If one speaks or acts with a cruel mind,
misery follows, as the cart follows the horse...
If one speaks or acts with a pure mind,
happiness follows, as a shadow follows its source.
the Dhammapada
Tweet of the Day
@realDonaldTrump is more willing to build an unnecessary wall with Mexico than a cheaper one around our exploding mandatory spending budget.
— Ronald Guillemette (@raguillem) September 15, 2015
Nativist researchers-in-name-only resort to "kaleidoscope statistics" in making a welfare state argument. http://t.co/r2uLR4YiPF
— Ronald Guillemette (@raguillem) September 15, 2015
Image of the Day
Stossel's Next Vote For President
Guest Post Comment: More than 90% of Middle East refugees in U.S. on some form of welfare
This is just so much nativist garbage one hardly knows where to start, but I'll start with the dishonest reference to the allegation (that comes from the editor) about 51% of immigrant households being on welfare. Anyone with a modicum of background in applied statistics and research design knows better than to reference the CIS study (which, of course, the editor doesn't even cite). The CIS study doesn't explicitly factor out relevant factors for family composition (including native spouses and children), family size, amount of distributions, income, etc. The facts of the matter are that unauthorized immigrants are ineligible for programs and immigrants are not eligible for 5 years. Nowrasteh of Cato Institute discusses CIS' apples-and-oranges methological problems (what I describe as 'kaleidoscope statistics") in earlier posts this month; CMS actuaries point out that unauthorized immigrants shore up senior entitlements by about 3/4$1T.
Let me close by quoting Nowrasteh: "This CIS analysis necessarily excludes the largest portions of the welfare state – Medicare and Social Security. Social Security and Medicare are not intended for the poor but they are the largest programs in the welfare state. An OECD analysis of immigration’s impact on the U.S. budget found that immigrant net-contributions to Social Security and Medicare from 2007 to 2009 vastly outweigh their net-consumption of means-tested welfare which decreased U.S. government deficits by about 0.03 percent of GDP."
My Greatest Hits: Sept. 2015
I'm mildly surprised that my other one-off posts didn't make it into the countdown. I've been working on a follow-up to the Rand Paul post.
- Miscellany: 9/07/15 Happy Capital and Labor Day
- Miscellany: 9/02/15
- Miscellany: 8/19/15
- Miscellany: 8/27/15
- How Can Rand Paul Make a Comeback in the GOP Presidential Race?
(FEE). “Without the reestablishment of freedom of migration throughout the world, there can be no lasting peace.” ~ Ludwig von Mises
Jeffrey Tucker is spot on. The freedom of migration is fundamental. If raw materials or components for my factory-produced gizmo are more competitively priced from external sources, I'm able to be more competitive in pricing my gizmo and maintaining my margins. Similarly, if the best gizmo engineers are located outside of the US, my hiring process should be unfettered. The State will find that its young, best and brightest will escape from prison until it embraces the principles of freedom.
Without borders we cannot define liberty from chaos.
This OP is a freaking statist. It's like saying there is no free market without chaos. The invisible hand is at play; we didn't have "chaos" with open immigration policies until WWI. What makes for chaos is anti-liberty policies. We had a functioning guest worker program that worked until the unions and xenophobes shut it down.
Choose Life: Daddy and Baby
Hillary Clinton Tries to Dance Around Emailgate
Last 10-15 seconds of the clip: I've lost my title of the world's worst dancer...
Political Cartoon
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| Courtesy of Gary Varvel via Libertarian Republic |
Lionel Richie, "Running With the Night". My personal favorite Richie tune.
