Politics and Controversy

[stevec]

I'll go ahead and do this stupid bulletin.

What is your stand on...?

Abortion?: As a man, I'm not 100% sure how much my opinion should matter since it's not my life and my body being affected. As a reasonably intelligent person, I am 1000% sure a woman should be able to choose for herself what happens to her body. To say that life begins at

Comments

[stevec]

I seem to remember there being an option to withhold federal taxes from being auto-deducted whenever you fill out the tax information for a new job--then you just have to pay it all at tax-time instead of getting a return. I could be mistaken though; it's been a while since I've gotten a new job.

But yes, if they're paying taxes they should have access to tax-funded services. That said I'm still not 100% convinced that all or even most illegal immigrants pay taxes. If they're hired "legally" it's with a fake social security number (which opens up problems with fraud, etc). That also makes it difficult for them to keep the job. For example, some illegals that work with Heather at Red Lobster have been discovered because Red Lobster got a notice from the IRS that their employees don't exist in the system; I'd personally be surprised if INS doesn't show up sometime just because of that. I find it hard to believe that most immigrants are jeopardizing their jobs and their life in the US like this.

Which leads to when they're hired illegally, in which case their wages aren't declared. That way it works out better for the workers and for the employers for various reasons. And obviously in these cases no taxes are paid.

Illegal immigrants are also frequently a huge drain to economies in border states because hospitals cannot refuse to provide emergency health care to immigrants who barely survive the harsh conditions some immigrants put themselves through to get here, so the community winds up bearing the cost of their medical bills. The same goes for pregnant women who sneak into the US looking to ensure their child is born in the US and thus a US citizen.

And temporary workers who just come to the US to perform short-term, labor-intensive tasks and return to Central America are actually deducting money from the US economy. How significant this is, I'm not sure.

Just in a short Google search I found dozens of articles sighting the strain illegal immigrants place on the US economy in multiple ways. The point is that there is *no* way to argue that illegal immigrants aren't damaging our economy, because even if you just consider the increased funding required for INS it very obviously is taking out more than the illegal immigrants who might be paying taxes are putting in.

As far as bilingualism goes, you're obviously very right that bilingualism certainly expands your world and your options greatly and that it's inevitable that Spanish will become the second language of the US even if unofficially (if not the first language, for that matter). I'm not a big one generally for forcing people to do anything, so I have a hard time saying that hispanics should be forced to learn English. However it's becoming an increasing problem in many cities that have large hispanic communities that they isolate themselves as much as possible. They don't bother learning English because they're immersing themselves in totally hispanic communities--with legal and illegals both, I'm sure.

I don't think it's fair for *legal* US citizens to feel uncomfortable or not be able to communicate inside the US because of a population of illegal hispanics who refuse to integrate with US culture.

Look, I'm very obviously not against hispanics in the least. I'm sure you know that about me by now. But illegal immigration is a large and growing problem and needs to be stopped. I think most of this needs to be done through immigration reform. Though, quite honestly, I support deporting people who are here illegally and the denial of social services to anyone who doesn't pay the taxes that support those social programs.

[kender256]

Re: Hired Ilegal Immigrants. Of course, there is no such thing as a legally hired ilegal immigrant. I don't know what the statistics are, but I know a very large number, and perhaps a majority, of ilegal immigrants are working "over the table" (in the sense that taxes are taken out of their paychecks).

As to the "benefits" of working "under the table", you have to realize that they're balanced and usually outweighed by the fact that "under the table" jobs are outside the realm of things like minimum wage, OSHA, regular paychecks, human decency, etc. Not always, but often, "under the table" jobs are little different than slavery or indentured servitude, with noone to complain to if you're being treated inhumanely, the fear of being reported to Immigration (rather than being paid) always hanging over your head, etc.

Increased INS funding does not hurt our economy in any way, it circulates money in the economy, thus stimulating it.

Ilegal immigration may be a problem, but more importantly it's a symptom of a problem. They're only here because there is a vacuum they are filling; they're here because we want them here. If this weren't true, they'd show up, not find any work, and go home and tell their countrymen that there's no work and that'd be the end of that.

Fix the social, economic and legal context that demands--not just allows--ilegal immigration and it will vanish.

Anyway, IMHO, the drain on our economy that is a byproduct of the social conditions that breed ilegal immigration is negligible compared to other huge wastes of tax dollars.

*cough*IRAQ*cough*HALLIBURTON*cough*THEWARONDRUGS*cough*

Sorry, my throat's been bothering me lately...

Re:Bilingualism.

I don't think it's fair for *legal* US citizens to be burdened with a sorely inadequate and exploitive health care system that turns away people in need, an archaic and broken electoral college that can be hijacked to override the will of the people, a deeply flawed education system designed for the world of yesteryear that reinforces our outrageous income gap, etc.

Dig?

The language shift may not be fair, but it is fact. Any attempt to legislate it would be futile at best, and an idiotic waste of energy and public funds better spent on more realistic and important endeavors at worst.

And I know you're not against hispanics...neither am I :-).

I simply specialize in Devil Advocacy and Alternate Point of View Presentation.

If you--an American citizen--go to Canada--where you do not pay taxes--and come down with some horrible sickness, how much do you think you'll have to pay for the medical attention you'll receive there?