Category Archives: Uncategorized

Updated: ‘M’ Is For Moratorium (& Moron)

Economy, IMMIGRATION, Labor, Uncategorized

Any policy maker not a moron or a traitor will know what to do with respect to immigration, at a time of record unemployment among Americans. Since our representatives are almost all morons and certainly no patriots, the reality is that “Legal Immigration has Increased (YES—INCREASED!) During The Recession”:

“Any sane policy would reduce immigration as American unemployment rises. But Washington is not doing it. In the post-Crash year of 2009, the U.S. issued 1,130,818 green cards—an increase, from 1,107,126 in 2008 and 1,052,415 in 2007. In contrast, during the Great Depression from 1930-1939, we issued only 699,375 during the entire decade.

The 2009 total is the fourth highest number of green cards issued since 1914—behind 1990, 1991, and 2006. (And it is worth noting the bulk of the green cards issued in 1990 and 1991 were not given to new legal immigrants but to illegal aliens granted amnesty in 1986—so in terms of new arrivals, 2009 was actually higher.)

But most immigrant workers only create economic growth in so far as they lower labor costs for employers, possibly causing them to further invest. This effect is always much smaller than the jobs and wages immigrants take from Americans, to say nothing of the government services spent on them. However, with our record unemployment, even these marginal economic benefits disappear.

And in 2009, as always, most of the legal immigrants are low-skilled. Immigrants of exceptional ability, with advanced degrees, or investors make up a measly 8% of all immigrants combined. No doubt this has much to do with the system’s ongoing bias toward Third World immigrants through its ‘family reunification’ mechanism. Only 9.3% of all new green cards went to Europeans. In contrast, 14.6% went to Mexicans alone.

The obvious solution: a moratorium on immigration. …”

[SNIP]

To dilate on the last point about exceptional-abilities visas, read my VDARE article, “Why Aren’t The H1-B Hogs Satisfied With The O-1 “Extraordinary Ability” Visa? Oh, Wait A Minute…”

Update (April 22): Vrye Denker’s point is well taken. Refugee status or some other compassion-based visa should apply to all ethnic white South Africans. Farmers are certainly needed here. Farm workers too. However, US immigration policies—the family unification aspect—privilege Third-World “minorities.”

Updated: 'M' Is For Moratorium (& Moron)

IMMIGRATION, Labor, Uncategorized

Any policy maker not a moron or a traitor will know what to do with respect to immigration, at a time of record unemployment among Americans. Since our representatives are almost all morons and certainly no patriots, the reality is that “Legal Immigration has Increased (YES—INCREASED!) During The Recession”:

“Any sane policy would reduce immigration as American unemployment rises. But Washington is not doing it. In the post-Crash year of 2009, the U.S. issued 1,130,818 green cards—an increase, from 1,107,126 in 2008 and 1,052,415 in 2007. In contrast, during the Great Depression from 1930-1939, we issued only 699,375 during the entire decade.

The 2009 total is the fourth highest number of green cards issued since 1914—behind 1990, 1991, and 2006. (And it is worth noting the bulk of the green cards issued in 1990 and 1991 were not given to new legal immigrants but to illegal aliens granted amnesty in 1986—so in terms of new arrivals, 2009 was actually higher.)

But most immigrant workers only create economic growth in so far as they lower labor costs for employers, possibly causing them to further invest. This effect is always much smaller than the jobs and wages immigrants take from Americans, to say nothing of the government services spent on them. However, with our record unemployment, even these marginal economic benefits disappear.

And in 2009, as always, most of the legal immigrants are low-skilled. Immigrants of exceptional ability, with advanced degrees, or investors make up a measly 8% of all immigrants combined. No doubt this has much to do with the system’s ongoing bias toward Third World immigrants through its ‘family reunification’ mechanism. Only 9.3% of all new green cards went to Europeans. In contrast, 14.6% went to Mexicans alone.

The obvious solution: a moratorium on immigration. …”

[SNIP]

To dilate on the last point about exceptional-abilities visas, read my VDARE article, “Why Aren’t The H1-B Hogs Satisfied With The O-1 “Extraordinary Ability” Visa? Oh, Wait A Minute…”

Update (April 22): Vrye Denker’s point is well taken. Refugee status or some other compassion-based visa should apply to all ethnic white South Africans. Farmers are certainly needed here. Farm workers too. However, US immigration policies—the family unification aspect—privilege Third-World “minorities.”

Updated: A Political Takeover Of The Entire Financial Sector? (CHINA)

Barack Obama, Business, China, Debt, Economy, Government, Uncategorized

Writes Robert Bidinotto on Breitbart’s “Big Government” (the proprietor that was infinitely more forgiving about Bush’s big government):

As long as the Democrats continue to control Congress, we’ll have to endure an endless procession of initiatives for the federal government to take over industry after industry. Health insurance and college loans went under federal hegemony with passage of a single bill, known as “ObamaCare.”

Now, a new bill, referred to by the name of its chief sponsor, the ethically challenged Sen. Chris Dodd of Connecticut, aims to consolidate a federal takeover of the nation’s entire network of financial institutions.

As Peter Wallison of the American Enterprise Institute notes:

Does the bill, as [Republican Senate leader Mitch] McConnell said, “institutionalize too big to fail?” Of course. There can’t be any reasonable doubt about this. The bill authorizes the Fed to regulate all non-bank financial institutions that are “systemically important” or might cause instability in the U.S. financial system if they failed. . . .

The market will see immediately that the government has created Fannie Maes and Freddie Macs in every sector of the financial system where these large companies are designated for Fed regulation, including insurance companies, hedge funds, finance companies, bank holding companies, securities firms, and any other kind of financial institution the government wants to regulate. Since these firms will be too big to fail, they will be seen in the market—as Fannie and Freddie were seen—as ultimately backed by the government and thus safer firms to lend to than small firms that are not government backed. This will permanently distort the financial market, favoring large companies over small ones, and eventually force a consolidation of each market where these firms exist into a few large competitors operating under the benign supervision of the government.

In other words, this is another huge step toward fascistic corporatism, completing a de facto government takeover of today’s nominally “private” financial firms. These corporations would be reduced to the status of politically managed public utilities.

Professor Brad Smith of Capital University Law School stressed that latter point to me:

It’s important to note that this is not just about more bailouts, but it will be bailouts for the politically connected and favored. If the President and Congress think you are a “savvy businessman” (which means you support his party) you’ll be in the pink. But if you are a “corrupt Wall Street Titan” (meaning you don’t support his party) well .

Absolutely true. This is not only a federal takeover, but more specifically a political takeover of major financial corporations. Smith adds: “Republicans can rally public opposition if they get this message out there consistently.”

Ah, but therein lies the rub. The Dodd bill faces a cliffhanger vote in the Senate, perhaps as early as next week. And whether it passes in its current form may come down to the vote of a single Republican “centrist,” Susan Collins of Maine, who could thwart a successful GOP filibuster.

The repercussions of this legislation are as significant as ObamaCare. But even some Democrats are wavering on it. It can still be defeated.

I urge you to contact your two U.S. senators today. (And while you’re at it, make sure to send a copy of your message to Sen. Susan Collins of Maine.) Tell them to oppose the pending financial reform legislation, the so-called “Dodd bill.” Tell them it represents “crony capitalism” at its worst, putting taxpayers on the hook for guaranteed bailouts of any and all financial institutions deemed “too big to fail.”

Tell them that this will give unfair market advantages to big, politically connected corporations over smaller, politically unfavored competitors. And that, in turn, will completely distort the financial-services marketplace, creating the false impression that large, government-backed institutions—like AIG, Fannie Mae, and Freddie Mac—are inherently safer for investors and lenders than their smaller rivals. That can only encourage the consolidation of the financial-services sectors into a few gigantic monopolistic institutions, adding to the “moral hazard” problem of rewarding irresponsible businesses at the expense of their responsible competitors.

And you might want to add that we, the voters, will have the last word if power-craving members of Congress continue to imagine that they are “too big to fail” in November.

[SNIP]

Follow the links in Robert’s blog post HERE.

Update (April 19): Glenn Beck’s next milestone will be to quit the ranks of American Sinophobes, who “are fond of saying that the strength of the Chinese economy is derived from that government’s exploitation of its people.”

From “US In The Red And Getting Redder”:

The Chinese are ditching Mao for Milton, as Americans trust Oprah to pick their literature and leaders. Indeed China is changing. It is “out of the red” in more ways than one. The US is changing too: It’s in the red and getting redder. …
China has undergone considerable economic restructuring and market reforms, the consequence of which is a 300 million strong Chinese middle class. Poverty levels have receded from “53 percent in 1981 to 8 percent in 2001. Only about a third of the economy is now directly state-controlled. [Like the US] As of 2005, 70 percent of China’s GDP was in the private sector.” The Chinese financial system is duly being liberalized—banking is diversifying and stock markets are developing. Protections for private property rights are being strengthened as well.

Updated: ‘Don’t Bet On A Recovery’

Debt, Economy, Federal Reserve Bank, Inflation, Labor, Uncategorized

PETER SCHIFF CHALLENGES “those who fantasize about a consumer-led recovery to describe where the spending money will come from. Most consumers are tapped out, millions are unemployed, and home equity has been wiped out. The only reasonable thing for them to do is to pay down debt and sock away as much money as possible to rebuild their savings.

Beyond the question of ‘how’ the spending could be achieved, is the deeper question of ‘why’ such activity should be sought at all. Excessive spending, fueled by an insane housing bubble and catalyzed by reckless monetary and fiscal policy, was the reason that our current recession became unavoidable. Why would we want to go down that road again?

During the run up to the crash, excess spending had created economic distortions that have yet to be resolved. Too many resources, including land, labor, and capital, were devoted to servicing an unsustainable economic model in which Americans borrowed money to buy homes, products and services they really could not afford. In many cases consumer behavior was influenced by overly optimistic assumptions regarding real estate related riches.

However, now that the real estate bubble has burst, Americans are coming to terms with a more sober reality. Many have cut up their credit cards, dramatically reduced their spending, and have squirreled away as much money as they can. This change in behavior should necessitate a dramatic shift in the labor market as workers move away from jobs associated with consumer spending and toward jobs associated with real production, primarily for exportable goods.

The real problem is that monetary and fiscal policy designed to re-inflate the burst spending bubble is preventing this transition from taking place. As a result we are not creating the jobs we need to replace – the ones we have lost in mortgage servicing, home improvement, and real estate sales (which we never really needed to begin with). As these jobless remain unable to find alternative employment, our economy will continue to languish.

Some will argue that the new jobs created by government stimulus spending will provide the additional purchasing power necessary to revitalize consumer spending. There are two problems with this expectation. First, those jobs being ‘created’ by the government are outnumbered by those being destroyed by government domination of resources. Second, even if it were possible for job growth to return, having hopefully learned from their mistakes, workers will be far more frugal with their paychecks than they were in the past.”

The complete column is HERE.

Update: From the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics comes “THE EMPLOYMENT SITUATION — FEBRUARY 2010.” It’s not good.