A very good column in the Washington Post today demolishes “5 Myths About Immigration,” a topic that in my view spills powerfully over into our economic folly as well.
Low U.S. fertility rates and the upcoming retirement of the baby boomers mean that immigration is likely to be the only source of growth in what we call the “prime age” workforce — workers ages 25 to 55 — in the decades ahead. As record numbers of retirees begin drawing Social Security checks, younger immigrant workers will be paying taxes, somewhat easing the financial pressures on the system.
The honest thing to do is what many border guards advocate:
The seasoned enforcement officials I have spoken with all contend that if we provided enough visas to meet the economy’s demand for workers, border agents would be freed to focus on protecting the nation from truly dangerous individuals and activities, such as drug-trafficking, smuggling and cartel violence.
But if we provided visas, then all those worker would be legal, and they might legitimately expect to get a fair shake in a few decades as they age. It’s really better to have them here illegally, so we can keep them fearful and compliant.
It brings to mind the only quote from Ayn Rand I’ve bothered keeping around:
Did you really think that we want those laws observed? . . . We want them broken . . . . There’s no way to rule innocent men. The only power any government has is to crack down on criminals. Well, when there aren’t enough criminals one makes them. One declares so many things to be a crime that it becomes impossible to live without breaking laws. Who wants a nation of law-abiding citizens? What’s there in that for anyone? But just pass the kind of laws that can neither be observed nor enforced nor objectively interpreted — and you create a nation of lawbreakers — and then you cash in on guilt.
(Ayn Rand, Atlas Shrugged. Okay, it’s gratuitous and goes beyond the immigration issue. I admit it.)
I feel sorry for immigrants, perhaps unjustifiably. Maybe they know that they’re functioning as the patsies in our trillion dollar Ponzi scheme. The national debt which totaled $8,370,635,856,604.98 as of a few days ago, not counting the trillions owed by the government to Social Security and other pilfered trust funds.
Even before I learned that PIMCO funds is moving from U.S. bonds to foreign, I moved almost all my 401k money (the custodian allowed nothing more conservative than bonds) into a self-directed IRA where I bought interests in well-selected real estate projects that appear to me safer than the bonds my national government is issuing. I’m considering doing that with some other retirement funds I have as well. It will be hard to look my long-term broker in the eye and say “I’m as bearish as a year ago or even more so; I’m sorry, but I’ve got to pull my money from the market and buy something more tangible.” But I’ll regret it terribly if I don’t and the market does what I fear it will.
But I’m lucky: my age permits me to roll money out of the 401k without tax. Younger people don’t have that option.
Maybe if those immigrants are sending the money home, it’s they who should be feeling sorry for us.
Tipsy Teetotaler ن 