Comments on: Immigration quotas discussed in this week’s The Nation http://christineinportland.com/2007/07/immigration-quotas-discussed-in-this-weeks-the-nation/ Thu, 26 Apr 2012 06:08:37 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.1 By: Christine http://christineinportland.com/2007/07/immigration-quotas-discussed-in-this-weeks-the-nation/comment-page-1/#comment-100 Christine Fri, 06 Jul 2007 18:13:17 +0000 http://nonprofitgirl.com/2007/07/01/immigration-quotas-discussed-in-this-weeks-the-nation/#comment-100 <p>The problems of NAFTA seem, to me, to be the problems of labor in the US writ large. Not content to exploit American labor for their own benefit, corporations have gained under NAFTA a larger opportunity to erode worker rights and protections and fewer basic environmental controls, to name my key concerns. </p> <p>The economic reforms I spend the most time dreaming about are living wage jobs and universal health care. American labor has suffered immensely due to corporate greed; real wages have declined even as profiteering has increased. The wealth that corporations generate is not going into the pockets of the workers, be they Americans, El Salvadorean, or any other nationality. Adjusted for inflation, US workers in 2004 made almost 1% less than they did in 1964 [<a href="http://www.workinglife.org/wiki/Wages+and+Benefits%3A+Real+Wages+%281964-2004%29" rel="nofollow">source</a>]; when the economy grows even as workers' incomes shrink, we have a problem.</p> <p>Where is all the excess going? Not into equitable health care, for sure. The WHO ranked the US 37th among the world's health care systems in 2000. People in power seem to devote more energy to protecting the profit margins of the health care industry than to ensuring that individuals have an opportunity for life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness; it's just another symptom of the new US, in which the rights of individuals have shifted to corporations.</p> <p>The most important reform I can think of would be to work toward economic justice; it is our unjust practices that have built the foundation for illegal immigration in the first place.</p> The problems of NAFTA seem, to me, to be the problems of labor in the US writ large. Not content to exploit American labor for their own benefit, corporations have gained under NAFTA a larger opportunity to erode worker rights and protections and fewer basic environmental controls, to name my key concerns.

The economic reforms I spend the most time dreaming about are living wage jobs and universal health care. American labor has suffered immensely due to corporate greed; real wages have declined even as profiteering has increased. The wealth that corporations generate is not going into the pockets of the workers, be they Americans, El Salvadorean, or any other nationality. Adjusted for inflation, US workers in 2004 made almost 1% less than they did in 1964 [source]; when the economy grows even as workers’ incomes shrink, we have a problem.

Where is all the excess going? Not into equitable health care, for sure. The WHO ranked the US 37th among the world’s health care systems in 2000. People in power seem to devote more energy to protecting the profit margins of the health care industry than to ensuring that individuals have an opportunity for life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness; it’s just another symptom of the new US, in which the rights of individuals have shifted to corporations.

The most important reform I can think of would be to work toward economic justice; it is our unjust practices that have built the foundation for illegal immigration in the first place.

]]> By: Chris http://christineinportland.com/2007/07/immigration-quotas-discussed-in-this-weeks-the-nation/comment-page-1/#comment-99 Chris Thu, 05 Jul 2007 18:56:53 +0000 http://nonprofitgirl.com/2007/07/01/immigration-quotas-discussed-in-this-weeks-the-nation/#comment-99 American laws will always be driven by American self-interest. The best argument that can be made against current immigration policy (on a pragmatic level) is that it's bad for America. Laws that make provision for the supply-and-demand labor flow between the U.S. and Latin America, and in so doing offer protected legal status to immigrant laborers, would be the best potential outcome. I'm ignorant of the broader issues (NAFTA, etc). What larger-scale economic reforms do you think might help the immigration issue? PS: I finally blogged about immigrants and taxes, so I linked your entry on the issue. American laws will always be driven by American self-interest. The best argument that can be made against current immigration policy (on a pragmatic level) is that it’s bad for America. Laws that make provision for the supply-and-demand labor flow between the U.S. and Latin America, and in so doing offer protected legal status to immigrant laborers, would be the best potential outcome.

I’m ignorant of the broader issues (NAFTA, etc). What larger-scale economic reforms do you think might help the immigration issue?

PS: I finally blogged about immigrants and taxes, so I linked your entry on the issue.

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