Response to immigration

     My mother and her entire family are naturalized citizens. My uncle was naturalized just a few years ago and had to go through the seven year process. He served four combat tours in Vietnam and at the time could have received his citizenship on the spot. He immigrated as a child when he was two years of age and had papers his entire life. When he was planning his retirement from Chrysler he realized that he had no family left in his country of origin and that he would have to sell his home and vehicles and return once he retired. He chose to go through the long process to become a citizen.
     Do I have empathy for the young lady in this article? Absolutely, but the problem we have her is asking to give favoritism so a select few. This on its base is amoral, we have no kings, dukes, we should not give special privilege to certain people while denying others the same. Equal Protection under the Law is the logical way to look at this problem. There are a quantified number of grants and scholarships available, and to give to those who are not citizens while letting the natural born and Naturalized to wallow is amoral. The solution is quite clear, change the entire system. Allow anyone who comes to the border to enter the country with no limitation to education, skill or origin. Once in if they can find work they are able to work legally, pay taxes, and better our nation. If you study history our greatest periods of expansion and growth were during periods of unbridled immigration, especially the periods before the federal government took over the task of managing immigration. There were many at the time that said that we could not handle the waves of the downtrodden, but as we view it though the lens of history we see the greatness that immigrants contribute to our nation. Here are just a few; Albert Einstein, Andrew Carnegie who immigrated at 7yo illiterate, J.P.Morgan, Necoli Tesla, and the list goes on.
     With an Open Border policy those who are here illegally need only to go to foreign soil, a foreign Consulate would do, then fill out an application, have their biometrics recorded and enter. Once they were here legally there are no more problems. If they choose to become Citizens then they can go through the seven year process, and if not they can retain their citizenship in their home land. Let us say that the authors parents were forced to become citizens of the US. If this had occurred they could not have returned home to purchase land in Mexico which was their dream. Had they been able to work here legally they would have had a better opportunity of making the money needed to pursue their dream, and once completed they would have returned to Mexico and bought the home they wanted.
     There are few downsides to this blueprint that has been laid out. Criminals can more easily be deported as ICE will not be so overburdened. The slavery that is occurring would end as would the illicit profits made in trafficking people. If there was little work people would migrate home or to another area with opportunity.
     Chomsky writes of the same issues with a particular slant toward the political refugees, and has a complex solution that will still leave many out in the cold and exposed to legal action. This proposal however is simple, easy and inexpensive to implement while being morally correct. Let us give no privilege to some that we are not willing to give to others, and let us not force on some what they may not want. The "Dream Act" is a violation of one of our most basic tenants and the center of our National Morality, "Equal Protection Under the Law"
     We need to focus our energy on what is right, not on what is perceived to be easy as it always leads to evil.

Inspiration...

"Inspiration occasionally comes to a man but never to a Congress" Gen. George Rogers Clark

I have always loved this quote and understand from where this logic resides. In each of us we weigh our reason first against our moral center and values. Each of us has a slightly different moral center so when we get together collectively on issues of moral belief we achieve greatness, but when we work together to solve a problem we must set aside our moral differences to find a solution. This is the application of reason without morals, this means that these decisions are amoral or with out morals attached.
Example one: It is immoral to let people starve to death, ergo I will feed my neighbor, help him find work and get back on his path. This is founded in reason and my central moral values.
Example two: We can not let people starve so let us create a system to determine what is starvation, how you can get into the system of starvation to receive benefits, allocate resources to areas where people are likely to starve. Some on this comity believe that all in need should be fed and there can not be any strings attached. Remember we are only the comity that is here to make sure everyone gets food where we think there is need so don't worry about anything else.
In the second example the daunting task of feeding those in need becomes the only function of the comity, and the conditions of the hunger never are addressed. Collective Salvation suffers from the same amoral ends if does not come from each individual, but from the group where there is opposition in morality. Another example is Political Correctness where we are asked to set aside our core values to placate others. The greatest example however are the churches where like minded, or those with similar values and morals congregate together. There are many minor differences and some major differences between Catholics, Baptists, Methodists, ect. so those who attend church attend a parish that is the closest to our core.
I write this in the hopes that we remember that "We The People" are the reason this nation came to pass, and this is also how "We The People" will make it whole.
Be a 10%er

A response on education

Richard Cottingham February 7 at 3:01pm Report

By what standard do you measure and find that our schools have become "...so dysfunctional."? perhaps it is by the measure of the communities that almost universally underfund public schools. Perhaps it is by the measure of mindless standardized tests that measure memory rather than learning. Perhaps it is by the corporate regbressionists who want to transfer billions in taxpayer school funding to corporate segregated "charter schools".

If you measure public education by the productivity, the creativity, the resourcesfulness, the perseptiveness and the imaginitiveness of the American people, most of whom were educated in public schools I do not think you will find that schools are dysfunctional at all!

It is my guess that you are mindlessly parroting the regressive Republican rhetoric that you have heard from Limbaugh or Beck or Palin. Keep in mind that these obstructionist Regressives want to take America back to the days of segregated schools, wild west gun contgrol, laissez faire business regulation, robber baron economics, and Horatio Alger fantasy opportunity.

There is all this talk about making the government smaller. What naivte! When our government is so small that it cannot function we will still be governed. We will be governed by corporations accountable only to shareholders and not to the people.

As Horatio Alger I did head west in my youth to the wild west where I whore a pistol on my hip or in my pocket for ten years. The public school to where I was quarantined for eight years of my life before I set off on a journey to quantify my thought process through a popper education labeled me as a slow learner in third grade with a scoring of 138 in IQ. (My last testing at university I scored a 156 with no effort put forward.) This public school was the first in the nation to receive the "Academic Award for Excellence" yet I was beaten up by a teacher called stupid on a daily basis by another, had a piece of tape placed around my desk which they called my cage and yet they never identified my learning disability. By chance one of my mothers students had seen a paper I had written and noted that I was Dyslexic as was her son, I was immediately tested and the results confirmed. I spent the last three years in boarding school where in the stead of producing papers from the encyclopedia we were required to have five to seven sources for each work. There was no "red lining" as work submitted had to be correct grammatically, in its punctuation and no errors in spelling. I have seen both good and poor education in my life, but when we started to see how preverbal sausage is currently being made it has raised my ire to levels I had yet to experience. We knew that our son would present with ADHD and as providence opened a path back east just after the birth of our son we seized the opportunity. As our son started his education in a school rated "excellent" small 'e' the difficulties arose. By the end of the second year his schooling had degenerated to the point that the teacher, principal, and the school psychologist were wanting to hold him back. There was no discipline at school and spankings were recommended by his teacher on at least a weekly bases for his actions in class. The situation was untenable with the school telling us to medicate him, and after we fell to pressure and had him tested, something they refused to do in complete disregard for the law, he was medicated. This brought on a whole new side to the coin as he developed extreme side affects to the medication threatening to harm hims self. It reminded me of the ten years that I had as well been medicated and the doctor rightfully pulled the prescription and told us that from my medical history and adverse reactions as well as those experienced by my son that there was no alternative. As providence interceded again my mother had read an ad from Summit Academy and and we interviewed the school. It has been an amazing journey, our son is moving ahead by over a year in his studies, and the school operates with a third less funding per student than the lowest cost public school in the state. There are a maximum of fifteen students and two teachers in every class vs. the thirty to one ratio of any other school. It receives about half of the funding of his public school. I am not some ideologue who has no knowledge in the system, but we see students, new every year coming to Summit who are three or more years behind in their studies, and one who was so beaten by the public system that he arrived in eighth grade illiterate. Some say "for one innocent man to go to the gallows..." then what of the millions sent out into the world illiterate? You speak of the "robber barons" but do you know from where they came? Many from abject poverty, notice the passion they had for education as they founded many schools and universities. How about those kicked out of school most notably Edison and Einstein. Sir I have been through the sausage factory personally, have watched my son and daughter traverse the grind and know how it is made. I have worked with Gov. Strictland to help and improve public education, fought him and prevailed as he tried to extinguish the charter schools. I have lived the nightmare and have no issues with the path I was placed on as it has led me to be educated in the system, and allowed me to advocate for my son, daughter, and who knows how many others in perpetuity. If I had my way, all public schools would be closed in mass and private schools would compete for the students through their results. It works for private schools and universities as every parent would love to see their prodigy achieve at Harvard, Yale, Smith and so on. "For one to pull them selves up by their own bootstraps they must have the boots, and the boots are the education" I quote my self as vein as it may be... Respectfully, Keith Hayes

GR

I have been doing quite a bit of research lately for the book that I am writing, studying the poor law period in England and the American Colonies. What is fascinating is the series of wage and price controls to keep all but the nobility and landed gentry in their place and prevent them from gaining power due to wealth. These controls worked well until there was a small hiccup in the system due to food shortage, or a small downtick in the economy. At that point there was a large increase in the poor and crime. Interestingly there was little problem in this country in comparison during the early years of independence, but the same pattern reoccurred in the turn of the last century. The majority of the "Robber Barrens" started off as paupers with a few coming from the middle class, but had great influence in politics at which time those in power attempted to push them back down. These days the effect of regulation on the economy has the same affect as can be seen when fuel prices rose a few years back which helped to propell the forclosier crises.

Unintended Consequences

So I had an epiphany the other day, think of the rule of unintended consequences. The IRS... So to avoid taxes and grow wealth the banks and Wall Street have come up with ever more exotic products in response to government regulations and the tax code.The more they create the greater the risk as well as having many more hands in the process which leaves more money on the table for Wall Street and the banks, and less in our pockets. Would the financial collapse have not occurred if the federal government had stayed out of the system?

Global

This is why I have such a hard time finding an economist for my book. They are all on board with the "tax and transfer" policies. Now those policies are going global... If the sovereign is to the subject as Rousseau stated 1 in 10000 there is stake and share, but if it is 1 in 6 billion what is his stake, share or voice? It is far easier to control the mass with their differing needs for some time, but eventually this social ponzie scheme will be overcome by the social "wants" that are fulfilled to placate each group so as to hold power.

GR

Dear Mr. Dubner,

I applaud your use of well based logic in this world of emotional decision making. I have been trying to vet a probable solution to our rising social costs and deficits before we go the way of Rome, and after many years of watching and weighing the ideas put forth by those in government with less end results and greater costs I think there might be a logical solution. My ideas are based solely on a pragmatic view that top down social services are not attune to the actual needs of the end consumer. These ideas are not currently based in economic fact as that field is not my area of expertise. I would be interested in your input, and if these ideas are valid I think publication would creates change that has not been seen in over a century.
If groups of people at the local level were to provide for those who are in need and actually service these people we might end the need for government run social programs, and in doing so massively cut the costs of providing for those in need as well as the tax burden levied across the population. The economic questions to be answered include what the benefits in tax liabilities and reductions in tax contributions to individuals or corporations would be for donations of assets, time, or cash in the following areas. Housing, food programs, medical care. The theory is to privately provide quality housing in areas that have more employment opportunity, a food program that includes necessities such as soap, toothpaste and toilet paper, and a volunteer doctor and hospital referral network to provide medical services. As individuals enter the work force they would start to contribute to their living situation, and as their income grows they would work their way out of the programs.
Basing and servicing the programs locally through existing organizations staffed by volunteers and resourced by local persons who have connections within the community to acquire the assets that are unused in the community would cut overhead costs that consume social spending dollars, and best deliver the exact services in a streamlined manner. If this is done privately there is no need for government contribution.
It roughly seems that if the private sector could provide the necessary housing, food and medical care from unused resources and donations delivered by volunteers we could eliminate at least 40% of federal spending, let alone the savings to the individual states and local governments.

Thank you for your time and consideration of these ideas.