[Pages 74-98]
Now that
the 6 billion hungry mouths in the developing world yearning for American jobs,
have been explored, it’s time America faced up to the other numbers
reality — unsustainable population growth
within the U.S. In the last century (1900 – 2000)
the U.S. population more than tripled growing by more than 205 million people.1
Currently the U.S. population is around 311 million people and conservative
projections, based upon current policies, are that by 2050 the U.S. population
will explode to more than 439 million people.2 It is the equivalent
of 48 more cities in the U.S. the size of Chicago.3 With that as the
impending reality, the first question that comes to mind is ‘what are the
environmental and ecological realities of that many humans living within the
borders of the U.S.?’ Despite all the efforts, all emerging technologies and
all future technologies to come to reduce a human’s carbon footprint, Americans
will continue to have the largest footprint of any inhabitants on Earth. Forbes
reported in November 2011 that half of the U.S. population now live in places
where the air is sometimes unfit to breath, due in large part to “lots of
people and too many cars”4 The article ranked our nation’s capitol
region as No. 16 on a list of cities with the worst air quality and
Bakersfield, CA as the worst in the nation.5 L.A. is of course near
the top of the list, but if you want to see the future, look south to Mexico
City which has one of the worst air quality measures in the entire world.
Whether it
is in Washington, D.C., Los Angeles or Mexico City, pollution, poor air quality,
environmental degradation and the destruction of “Mother Earth” comes from too
many people. Even though that is an undeniable absolute fact that is beyond any
discussion whatsoever, there exists within America a huge incongruent paradox in
thought regarding population management and the environment. No matter how hard
America may try, no one claiming to be an “environmentalist”
concerned for “Mother Earth,” can simultaneously advocate for open borders and
continued legal immigration numbers at the present rate. It is just not
possible to hold both mindsets within an informed logical brain . . . it’s just
that simple and straightforward. No matter how much anyone wishes to argue
otherwise . . .
While our
“homegrown” environmental issues from over population are immense due to the
highest fertility rate in the modern industrialized world, the impact upon both
the U.S. and world’s environment from
immigration into the U.S. is exponentially far worse. The
reason is quite simple: new immigrants become Americans and adopt American
consumption patterns. Just by measurements of chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) alone [a.k.a.
ozone depleting emissions], no one calling themselves an environmentalist can
advocate for any measure that increases our U.S. population by immigration.
When you multiply by other environmental measures coupled with the extremely high
fertility rates of new immigrants — the environmental impact of new arrivals
into the U.S. equates to a looming environmental nightmare.
A breakout resource exists below that details the environmental impact of the
top 10 nations immigrating into the U.S. but let’s take India as just one example currently in
the top 10 to get an idea of the environmental impact. The following is a
detailed listing of each environmental arena, by percentage of increase, from just 31,165 people moving from India into the U.S. in 1991.6
CFC
Production 11025%
Energy
Consumption 3236%
Cattle
Production 73%
Fish
Production 443%
CO2 (Industrial) 2457%
CO2 (Land
use change) -37%
Methane
Production 252%
Freshwater
Production 321%
Fertilizer
Production 452%
Pesticide
Consumption 2307%
Car Usage 32350%
Defense
Spending 10510%
These
statistics are certainly no knock against new immigrants from India and the numbers are pretty much the
same for all arrivals into the U.S. from emerging nations. From an
environmental perspective, upon arrival, people from emerging nations
assimilate and grow giant carbon footprints just like their fellow American citizens.
Whether the U.S. can continue to absorb more legal
and illegal immigrants into our economy will be explored momentarily, but what
is not in question is that our planet simply cannot handle 439 million
Americans at any time in the foreseeable future.
Just the
issue of fresh drinking water alone dictates that we cannot continue upon our
present path of U.S. population growth. The carbon foot
print and global warming consequences alone of that many people portend an
environmental nightmare, but such unsustainable growth will also deliver lower
wages, higher taxes, degraded public education and infrastructure along with the
looming water and food shortages. Most, if not all, of those implications are
already coming to pass, are apparent today and could not be more blatantly
obvious for the decades ahead. Take all the population issues we face at
present and multiply that by 130 million more people by 2050 — then ask the
question, ‘is that an alluring vision of America that provides quality of life
and economic opportunity or instead does it portend the coming of a horrible
poverty and environmental nightmare?’ The answer to that question is clear . .
.
Clearly, no
data, statistics and trends herein point more toward a bleak economic future
for America and Third World existence more than our looming
overpopulation explosion. How a nation with a university system that is the
envy of the entire world [with the science of population studies extremely well
established] can be on the path toward Third World quality of life via overpopulation —
defies all logic and sanity. Even a novice in the arena of population studies,
completely lacking in intellect, can look at the continent of Africa, nations such as India and Pakistan and clearly see the environmental
and economic implications for America. Nonetheless, all rational,
intellectual and sane voices warning of the horrific consequences of overpopulation
have been muzzled via antiquated historical context, religion, party politics
and playing of the xenophobia and race card.
Since
manipulation of xenophobia and the race card are the most contentious and
emotionally charged, the day has arrived for America to confront these two issues head
on and address them squarely. America is a nation of immigrants and our
cultural diversity is one of our greatest strengths. That fact and history have
no bearing whatsoever upon the implications and science of population studies
that clearly dictate horrific consequences ahead, such as: an imploding
economy, an environmental wasteland and eroding quality of life associated with
an exploding U.S. population. Even though it is an
undeniable fact that a significant number of Americans are xenophobic and
racist . . . that fact has nothing
whatsoever to do with the mature science of population studies and the
environmental impact of too many humans.
The two
sets of facts are completely unrelated! Neither set of facts have any bearing
whatsoever upon the other and tying the two together is absolutely 100 percent illogical.
Overpopulation leads to starvation, lack of both economic opportunity and
quality of life — no matter the color of one’s skin or nation of origin.
Furthermore, given the existing economic disadvantages for both brown and black
Americans, overpopulation simply creates an even higher wall that has already
entrapped far too many in a never ending cycle of intergenerational poverty.
No matter
the forces driving overpopulation within the U.S. be they legal and illegal immigration
or poor and pregnant — the economic disadvantages and quality of life issues
disproportionately impact brown and black Americans more than any races — by an
extremely wide margin! The median household net worth by race in America is $113,149
for whites, $5,677 for African Americans and $6,325 for Hispanics. Advocating
for population growth via legal or illegal immigration simply increases
competition for jobs — most especially in minority communities who already have
the highest unemployment percentage and rates of poverty. As of June 2011 the
unemployment rates for African Americans was 16.2 percent and for Hispanic
Americans it was 11.6 percent — while the unemployment rate for white Americans
was 8.1 percent.7 While roughly 31% of all U.S. workers experienced
unemployment or underemployment at some point in 2009 — the rates were
higher for African-American and Hispanic workers, at 36% and 41%, respectively.8 Whereas
only 14.3 percent of white children had an unemployed or underemployed parent
in 2010, 25 percent African-American and Hispanic children had an underemployed
parent in 2009.9
As a
result, 2010 marked the first year in our long history when the majority of
children living in poverty [37.3 percent] were Latino while 30.5 percent were
white and 26.6 percent were black.10 Hispanic children living in
poverty had the steepest increase of any ethnic group, growing from 4 million
in 2005 to 6.1 million in 2010.11 Reasons given by the Pew Hispanic
Center was “a product of their growing numbers, high birth rates and declining
economic fortunes.”12 Of the 6.1 million Latino children living in
poverty, more than 66 percent [4.1 million] are children of new immigrant
parents, a direct result of high birth rates among Hispanic immigrants.13
As you
trace the minority unemployment trend downward by age and
education levels the percentage of unemployment rises markedly. Now consider
that only 55 percent of U.S. born African Americans and 54 percent Hispanic
Americans (ages 18-29) have a high school diploma and ask yourself if this
segment of society needs even more job competition?14 Clearly nothing
could be more blatantly racist, cruel and inhumane, not to mention ignorant and
shortsighted, than to pile more uneducated poor on the top of America’s
minority citizens. Of eligible workers of all races, up to age 24, a record 51
percent were unemployed as of the summer of 2011.15 As with all
unemployment numbers, the percentage of black and brown youth in this
percentage is far higher that for white youth, but as a whole far too many of
those under the age of 24 are unemployed, disengaged, disenfranchised and
seething with frustration and anger. If you think it is a minority issue or an
education issue alone, think again America. As of the summer of 2011, more
than 250,000 recent college graduates were unemployed and an untold number are
“flipping burgers” or some other menial task.16 Together with the
uneducated and unskilled who are unemployed or flipping burgers, these young
Americans make up a cauldron of unrest that is just waiting to boil over upon
America. It’s the same frustration and anger that the world watched play out in
the U.K. riots in the summer of 2011, the flash mob phenomenon we’re now
beginning to see at increasing numbers in the U.S. and the Occupy Wall Street
protests that began in the autumn of 2011.
Those in America playing the race and xenophobia card
in regard to immigration, most especially illegal immigration, couldn’t be any
more racist and disingenuous toward brown and black American citizens . . .
most especially the youth. Instead of pivoting to confront the issues driving
poverty and unemployment, Party B and civil rights groups in their blood thirst
quest for political power . . . do everything possible to pour gasoline upon
the fire by adding even more numbers of ill equipped, uneducated new immigrants
on top of starving American citizens at the low end of the socio-economic
ladder . . . most especially brown and black American citizens. These people
are already drowning economically, their children are living in poverty and instead
of tossing them a life preserver, Party B’s solution is to toss them into an
ever larger pool of job competition to ensure they drown economically.
The primary
modus operandi being utilized to both acquire political power and to starve those
at the bottom of the socio-economic ladder is of course: the race and
xenophobia card. Nothing else could have the power to silence all intellectual
and rational voices in regard to the immigration issue more than the emotionally
charged issues of race and xenophobia. At every turn, in every discussion the
immigration issue is allowed to be reduced to playing of the race card. It’s
simply a fact that illegal immigration comes mainly from the south instead of
from Canada. Since the majority of Americans
would also oppose Canadians immigrating illegally into the U.S., does that make those Americans
racists since most Canadians are white? Since a large proportion of Canadians
speak French, would anyone opposing tax dollars to produce government documents
in French be labeled as racist? Of course not and no one ever makes that
charge, but if illegal immigration comes from the south or tax funded
accommodations are made for Spanish and you oppose it . . . you’re labeled a
racist?
This is the
U.S., a nation of laws and one of those laws is against
illegal immigration into the U.S. Forget about English as the official language
of America, English is the “language of
commerce” [a.k.a. the official language] for everyone on the entire planet.
Whether it should be that way is neither here nor there . . . it’s reality and
the way it is. For that reason, more people in India speak English than in the
U.S., yet taxpayer dollars are utilized to accommodate Spanish in America?
Absolutely Spanish should be the No. 1 second language of all Americans [right
ahead of Mandarin which we’ll need when we are annexed by China]. Nonetheless, to make it in the U.S. economically you must learn English
instead of expecting the U.S. to take on the expense of making
everything bilingual to accommodate Spanish. Nothing states that reality more
emphatically than the 6.1 million Latino children living in poverty.
The
solution by the radical right is to simply tell all non English speaking
Hispanics to learn English as if most have the money and the freedom to go to
night school. The time has arrived for all Americans to realize that “we” have
a major economic problem without a workforce that speaks English. The solution
is to take all the taxpayer dollars currently being utilized to produce
government documents in Spanish, quadruple the money, add in a billion more and
then offer “English as a second language” courses ABSOLUTELY FREE OF CHARGE
to anyone and everyone that is willing to attend . . . no U.S. citizenship required! Make the
opportunities to learn English available 24/7 to accommodate any schedule,
provide childcare for attendees, tutoring and provide the classes via the
Internet and every means possible to remove the language barrier as an economic
impediment for economic success in America.
Look no
further than Canada where it is a law that every single
communication [to include both the private and public sector] websites, printed
documents, tax documents, advertising, manuals, etc. must be produced in both
French and in English. Billions and billions of public funds and corporate
profits [a.k.a. competitive economic disadvantage] are flushed down the toilet
each year in Canada just to humor one small population
segment within Canada. That is exactly the direction that
America is heading . . . write it down and watch it come to
pass unless you stop it. It’s not a race issue, it’s an economic issue 100% and
American must come to terms with this economic obstacle and arrive at workable
solutions . . . instead of falling prey to race baiting tactics that exasperate
the problem even further.
Multiculturalism
and our rich diversity of second languages learned, taught and spoken
throughout America are part of our national heritage.
When Italians migrated into the U.S. we didn’t accommodate their
language, nor have we begun to accommodate Mandarin which may actually be a
really good idea the way our economic fortunes are heading. It is blatantly
discriminatory to accommodate Spanish because it economically handicaps those
that do not speak English. What economic chance would any American have in China if they did not know how to speak
and write Mandarin? None! Zero! Yet we expect a population that is already
economically disadvantaged to be able to survive and excel in America without being able to at least
speak English? By accommodating and handicapping those that only speak Spanish,
too many Americans believe they’re being compassionate. Where is the compassion
in relegating someone to a lifetime inability to make it economically in the
U.S. by not doing everything possible to teach English as a second language to
anyone and everyone that is willing to learn? Without such efforts, we’re a
nation that is simply stamping the word “POOR” on these people’s foreheads and
thrusting them into the bottom of an American caste system for life. If that is
anyone’s idea of justice and equality then move to India where a caste system is well
established.
No where
are such efforts more critically important than at the preschool level. We must
enable children from homes, where Spanish or some other language is the
predominate language, to get a leg up in acquiring English language skills that
will be critical to their academic success. To continue to nothing and cut
spending on such education programs, places these children behind the academic
learning curve and in all likelihood relegates them to a lifetime of poverty.
What chance does a child in America have that shows up for the first
grade without being able to understand English? If they are held back a year to
learn English, then so be it. Sending any child to the next grade that is not
grade level competent in English is a crime, yet we have high schools in America where half the students don’t speak
English. How can non English speaking parents help with homework or communicate
with teachers about their child’s academic progress?
The charge
of racism in regard to language skills, legal and illegal immigration is
nothing more than a straightforward and extremely obvious manipulation ploy.
The intent is to transform what should be an intellectual, objective discussion
of overpopulation and economic opportunity into an emotional race-charged
shouting match. Why the race card ploy gets played in regard to illegal
immigration is simple: it works by playing upon Americans’ sense of justice and
equality for all. Where is the potential for equality and justice if English
competency is not required?
Let’s be
extremely clear and emphatic about one thing . . . there is no justice and
equality to the “racial profiling” that is taking place in Arizona and other places in America. Even if we had little green men
from Mars walking around America who obviously are here illegally —
it would be a violation of their civil liberties within a free society to
arrest them because they are green and short. Anyone in America that condones racial profiling to
remove illegal immigrants couldn’t be anymore un-American. By that same
yardstick, anyone that believes in justice and equality for American citizens
cannot condone illegal immigrants living in a society as second class humans
existing in the shadows. Allowing them to enter and work within the U.S. victimizes them more than anyone
via horrible wages, exploitation, poor living conditions and a lack of rights
afforded legal new immigrants. It drives down all wages for everyone in the
lower socio-economic pool of workers and becomes a massive tax drain upon public
resources such as schools, healthcare and social services. It is literally
bankrupting America economically and academically with
a ball and chain around our nation’s ankle as we struggle to compete in a
world-wide economy . . . a battle we’re currently losing. To see where it is
leading, look no further than the Greek debt crisis, driven in large part by
both legal and illegal immigration and the road ahead for America is clear. They too were led by the
shrill voices screaming racism, xenophobia and human rights in an atmosphere
that disregarded the fiscal costs and red ink brought about by massive
unregulated immigration numbers.
Between
2008 and 2010 alone, 1.1 million new immigrants landed jobs in the U.S., as
reported via a study conducted exclusively for Reuters by the Center for Labor
Market Studies by Northeastern University.17 During that same
period, U.S. household employment declined by 6.26 million.18 More
than 35 percent of those 1.1 million new immigrants were undocumented workers
and the reason they got hired, instead of legal citizens being hired, is simple:
low ball pay along with no healthcare benefits and basic payroll taxes being
paid for these workers.19 Access to an illegal workforce simply makes
legal American workers more expensive and less desirable.20 So
instead of reducing the 6.26 million number who lost jobs during that period by
more than 17 percent to 5.16 million, America added 1.1 million new mouths to
feed in addition to their high fertility rates. The overwhelming vast majority
of these 350,000 illegal immigrants went directly into the competition pool for
jobs among the working poor in America who, as of 2009, already numbered
well over 30+ million.
Reuters
concludes that the ongoing immigration explosion is “creating a deeper domestic
labor glut at the bottom of the workforce ladder, depressing wages and
sharpening already widening income disparities.”21 The Reuters
article adds, “. . . such a finding could add to calls to tighten up on illegal
immigration. But much of it is Hispanic and the growing Latino vote is a key
base for Obama’s Democratic Party.”22 Obviously, Reuters concludes
the same thing that all Americans with a brain already know — Party B is
willing to put their party strength and election prospects ahead of the
economic well being of American citizens at the lower end of the socioeconomic
spectrum [a.k.a. sacrificing the poor upon the alter of poverty to get votes].
No matter how many American citizens are unemployed or how many are starving .
. . Party B [it seems] cares only about the political power gained from starvation,
unemployment and poverty being created by illegal immigration into America.
The primary
blame is not on the shoulders of the 350,000 undocumented workers who came
during this period, but with the employers who hired them. As long as employers
can hire and exploit cheap undocumented labor they will. It reduces wages for U.S. citizens and those authorized to
work in the U.S. and forces undocumented workers
into the shadows where they are forced to work for slave wages. According to a
study by the Pew Research Center, the number of illegal immigrants
living in the U.S. in 2010 was 11.2 million. More than
8 million of those illegal immigrants are in the U.S. workforce, a number that comprises
5 percent of the entire American workforce.23 In other words, the unemployment
rate could be drastically cut without illegal workers taking jobs from American
citizens among the working poor. Nonetheless, the fringe left and the media
write articles, manipulate studies and continue to contend that new immigrants
do not take jobs from American citizens. They cite the extremely rare instances
where “get tough” state immigration laws result in labor shortages as if that
proves something. Here is what such articles and studies prove: 1) employers in
America at the low end of the labor pool aren’t paying enough to get their
missions accomplished 2) employers in America have been exploiting the illegal
labor pool to drive down wages far below the level of a living wage and 3)
employers can either pay enough to get the job done, without using illegal
labor, or they can suffer the business consequences. The fringe left and media
contrived propaganda is simply not true and anyone with the guts to examine the
numbers knows that it is a baseless ploy being manipulated for political power
and media eyeballs a.k.a. money. When employers are quoted in articles stating
‘I can’t find anyone to work’ what they are really saying is they can’t find
anyone to work for slave wages and paying a living wage will hurt their
profits.
Clearly,
the issue of both legal and illegal immigration is first and foremost an
economic issue. A massive inflow of new immigrants, to the tune of well over a
million every single year, [be they legal or illegal] is simply an economic
burden America can no longer afford going forward. Nonetheless the fire hose of
race baiting in regard to illegal immigration continues primarily under the
cover of “Hispanic advocacy” simply because the inflow is from the south. The
insidious race-based propaganda serves only three purposes: 1) it locks even
more Hispanic American citizens, at the low end of the socioeconomic ladder, into
a never ending cycle of poverty 2) it creates a larger bloc vote for Party B
and voice for Hispanic civil rights groups who are both disingenuous in their
concerns about the poor — as evidenced by their continued efforts to dump even
more job competition upon both brown and black America and 3) it guarantees a
continued flow of cheap labor to America’s employers and exacerbates downward
pressures on earning power for our American citizens most in need.
While no one in Party B has ever
bothered to ask the poor and working poor about the negative economic impact that
immigration [most especially illegal immigration] has upon their financial
lives . . . how about the opinions of Hispanic citizens? If you listen to the
shrill voices of the fringe left, Hispanic civil rights groups and all the
national media — Hispanic Americans are portrayed as too unsophisticated to
understand the basic concept of supply and demand economic theory. The reality
is far different however, with 31 percent of Hispanic Americans seeing the
negative impact of illegal immigration upon their lives.24 While 30
percent are ambivalent, only 29 percent see illegal immigration as a positive.25
Fewer than seven in ten native born Hispanics say immigrants strengthen
America.26 More than 61 percent say that illegal immigration is
caused by a lack of adequate immigration enforcement.27 Why Hispanic
America is presented by both the media and civil rights groups as one
monolithic voice in favor of illegal immigration — speaks volumes about the power of the media
and advocacy that’s only focused on gaining more political power instead of
answering to the economic needs of brown American citizens.
If America learns nothing else from this book,
one thing is clear . . . the political class will do anything and sacrifice the
economic wellbeing of any American [with the exception of the mega-rich] in
order to hold power, gain power and control the flow of money into and out of Washington,
D.C. While Party A is obviously oblivious to the economic needs of the poor,
Party B is willing to manipulate starvation for political power and money by
playing the role of “poverty pimps.” Ask yourself the question, where Party B
would be if the economic playing field in America was more leveled and upward
mobility existed for all Americans? What if there was no need for welfare or
unemployment checks, what political party would suffer the most? Where are the
unrelenting, concerted efforts from Party B to begin re-leveling the economic
marketplace in America to correct the massive wealth
disparity that now exists, most especially for our nation’s minority population?
All good questions, don’t you think . . . particularly appropriate when
filtered through the highly fractured race card prism being manipulated only
for political power and money.
Any
American that claims to be an advocate for the poor, who favors continued immigration
at the present level [be it legal or undocumented] can only be either
uninformed about population issues or disingenuous as to their true
motivations. With millions unemployed, many starving already and wages stagnant
for decades — who is it that suffers the most with continued out of control
immigration numbers at the present levels? Demand for workers has fallen off a
cliff and it will remain that way beyond a decade and far into the future.
Therefore increasing the supply of people available for an every fewer number
of jobs is about as logical as pouring gasoline on an already raging fire.
To be
extremely clear, at the low end of the economic ladder, the issue is about too
many people already competing for an ever shrinking number of jobs. The jobs
that do exist pay little or nothing simply because humans in this segment of
the labor pool are as plentiful as grains sand. The numbers issue is a supply
and demand economic issue and time has finally arrived for all Americans still
wearing rose colored glasses to be forced to look at the real numbers along
with the economic implications for America . . . instead of being divided along
racial or political party lines. So here are the numbers as of the 2009 reality
in America:
- Almost 26 percent of the entire
workforce, 30+ million people in America are among the “working poor,” which
in 2009 was an income of $21,654 for a family of four. Their average wage
was $8.31 per hour.28
- Some 56.8 percent are white,
14.2 percent are black and 23 percent are Hispanic.29
- Only slightly more than 36
percent of the working poor even graduated from high school.30
- Almost half of the working poor
are under 44 years of age which means that for at least the next 20 years
or more [at a minimum] there will always be at least 15+ million available
low wage workers.31
- More than 21 percent of the
working poor are foreign born.32
- More than 96 percent of the
working poor are employed in only three industry segments: Services, Trade
and Retail.33
Now, in
view of these absolutely horrific numbers that represent hunger, malnutrition
and a cycle of devout poverty that most, including their children, will never
escape — how can any rational and compassionate American advocate adding to the
30+ million working poor in this nation via unrestrained legal or illegal
immigration? A number already needlessly ballooned by more than 21 percent of
the working poor who were born outside the U.S. [2+ in every 10]. To call such
advocacy “compassionate” is so sick, so warped and so depraved that it is
unconscionable to do so via “race baiting” or political party power objectives.
The actual numbers simply do NOT lie, but the race baiters and the politicians —
only interested in votes instead of what is best for America’s poor and working poor citizens —
do lie every single day! If the competitive pressures from overpopulation are
removed from the working poor, their income levels rise by simply reducing the
supply of people to the ratio of jobs that exist. That puts more money into the
economy while helping to pull the working poor out of poverty. The vast
majority of America’s economic problems stem from
consumers not getting a real paycheck that enables them to spend a dime beyond
what is needed for food, shelter and transportation and that can be radically
changed by simply reducing the number of people available for low wage jobs.
Instead of low wage workers competing for jobs, we need employers competing for
workers by paying a living wage.
It doesn’t
take a crystal ball to foresee at least a couple of decades in massive federal
and state cutbacks in social services, aid to the poor, the number of teachers
and strains upon our healthcare system and infrastructure. Therefore, how in
good conscience can any compassionate advocate for the poor be behind
increasing the percentage of the working poor in America by 21 percent year after year via
foreign birth? Who is going to pay the way for these people? Where are they
going to work? How are they going to support their families? How are they going
to be educated? Where are the billions and billions of dollars in federal
programs, education, social services and medical care supposed to come from to
support well over 6 million foreign born members of the working poor in America already? How much higher would the
wages of the working poor be if there were 6 million less people competing for
their jobs? These are all questions for the fringe left to answer as well as
owning up to the fact that a permanent class of poor Americans meets the power
objectives for Party B. All difficult questions to confront and an ugly
political reality indeed, but the time has come for Americans to face the truth
and address the realities of what continued population growth from immigration
really means in the long run instead of for the next election cycle.
As
documented repeatedly throughout this book, we are a nation ruled and guided by
extremist ideologues where the majority voices of sanity in the middle are
never heard. Perhaps nothing demonstrates the two ideological extremes more
than the fringe left and radical right approaches to poverty in America. From bashing the unemployed as
druggies wanting a free ride, while telling them to get off their posteriors
and find a job [when no jobs exist], to accusing anyone poor in America of
being lazy and of poor character . . . the radical right clears their
conscience of any duty whatsoever to the drown trodden in America. As if that
were not callous and misguided enough by itself, they play the religion card via
the abortion issue to ensure that “poor and pregnant” is the norm, rather than
the exception.
Cutbacks in
planned parenthood funding and restraints in sex education efforts do nothing
but add to the rolls of poverty and the U.S. population. While fueling the rolls
of poverty, the radical right berates welfare mothers and utilizes the budget
deficit to kill what little is left of any social safety net in America. Nothing could be more cruel and
schizophrenic than to exacerbate the issue of poor and pregnant with some
unrealistic abstinence mindset while killing off any means and assistance for
survival or a route out of poverty such as education and job training.
No matter how
malnourished, listless and uneducated the poor in America may be . . . finding the energy and
unlocking the mysteries of performing “the sex act” are apparently no obstacles
to success. If you don’t have cable TV or the Internet, what better way to pass
the time than sex? Expecting or preaching abstinence is about as realistic as
keeping kids out of the cookie jar.
For the
poor and uneducated, the very basic concept that no money should = no children
or far fewer children is not understood along with birth control 101. High
birthrates correspond directly to lack of educational attainment, but you have
to question the educational attainment, intelligence and basic common sense of
anyone that believes the teaching of abstinence is a replacement for birth
control and sex education? If we are to have any hope of population control and
economic prosperity in America, planned-parenthood and birth
control assistance through adequate funding must be available to everyone, most
especially the poor!
The
emerging mindset of the radical right to cut planned-parenthood and birth
control assistance funding — while lamenting the rise in welfare mothers and
drain the poor place upon our society — couldn’t be anymore callous and
illogical. Surely all adults, even the radical right, know where babies come
from and how they are created. Surely they understand that children of poverty
are ill equipped and poorly prepared to enter schools that are already crumbling.
While teachers and education spending are easy scapegoats for poor academic
performance, the truth is that lack of family stability and structure is the
No. 1 issue leading to failure of our education system. When educators and
political leaders talk math and science and a prepared American workforce, they
seem clueless in addressing the poor and pregnant issue that is leading to the
systemic failure of our public education system.
As of 2011,
of the top 34 “developed nations,” American students rank 14th in
reading, 17th in science, 25th in math and 25 percent of
America’s eighth graders cannot read at grade level.34 Yet, parents
that chose to deliver children into poverty and Americans as a whole want to
abdicate their individual responsibilities to educating America and lay all the
blame on teachers. At the same time, the media yearns to portray American
children as “computer geniuses” because they can play video games. In truth,
parents are raising illiterate children who can’t even add and subtract, while
they are being horribly mischaracterized in the media as “little computer
whizzes” . . . when in reality, unfortunately, a dunce cap is a far more
fitting depiction for far too many. While disintegration of the American
family, single parenting, etc. are a driving force in our failing schools, it
is “poor and pregnant” more than any other factor that is destroying our public
education system.
With both
the fringe left and radical right totally out of touch with U.S. population issues and Main Street reality, such as: a failing
education system, massive unemployment and ballooning poverty in America — let’s review some U.S. history just for nostalgia.
Everyone in America is familiar with the famous quote
on the Statue of Liberty that reads, "Give me your tired, your poor, Your
huddled masses yearning to breathe free.” These inspiring words are from a
sonnet written by Emma Lazarus in 1883 that was bronzed and mounted in the
Statue of Liberty in 1903.
While such
prose and wonderful sounding words evoke images of the American flag waving in
the wind, the sound of the Star Spangled Banner playing in the background and
immigrant families arriving upon our shores at historic Ellis Island . . . a lot has changed since 1903.
The most notable change is that American citizens are now the “tired, poor
huddled masses.” In 1903 we were still a relatively new nation, the industrial
revolution required people power by the millions to engage in the manufacturing
process that grew our nation into an economic power house that was once the
envy of the world.
In the late
1970s America and the world in general began a
massive transformation known then as the “computer age,” known now as the
“information age.” To enumerate the economic impact of this transformation —
not to mention the grossly misguided idea along the same time period that America could be transformed into a
“service sector only economy” — is impossible within the breath of this book.
In short, the world turned, mistakes were made and as a nation we have yet to
grasp and understand the new economic reality we now live within. Namely, the
larger a nation’s population becomes the more challenging it will be going
forward to provide good jobs, economic opportunity and food a.k.a. “quality of
life.”
Most, if
not all, modern industrialized nations who are able to support both a large
middle-class and quality of life for that middle-class have a smaller
population than the U.S. Most, if not all, nations with
greater upward mobility than the U.S. have a smaller population. All the
nations on Earth that have overwhelming poverty and massive starvation, such as
India, Pakistan and the continent of Africa have one issue in common — overpopulation.
It is true that in Asia,
for instance, the numbers of “middle-class” people are growing at a rapid pace,
however don’t confuse “middle-class” in Asia with “middle-class” in the U.S. Even a lower middle-class existence
in America is opulent and extravagant when
compared to middle-class existence in most of Asia. They are moving from a hut to an
apartment while Americans are now moving from a house to an apartment . . . en
route to a hut. The reasons are many, but one of the primary drivers without
any doubt is overpopulation within America that increases job competition and
lowers wages.
Nonetheless,
in America we’re still clinging to some wildly
antiquated idea that we can take in all the “tired, poor huddled masses” of the
world and survive. Just as misguided and related is the idea that a nation with
less than 5 percent of the world’s population can float every economic boat on
Earth or intercede in every human rights or Third World poverty issue. We can’t even deal
with the poverty issue in America, much less the rest of the world.
The world has changed, yet our thinking in regard to immigration has not. We’ve
taken a wonderful idea and completely ruined it by indulging insane excess that
is killing the America Dream for everyone. In 1903 not only did we need
millions of new immigrants to build out a manufacturing economy, but we could
also afford the population influx via an explosive growth in GDP. Today, there
is zero economic advantage to a larger population if that population is
not “gainfully employed” and paying taxes instead of paying no taxes and
drawing welfare checks.
The Ellis Island images of poor families
disembarking ships and setting foot on America soil are so ingrained into the America psyche, that far too many believe
that the realities that existed in 1903 still exist today. Namely that a family
can still step onto American soil, learn a new language, find jobs and become
contributing members of the U.S. economy. That was true in 1903, but
today it is nothing more than nostalgia a.k.a. a lie perpetuated by the media to
grow eyeballs, the mega-rich to keep labor costs low and to grow a larger
voting bloc for Party B. Guess who subsidizes the growth of that voting bloc
and grossly lower labor cost for all U.S. employers? It is U.S. taxpayers:
2009 data [collected in 2010] documents that 57 percent of households headed by
an immigrant [legal and illegal] with children [under 18] used at least one
welfare program.34 Even the households with no U.S. born children
had a welfare use rate of 56 percent.35 While an estimated that 52
percent of households headed by legal immigrants used at least one welfare
program in 2009, the rate for illegal immigrants was an outrageous 71 percent.36
Illegal immigration alone, annually cost U.S. taxpayers more than $113 B at a
time when government budgets are bleeding red ink like never before in our
nation’s history.37 The eight major welfare programs examined to
collect this data were SSI (Supplemental Security Income for low income elderly
and disabled), TANF (Temporary Assistance to Needy Families), WIC (Women,
Infants, and Children food program), free/reduced school lunch, food stamps
(Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program), Medicaid (health insurance for
those with low incomes), public housing, and rent subsidies.
Now America, in view of these statistics, does
it look as if new arrivals on our shores [be they legal or illegal] are able to
find “gainful employment” whereby they can afford to feed the children they
chose to bring into the world and pay taxes? While the media bends over
backwards to find and highly publicize the 1 in a million new immigrant success
story each year, in order to grow media eyeballs and consumers for corporate
America, it doesn’t match the reality. Just like those oversized checks given
to lottery winners and the Facebook, Zukerberg story . . . the idea that new
immigrants into America are making it is a complete myth.
The only thing they are “making” is an ever more difficult environment in which
established citizens struggle to find work at a descent wage, while “making”
the social safety net in America balloon to the point of bursting.
It would be
completely wrong and callous to blame and penalize the poor children of new
immigrants for their plight, but the nostalgic idea of Ellis Island and new immigrant
arrivals who are able to “make it” in the U.S. a.k.a. feed their own children
and pay taxes — is now ancient history form a time long past. Even if an
existing U.S. citizen is a millionaire who can
afford 20 children and send them all to private schools, is such a practice callous
and shortsighted in view of our U.S. population issues? Yes! On the
other hand, to come to America as a new arrival, have multitudes children that
you can’t afford and then expect U.S. taxpayers to pick-up the tab is far worse!
The result
is that all members of America’s lower socio-economic strata [be they black,
brown or white] suffer from increased job competition and lower wages while
U.S. employers profit wildly from cheap labor and Party B gets a larger voting
bloc . . . all subsidized by U.S. taxpayers. It is U.S. taxpayers that subsidize the lack
of pay by employers, even though all the blame is laid at the feet of the poor
for being unable to make it within a competitive environment that is being made
worse by the day through overpopulation . . . most of it through immigration.
The 30+
year financial losing streak for almost 90 percent of Americans via stagnated
wages and salaries should demonstrate to all sane Americans that the majority
of the population we already have are not “gainfully employed” — born out by
the fact that 47 percent of our nation don’t qualify to pay income taxes.
Adding to our population arbitrarily via immigration with zero economic
criteria as to potential economic contributions to our nation works
collectively to sink every existing citizen’s financial boat. It simply
increases the supply of people when demand is at one of its lowest points in
history. The only people in America that benefit from such a completely out of
whack supply of people to the ratio of open jobs are the mega-rich, the top 10
percent of Americans who own all the stock in America and those seeking to
manipulate the scenario for political power and money.
As the
fringe left blasts charges of xenophobia and racism from their megaphone while
evoking images of the American Flag and Ellis Island, perhaps it is time for
America to take a look a the employment numbers reality we’re now facing.
Spewing the platitudes of “cultural diversity” woven into ‘the rich fabric of America’s identity as a melting pot of the
entire world’ continues to have a wonderful melodic ring upon the American psyche
until you place that fantasy up against the economic nightmare we now face in America. When the fringe left lauds
“cultural diversity” as the end all criteria to immigration policy, why do they
not speak of “economic diversity” as a laudable goal as well? Millions upon
millions of dirt poor, starving new immigrants in need of government assistance
to feed their children is NOT “diversity” . . . poor and starving is just poor
and starving no matter the color of one’s skin, their nation of origin or the
language they speak.
As of this
writing there are 5 or 6 people available for virtually every open job that
exists in America and the “official” unemployment
rate is well above 9 percent. Even the government numbers, which only fools
believe, peg the number of unemployed and underemployed at somewhere between 20
to 30 million humans. As bad as that sounds, as bleak as these numbers are — no
one in America is looking ahead, most especially any political leader or party.
Furthermore, no one is telling Americans the truth about the most probable
economic and employment scenarios yet to arrive.
To
understand the truth, we Americans have to first get our heads around a reality
that many have yet to understand and digest. Despite the media hype behind any
ray of economic sunshine gleaned from employment numbers, the stock market, new
orders for durable goods, etc. — our economy is NOT going to miraculously
bounce back one morning. No matter who is president, no matter which of the two
failed political parties you vote in or out . . . we’re NOT coming out of the
Great Recession and recovering from the damage done by Wall Street’s greed for
a long, long time! It is simply not going to happen and America is in for a long hard slough like
nothing any of us have ever witnessed in our lifetimes. [We’ll have to delay
utopia for at least a generation.] This reality does not mean that we can’t
recover or that we won’t recover, but simply states the truth which is that it
is going to be a slow and painful recovery. Here’s why in a nutshell: 70
percent of the U.S. economy is driven by consumer
spending and everyone outside of the top 10 percent is broke. With wages
stagnated for decades, Americans made up the gap for lack of pay increases with
credit card debt. Once the credit cards were maxed out, Americans began making
up the gap for lack of pay via second mortgages in order to keep spending. With
the mortgage meltdown that began the Great Recession — the spending game came
to a screeching halt simply because there was nothing left in home value to
spend. No money via work, no money via credit cards and no money via second
mortgages = no consumer spending for at least a decade or more. Housing,
furnishings, real estate, etc. are a dead fish which accounts for 20+ percent
of the entire U.S. economy which leaves only 50
percent of the consumer economy to create jobs. Outside of the 30 percent of
the economy that comprises Business to Business (B2B) spending, which is
beginning to show a weak pulse, 20 percent of the economy is completely dead
and the remainder is on life support due to no money in any consumers’ hands .
. . except for the mega-rich and top 10 percent.
A horribly
wounded economy will simply not support massive population growth as far out as
anyone can reasonably project and nostalgic memories of Ellis Island will not change that extremely
cruel reality. We U.S. citizens are now the “tired, poor
and hungry” and we’re going to be economically challenged for many years to
come. As to whether we can recover with either of the two failed political
parties leading the way is entirely another question all together, but that question
will be examined herein as we move forward.
For now,
let’s look at the employment reality in America via a snapshot in time and then
extrapolate those numbers going forward with some very realistic projections. As
of July 2011, the public sector was shedding an average of 25,000 jobs a month,
mostly at the state and local level.38 Since the official end of the
Great Recession in June 2009, 430,000 public sector jobs had already been lost
by July 2011 with almost all projections being that the number will far exceed
1.5+ million more public sector jobs lost before the bleeding ends.37
During the same period, the private sector added only 980,000 jobs.39
Subtract out the job losses in the public sector and that cancels out 40
percent of the 980,000 private sector jobs created during this period of time.40
Now consider that estimates dictate that 125,000 jobs per month (1,500.000 per
year) must be created just to accommodate new people coming into the job
market.41 Be they new immigrants, college and high school graduates,
dropouts or people re-entering the workforce . . . only one of these groups can
be quickly and easily eliminated to reduce the supply of people to the number
of jobs that exist — that group of people are new immigrants. A number of
125,000 new entries into the job market per month, dictates that 3 million new jobs
are needed in a 2 year period just to accommodate those entering the workforce.
It also means that for the period between June 2009 and July 2011 alone, we
were 2 million jobs in the hole in just accommodating new entries into the jobs
market. The reality is that any numbers showing a lower unemployment rate
during that time were a complete lie . . . a.k.a. false government propaganda.
Now pick a
number, to be conservative lets go with the pseudo official number of 8.5+
million jobs lost to the Great Recession [instead of the more realistic number
of 20 to 30 million private sector jobs needed now!] With the 2 million jobs in
the hole [noted above], we’re currently trying dig out of as of July 2011,
added to the 8.5+ million jobs lost to the Great Recession, plus 125,000 new
entries coming into the jobs market every month going forward . . . where will
we be by July 2015? If everything holds steady, private sector jobs growth
continues at the anemic pace it did between June 2009 and July 2011 — the very
conservative jobs-hole number will be 16.5 million by July 2015. If you carry
the conservative numbers forward to July 2020 it becomes a jobs hole of 24 million
unemployed.
If however
we use the more realistic jobs hole beginning number of 20 million [unemployed
and underemployed], instead of the 8.5+ million “official” number of jobs lost
during the Great Recession, the jobs-hole number becomes 35.5 million by 2030.
Do the math America, use conservative projections, make all the best case
scenarios leaps of faith you wish and the numbers still add up to a horrific unemployment
picture and economic future for America. No one believes the current
unemployment numbers supplied by the government and our failed political class who
pompously stand upon their podiums with the flag as a backdrop. They are all
hoping that our failed education system didn’t get Americans to a point where
they can add, subtract and multiply. Apparently they are thus far correct, since
almost no one in America seems to be sounding any alarm
bells about the future and far too many seem to be focused instead on creating
utopia.
Even with
zero job losses in the government sector, instead of the 2+ million projected,
the private sector would have to produce more than 236,000 new jobs per month
for three consecutive years just to recoup the 8.5 million “official” number of
jobs lost due to the Great Recession. If you use the more realistic number of
20 million new jobs needed now, it would take more than 7 consecutive years at
236,000 new private sector jobs per month to replace the 8.5 million lost jobs
with zero job losses whatsoever in the public sector.
Again this
very ambitious private sector jobs growth figure of 236,000 per month is with
zero losses whatsoever in government jobs, zero new entries coming into the
jobs market instead of the 125,000 per month and zero immigration into America. Instead, an unrelenting fire hose
of more than 1+ million new legal immigrants and an untold number of illegal
immigrants coming in each and every year . . . all bringing fertility rates
that far exceed that of our native U.S. population.
With it
being abundantly clear that any and all jobs growth for at least the next
decade will have to come strictly from within the private sector alone, let’s take
a snapshot look at how we’re doing:
Private
Sector Job Creation – May 2010 to May 201142
May 2011 83,000
April 2011 251,000
March 2011 219,000
February
2011 261,000
January
2011 94,000
December
2010 167,000
November
2010 128,000
October
2010 143,000
September
2010 109,000
August 2010 110,000
July 93,000
June 2010 65,000
May 2010 48,000
Now
America, no more basic math, but instead realize that if we are not adding
upwards of a million private sector jobs per month we’re making little if any
progress on the unemployment front whatsoever. That’s the reality no matter how
many race or xenophobia cards get played, no matter how many politicians from
both of the two failed political parties squirm in front of the cameras and no
matter how much smoke the propaganda machine blows into the air. It’s bleak and
it will take well over a decade, if not far longer, for our U.S. economy to
recover enough to become a jobs creating engine that can even begin to start
catching up with the bleak numbers of population reality.
In short,
birthrates combined with legal and illegal immigration into the U.S. dictate both economic opportunity
and quality of life within our society. While an aging workforce out of
proportion to a youthful workforce is a detriment to economic vitality, far
fewer people are needed to sustain America going forward. There are ZERO
national benefits, rewards or advantages whatsoever in the modern world to
population growth if that population is not gainfully employed, paying taxes
and able to feed their own children. None! In fact, by every measurement and on
every scale, America would be far better off
economically and in quality of life for all U.S. citizens if population growth could
be held at zero . . . which of course is almost impossible. Nonetheless, the
science of population studies largely dictates that zero population growth
should be our driving focus . . . not wildly uncontrolled population growth.
With the
present unemployment and underemployment rates along with the anemic projected
growth of our nation’s GDP, we’re currently “overpopulated” to the tune of
between 20 to 30 million people. We simply don’t have the jobs or even a plan
to create jobs that will enable America’s economy to support the
overabundance of human capital we have already — yet we continue to unnecessarily
add well over a million more people every year via legal and illegal
immigration? New census bureau figures released in 2011 place the foreign-born
population in America at 40 million, 12.9 percent of or our entire population,
the highest share since 1920 back when we actually needed more human capital.43
The 1.4+ million increase since 2009 was the biggest since the mid-decade
housing boom and it occurred during the Great Recession.44 Nothing
demonstrates a “government” completely out of touch with economic reality in
America than 1.4 million more people arriving on our shores in the midst of the
Great Recession.
Breakout Resource(s):
Sustainable
Immigration: American Workers
We have a
failing education system, a crumbling infrastructure, an unraveling social
safety net due to massive government red ink and millions of people being added
on top of these realities at a pace that will crush America if not alleviated. In spite of this
glaring reality, the political class is doing virtually nothing and actually
exacerbating the issue associated with overpopulation via absolutely insane
immigration policies.
Whether it is
the radical right refusing to believe that poor people have sex, or the fringe
left advocating for an open and free flowing southern border, while telling
heart warming Ellis Island stories . . . both are both completely clueless and
out of touch with Main Street American reality.
That simply
means one thing: the America people are going to have to sound the alarm and
take the reins of power when it comes to a policy of sane population management
and control. Just to survive economically, sex education and birth control have
to be readily available to any and all Americans without any restraints
whatsoever. Just as important, if not far more, the fire hose that has been
flooding America with new immigrants [both legal and illegal] for decades must immediately
be brought down to a small hardly discernable trickle.
Each year
for decades the U.S. has accepted more legal new
immigrants as permanent residents than all of the other nations in the world
combined. In 1965, before laws were liberalized, there were 9.6 million
first generation Americans living in the U.S.44 By 2007 that number
was 38 million.45 Between 2000 and 2005 America experienced the
largest 5 year influx of new immigrants in our nation’s history with more than
8 million new arrivals — more than half entering illegally.46 Since
the start of the Great Recession through 2010, with 30 million American
citizens unemployed or underemployed, more than 3 million more new immigrants
arrived to swell the ranks of poverty and cheap labor even further.47
The
immigration numbers don’t even begin to tell the population explosion story,
but instead — it is the fertility rates of new arrivals that clearly portend
massive poverty in the years to come. America’s 2.05 fertility rate is far higher
than other industrialized democracies [Europe 1.4 and Japan 1.3].48
The U.S. population explosion is not coming from existing U.S. citizens giving
birth, but instead from new immigrants giving birth to the tune of more than
2.3 million every single year.49 In fact, with current immigration
trends, 79.5 percent of all U.S. population growth between 2010 and 2050
will come from immigration and births to new immigrants.50 As if
blind to the poverty caused by overpopulation in nations such as India or
Pakistan, many new immigrants bring with them a cultural blind spot and
yearning for large families. It’s as if they arrive, see open space and quality
of life and don’t make the connection as to why America was an alluring destination . . .
we don’t yet have massive overpopulation and poverty brought about by high
fertility rates. Across the world, the higher a nation’s educational attainment
the lower the fertility rate and new immigrants into the U.S. [with less than a
high school degree] have an absolutely alarming fertility rate of 3.30 compared
with those with at least a college degree having a fertility rate of only 1.91
children.51 More than 60 percent of illegal immigrants have a high
school degree or less which statistically delivers a wildly high fertility rate
that America can simply not afford.52
The data
and statistics simply don’t lie and nothing is more critical in regard to
immigration policy than education levels of new arrivals. Using 2009 numbers,
of households headed by a new immigrant who has not graduated from high school,
80 percent accessed the welfare system, compared to only 25 percent for those
headed by a new immigrant who has at least a bachelor’s degree.53 It
doesn’t take a genius in population studies or a sociology expert on the cycle
of poverty to plug fertility rates and education levels into an equation and
arrive at a future reality that is nothing short of absolutely horrific for
America’s economy, the poor, government red ink, social unrest and massive
starvation in America the likes of which our nation has never before witnessed.
It is time
for all Americans to do the math and examine the realities of massive
government red ink, a crumbling education system already, more than 300,000 teacher
layoffs between 2008 and 2010, a disappearing social safety net and more
competition for jobs that at any time since the Great Depression. With
educational attainment of parents and poverty being the foremost indicators of
children’s educational attainment and workforce preparation — what do the
numbers predict for the economic future of America? Do the numbers appear to paint a
picture of a vibrant economic engine that will enable the U.S. to compete in a world economy? Do
they paint a picture for quality of life, gainful employment opportunities for
the majority, upward mobility and an America that any sane person would want to
live in?
The
population numbers, education levels, birth rates, crumbling education system
and infrastructure, government red ink and massive unemployment and
underemployment already paint a clear picture of the “America 2030” as
described in the beginning of this book. Massive tent cities in every
metropolitan city in America, stepping over beggars on trips to the mall,
starvation, malnutrition and more than likely social unrest. Yet we, as a
nation, just continue forward with some blind nostalgic idea of Ellis Island stories as if this is still 1903.
With zero
population growth, if that were attainable, just the education and workforce
preparedness issue alone is a huge mountain for America to climb, but with immigration [both
legal and illegal] adding to the weight of that climb . . . we simply can’t
prevail economically. An immigrant’s ethnicity, race or country of origin
doesn’t matter [as long as they are not a terrorist] — it only takes the basic
laws of supply and demand [people and jobs] to dictate that illegal immigration
into the U.S. must be brought down to zero and legal immigration must be
severely curtailed now! It doesn’t take a population studies expert conducting
a five year multi-million dollar government funded study to figure this out. At
some point, instead of being the melting pot — the pot melts instead and
everyone inside it suffers. By no means whatsoever should we be taking in more
permanent residents every year than all of the other nations on the Earth
combined . . . in addition to the massive problem we already have with illegal
immigration.
A simple
look at the numbers of legal new immigrants, allowed into the U.S. between 1820 and 2010 clearly
indicates that beginning in the 1980’s we as a nation completely lost our
minds, intellect and sense of deductive reasoning in regard to our nation’s
immigration policies and numbers.
Snapshots: Persons
Obtaining Legal Permanent Resident Status 1820 to 2010 54
|
Year
|
|
Year
|
|
Year
|
|
|
1820
|
8,385
|
1915
|
326,700
|
1999
|
644,787
|
|
1821
|
9,127
|
1925
|
294,314
|
2000
|
841,002
|
|
1822
|
6,911
|
1935
|
34,956
|
2001
|
1,058,902
|
|
1825
|
10,199
|
1945
|
38,119
|
2002
|
1,059,536
|
|
1835
|
45,374
|
1955
|
237,790
|
2003
|
703,542
|
|
1845
|
114,371
|
1965
|
296,697
|
2004
|
957,883
|
|
1855
|
200,877
|
1975
|
385,378
|
2005
|
1,122,373
|
|
1865
|
248,120
|
1985
|
568,149
|
2006
|
1,266,129
|
|
1875
|
227,498
|
1995
|
720,177
|
2007
|
1,052,415
|
|
1885
|
395,346
|
1996
|
915,560
|
2008
|
1,107,126
|
|
1895
|
258,536
|
1997
|
797,847
|
2009
|
1,130,818
|
|
1905
|
1,026,499
|
1998
|
653,206
|
2010
|
1,042,625
|
Do the math
America, almost 10 million new arrivals on our shores to
begin the new century and well over 3 million arriving in the midst of the
Great Recession. This is not 1903, we do not have wagon trains crossing America looking for unclaimed land to
settle nor do we have employers screaming for more people to fill millions of
open jobs. What we have instead are the shrill voices of race baiters and those
manipulating the xenophobia card to grow both the unemployment numbers and the
poverty levels in America toward that of the Great Depression
if not far worse. With somewhere around 12 million illegal immigrants on top of
10 million legal new immigrants in just one decade and 40 million now living in
the U.S., we have a population problem — more to the point we have a massive
employment problem that was senselessly imported.
With the
unemployment and underemployment numbers at somewhere between 20 to 30 million,
it doesn’t take some sophisticated equation to figure out that existing U.S.
citizens would have been far better off economically without 50 percent of the
new immigrants now living in America. Unemployment and underemployment would be
far less and the demand for job applicants would be going through the roof
along with increased pay for new hires and existing employees. Since hind sight
is 20/20, the past can’t be changed except in the arena of illegal immigrants
living in the U.S., you have to ask: what was and what
is the thinking and strategy of our bureaucrats in Washington, D.C. in regard to legal immigrant
numbers? What is the goal? Where is the economic and quality of life ROI for existing
American citizens? Where are the hearings, the outcry from the American people
and the explanations from Washington, D.C.?
There is no
place in America for xenophobia or racism in regard
to addressing the overpopulation issue. There is no place in America for
holding animosity towards new immigrants that were allowed to immigrate legally
to America due to horribly ill conceived legal immigration policies by the U.S.
government. The fault lies with the American people who sat by idle and
apathetic and allowed it to take place year after year, decade after decade
until it grew into what is now an exploding overpopulation and unemployment
issue within our shores . . . not to mention an issue of low wages and salaries
for all Americans.
America as
a whole, even though opposed according to all polling data, stood by and allowed
only the shrill, hysterical voices yelling racism and xenophobia to sever
America’s collective brain from its stem — to the economic detriment of all U.S.
citizens as well as our collective quality of life. The past can’t be changed,
but the obvious race and xenophobia manipulation ploys must end now before even
more economic damage is done. Instead, we need millions of shrill, hysterical
voices yelling for planned parenthood and a million fewer new immigrants coming
into the U.S. each year [be they legal or
illegal]. Population issues are about numbers, the mix of the poor and economic
contributors, education levels, infrastructure limits, a social safety net,
urban sprawl, the environment and most of all — economic opportunity and
quality of life for all U.S. citizens. It’s about an intellectual, objective
and rational discussion on population management that results in a subsequent
policy implementation that serves the greater good of the whole . . . not the
selfish desires of race, political party or U.S. employers that want a never ending
supply of dirt cheap labor for ever higher profits.
For those
that believe we should completely slam the door on legal immigration . . .
forget about it! With the illegal immigration problem yet to be addressed
adding to the problems of the working poor, massive poverty and a failing
education system — completely shutting the door to legal immigration would be
nothing short of economic suicide. With somewhere around half of the students
in most inner city school systems never even making it out of high school — America needs all the college graduates we
can economically absorb from other nations. At the moment at least, the
university system in the U.S. is still the envy of the entire
world. It is our No. 1 economic asset in a competitive world economy. Sadly,
our students are less and less able and capable of taking advantage of our
university system via financial constraints and academic preparedness. Allowing
foreign born students to take advantage of our fabulous university system [often
funded by taxpayers via state schools] in the areas of medicine and the arts is
a viable contribution for the world at large — if and only if they return to
their native country after completing their education. On the other hand,
in the areas of business, engineering, technology and science, for example, our
current approach is grossly shortsighted. If we educate the world in these
arenas and then return these students back to their native country to compete
with the U.S. economically, within a nation such
as China, our policies are nothing short of absolutely
stupid!
Americans,
most especially the utopians, have yet to figure out that the survival game
ahead is strictly about winning at economic competition with every nation on
Earth. Just in case someone missed it, Communist China seems to be getting this
free enterprise global marketplace concept pretty well at this point in time, just
like India and Brazil. We need to be providing them with
MBAs, engineers, scientists and math geniuses via our world-class university
system — “like we need a hole in our head.” We play nice and the rest of the
world is taking economic advantage of our naivety. Would an NFL or NBA team
allow someone from an opposing team to participate and participate in preseason
activities and then send them back to the opposition at the start of the
season? Of course not! Is a “competitive world economy” any different
whatsoever than professional sports? No! Therefore, why would we educate the
world in the arenas of business, engineering, technology, science, etc. and
send them home to compete and steal jobs from America?
It seems
that everyone outside of America still wishes to live in America. Most especially people from
poverty stricken, wildly overpopulated nations such as India and Pakistan. It’s quite easy to understand that
someone living in a nation where starving beggars line the streets would want
to relocate to America where we don’t yet have those
problems on a grand scale. Surely, no sane American’s future vision of America is to emulate the problems of India and Pakistan caused by high fertility rates and
massive overpopulation? Surely, no one can label such a statement as xenophobic
since via the Internet and a couple clicks of a mouse, anyone can see what life
is like in India and Pakistan. By comparison, we in America still have some quality of life
left, but we’ve reached far beyond our economic capacity limits at present to
absorb even more people. While we can’t entirely close the legal immigration
door to America, nor is that an aim, we now must instead
be extremely selective as to who is allowed into our university system
and how many people legally immigrate into our nation. To educate our economic
competition and then send them home to compete with us —simply makes no
economic sense whatsoever. We’re well beyond the point to where we can
economically absorb new immigrants, most especially more “poor huddled [uneducated]
masses” and have no other choice but to turn away all but the best and
brightest economic contributors. That in turn creates economic opportunity and
room for more “huddled masses” somewhere well down the road when they can be
absorbed into a revived and growing U.S. economy.
By allowing
only the very best and brightest students and legal new immigrants with
Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) skills into America, we can help counter our failing
education system via entrepreneurs and contributors in order to restore a
strong U.S. economy that can become a job
creating engine once again. Clearly, with a failing U.S. education system, we are at an
increased economic disadvantage without such an influx of talent. While the
time has arrived to radically reduce the number of legal immigrants coming into
the U.S., priority-one for entry going
forward must be STEM skills almost exclusively . . . not whether they are
“tied, hungry or huddled” or if their brother happens to live here. If you’re
asking if that is an elitist policy and perspective the answer is “No!” Not
unless you have answers to the massive poverty issues in America, a failing education system, pulling
the working poor out of a cycle of poverty and can provide jobs for the legal
and illegal influx of poor new immigrants [who are already swelling the ranks
of America’s working poor by more than 20
percent]. In the event that you have an answer to all these issues, then please
head directly to Washington, D.C. where no one is even paying the slightest attention
to the issues of overpopulation and the economy. All anyone in Washington, D.C. cares about are votes as well as
supplying cheap labor and more consumers for corporate America in order to reward the top 10
percent who own all the stock in America.
Going
forward, for as far into the future as anyone can now see, illegal immigration
must cease entirely and legal immigration must be reserved for only an
extremely finite number of economic skill sets that American citizens cannot
provide. Attracting foreign nationals and entrepreneurs to relocate or start-up
viable, well funded businesses in the U.S. [that hire American citizens] must
become priority-one. A “mom and pop” convenience store selling cokes and candies
purchased at a Sam’s Club is NOT a viable entrepreneurial endeavor that will
provide good jobs for American citizens, nor is yet another lawn care service,
etc.
If true entrepreneurs,
businesses relocating and skill sets go unfulfilled we collectively suffer
economically as a nation. Are such criteria the main focal point of America’s immigration policy? Of course
not, that would be sane, rational and objective instead of shrieking, shrill
and hysterical. Most all of America believes that “cultural diversity”
is good and that being a melting pot society from all over the world is one of
our greatest assets. Since that is true, where is the “melting” of race and xenophobia
ploys that have continued to plague any objective, intellectual reasoning in
regard to America’s immigration policies? America cannot both laud the benefits of
being a melting pot and at the same time allow the race and xenophobia card to
dominate the formulation of immigration policy. Either we are a “melting pot”
or we are not? If we are, then it requires rational, objective discussions in
regard to our nation’s immigration policies and criteria for entry into America . . . devoid of race card and
xenophobia manipulation ploys. The economic impact of immigration is one of the
last criteria being considered and instead, more often than not, it’s whether
an immigrant currently has family in the U.S. More often than not, entry into America has nothing whatsoever to do with America’s collective economic prosperity.
Can a new immigrant support their own children, or will they expect U.S. taxpayers to pick-up the tab should
be question No. 1 and No. 2 should be how many jobs can you provide for
American citizens?
When family
is not the main criteria for entry, a system of corporate slavery is often
deployed via H-1B visas that allow temporary entry into America. The non U.S. citizen agrees to work for slave wages
in return for corporate sponsorship of an H-1B visa. Supposedly, such salary
and wage manipulation are against U.S. law, but no one on an H-1B via is
going to complain so no scrutiny whatsoever upon employers ever occurs. Once in
the U.S., the non U.S citizen becomes an
indentured servant held hostage to slave wages by the corporation that
sponsored them. That in turn drives down the salaries for everyone working in
each economic sector impacted by H-1B visas. To get an idea of the volume: in
2009 alone during the Great Recession more than 214,271
H-1B visas were
issued as some 15+ million American citizens stood in the unemployment line.55
Each visa comes with a 3 year window that is extendable to 6 years with
multiple loopholes for even longer stays, so it’s not like they are passing
through, but instead become “permanent temporary” corporate slaves.
Without a
doubt, for some very limited roles, America needs a strong and vibrant H-1B
program to counter our failing education system. All entrants under the H-1B
visa program must have a college degree to qualify, unlike the 60 percent of
illegal immigrants that have a high school education or less. While more than
200,000 H-1B visas being issued in a single year is wildly excessive, the
program if managed correctly could be an oasis in a desert of economic despair,
but instead it’s being used as a corporate loophole for cheap slave labor. Although
it can be argued accurately that a number of U.S. citizens will compete and lose out
on jobs to these foreign born nationals, the upsides far outweigh the downsides
in regard to jobs for U.S. citizens . . . up to a point and
only if micro-managed by U.S. citizens instead of Washington, D.C. bureaucrats
on the payroll of “corporate America.”
Currently
the H-1B visa program and legal immigration go far beyond filling critical
economic talent needs that cannot be sourced in the U.S. No different than the offshore
sourcing to acquire cheap labor, both avenues are being exploited by corporate America. Only after a position has been
adequately advertised and every avenue to find a qualified U.S. citizen to fill the role has been
completely exhausted, should an H-1B visa be allowed. Currently that is not the
case, but instead it is a means to acquire cheap labor into the U.S. to boost corporate profits and
drive down salaries for everyone.
There will
of course be those that say to turn away the “tired, poor huddled masses” is
un-American and contrary to what we were founded upon as a nation. Well America, that ideal was great in 1903 and
it makes for wonderful heartwarming Ellis Island stories, but today we can’t even
feed and employ our own U.S. citizens here already. To allow
immigration numbers, both legal and illegal, to continue at the present rate —
with the wildly excessive fertility rates that new immigrants bring with them —
is a recipe for absolute economic disaster! Look no further than a nation such
as Pakistan where more than a third of the population can’t even read and write,
where millions upon millions of impoverished people live on the streets begging
for food and it is easy to see where we are heading if the growth of the U.S.
population is not managed and controlled. How any American can look at a nation
such as India and not see that America already has at least 20+ million more
people than we can provide jobs for . . . just boggles the mind of any sane
human that can add and subtract. With some 15+ million Americans currently
unemployed, 20+ million underemployed and no job growth on the horizon for at
least a decade that will enable America to economically re-absorb the
citizens we have . . . we have to curtail the fire hose of new arrivals upon
our shores.
The American
boat is sinking like the Titanic under the weight of overpopulation that is
leading to stagnated wages, massive poverty, a crumbling public education
system and a once dynamic economy that now has the job creating horsepower of a
lawnmower. If you’re riding upon an economic Titanic, do you allow more people
on the boat to help it sink or do you stop the flow almost entirely while you
bail water for a couple of decades?
This is the
extremely simple question that America must now address and answer, instead
of wallowing in Ellis Island nostalgia and listening to the shriek, shrill, hysterical
voices yelling racism and xenophobia. From a scientific, population studies standpoint
— every boat has a safe capacity limit for a reason. Is it cruel and self-centered
for economically unqualified new immigrants to jump onto the U.S. boat, while America is undergoing the worst economic
disaster since the Great Depression? Yes! It is cruel to both the new immigrant
and the working poor of America who are already struggling and in
many cases starving. If dumping more uneducated bodies with no job skills upon
the heads of America’s working poor is your idea of
compassion . . . then visit you local homeless shelter, get out of your Lexus
and ask the hungry of America if they are feeling your
compassion?
That perspective
is oftentimes missed by many Americans, most especially many on the fringe left
who advocate for the poor and open borders. There was a time when America could take in and provide for many
of the world’s “tired and hungry,” especially those just outside our borders,
but those days are gone! We’re broke, we have no jobs or food to offer and as
heartbreaking as it is, we are now forced to turn most people away in order to
keep our entire economic boat from sinking. We clearly have no other choice!
It is not
complex algebra to calculate how many people are currently in America of
working age already, multiply by one of the highest fertility rates in the
modern world, divide by a crumbling education system and anyone can foresee
massive poverty and starvation on the road ahead. Look no further than a nation
like Pakistan for a vision of America in the decades to come if we do not
change course.
Because of America’s still high standard of living,
any way you wish to slice it, we’re expensive to employ compared to the rest of
the world. Therefore, no matter how many trade agreements are rewritten or how
much the economy improves some day, we will have an ever more finite number of
jobs to offer. That will be true for at least for the next 20+ years unless
some, as yet undiscovered, jobs creator strictly for Americans comes along.
Therefore, our first and foremost duty and obligation to humanity is to employ
our citizens who were born here. It’s an American birthright and it’s just as
critical to restoring the American Dream as everything else in this book. If
you were born in the U.S. then you should have the first shot
at the jobs that exist. It’s called a return on the investment made by your
forefathers and your efforts to date. It’s not racism or xenophobia in any
shape, form or manner whatsoever! The immigration issue is not about having or
not having a heart . . . it is just about basic math and the economic survival
of U.S. Citizens. It is solely a numbers and
capacity issue based concretely in supply and demand economic dynamics. The more
people we have in America equals more competition for an ever
fewer number of jobs available and just as important . . . less pay for the jobs that do exist. Review and
study all the nations that have a higher standard of living than the U.S.A., such as France, Canada, Denmark, Norway, Finland and Germany. What do they all have in common?
The answer: a much smaller population than the U.S. The fewer the number of people, the
higher demand there is for each person when it comes to hiring or firing. A
lowered supply of people raises demand and wages. At this moment in America, humans are like grains of sand
with more than 5 applicants for every job that exists. For the mega-rich,
corporate America and the top 10 percent of the food
chain that own all the stock . . . this is a dream come true and they hope this
present scenario lasts forever. They live in castles, have bodyguards and can
leave America any time they wish. The rest of us
have to live and somehow survive in America and we have all the job competition
we need already.
In only one
single economic segment of the U.S. economy is there currently a
shortage of workers: agriculture and agriculture alone. Most second generation
Americans, and beyond, still refuse to pick grapes in the hot sun. Therefore America must finally create a robust,
vibrant guest worker program to fulfill this one singular jobs cavity . . .
instead of getting the job done via illegal immigration. With a failing
education system and no jobs growth on the horizon in America . . . how long American citizens
will be able to refuse such work is an open question? There are only so many
really good burger flipper jobs to go around.
America is a sovereign nation. It was a
sovereign nation when the Statue of Liberty was erected and it must remain a
sovereign nation. If we can afford to be the good guys and either export our
jobs to China and Mexico or give jobs to people legally coming into America
then great, that’s awesome. However, if we can’t we can’t and wishing it was so
doesn’t change the reality. If and when we have full employment in America via the reduction of “low wage
scabs” a.k.a. legal and illegal new immigrants coming in to increase profits and
wealth for the mega-rich — then we can think about allowing thousands of new
people into the U.S., but not until. That’s just the
cruel reality of how it has to be in order for our citizens to have a job that
pays anything resembling a living wage, instead of being slave labor for the
top of the pyramid. Otherwise, we will turn into the Third World nation we’re currently en route to
become — with even higher unemployment, lower incomes and standards of living
along with massive starvation. The top of the pyramid want cheap labor and
consumers and the political class caters to those desires as well as seeking
votes to gain or hold political power. As far as creating upward pressures on
wages or any concern whatsoever for the overall quality of life for the
majority of Americans . . . the political class in America could care less!
Breakout Resource(s):
The Environmental
Impact of Immigration into the United States
The Numbers Game –
Confronting Growth and the Environment
All workers—including
black youth—benefit from a tight labor market
The State of Young America: Economic Barriers to the American Dream
Welfare Use by
Immigrant Households with Children
Cost of Raising a
Child Calculator
Sustained, High Joblessness Causes Lasting Damage to Wages,
Benefits, Income and Wealth
Wealth Gaps Rise to
Record High Between Whites, Blacks and Hispanics
The High Cost of
Illegal Immigration
Immigration Drives U.S. Population Growth
Negative Population Growth
Immigration During
Periods of High Unemployment
FAIR
Illegal Immigration
Backlash Worries, Divides Latinos
Center for Immigration
Studies
Hearing on “New Jobs in Recession and Recovery:
Who Are Getting Them and Who Are Not”
