Poll

By Bob

I saw over on Kudlow's blog this story on a Pew poll which found that four out of every ten adults in Mexico would migrate to the U.S. This is unsurprising since 1 in 10 Mexicans already lives in this country. Recent reports from across the border makes it sound like drugs gangs have the run of the place.

The immigration issue has once again come front and center with Bush's plan for a guest worker plan. People such as Congressman Tom Tancredo and blogger/columnist Michelle Malkin have been talking about this issue for a while. While Bush denies it, his plan seems to offer a defacto amnesty. This has already lead to an increase in illegal immigration as this Washington Post article suggests.

So, it would appear that a guest worker program may cause a tidal wave of immigrants from Mexico if the poll is correct and anecdotal evidence is right. I say we take them. I am one of those on the right that supports easy immigration policies. Of course, there are potential economic consequences of allowing a large number of unskilled workers in the country. Namely, they won't have health insurance and will stretch an already overburdened public health care system and, also, they could drive down wages on the low end. However, as the article points out, even the educated want to move to here.

This leads to a larger question of whether we can absorb 30 million immigrants from another culture. Pat Buchanan would say we can't and that Latinos have already had negative consequences on our culture. I strongly disagree with him on this point and wonder why he thinks American culture is so weak. That is, why after absorbing many immigrants before that it will be Latinos which doom us? Victor Davis Hanson has made some interesting points in some of his columns and what he says is similar to my experiences(his comments on the guest worker program is here). There are negatives as he points out, but also a ton of positves. The proliferation of taquerias being just one. Also, the fact that many latinos grow up to be patriotic Americans who serve dispraportionally on the front lines in the armed services.

As Kudlow says "Looks like we're doing something right", but more importantly an easy immigration policy is consistent with freedom and free markets.

-- August 18, 2005 4:42 PM |

Comments

Buzzcut wrote:

Don't you think those 4 in 10 Mexicans ought to VOTE a new government in?

I've been to Mexico on numerous occasions, done work for Pemex, and honestly can't stand the place. Being an honest American, the level of corruption was just overwhelming (like I said, I did work for Pemex. There wasn't an honest employee in the Salamanca refinery).

So, here is my prescription: send in the Marines. Once we're done in Iraq, regime change in Mexico City.

Make Mexico the 51st state. Export our system of government. Flood them with American servicemen, police, prosecutors, etc. to clean up the crime.

Then, when 4 in 10 Mexicans come north (because they'd be free to as American citizens), maybe then 4 in 10 retirees would retire down there. It's hot and cheap in Mexico, just what retirees need.

And what the hell, send the Marines into Ottawa too. Make Canaduh the 52nd state. Then all the geezers in state formerly known as the country of Mexico could get their cheap drugs legally from the state formerly known as the country of Canada.

-- August 19, 2005 2:50 PM ∞

sert wrote:

Actually it would take a much smaller increase in wages to make Mexico more desirible to many Mexicans. There are many other issues including comfort and opportunity. For example an increasing number of Indian engineers prefer to stay there despite differences in wages.

Increased integration of the economies is potentially of advantage. Increasingly people are crossing the border for health care and a variety of other industries might have potential. If one is skeptical of overall free trade (as most Americans are) then a tariff covering a portion of taxes (perhaps 15%) currently imposed on domestic products and waived for Mexico is a possibility.

There are many problems with the notion that all these immigrants are good, concentrations of poverty have built up some places and they have led to a competition that has dramatically reduced the real wage for those without inbuilt protections. During a period when per capita income has increased. Thus the poor pay the burden for inflation.

White collar productivity has consistentl declined since 1970 and many other lucrative jobs are held in place by structural and often legal protections. Conservatives with their magical faith based reality believe that actual production is obsolete that money should go to information managers, accontants, lawyers, Holywood executives, anyone who is of a superior class and thus part of the "ownership society," people immune from competitive forces.

Thus competition is restricted to the actual production of things, first those in the lower classes now engineers and scientists.

-- August 26, 2005 12:44 AM ∞

wow power leveling wrote:

thankssds

-- May 20, 2009 9:32 PM ∞

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