With the commentariat excited by French economist Thomas Piketty's argument that the rich dominate the political and intellectual processes and keep the masses from organizing to promote their own interests, it's worth looking through the Forbes 400 to see how many billionaires are publicly active in promoting more immigration v. how many promote less:
Donors and activists -- Here are just some of the more famous richest billionaires who are particularly active in pushing more immigration:
1. Bill Gates -- Yes, he's part of Mark Zuckerberg's FWD.us group that buys TV commercials for politicians who support the Schumer - Rubio amnesty bill. -- Centrist Democrat
4 and 5. Koch Brothers -- Libertarian Republicans
10. Michael Bloomberg -- Bloomberg has publicly endorsed his Deepdale Country Club employing illegal immigrants to take care of the greens and fairways. -- Centrist Democrat
11. Sheldon Adelson -- His newspaper is staunchly in favor of deporting illegal immigrants. Oh, wait, that's his Israeli immigrants. In the U.S., he wants cheaper maids for his hotels. -- Republican
19. George Soros: Donated $100 million for pro-immigration groups. -- Liberal Democrats
20. Mark Zuckerberg -- Founded huge money pro-immigration lobby FWD.us -- Centrist
30. Rupert Murdoch -- Republican
35. Laurene Powell Jobs -- Don't know about her politics but she sleeps with former Democratic mayor of Washington D.C.
So, whatever their nominal political affiliations, billionaires are vastly more likely to be activists on the more immigration side. After all, it's hard to think of a billionaire who would benefit from immigration restriction.
Others fall in the category of vocal supporters:
2. Warren Buffett -- "Making an economic case for a pathway to citizenship, Buffett said Sunday that the reform package should "certainly offer [undocumented immigrants] the chance to become citizens" to deepen the talent pool of the labor force."
3. Larry Ellison -- In Ellison's defense, I can only find a few quotes where he says it would be smart to let in more smart immigrants. In general, I'm starting to like Larry more as he ever more embodies the James Bond Villain Lifestyle he's carved out for himself. He's less of a scold than most of these guys.
There are lots of others, like the Waltons, who seem pretty conservative but whose donations, if anything tend more toward pro-immigration groups. From the perspective of the Walmart heirs, presumably, more illegal immigration is more fresh meat.
Now, what about members of the Forbes 400 who support immigration restriction? Surely, out of 400, there are some billionaires who have unfashionable opinions and don't mind others knowing about them
Well ... yes, yes there are. Not many ... but some!
There have been a couple of candidates:
#134 Ross Perot, age 83 -- I can't find too much online, but yeah, I have the general impression that during his remarkable run for President in 1992, he wasn't enthusiastic about illegal immigration
#134 Donald Trump, age 67 -- had some good things to say when considering tossing his hat in the GOP ring
Meg Whitman waffled on the subject, saying she pretty much agreed with her opponent, Jerry Brown, while running for governor of California.
And I've found two guys between 301 and 400 on the Forbes list who are known to have actually given money to immigration restrictionist organizations. I'm not going to give their names because the Brendan Eichizing of America is proceeding apace.
Donors and activists -- Here are just some of the more famous richest billionaires who are particularly active in pushing more immigration:
1. Bill Gates -- Yes, he's part of Mark Zuckerberg's FWD.us group that buys TV commercials for politicians who support the Schumer - Rubio amnesty bill. -- Centrist Democrat
4 and 5. Koch Brothers -- Libertarian Republicans
10. Michael Bloomberg -- Bloomberg has publicly endorsed his Deepdale Country Club employing illegal immigrants to take care of the greens and fairways. -- Centrist Democrat
11. Sheldon Adelson -- His newspaper is staunchly in favor of deporting illegal immigrants. Oh, wait, that's his Israeli immigrants. In the U.S., he wants cheaper maids for his hotels. -- Republican
19. George Soros: Donated $100 million for pro-immigration groups. -- Liberal Democrats
20. Mark Zuckerberg -- Founded huge money pro-immigration lobby FWD.us -- Centrist
30. Rupert Murdoch -- Republican
35. Laurene Powell Jobs -- Don't know about her politics but she sleeps with former Democratic mayor of Washington D.C.
So, whatever their nominal political affiliations, billionaires are vastly more likely to be activists on the more immigration side. After all, it's hard to think of a billionaire who would benefit from immigration restriction.
Others fall in the category of vocal supporters:
2. Warren Buffett -- "Making an economic case for a pathway to citizenship, Buffett said Sunday that the reform package should "certainly offer [undocumented immigrants] the chance to become citizens" to deepen the talent pool of the labor force."
3. Larry Ellison -- In Ellison's defense, I can only find a few quotes where he says it would be smart to let in more smart immigrants. In general, I'm starting to like Larry more as he ever more embodies the James Bond Villain Lifestyle he's carved out for himself. He's less of a scold than most of these guys.
There are lots of others, like the Waltons, who seem pretty conservative but whose donations, if anything tend more toward pro-immigration groups. From the perspective of the Walmart heirs, presumably, more illegal immigration is more fresh meat.
Now, what about members of the Forbes 400 who support immigration restriction? Surely, out of 400, there are some billionaires who have unfashionable opinions and don't mind others knowing about them
Well ... yes, yes there are. Not many ... but some!
There have been a couple of candidates:
#134 Ross Perot, age 83 -- I can't find too much online, but yeah, I have the general impression that during his remarkable run for President in 1992, he wasn't enthusiastic about illegal immigration
#134 Donald Trump, age 67 -- had some good things to say when considering tossing his hat in the GOP ring
Meg Whitman waffled on the subject, saying she pretty much agreed with her opponent, Jerry Brown, while running for governor of California.
And I've found two guys between 301 and 400 on the Forbes list who are known to have actually given money to immigration restrictionist organizations. I'm not going to give their names because the Brendan Eichizing of America is proceeding apace.
Why would anyone rich enough to be on the Forbes list give a big rat's ass about being on any PC shit list?
ReplyDelete""""Larry Ellison -- In Ellison's defense, I can only find a few quotes where he says it would be smart to let in more smart immigrants. In general, I'm starting to like Larry more as he ever more embodies the James Bond Villain Lifestyle he's carved out for himself. He's less of a scold than most of these guys.""""""
ReplyDeleteGood to know about Ellison.
Doesn't Larry Ellison kinda resmeble that Chechen who's like also lead a colorful lifestyle? The one who is very much PRO Putin?
Judging by the pictures they could almost pass for twins or at least distant cousins.
Larry Ellison vs Chechen Leader name momentarily escapes me ought to do a Pay Per View Wrestling bout or something. Those two really should get together.
Darn! What IS that Chechen dude's name. Really resembles Larry Ellison though. And he too has definitely lived the high life.
"And I've found two guys between 301 and 400 on the Forbes list who are know to have actually given money to immigration restrictionist organizations. I'm not going to give their names because the Brendan Eichizing of America is proceeding apace."
ReplyDeleteSending the SPLC on a wild goose chase like that? Clever.
Would've been classier on your part to have just stated Lauren Powell Jobs is a professed Democrat who is/was in a relationship with the Democratic mayor of DC.
ReplyDeleteI suspect that people who have that much money consider themselves citizens of the world, and really don't give a rip about the petty competitions among the the peasants.
ReplyDeleteThiel at 314 is well-known to have donated to NumbersUSA. I doubt he cares what the SPLC thinks. This is the dude who wrote: http://www.cato-unbound.org/2009/04/13/peter-thiel/education-libertarian
ReplyDeleteI read somewhere that Richard Mellon Scaife funds the Center for immigration studies but he's only worth 1.2 billion. What a pov.
ReplyDeleteOn the other hand, perhaps immigration restrictionists need to do a better job appealing to billionaires.
ReplyDeleteAdrian Fenty and Laurene Jobs--she's mega-rich and white, but incapable of producing more children. I don't know what that makes Fenty to the Roissy-sphere.
Filthy traitors.
ReplyDeleteWell, that officially digs the grave for immigration restriction in the USA. The Elite are behind mass immigration. And the Elite get what they want.
ReplyDeleteNot necessarily. The elites are for gun control, too.
DeleteRemember, folks. There are only two respectable opinions to have on immigration to America:
ReplyDelete1. Mass immigration
2. Open Borders
Anything else makes you a racist/fascist/elitist/eugenicist.
>>Carol said...
ReplyDelete"""I suspect that people who have that much money consider themselves citizens of the world, and really don't give a rip about the petty competitions among the the peasants.""""
Until these global citizens suddenly find themselves trapped in the middle of 2 and 3rd world uprisings or even in the middle of a revolution a la Michael Corleone in Godfather PT 2.
Bet they quickly give a rip then.
Koch brothers are not libertarians. Not by Rothbard or Mises standards, not even by Hayek standards. They are crony capitalists who use the GOP and govt for their own benefits.
ReplyDeleteThis is lovely.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/04/18/university-of-michigan-affirmative-action-brooke-kimbrough_n_5174029.html
I don't know Larry Ellison, but his kids are smart and awesome and I highly approve of them throwing their money around Hollywood.
ReplyDeleteBillionaires don't need to exert themselves overly hard in promoting mass immigration, they have their bitter class enemies on the left to do it for them - and all for free!
ReplyDeleteWhy it's almost as if the rest of us had been played.
Davos morality.
ReplyDeleteLaurene Jobs has been a very vocal supporter of open borders. Peter Thiel is, prssumably, the one you referenced who's given money to restrictionist groups. That's well-known, too.
ReplyDeleteI think opposing immigration would be harder for a billionaire than for others. If you're in the business of cutting deals with other billionaires, you may find that business would dry up if you vocally favored less immigration. Also, very few people become billionaires by accident. They become one because either they, their former spouse, or their ancestors were very good about looking out for number one. That doesn't incline one to be much into sacrificing for the good of the country or the middle class.
Well, you could always attack Larry Ellison because he hates "Black People"... after, has he EVER given anything to South Shore High School in Chicago? On the other hand, has James Watson, Suze Orman or Mandy Patinkin ever given anything to South Shore? Maybe there's not enough Jews left there to even merit a single penny perhaps?
ReplyDeleteIt is way past time to be able to save anything via immigration restriction or (paleo)conservative ballot box victories.
ReplyDeleteThe last chance was early 90's, and a string of defeats for the good guys, like passage of NAFTA sealed the fate of this nation.
Right now, just let it burn and prepare yourself and your progeny for whatever comes next. And something will be coming next because the current situation is unsustainable (and unreformable).
Withdraw as much support as you can, in ways big and small to let this ilk choke on their own mess. Don't be the good burger picking up litter, don't martyr yourself contribute your efforts to supporting a civilization that is not intended for you any more than being a vehicle to extract your gifts and distribute them to others. Don't step in to save the affirmative action hire. Don't volunteer. Withdraw while rendering the minimum that one must to Caesar.
You are the folks that make this civilization possible and hence a target for parasitism. The sooner you withdraw civic virtues, expertise, anything other than the minimum necessary to extract wages and wealth, the sooner it will decline (which is going to happen anyhow no matter how much you work against it).
Be smart, start preparing for the next act. Think what a kulak or Russian nobleman should have been doing around 1900 or so.
The importance of racially sensitive political correctness in all of this cannot be overestimated. A short while ago when Pelosi said "Republicans" opposed "immigration reform" because of race, there was the usual scrambling to deny this. You also see the same thing very often in comment threads -- the issue is "amnesty", not ethnicity.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, the unspoken agenda here should not be forgotten: the US faces the huge problem of a falling worker/retiree ratio that makes entitlements (SS, medicare) due baby boomers, who are now beginning to retire en masse, unpayable. They figure to fix this problem by importing millions and millions of workers. Without paying too much attention to where the jobs for all of these people will come from.
As an aside, any recovery in the housing market has been partly due to hedge fund type outfits paying cash for homes in order to rent them out (and securitize debt based on the income) -- eg the Blackstone Group is now the largest single family landlord in the US. In the absence of more working buyers, you have to wonder what will happen to prices when baby boomers start selling their homes en masse in order to finance their retirements -- many of them are counting on this.
3. Larry Ellison -- In Ellison's defense, I can only find a few quotes where he says it would be smart to let in more smart immigrants. In general, I'm starting to like Larry more as he ever more embodies the James Bond Villain Lifestyle he's carved out for himself. He's less of a scold than most of these guys.
ReplyDeleteAnybody who tries to build a replica of the 16th Century Japanese emperor's house is either pretentious beyond belief or just the most stylish, coolest cot of a Bond Villain in the world.
And of course 16th Century Japanese emperors were silly sock puppet figureheads and lived in constant fear of the various Daimyos and Shoguns. If that's what Ellison fancies himself, have at it!
Koch brothers are not libertarians. Not by Rothbard or Mises standards, not even by Hayek standards. They are crony capitalists who use the GOP and govt for their own benefits.
ReplyDeleteVery well said.
The blogger 24ahead.com refers to the Koch brothers hold on much of the Republican party and the more dimwitted Tea Party elements , think Freedom Works, as the "Kochtopus".
However one really good thing about the David H. Koch fund is that they have helped PBS's science programing like NOVA finally move away from the Cultural Marxist legacy of the likes of Stephan Jay Gould.
If you think that is good, check out what lewrockwell.com and economicpolicyjournal.com have to say about the Koch Brothers!
DeleteSpeaking as a libertarian, calling the Koch brothers libertarian is like calling George w bush or McCain a conservative.
The Widow Jobs is now a major backer of Common Core type Marxist boondoggles intended to close the gaps while being funded at taxpayer(ie white people's) expense .
ReplyDeleteHooking up with Adrian Fenty as testimony to her PC bonafides is both predictable and hilarious. Can't wait for double segment 60 Minutes and PBS Frontline profiles of the future reining Queen of the Upworthy.
Will Hilary name Mrs Jobs "Education Czar" in her administration?
Contemporary neuroscience tells us that people who self-identify as liberals tend to have a greater volume of gray matter in an area known as the anterior cingulate cortex, which enables a person to be more comfortable in uncertainty. Self-identifying conservatives tend to have a larger right amygdala, making them more aware of possible threats or impending harm. Both types of people are needed for a well-functioning society, a democracy. And to have one without the other leads to tyranny. My guess is that contemporary entrepreneurial minds-- the billionaires and one-percenters-- are closer to the former. The industrialists and capitalists who helped build this country were closer to the latter. And the middle class which made this country strong was a healthy distribution of both. With the elimination of the middle class, and this new entrepreneurial or cognitive elite class dictating our political and social policy, I can say, from the bottom of my larger right amygdala, it will not end well.
ReplyDelete[Billionaires] become one because either they, their former spouse, or their ancestors were very good about looking out for number one. That doesn't incline one to be much into sacrificing for the good of the country or the middle class.
ReplyDeleteBut so many of them contribute massively to left-wing causes, so they obviously don't mind throwing money around. It's striking that few, if any, support real conservatism. Even the billionaires that are conservative, like John Malone, direct their philanthropy to schools or hospitals--general, non controversial stuff. On the other hand, look at how Tom Steyer has almost single-handedly managed to stop the Keystone pipeline. Or look at the "Four Horsemen" in Colorado--Pat Stryker, Jared Polis, Tim Gill, and Rutt Bridges--super-rich leftists who have pushed the politics of the whole state leftward.
My favorite billionaire/immigration story is that fat Australian heiress, whose name I can't recall, who said that 'Australians need to be more like Africans, who are willing to work for $2 a day.'
ReplyDeleteWhoa komment kontrol, even a backahanded reference to the French Revolution gets black holed now?
ReplyDeleteI never met Larry Ellison himself but I used to know a couple of the early founders of Oracle. They couldn't stop talking about him.
ReplyDeleteJames Bond villain indeed.
Albertosaurus
Well, the Koch brothers are the biggest problem they fund Tea party groups or politicians and while the Tea Party based is opposed the Koch money has influence.
ReplyDeleteDavid Brooks just wrote a wildly ridiculed article on Piketty. Looking at it I saw this. When I think of Brooks I think of hipsters....
ReplyDeletehttp://tinyurl.com/l8mc8n4
Enjoy!
"Making an economic case for a pathway to citizenship, Buffett said Sunday that the reform package should "certainly offer [undocumented immigrants] the chance to become citizens" to deepen the talent pool of the labor force."
ReplyDeleteSure! By scoring above 600 math and verbal on the english language SAT. All others repatriate.
Interesting to look at the list and see that most did earn their fortunes and didn't inherit as say Sam Walton's descendants did. Lauren Powell Jobs of course didn't earn her fortune. Trump comes from a real estate/development family, but he surpassed his dad. Don't enough of the Koch Brothers history to know how big the business was before they came into it.
ReplyDeleteIt's not like they can have the profile that goes with top o' the Forbes list and say something different without fear of drawing the lightning. If Gates had been publically anti immigration when he first became No.1 on rich list, would he even be in top 10 now.
ReplyDeleteBuffett sees the long term trends. Look at the foundations (Carnegie, Ford ect). Those turning the foundation's financial hosepipes on the immigration expansionists are not capitalists.
There is only one thing that causes the elite to lose control, a serious foreign policy threat. "SIMMS shows how both winners and losers were preoccupied, more or less effectively, with enhancing their economic capacity and administrative efficiency in order to withstand external pressure, or to exert it. Sometimes the domestic changes were revolutionary:"
The American revolution was motivated by a desire to expand and tackle the " threat of French and/or Spanish control of the continental heartland." Getting on for a half of Andrew Jackson's speeches as president were about foreign policy.
Germany has always been the key. Germany is now, and for the first time, without unfriendly states on it's borders, so it has no need to participate in checking Putin. they are building windmills and scrapping nuclear power. And Merkel is temperamentally and politically for a totally pacified Germany.
The US thinks economic sanctions will work because they think Russia is like the US run by billionaires , but the difference is Russia sees itself as under threat. So there is the prospect of Putin triumphant or at least defiant against the US's will, and N. Korea nuking up its missiles, which all makes for the US looking weak. There may be an opportunity for a patriotic appeal including immigration restrictionism getting the backing of the masses. However, such an appeal can't be isolationist. There has to be a promise that the US will effectively assert itself in the world
"Why would anyone rich enough to be on the Forbes list give a big rat's ass about being on any PC shit list?" - social networks.
ReplyDeleteActually, employers deciding where to produce the next generation of widgets may not need to look to the South. Plenty of factory jobs in Northern states—even in the former high-wage stronghold of auto—are already “competitive.”
ReplyDeleteFord’s flagship Dearborn Truck plant outside Detroit, for example, contracts non-union workers to do inspection and repairs—long the coveted jobs, that workers could get only with many years’ seniority—at $10 an hour with no benefits.
That’s more than the Chinese average now, but less than what’s projected for 2015.
Brad Duncan, who worked at the plant last year, said it seemed like dozens of small companies were involved. Many pay people as “independent contractors,” he said, and are essentially fly-by-night operations.
“I worked for 10 bucks an hour with no overtime for around 66 hours a week,” Duncan said. “Then I’d get laid off for a week or more at a time with no notice.”
At a GM plant in Lake Orion, Michigan, north of Detroit, contractors hire young third-tier workers at $10 an hour or less to gather parts for assemblers, work done very recently by GM employees.
These kids are union members, though they don’t have a contract yet. The United Auto Workers convinced the contractors to let them organize the workforce through card check.
“There are more people there handling parts than building cars,” said Dan Theisen, a plant electrician.
Many of the union assemblers are themselves second-tier workers paid less than the U.S. manufacturing average, with wages of $14.60 and no pensions.
“It makes it hard to do anything for the second tier when the third tier is so bad,” said Theisen, a dissident who’s spoken against lowering GM wages.
- See more at: http://labornotes.org/2011/08/next-low-wage-haven-usa#sthash.Qnyh2ifq.dpuf
>Would've been classier on your part to have just stated Lauren Powell Jobs is a professed Democrat who is/was in a relationship with the Democratic mayor of DC.<
ReplyDeleteNo. Classy is the two of them getting married.
"Lauren Powell Jobs of course didn't earn her fortune"
ReplyDeleteOh, I imagine you could say that about Mrs. Bill Gates, but Mrs. Steve Jobs?
Will Hilary name Mrs Jobs "Education Czar" in her administration?
ReplyDeleteWho is this Hilary guy?
Hillary is still the chick's version of the name while Michele has become the rich version of Michelle causing quite a bit of confusion in countries where there are Latin origins of languages.
"Making an economic case for a pathway to citizenship, Buffett said Sunday that the reform package should "certainly offer [undocumented immigrants] the chance to become citizens" to deepen the talent pool of the labor force."
ReplyDeleteI apologize for belaboring this point, but no one has ever proposed to make them citizens. The proposals are always to make them super-citizens with all sorts of preferences, privileges, and immunities that White Americans don't have.
Anyway, the unspoken agenda here should not be forgotten: the US faces the huge problem of a falling worker/retiree ratio that makes entitlements (SS, medicare) due baby boomers, who are now beginning to retire en masse, unpayable. They figure to fix this problem by importing millions and millions of workers. Without paying too much attention to where the jobs for all of these people will come from.
ReplyDeleteThat canard won't fly anymore since it is no secret that a big chunk of the newcomers are net tax consumers who will only exasperate the problem you mention. If needing more workers to pay SS was the primary reason for immigration, then it would be easier to encourage the native population to have more children than to import unassimilable third worlders. After all the natives are already acclimated to the society, and it would be more efficient to pass laws and policies that were more indusive to them having kids.
The driving force behind mass third world immigration is demographic change to water down the local populations to make them easier to control.
Whoa komment kontrol, even a backahanded reference to the French Revolution gets black holed now?
ReplyDeleteWhy don't youstart your own damned blog instead of whining about komment kontrol?
... There may be an opportunity for a patriotic appeal including immigration restrictionism getting the backing of the masses. However, such an appeal can't be isolationist. There has to be a promise that the US will effectively assert itself in the world
Whiskey, that's you posting under another name, isn't it?
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/04/18/university-of-michigan-affirmative-action-brooke-kimbrough_n_5174029.html
ReplyDeleteWow - even at HuffPo, 90% of White commenters think it's ridiculous to have different college admission standards for different races.
ReplyDelete"Lauren Powell Jobs is a professed Democrat who is/was in a relationship with the Democratic mayor of DC."
eeewww
Fenty's wife was better looking but got tired of his abuse. Why would Mrs. Jobs even want his nasty ass?
weird
Why would anyone rich enough to be on the Forbes list give a big rat's ass about being on any PC shit list?
ReplyDeleteBecause they're human beings, and human beings would rather, ceteris paribus, be liked? The better question is why would anyone rich enough to be on the Forbes list give a rat's ass enough about the causes that might land them in hot water to violate the taboos? Meaning, people need a reason to rebel, not a reason to conform.
Not necessarily. The elites are for gun control, too.
But there's no money in gun control, and lots and lots of money in gun rights.
It is way past time to be able to save anything via immigration restriction or (paleo)conservative ballot box victories.
The last chance was early 90's, and a string of defeats for the good guys, like passage of NAFTA sealed the fate of this nation.
As you suggest, there's a lot of room between the extremes of the ballot box and the gun. E.g., the gov't could not resist a determined tax revolt by whites, even a substantial minority of whites. The gov't could not resist mass sit-ins, sit-downs, or other passive resistance movements by a substantial minority of whites. The Amish didn't get their waiver on social security (I think I have that right) by voting, or shooting; they got it by all being willing to sit in jail cells until they got their way.
There has been a debate in Canada lately on a related topic and the CBC is going to use its weekly call-in show to discuss it:
ReplyDeleteIs there a place for temporary foreign workers in Canada's economy?
Temporary Foreign Workers: Businesses say they want them because they do the work Canadians refuse to do. But some Canadians say they've been denied work or even fired because of them.
They've compiled a whole bunch of links to relevant news stories at the link as well.