be found to accomplish it.
More from the Greenspan speech above.
"Economists have had considerable experience this century in observing how market economies converted to centrally planned ones but until recently have had virtually noexposure in the opposite direction. Ironically, in aiding in the process of implementing the latter, we are being forced to more fully understand the roots of our own system."
"Much of what we took for granted in our free market system and assumed to be human nature was not nature at all, but culture. The dismantling of the central planning function in an economy does not, as some had supposed, automatically establish a free market entrepreneurial system. There is a vast amount of capitalist culture and infrastructure underpinning market economies that has evolved over generations: laws, conventions, behaviors, and a wide variety of business professions and practices that have no important functions in a centrally planned economy."
A lot of that "vast amount .. underpinning" out market economy is in the process of disintegrating, and at the command of the libertarians, whose understanding of the market economy is minimal at best.
Miles here...............
Steve,
Ive got to say it. There is something we can do on blogs that we aren't doing, even though Ive floated the ballon before.
What companies and foundations are funding the immigration-blitz Steve? Who is donating to LaRaza and the other ethnic lobbies?
If right wing bloggers (hint) simply put the names of the companies and executives (Tyson Chicken, Goldman Sachs, Burger King, Jack Welch, Bank of America, Chase Manhattan Bank, Microsoft, Dell, just to name a few) who are pro-open borders and pro-Amnesty, readers of those blogs will know WHO NOT TO GIVE THEIR MONEY TO.
The fact Wall Street is making war on middle America is because middle America is not fighting back. They can't fight back without knowing who to withold their money from (like BANK OF AMERICA for starters). The lot of you guys who blog and have big followings could simply list in the right hand margin of your blogs what companies push for this..........................and the rest would simply follow.
Otherwise all we can do on blogs is gripe and hope those seeking refuge from the mania will notice it and say to themselves, "hey, thats what Ive been thinking for years, but was afraid to say aloud.....and they've backed it up with statistics". A half-decade post-amensty, when we are swamped and its ugly financially, you'll probably have a boatload of new readers newly unafraid of considering theretofore verbotten opinions on the migration subject, after its rather late in the game. Wall Street and the elite have been waging financial and social war on the regular American in earnest since 1988, its time the regular American can at least KNOW who not to buy from.
My opinion on the matter. Boy we are getting creamed............even a flu pandemic can't slow the prime movers behing the Nortre Americano Unitos and a deep recession (and a very cool spring) can't stop the carbon credit nonsense.
Wall street journal is out of touch with middle class concerns. It took a bombing in 1920 to wake up wall Street.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wall_Street_bombing
And let's not forget that the 1982 Greenspan Commission on Social Security "fixed" the system by vastly increasing taxes on the middle class -- effectively wiping out Reagan's tax cuts for the middle class. (However, Reagan's indexing of taxation kept the middle-class from being pushed even further into upper-income tax brackets).
The surplus SS tax money grabbed from the Baby Boomers was not invested, of course (a good thing; you don't want the feds controlling the equity markets). Instead, the dough was used to mask the size of federal deficits.
Oh yeah ... in 1974 Greenspan was appointed to head Nixon's Council of Economic Advisers, and held that post under Ford. Greenspan/Ford did nothing to stop inflation except the stupid WIN (Whip Inflation Now) buttons. The dollar kept declining and we ended up with Carter. If Greenspan had convinced Ford to return to the gold standard in 1975, Ford would have won in 76.
Greenspan is a walking, mumbling, economic disaster.
Another aspect of the foreclosure meltdown, which Steve has touched on, is the great restriction on new housing developments. My former O.C. Register colleague Steven Greenhut (another Steve!) has a new column with some perspective on that. Steve G. is an expert on land and politics, having written a great book, "Abuse of Power: How the Government Misuses Eminent Doman."
His new column:
http://www.ocregister.com/articles/bubble-global-warming-2375025-california-demand
I bet you Greenspan says something like, "let's screw the STEM's".
Isn't this what our host has called the immigrant "hair of the dog that bit us" ploy?
In defense of immigration, if we could get 20 million [or more] young, fertile Chinese Christians fleeing the Chicom's 1-Child policy, and another 20 million [or more] young Caucasians fleeing the onset of Sharia rule in Eurabia, then I'd say open the floodgates.
Damn! Even on this website we get doused with the immigration koolaid-- only the poisonous recipe is altered to accomodate sexual preferences or IQ junkies or whatever exception.
How about we "open the floodgates" right into your neighborhood? How about right into your kid's classroom? How about right into your local hospitals and health clinics?
Get it straight: Mass immigration is always used by big business as a battering ram against the native worker wage structure. It is union busting on a national scale.
Get it straight: America has had multiple extended immigration timeouts and PROSPERED.
Get it straight: The "We are all immigrants" or "We are a nation of immigrants" rhetoric is another Big Lie of the Left: Only about 5% of the total number of people who have ever lived in the United States of America have been immigrants.
Get it straight: The Gini coefficient (rich-poor gap) of a nation rises during mass immigration.
Ignorant immigration addicts and diversity addicts are a menace to society. Most are weak minded or just plain selfish degenerates. But some need psychological help, like the ones who actually use the phrase "thanks for being so diverse" etc. and write stories in bankrupt newspapers about "vibrant" neighborhoods where gang membership is rampant, the houses have bars on the windows and the trash piles up in the streets.
The backlash against this intellectual incoherency has only just begun.
Illegal immigration is just a symptom.
Globalism is the disease.
A real estate agent once told me something I will never forget, "the poor people have to live somewhere". He could also have said that rich people want to live around other rich people.
Lucius Vorenus said...
In defense of immigration, if we could get 20 million [or more] young, fertile Chinese Christians fleeing the Chicom's 1-Child policy, and another 20 million [or more] young Caucasians fleeing the onset of Sharia rule in Eurabia, then I'd say open the floodgates.
Lucius, are you mad? I don't want any immigrants from China. Second, There is no guarantee that we will do any better than Europe. Europe may fall to Sharia, but America may disintegrate into a several countries.
The New American Elite (transnational global citizens) has utterly discredited itself and now comes the hangover after they served up their toxic stew of mindless social experimentation, soulless greed, wishful thinking and Marxist-Gramscian monkey wrenching.
Allowing this post-American crowd (fraudulent intellectuals, finance criminals, mainstream media thought police, Inner Party system behind both major parties) to run the country equates to national suicide, which was exactly their goal: Death of authentic America and birth of a new, transmogrified, fugazi America.
The common thread in our downfall is hostility from an alien elite to the principles of the United States Constitution. The New American Elite has held the heritage of the nation in contempt, and the results were predictable.
Captain Jack Aubrey said...
Notice the Urinal makes no mention of the current number of immigrants we already receive each year. It's north of 1.5 million people each year, legally and illegally.
The actual number of immigrants is closer to 4 million a year.
Matt G. said
"What a novel idea. A ruling class that actually looks out for the interests of its own people."
The United States ruling class does the same. Except we aren't their people.
What companies and foundations are funding the immigration-blitz Steve? Who is donating to LaRaza and the other ethnic lobbies?
Try ALL of them. Immigration is one of the rare political isues where businesses all line up on the same side: cheap labor, more customers.
"Lucius, are you mad? I don't want any immigrants from China. "
Yes, he's mad. There a few commenters here that are just for laughs, really.
For the record - I'm not mad.
I'm someone who has actually studied the demographic record.
Even you cynics at iSteve [to include, as far as I can tell, Steve Sailer himself] have no earthly idea how bad things are about to become.
I'm actually starting to suffer from a great deal of insomnia as I run the numbers over and over in my head and continue to come up with the same catastrophic conclusions [except that the numbers and the conclusions keep getting WORSE].
If I can't figure out a way to start sleeping again, then I think I might have to try to adopt some sort of a "F*ck It" attitude.
Maybe move to Alaska.
Or the Australian Outback.
God, I wish I didn't care.
How I wish that I didn't care.
"This could make it less contentious to ease the path to legalization for the 12 million undocumented workers and their families in the U.S."
HA! There's the key right there..."AND THEIR FAMILIES." Thus 12 million immediately morphs in to something like 30+ million to legalize, plus the inevitable chain-migration which follows mass-legalization, which pushes that number even higher.
am i the only amused how MSM keeps turning to the same 'geniuses' for the same answers.
Rehabilitate Greenspan? Hah, he doesn't need it in their eyes. In their eyes he's help foster the 'new era' - an alien elite with almost complete control of this country.
Lucius, I've thought about Alaska too. Please, open a blogger account, post your numbers publicly and allow us to comment on them. If all of your work is confined to the comment section of Steve's blog we can only see part of what you are trying to sketch out.
To repeat: open your own blog and post the Numbers of Doom that you speak of.
"A lot of that "vast amount .. underpinning" out market economy is in the process of disintegrating, and at the command of the libertarians, whose understanding of the market economy is minimal at best."
What are libertarians doing to undermine our market economy?
"If right wing bloggers (hint) simply put the names of the companies and executives (Tyson Chicken, Goldman Sachs, Burger King, Jack Welch, Bank of America, Chase Manhattan Bank, Microsoft, Dell, just to name a few) who are pro-open borders and pro-Amnesty, readers of those blogs will know WHO NOT TO GIVE THEIR MONEY TO."
THIS IS A GREAT IDEA. I DO NOT THINK THAT ALL COMPANIES GIVE MONEY TO THE OPEN BORDERS CROWD (ALTHOUGH HAVING WORKED WITH IMMIGRATION-RESTRICTIONIST NON-PROFITS IN DC I CAN SAY THAT OUR SIDE IS EXTREMELY UNDERFUNDED RELATIVE TO THE OPPOSITION). I THINK COMPANIES CAN BE DISTINGUISHED ON THIS MEASURE. THERE MAY BE COMPANIES THAT GIVE TO GIVE TO IMMIGRATION-RESTRICTIONIST ORGANIZATIONS AS WELL. THIS WOULD HELP PEOPLE KNOW WHERE TO SPEND THERE MONEY.
No Lucius is not mad. Because white women are so reluctant to have babies, we need to have some high-IQ immigration to balance off all of the low-IQ immigration from third-world countries.... It is all about keeping America a civilized country.No. It's about keeping our self alive.
Matt G.'s article is interesting, since, as it notes, Japanese policy was formerly to encourage these people - diaspora Japanese - to immigrate.
I wonder just how numerous these immigrants are and what their average level of education is.
No. It's about keeping our self alive.
Exactly.
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