I love those who yearn for the impossible.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
The Chained Immigration Kerfuffle
Former Governor Jeb Bush, often cited as a 2016 hopeful, oho has a Latino spouse and whose son George P. Bush is reportedly eyeing a Texas land commissioner post, has a special interest in immigration; he co-authored a good WSJ op-ed. Some selective takeaways:
- The best way to prevent illegal immigration is to make sure that we have a fair and workable system of legal immigration.
- It is not [immigration] law enforcement but the law itself that is broken.
- The nature of the border-security problem has evolved.
- The driver of immigration policy is "chain migration." Since the 1960s, the vast majority of legal immigrants have come pursuant to a very broad definition of "family reunification"—which includes not only spouses and minor children but parents and siblings. Family preferences account for two-thirds of all legal immigrants, crowding out work-based immigration and placing increased pressure on social services.
- There is no "line."
- For most aspiring immigrants, the only means of legal admission to this country is an annual "diversity lottery" that randomly awards visas to 55,000 foreigners. There are roughly 250 applicants for each visa every year. The absence of a meaningful avenue of access increases the pressure for illegal immigration.
- The U.S. needs workers of all types.The birthrate in this country has fallen below the level necessary to sustain the population at the very time that millions of Americans are leaving the workforce and expecting retirement benefits. The nation needs energetic young workers to spur the economy and support an ever-increasing social-welfare burden.
- America especially needs high-skill workers.
Bush has a nuanced approach; he opposes "amnesty". Clearly equal protection principles apply to those whose access is limited to the "diversity lottery" without access to a US border. He doesn't really address a temporary worker program. I do find it curious that in the context of family-based immigration he doesn't call for an expansion of visa quotas.
A Reason.com contributor Shikha Dalmia takes exception to the chain migration argument, noting it can take 10-15 years for each birth family member of a new citizen or spouse given visa backlogs. He also suggests this issue undermines the GOP family values issue. However the argument against extended family migration seems to be nitpicking. Maybe a new citizen can't sponsor an aunt or cousin directly, but he can sponsor his parents whom can in turn sponsor their daughter (whom in turn can sponsor her own family).
I'll simply point out the Barbara Jordan Commission specifically addressed chain immigration and there might be alternatives to a path to citizenship, e.g., granting legal residency for older parents. As for the "hypocrisy" on family, it's hard to argue an adult (versus minor) child or sibling deserves special consideration above other adults competing on skills.
I'll simply point out the Barbara Jordan Commission specifically addressed chain immigration and there might be alternatives to a path to citizenship, e.g., granting legal residency for older parents. As for the "hypocrisy" on family, it's hard to argue an adult (versus minor) child or sibling deserves special consideration above other adults competing on skills.
Ronald Bailey, Were the Luddites Right?, Thumbs UP!
I recently referenced an AEI blogger whom noted that education and healthcare were sorely in need of productivity increases. Edward Luce penned a related column titled Obama must face the rise of the robots. You see a flood of neo-Luddite fear-mongering about workers displaced by technology. Mark Perry of Carpe Diem, among others, points out that our country was predominantly agrarian and only a tiny percentage of overall workers are involved in agriculture. As goods and services become more inexpensive, more discretionary income becomes available for other uses.
My favorite passage focuses on the recently published work of two MIT scholars (Race Against the Machine):
Brynjolfsson and McAfee make more concrete recommendations. First, they suggest more investment in education. That is a bit puzzling, since earlier in their book they note that the education sector "lags as an adopter of information technologies." Even more oddly they don't wonder why that might be. (Two words: government monopoly.) They do, however, recognize that the rise of online schooling could have a big beneficial impact on upgrading labor force skills. They also advocate reforms such as aggressively lowering the barriers to business creation, resisting efforts to regulate hiring and firing, decreasing payroll taxes, decoupling benefits from jobs, not rushing to regulate new network businesses, streamlining the patent system, and shortening copyright terms. Such sensible reforms should be adopted whether or not technological unemployment is a problem.Venezuela's Overvalued Currency
Venezuela is increasing the official fixed rate of bolivares to dollars by nearly 50%; however, the unofficial rate has been four times the official rate. Venezuela has experienced heavy inflation, which, according to the Chavez opposition, is due at least in part to profligate spending. The black market serves to work around the central bank, in part to provide a hedge against a weakening currency. (An overvalued currency can result in drawing down reserves of the pegged currency. For example, one could arbitrage the discrepancy in theory by exchanging bolivares for dollars from the bank, and exchanging those dollars on the black market. Venezuela tries to protect or stretch its dollar reserves by qualifying currency transactions, e.g., imports.) The depreciation increases the amount of bolivares in oil export profits which can be applied against Chavez' massive fiscal debts. Chavez has also instituted price controls on various goods which hurts foreign suppliers and exacerbates shortages in the economy. How Chavez retains influence in South America given the sorry state of Venezuela's economy is beyond me.
Political Cartoon
I have some concerns about the vulnerability of female POW's (but I believe we should be pursuing a foreign policy which minimizes the risk of POW's). What bothers me is that public discourse about the military has more to do with political correctness than, say, military modernization and replenishment. Doesn't anyone doubt we'll soon hear liberals pushing for the first female or openly gay Chief of Staff, etc.?
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| Coutesy of Chip Bok via Reason |
The Supremes, "Stop! In the Name or Love". Familiar readers know that I love the Hollies' early-80's remake of this pop gem.
