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This week on the podcast, James and Peter talk Egyptian politics and culture with Hoover’s Fouad Ajami (read his WSJ Op-Ed piece here) and later, the Zimmerman trial and immigration reform with the WSJLive’s (and Ricochet’s newest contributor) Mary Kissel. What does the Zimmerman trial say about the current state of race relations? And what of the immigration bill currently before the House — do you share the views expressed on the show? Let us know in the comments.
Happy Fourth, everyone!
Music from this week’s show:
This Land Is Your Land by Woody Guthrie
The Ricochet Podcast opening theme was composed and produced by James Lileks.
EJHill is a true American.
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James, of course the WSJ is in favor of completely open borders.
Mary Kissel gave us the view we could expect from the Wall Street Journal: “We want a continuing influx of cheap labor, whether nannies and laborers, or B1B visa brainiacs.”
One would think that the folks at the WSJ would understand supply and demand, where if the supply of labor is plentiful, the cost of labor goes down.
We do have Americans who would do unskilled labor, they’re called teenagers. We have Americans who would do the skilled brain work, they’re called “college graduates.”
Mary is no doubt an allrightnik. It won’t matter to her what dislocations blue and white collar workers in flyover country suffer.
All it would take to get enough conservatives on board to pass whatever immigration reform the RINOs and Lefties want is to actually build the fence. If they’re that certain it won’t work, they can shut us up by building it.
P.S. For what it’s worth, the version that I used here is the original and does not include the stanza about the relief office. That was added and recorded later. ·1 minute ago
According to wikipedia they were in the original version.
EJHill — Kate Smith? She honestly never crossed my mind.
As for Ray Charles — one of the greats. But he didn’t write his own material. Do you really think his politics were much different than Woody Guthrie’s? I don’t.
Edited 7 hours ago
The real problem is that if you hire an American to do those jobs, you must pay minimum wage, payroll taxes, and under Obamacare you might even need to provide medical benefits.
Whereas if you hire an illegal alien, you can pay whatever the job is actually worth since the whole thing is under the table. Thus, many business prefer to hire illegals, for entirely rational economic reasons.
P.S. We shouldn’t be talking about “jobs Americans won’t do,” we should call them “jobs the government won’t let Americans do.”
As for Ray Charles — one of the greats. But he didn’t write his own material. Do you really think his politics were much different than Woody Guthrie’s? I don’t.
Edited 7 hours ago
Why are you the Blue Yeti, anyway? Shouldn’t you be the Red (State) Yeti? Who are you really working for???
Going from memory here, bear with me on the numbers. In 1984 Reagan got 37% of the Hispanic vote. In 1988, after amnesty in 1986, George HW Bush got 30%. Passing comprehensive immigration reward, handing out the candy, garnered the GOP a net drop of 7% of the Hispanic vote.
Whatever the most optimistic estimate of Hispanic votes the GOP could possibly gain from passing the Senate bill, or end up with in a conference bill that will be essentially the same result, it would pale in comparison with the votes they will lose off the conservative base either by staying home or bolting to a third party.
The GOP Beltway Barnacles, and Wall Street Journal editorialists, clearly do not grasp they are facing a mutiny of the base already due to the House GOP’s lack of urgency about getting results (firings and prosecutions are results, not more hearings) on the Obama scandals (particularly IRS and Benghazi). Passing amnesty with the promise of enforcement sometime after the heat death of the universe provided the DHS Secretary deems it necessary, will be the spark that sets the mutiny off.
So if you increase the supply of labor, that won’t decrease the cost of labor? (i.e. wages)
That depends. If economics is a zero-sum game, and more workers compete for a fixed number of jobs, then yes wages will go down.
If the economy is elastic, then more paid workers will create more demand for food, housing, medical care, and so forth, which will create more jobs. Supply of labor will increase, but so will demand for labor. ·9 minutes ago
Are you seriously arguing that expanding America’s pool of unskilled labor will increase job opportunities?
Moreover, that this increase will outpace the rate of immigration which is estimated to be in the millions?
Are you seriously arguing that expanding America’s pool of unskilled labor will increase job opportunities?
Moreover, that this increase will outpace the rate of immigration which is estimated to be in the millions? ·0 minutes ago
I’m seriously arguing it would do so if it weren’t crippled by taxes, overregulation, and mandatory benefits.
Isn’t personal property also just a convenient fiction – a projection of power beyond our corporeal self? It seems odd to me that people have no right to alleviate their poverty by taking (a corporation’s) private property but apparently have the right to alleviate their poverty by taking what is collectively owned by others. ·12 minutes ago
If you want to pool the resources with your neighbors to keep curtain people out, you have that right because it’s an agreement between personal property owners. Once you say, oh we also kind of own anything between these lines even though no one really owns it or we had a vote to to limit the rights of a minority of property owners.
You have no right to tell others who they can and cannot peacefully interact with. You have the ability, but not the right. Migration is a fundamental human right. The right of self determination; the right to take your personally owned body where you wish as long as you are not violating the personal property rights of others.
Joseph- yes I understand that our countries labor laws favor employers to hire illegals over citizens, my point is when pundits say that illegals are doing the jobs American WON’T do is insulting and a lie, they are jobs Americans aren’t getting hired to do because of our minimum wage and labor laws.
Sorry Joseph, just saw your edited comment. We’re on the same page on this one
If you want to pool the resources with your neighbors to keep curtain people out, you have that right because it’s an agreement between personal property owners. Once you say, oh we also kind of own anything between these lines even though no one really owns it or we had a vote to to limit the rights of a minority of property owners.
You have no right to tell others who they can and cannot peacefully interact with. You have the ability, but not the right. Migration is a fundamental human right. The right of self determination; the right to take your personally owned body where you wish as long as you are not violating the personal property rights of others. ·4 minutes ago
Sounds a bit like the Occupy movement. I fear the public parks are going to become crowded and gross.
Are you seriously arguing that expanding America’s pool of unskilled labor will increase job opportunities?
Moreover, that this increase will outpace the rate of immigration which is estimated to be in the millions? ·0 minutes ago
I’m seriously arguing it woulddo so if it weren’t crippled by taxes, overregulation, and mandatory benefits. ·4 minutes ago
So can we cut taxes, deregulate, and dismantle the entitlement state before we invite millions of immigrants to come live here?
Are you seriously arguing that expanding America’s pool of unskilled labor will increase job opportunities?
Moreover, that this increase will outpace the rate of immigration which is estimated to be in the millions? ·0 minutes ago
I’m seriously arguing it woulddo so if it weren’t crippled by taxes, overregulation, and mandatory benefits. ·4 minutes ago
So can we cut taxes, deregulate, and dismantle the entitlement state beforewe invite millions of immigrants to come live here? ·0 minutes ago
Ask that to a Haitian.
Mike H,
You are making ridiculous arguments. We live in a democracy and we have the rule of law. You would like to change the law because you percieve some unfairness, that is your right. However, foreign nationals do not have a right to “migrate” and squat and then claim they are being oppressed when the laws of the land they entered hold them to account. Those of us who disagree with you have a perfect right to do so, and your attitude reveals a certain lack of respect for democracy itself.
I would like to see you migrate to Mexico or Russia and make your case of open borders to them. You will end up in jail and they will deport you. If it was up to me, I wouldn’t take you back until you completed a basic civics course.
All that, plus some Americans prefer to live off welfare, unemployment, and food stamps than work for minimum wage.
Are you seriously arguing that expanding America’s pool of unskilled labor will increase job opportunities?
Moreover, that this increase will outpace the rate of immigration which is estimated to be in the millions? ·0 minutes ago
I’m seriously arguing it woulddo so if it weren’t crippled by taxes, overregulation, and mandatory benefits. ·4 minutes ago
So can we cut taxes, deregulate, and dismantle the entitlement state beforewe invite millions of immigrants to come live here? ·58 minutes ago
That would be the sensible way to do things.
Politicians like to talk about “comprehensive” immigration reform. If the House Republicans had any guts, they’d pass a bill that included the amnesty the left wants, plus repeals the minimum wage and eliminates federal welfare benefits. How’s that for comprehensive?
…
I would like to see you migrate to Mexico or Russia and make your case of open borders to them.
I know I’m not going to be making any friends by taking an radical and unpopular view, but here it goes.
Saying other countries are worse doesn’t make us right. We should hold ourselves to a much higher standard than “better than horrible countries.” I do have a curtain disrespect for democracy, or rather I believe most people give it undue respect. I no longer accept, “this is the way things are so we must argue within the preconceived boundaries.” We do live in a democracy, and yet we allow our rights to be violated constantly. Saying, “oh shucks, people voted for it.” is not an excuse for violation of human rights.
However, foreign nationals do not have a right to “migrate” and squat and then claim they are being oppressed when the laws of the land they entered hold them to account.
I didn’t say they had this right. What I’m basically saying is one should not be able to tell another who they may hire. There should be a very good reason to limit the rights of others and “people voted on it” is far from sufficient. We should treat foreigners like strangers but currently we are treating them far worse.
Franco,That’s why Mexico and Russia are crappy countries. They have no tradition of natural rights. They have bad, restrictive laws.
Also, I like James as much as everyone else (even bought his latest book!) but his depiction as the Statue of Liberty is at odds with his stated position on immigration. After all, this is the statue on which is inscribed, “Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed, to me: I lift my lamp beside the golden door.”
Too bad the second guest was less than optimum – she took everyone’s attention away from the first guest who was excellent. It’s always great to get the views from somebody with intimate knowledge about “over there.” (Judith, Claire, etc.)
The song at the end was jarring. Last year I escorted an elementary (Christian) school group to a folk trio concert. An arts group in our town brings groups in and the groups usually give a daytime mini-concert for school children. The folk group (from Vermont, natch) ended with an almost teary enconium to Woody Guthrie before singing “This Land is Your Land”, inviting everyone to join in.
Yep, my head about popped off!
Meh, I should have gone with my first instinct and played The Bangles’ Walk Like An Egyptian.
Wasn’t Ellis Island nearby?
Blue Yeti: Does the closing song pop into your head as the podcast is recording?And it goes without saying, but I thought the last guest was great.
Is it right keep away your competition by gunpoint? Why don’t you try to coerce your current competitors by force of arms?
Immigrants didn’t “drive your wages down.” They tried to improve their own lives the best they could. They are as much human as you are. ·3 hours ago
While being humans, and trying to better their lives, immigrants drove wages down by working for less than Americans will (or are even allowed to).
Mike H:
Do you actually believe that enforcing the law at the border, or (God forbid) deporting foreign lawbreakers is morally equivalent to an American citizen who works at McDonald’s pointing a gun at one who works at Burger King????
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I just like the song. I have never picked music based on the political affiliations or stances of the musician (assuming I even know what they are). That would really limit the choices.
Oh, Lord, Yeti has been Obamanized! The American communist Woody Guthrie’s “answer” to Irving Berlin’sGod Bless America…
Should have stayed asleep like Mr. Long.
And if Peter and James lived in Venice with Rob, I imagined them running over to the Long Plantation to try to rouse him for his podcasting duties: ·16 minutes ago
Edited 16 minutes ago
There are choices? Or maybe…