[Editor Note: Too tired to proof this as well as I should - probably will need some minor tweaking tomorrow]
Republican Jim Oberweis hoped to ride a wave of anti-immigration sentiment to higher office the last four years (pick an office, U.S. Senate or Governor). That he failed in the GOP primaries hopefully says something about the electorate seeing straight - and not just that he is a horrible candidate who lost credibility on the immigration issue early on in the recent gubernatorial race.
While we live in a “nation of immigrants” and celebrate the American “melting pot,” there are certainly people who dislike immigrants and always will. But it also is likely true that when the economy is bad, tensions rise against immigrants, particularly among those competing for low-skilled jobs with immigrants, legal and illegal.
Where are things now? Here’s a sample:
Company Profits No Longer Profitable For Most Workers
Workers portion of corporate profits are the lowest they’ve been in 40 years.
Many African American Men Are Said To Have Left The “Economic Mainstream”
A recent New York Times article, “Plight Deepens for Black Men, Studies Warn,” found the following from recent studies:
-> “In the inner cities, more than half of all black men do not finish high school.”
-> “The share of young black men without jobs has climbed relentlessly, with only a slight pause during the economic peak of the late 1990’s. In 2000, 65 percent of black male high school dropouts in their 20’s were jobless — that is, unable to find work, not seeking it or incarcerated. By 2004, the share had grown to 72 percent, compared with 34 percent of white and 19 percent of Hispanic dropouts. Even when high school graduates were included, half of black men in their 20’s were jobless in 2004, up from 46 percent in 2000.”
-> “Incarceration rates climbed in the 1990’s and reached historic highs in the past few years. In 1995, 16 percent of black men in their 20’s who did not attend college were in jail or prison; by 2004, 21 percent were incarcerated. By their mid-30’s, 6 in 10 black men who had dropped out of school had spent time in prison.”
Areas Of Future Job Growth Don’t Pay Enough For A Decent Future
The jobs areas with growth pay poorly - and there is an over-supply of college graduates, many of whom are not making it economically, for jobs that require their degrees.
Housing Costs Leave Workers Out In Cold
Housing costs have grown beyond the reach of many Americans, including those in DuPage who work as teachers, firefighters and others, as a recent Downers Grove Sun article noted:
“When people think about affordable housing in DuPage County, they don’t necessarily think about firefighters, teachers and nurses — although they’re typical of the people having a hard time finding a place to live in the area.
That’s one of the conclusions participants in a March 22 conference on affordable housing at Benedictine University reached.
Drawing from government, nonprofit groups, the business sector and people working in the housing industry, such as developers and mortgage lenders, participants discussed barriers to affordable housing in the county.
William Carroll, president of Benedictine University in Lisle, said the cost of housing in DuPage County was such that people who worked in the county couldn’t necessarily afford to live there.
‘If you have a child who gets a job for $45,000 a year, they probably can’t afford a house,’ he said.
According to the DuPage Housing Action Coalition, the median price for a single-family house in DuPage County in the third quarter of 2005 was $334,900. That’s 59 percent higher than the median price statewide.”
Older figures, before things got even more difficult with much higher fuel prices, paint a difficult story for those with modest incomes seeking shelter in DuPage County. It is difficult throughout Chicagoland and throughout the state and nation.
“We shouldn’t exaggerate these problems. Mexican immigration, says the Borjas-Katz study, has played only a ‘modest role’ in growing U.S. inequality. And the political threat that low-skill immigration poses to the welfare state is more serious than the fiscal threat: the disastrous Medicare drug bill alone does far more to undermine the finances of our social insurance system than the whole burden of dealing with illegal immigrants.”
In other words, immigration may be a problem, but compared to the Medicare drug plan, Iraq, Katrina and a poor economy, it’s far from the only problem we face - and it’s not the most important challenge ether.
What can we do to improve our economy? Here are a few thoughts that go beyond the usual bromide of better education (which while always a plus, as seen above, isn’t the main problem):
- Single-payer national healthcare for all. Almost ever major and many minor countries have this - we should too for moral and business competition reasons, as healthcare costs rise beyond the reach of more and more Americans and the businesses they work for that provide them with health coverage (sometimes).
- Expanded Mass Transit/Alternative Transportation is key to our ability to move people and products efficiently - this is about America’s business competitive advantage, although it also has to do with environmental concerns (pollution), national security (oil independence), and other issues.
- Fair Trade. Companies in America can’t compete against companies in countries that underpay their workers, contribute to environmental degradation and do not permit unions and basic worker rights. We shouldn’t trade with them as equals until they do - because they aren’t our equal until they have similar standards for workers and the environment.
- Alternative (to oil/fossil fuels) Energy Development. This could become a competitive industry for us - and reducing our dependence on oil, which is a limited resource, could provide us with cheaper energy and a new industry to employ Americans.
With improving education that’s a five-point plan. I hope somebody decides to adopt it - it’s a way of moving America, and Americans, forward. Immigration challenges are real - but by comparison to our economic challenges, they’re a distraction. Politicians touting immigration solutions instead of serious economic reforms are avoiding the real issue.
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