How will this help? (1 Viewer)

[AccessBlaster]

I suspect most seniors in the USA will need to get in line behind these new arrivals for vaccines.

Will the new arrivals be eligible for stimulus relief? Of course not.

They just want to work, but doesn't most Americans?

U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics

In December, both the unemployment rate, at 6.7 percent, and the number of unemployed persons, at 10.7 million, were unchanged.

 

[Jon]

You got one big pot of Covid right there.

 

[AccessBlaster]

You got one big pot of Covid right there.

They are not Republicans.....

 

[Pat Hartman]

This unfettered amnesty for people who have broken our laws just p***** off a large part of the population and it really disadvantages those on the low rungs of the economic scale. My immigrant friends who spent thousands of dollars and years of effort to become citizens are extremely unhappy that lawbreakers get a pass. It sets a very bad president. We've done it a couple of times and the politicians ALWAYS said, "this will be the LAST TIME, we PROMISE we'll fix the system so we never have to do it again" and if you believe that let me show you the bridge I have for sale.

Fool me once, shame on you, fool me 4 times and I am really too stupid to be allowed to ever vote again.

What amazes me is why blacks who consider themselves to be victims keep voting for the lyin' Democrats. The party of slavery, the KKK, segregation, Jim Crow, etc. The people who want to keep them downtrodden and dependent on government handouts. The people who conveniently place Planned Parenthood sites in their neighborhoods so they'll kill their own babies because government policies have destroyed the black family unit. The people who Democrats think are getting a little uppity and so want to replace them with a new underclass who will work for lower wages.

 

[Isaac]

Honestly I don't think it is plotted as something to 'help' us (for the most part - now I'm sure any of us can google and find some exceptions, but I mean broadly speaking) I think it is framed as an act of humane assistance really.

Note - I DON'T agree with letting 1000's more people in for no particular reason other than the usual, But, I just want to play devil's advocate and make 2 points that someone else is probably going to make soon anyway

1) it's not going to help, it's just an act of humane assistance
2) in my PERSONAL opinion, the majority of chronically unemployed people deserve little sympathy. Why do I think this? Because for about 5-7 years I worked in the collection industry as a young man. I've heard every single story in the world - some of them 1000 times - from the realms of the chronically unemployed or underemployed. For the most part they are mostly to blame. I can't tell you how many peoples' stories started with sentences like: "Well, where I [choose to] live, rent is $2500/mo and I just can't make it on minimum wage". Or, "No thanks, I'm waiting until a position opens up in [insert some ridiculously specialized thing that no position will open up in anytime soon for them].

I'll even go so far as to personally volunteer something just a bit personal: There was a period of time in the past when for illness reasons, I was not very employable. It was a year or so long. Even then I could find jobs if I really tried and was open to anything. Even then. Part of the unemployment picture is what we pay people not to work. Do I have the perfect answer? No, I realize it's a balance. On the one extreme is no help from the gov - that seems extreme & mean. On the other end is so much help that many people genuinely decide not to work for long periods of time.

When you get hungry enough, you'll find work or die trying, as the entire South American continent is now showing us (as they get beat with clubs by soldiers).

One thing we know for sure with Biden et al's generous new minimum wage: Inflation is coming back! And who knows, a tiny bit might be alright for us. The upsetting thing is all of us who weren't making minimum wage in the first place, our wages probably will remain stagnant while prices for goods and services increase. So, ironically, a 17 yr old kid clerking at Joe's Stop 'N Shop will experience a 100% wage increase windfall. A person in the solid middle class who spent 15 years diligently honing skills to make more (but far from wealthy) will simply find it harder to make ends meet.
"Great!" (sarcasm).

 

[Pat Hartman]

I think it is framed as an act of humane assistance really.

Why do you think that every time you get on an airplane, the safety announcement reminds you to put on your own mask first?

All the Democrats are doing is virtue signaling. They, unless they truly are stupid, know that we can't actually absorb hundreds of thousands of people at a time and integrate them into society.

In normal times, unfettered immigration is bad for the country. When the Democrats have unnecessarily killed tens of thousands of small businesses, where are the people who are willing to do anything going to get a job? They're certainly not working for J.P. Morgan Chase unless they have one blue eye and one brown and walk with a limp. Combine that with raising the minimum wage to a ridiculous level and there will be even more unemployment. We've already seen the impact with fast food. people are now replaced with kiosks. When I sign in at several doctor's offices and the various medical testing facilities, they are using kiosks. Each kiosk replaces at least one person sometimes more if the facility is busy. These are ENTRY LEVEL JOBS. The ones that only pay minimum wage.

 

[Isaac]

All the Democrats are doing is virtue signaling. They, unless they truly are stupid, know that we can't actually absorb hundreds of thousands of people at a time and integrate them into society.

True, I think it is wanting to allow a few thousand as a "we care" signal.

It's funny tho, our immigration system gets me fired up but NOT in the way that it gets most conservatives fired up. To me, the absolute sick & disgusting travesty is why we let 100x as many of people from certain countries in vs. the ones right next door. All I'm going to say about this is go live in Plano TX for a while.

We discriminate against the visa-giving to our neighbors next door and that's sad.

 

[Steve R.]

Having a minim wage seems very humane. Hard to argue against that. But, it leads to a cycle of endless demands for evermore. The day after a $15.00 p/h minimum wage is approved, the incessant chant for a $20.00 p/h "livable" minimum wage will begin. The cycle is endless. It is a closed feedback loop. Despite the evidence that you can "never" catch-up, virtually no one tries to stop this endless cycle.

There is also a side theme to this: "What constitutes a reasonable minimum standard of living?" The chant from the left is that everyone is entitled to a "livable" minimum wage. I don't have an adequate definition of what constitutes a "livable" minimum wage, but the implication is enough to support a family in adequate housing with a amenities such as a cell phone, TV, car, etc. (Some of those items may be considered exessive, but then you would be accused of being insensitive.) It seems that the concept of a minimum wage as an entry point into the work force has been lost.

 

[Pat Hartman]

For a while, our quotas favored people from western Europe. They definitely discriminated against Asians. They are much more even handed now although we have swung too far to giving priority to family. Immigration should benefit the nation as a whole. That means it should be easier to get in if you have money to invest or job skills that are needed. America still has the most generous immigration policy of any other country in the world. I don't have the stats handy but it's something like 1 million naturalized, 1 million permanent residency, 10 million work visas, and 50 million tourist visas every year. And that doesn't include refugees which we not only take in but we take care of once they're here. They become dependents of the state for years.

What is a country? Is it lines on a map? Is it people who speak the same language? Is it people of the same ethnicity? What happens to a country when you allow in people who hate what you stand for or who don't want to assimilate? Does America have a "culture"? We don't have cute costumes (unless you count cowboys and indians) or national dances. Even our food doesn't seem to be our own. Every strip mall has a Chinese restaurant and a Pizza parlor in most cities. One funny thing I discovered on a long vacation in Australia was that pizza restaurants didn't open for lunch So my brother and I while looking for places where we could get lunch also discovered that most towns had some kind of veterans association that had a restaurant that was open for lunch so we targeted them since they were full of friendly locals to talk to.

 

[Isaac]

What happens to a country when you allow in people who hate what you stand for or who don't want to assimilate

Good point. And there are all kinds of behaviors which are undesirable, that people can potentially have after the immigrate here.
I'd say the one that peeves me the most is coming from a religion which has sponsored violence and terrorism in LARGE quantities.
Coming in a close second is people who thumb their nose at us and look at us like we're stupid and silo themselves away in their own isolated groups ....

The ones that DON'T upset me much are the sincere, socially mature, family-oriented hard workers from the south..

 

[Pat Hartman]

In Fairfield County where I live, a study from a few years ago pegged $19 as a minimum wage for a single person and something higher for a family. In Podunk Arkansas, it might be $11. Having a national minimum wage makes absolutely NO sense. The other thing that the left looses sight of is that some jobs are simply not worth a lot of money and when you make the cost of labor too high, companies automate as fast as they can. No one cares about customer service at Micky D's. They care about fast and CHEAP. And cheap means kiosks and automated burger flippers and no after school kids doing clean up and stocking for stores and restaurants.

 

[Isaac]

Having a national minimum wage makes absolutely NO sense

A lot of national things make no sense!

I was reading an article earlier today where CNN was making fun of Trump's approach to certain immigration policies, whereby he had required that changes to immigration policies would require discussion with the localities impacted. (Imagine such a silly thing! - actually asking Nogales, AZ how does this impact you?) But to CNN it was the most awful thing in the world that someone might have dared to do that. LOL. They are a joke.

 

[Pat Hartman]

The ones that DON'T upset me much are the sincere, socially mature, family-oriented hard workers from the south..

So, you're OK with entering the country illegally or overstaying a visa? How about working by stealing someone's identity? How about educating their children? Are you aware that there are children who live in Mexico and who attend school here in the US? How about subsidized housing? How about food stamps? How about providing free legal assistance to stay here when they're caught? I don't begrudge them trips to the emergency room but when they are here illegally, they should have to pay. The first thing I was asked when I was brought to the hospital via ambulance with a bleeding head wound was "did I have insurance?". If I had been unconscious, I'm not sure what they would have decided.

I am all for immigration. I don't like the old quota system that seemed to discriminate, but I am 100% against illegal entry/overstay. Those people are criminals and should be sent home ASAP. Call me hard-hearted but millions of people want to come here and they are able to follow the rules. Stop cheating them as well as stealing my money.

 

[Isaac]

So, you're OK with entering the country illegally or overstaying a visa? How about working by stealing someone's identity? How about educating their children? Are you aware that there are children who live in Mexico and who attend school here in the US? How about subsidized housing? How about food stamps? How about providing free legal assistance to stay here when they're caught? I don't begrudge them trips to the emergency room but when they are here illegally, they should have to pay. The first thing I was asked when I was brought to the hospital via ambulance with a bleeding head wound was "did I have insurance?". If I had been unconscious, I'm not sure what they would have decided.

I am all for immigration. I don't like the old quota system that seemed to discriminate, but I am 100% against illegal entry/overstay. Those people are criminals and should be sent home ASAP. Call me hard-hearted but millions of people want to come here and they are able to follow the rules. Stop cheating them as well as stealing my money.

You mentioned some things that I agree constitute undesirable behavior by immigrants.
But, nope--nothing, not any of them, upset me as much as those who get most of the visas, compete for all of our I.T. work, and thumb their nose at us with a terrible unmannerly attitude. None.

 

[Pat Hartman]

compete for all of our I.T. work

The h1b visa law has rules but they are easily bypassed and big tech companies like Microsoft and Oracle lie every time they testify to Congress when they tell the members that there are not enough Americans to fill the high tech positions. What they actually mean is "there are not enough Americans to fill the positions at the price we want to pay". The law specifically says that you can't hire a visa holder to replace an American worker. So, instead, big companies hire a consulting company and "rent" the h1b visa holders.

There's lots that could be done to fix this situation but both the Republicans and the Democrats really like the way the law works now so don't expect Congress to do anything to actually help Americans in this regard.