The Federation for American Immigration has just released a study detailing the connection between out of control immigration and increased income inequality in our country. http://tinyurl.com/25sv5r Here is a summary on the report:
Rising inequality in the United States is linked to rising immigration, falling union membership and rising international trade according to economists. But, these three trends are not independent of each other, and the rise in the immigrant population contributes to the other two trends. Since 1970, the country’s immigrant population has grown by about 26 million persons — a 272 percent increase.
Over the same period, the spread between mean and median family incomes — an indicator of increasing income inequality — has grown by nearly four times the rate of increase during the prior period (1947—70) when the immigrant population was fairly stable. Since mass immigration was unleashed by the 1965 immigration law, increases in average inflation-adjusted family income have steadily shrunk and are approaching no growth, or — if the trend continues — negative growth.
The Bush administration’s proposal to increase immigration and increase both skilled and unskilled temporary foreign workers would increase the labor supply and, thereby, accelerate the trend in rising income inequality and the erosion of the middle class. http://www.fairus.org/
My favorite syndicated columnist Froma Harrop has written yet another excellent piece titled "The working class is not stupid about immigration." As someone who tells it like it is, Ms. Harrop takes aim at labor unions like the Service Workers International Union who are supporting amnesty for illegal aliens and politicians who would sell out working families. http://tinyurl.com/288jef Harrop writes:
"Democrats who think they can get away with throwing blue-collar America to the wolves in return for new immigrants' votes should think again. Many Latinos who are native-born or legal immigrants — however sympathetic to fellow Hispanics who want to come here — do understand how the labor market has been rigged against them. The open border is why median wages are higher in Alabama than they are in Texas."
"And there are other low-income groups who fancy their interests matter. T. William Fair, head of the Miami Urban League, appears in ads calling amnesty for illegal workers "a slap in the face to black Americans" and "an economic disaster." Some predict a new coalition of working-class blacks, whites and not a few Latinos questioning certain Democrats' loyalty to their cause. (Cheap-labor Republicans are already on notice.)"
"Controlled immigration is a good thing, and a little wage competition is an acceptable price for bringing new blood and energy into the country. But the numbers really do matter. If some unions and Democrats choose to deny the economic realities, they should at least be open about their motives. It would be highly risky to assume that everyone else is stupid."
http://www.chron.com/
Fortunately, the AFL-CIO has taken a strong stand against the guest worker program http://tinyurl.com/3af82s and we have Senators like Byron Dorgan (D-ND) who are still willing to fight for the interest of America's wage earners.
Senator Dorgan points out three myths about the guest worker program which are part of the propaganda campaign from the cheap labor lobby.It is, simply put, a plan that would bring cheap labor in the back door in the form of millions of foreign workers, even as we continue to export good paying American jobs to other countries," Dorgan said.Those pushing the guest worker program are using myths to advance it, Dorgan charged Tuesday and he acted to correct those myths at a Capitol Hill press conference. He addressed three major myths about the program, and provided accurate information on each:
• Myth #1: The guest worker program allows up to 400,000 immigrants to come to America to work at jobs in the United States. That's a "vast understatement" Dorgan said, with the actual total number, thanks to an unacknowledged "multiplier" in the program, closer to 3.6 million additional workers who don't now live in the United States.
• Myth #2: The guest worker program applies to immigrants already in the United States. Every guest worker enrolled in the program would be a new immigrant, someone who is not here now. "Each person admitted to the United States under the guest worker program is exerting further downward pressure on wages, by adding to the number of people willing to work at low wages," Dorgan said.
• Myth #3: The guest worker program involves mostly agricultural jobs and other work Americans don't want to do. In truth, "these are not agricultural jobs. There is a separate program for additional agricultural workers. These are jobs in construction, manufacturing and transportation among other sectors. That's the backbone of our blue-collar middle class," Dorgan said.
Sadly, Senator Dorgan's arguments fell on deaf ears as the Senate has voted to defeat his amendment that would have killed the guest worker program. There is still time to stop the dangerous Bush-Kennedy-McCain amnesty legislation. Contact your Senators and Representatives and urge them to oppose this sell-out of American workers. http://tinyurl.com/yqk379 And if our politicians (Republican or Democratic) should think again if they believe it is possible to pander to the cheap labor lobby and win the support of working families.
Rising inequality in the United States is linked to rising immigration, falling union membership and rising international trade according to economists. But, these three trends are not independent of each other, and the rise in the immigrant population contributes to the other two trends. Since 1970, the country’s immigrant population has grown by about 26 million persons — a 272 percent increase.
Over the same period, the spread between mean and median family incomes — an indicator of increasing income inequality — has grown by nearly four times the rate of increase during the prior period (1947—70) when the immigrant population was fairly stable. Since mass immigration was unleashed by the 1965 immigration law, increases in average inflation-adjusted family income have steadily shrunk and are approaching no growth, or — if the trend continues — negative growth.
The Bush administration’s proposal to increase immigration and increase both skilled and unskilled temporary foreign workers would increase the labor supply and, thereby, accelerate the trend in rising income inequality and the erosion of the middle class. http://www.fairus.org/
My favorite syndicated columnist Froma Harrop has written yet another excellent piece titled "The working class is not stupid about immigration." As someone who tells it like it is, Ms. Harrop takes aim at labor unions like the Service Workers International Union who are supporting amnesty for illegal aliens and politicians who would sell out working families. http://tinyurl.com/288jef Harrop writes:
"Democrats who think they can get away with throwing blue-collar America to the wolves in return for new immigrants' votes should think again. Many Latinos who are native-born or legal immigrants — however sympathetic to fellow Hispanics who want to come here — do understand how the labor market has been rigged against them. The open border is why median wages are higher in Alabama than they are in Texas."
"And there are other low-income groups who fancy their interests matter. T. William Fair, head of the Miami Urban League, appears in ads calling amnesty for illegal workers "a slap in the face to black Americans" and "an economic disaster." Some predict a new coalition of working-class blacks, whites and not a few Latinos questioning certain Democrats' loyalty to their cause. (Cheap-labor Republicans are already on notice.)"
"Controlled immigration is a good thing, and a little wage competition is an acceptable price for bringing new blood and energy into the country. But the numbers really do matter. If some unions and Democrats choose to deny the economic realities, they should at least be open about their motives. It would be highly risky to assume that everyone else is stupid."
http://www.chron.com/
Fortunately, the AFL-CIO has taken a strong stand against the guest worker program http://tinyurl.com/3af82s and we have Senators like Byron Dorgan (D-ND) who are still willing to fight for the interest of America's wage earners.
Senator Dorgan points out three myths about the guest worker program which are part of the propaganda campaign from the cheap labor lobby.It is, simply put, a plan that would bring cheap labor in the back door in the form of millions of foreign workers, even as we continue to export good paying American jobs to other countries," Dorgan said.Those pushing the guest worker program are using myths to advance it, Dorgan charged Tuesday and he acted to correct those myths at a Capitol Hill press conference. He addressed three major myths about the program, and provided accurate information on each:
• Myth #1: The guest worker program allows up to 400,000 immigrants to come to America to work at jobs in the United States. That's a "vast understatement" Dorgan said, with the actual total number, thanks to an unacknowledged "multiplier" in the program, closer to 3.6 million additional workers who don't now live in the United States.
• Myth #2: The guest worker program applies to immigrants already in the United States. Every guest worker enrolled in the program would be a new immigrant, someone who is not here now. "Each person admitted to the United States under the guest worker program is exerting further downward pressure on wages, by adding to the number of people willing to work at low wages," Dorgan said.
• Myth #3: The guest worker program involves mostly agricultural jobs and other work Americans don't want to do. In truth, "these are not agricultural jobs. There is a separate program for additional agricultural workers. These are jobs in construction, manufacturing and transportation among other sectors. That's the backbone of our blue-collar middle class," Dorgan said.
Sadly, Senator Dorgan's arguments fell on deaf ears as the Senate has voted to defeat his amendment that would have killed the guest worker program. There is still time to stop the dangerous Bush-Kennedy-McCain amnesty legislation. Contact your Senators and Representatives and urge them to oppose this sell-out of American workers. http://tinyurl.com/yqk379 And if our politicians (Republican or Democratic) should think again if they believe it is possible to pander to the cheap labor lobby and win the support of working families.
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