Wow, I find out something new everyday......
According to the save the children foundation, I live in extreme poverty!!!
http://www.savethechildren.org.uk/scuk/jsp/resources/details.jsp?id=5037&group=resources§ion=news&subsection=details
I'm not really sure what their guidelines are but I make less than the U.S. equivalent of 7,000 pounds, so my kids and I must be living in squalor. And I thought we were livin' it up!!! All those trips to Goodwill must be spoiling us!!!
And on another issue, one that's probably going to make me as popular as a union rep in Walmart's corporate office, here's a funny editorial that a friend emailed me. And before I give it to you (minus the GIF's and things that dressed up the original) let me give you my take on the illegal immigration situation.
Before anyone jumps down my throat, I have family and friends who legally immigrated here from the late 40's until the mid 60's. It was a long arduous process that took a lot of time and for some considerable courage to take a shot at becoming an American.
They learned the language, they learned the culture (which was a mixing pot of cultures to begin with) and really wanted to become a valuable member of what was then the greatest country in the world. It meant something to them to be a part of this country. Some people still feel that way.
My problem with Mexican illegal immigration is multifaceted. My country can't take care of it's own, yet now they are considering making 12-28 (depending on your source) million more people citizens? What the fuck?
Do they really believe these people are doing jobs that American's won't do? Well, they are partially right. American's won't do them for 3.00 an hour (and most of the illegals make more than that anyway). I think they keep forgetting to add that part.
The money these illegals make barely helps the U.S. economy as the majority of it gets sent back to Mexico to their families. I've read as much as 99 percent of the money goes there. And they also hurt the already ailing economy because they don't pay into FICA (which in turn pays many of our supposed American "rights" like social security), or any state or government taxes.
Do American politicians actually think these amnesties are going to work? These illegal aliens already have fake identification and basically live in houses and apartments with as many as 20 people in a 3 bedroom unit. They are here for one thing. American money to ship back to "their" country. They don't want and aren't going to conform to any American standards. Most of them can't even be bothered to learn the language, and they have no desire to. I see them driving around my neighborhood in brand new Envoys and Escalades that they got tax free while living in houses with 18 people in them. I stood behind a guy who had one not even two hours ago. It took 5 minutes for the clerk to understand he wanted a box of Marlboros while his beautiful brand new car with 7 other people in it sat running next to my piece of shit. Bitter? Bet your ass I am. They walk into my store 12 at a time to buy their lunches of crackers and bottled water and pull out wallets lined with hundreds and 28 different credit cards in them that they will run up and then disappear off the face of the earth when they've maxed 'em all out. And all under an assumed name. And you won't find any of them with a search warrant when it's all said and done, because they never existed to begin with.
And another big gripe I have, you may or may not know. If a pregnant Mexican girl gets(or more likely, goes, it can't be very hard) across the border here and has a baby in America, that baby becomes an American citizen and her (and probably the rest of her family) can now take part in the wonderful welfare system that American's own citizens have to fight tooth and nail to partake in.
As I mentioned before, I do know a few of these guys, they come into my store almost everyday. I have nothing against them personally. They are doing what they can to survive like most of us. But it's a shame with so much of our nation's auto and other industries moving to Mexico, the citizens of that country come to this country and make a better living here than in their own. Someone should be checking into that too!!!
That in a nutshell is why I have a really big problem with Mexican illegal immigration. And here is the editorial piece. And the comments are open if you think I am a big dickhead for feeling the way I do or you'd like to try to change my mind about it. (Don't try too hard because it isn't going to happen.)
HERE IS THE EMAIL:
A lady wrote the best letter in the Editorials
in ages!!! It explains things better than all
the baloney you hear on TV.
Her point:
Recently large demonstrations have taken place across the country protesting the fact that Congress
is finally addressing the issue of illegal immigration. Certain people are angry that the US might protect its own borders, might make it harder to sneak into this country and, once here, to stay indefinitely.
Let me see if I correctly understand the thinking behind these protests. Let's say I break into your house.
Let's say that when you discover me in your house, you insist that I leave. But I say, "I've made all
the beds and washed the dishes and did the laundry and swept the floors. I've done all the things you don't
like to do. I'm hard-working and honest (except for when I broke into your house) .
According to the protesters:
You are Required to let me stay in your house
You are Required to add me to your family's insurance plan
You are Required to Educate my kids
You are Required to Provide other benefits to me & to my family
(my husband will do all of your yard work because
he is also hard-working and honest, except for that
breaking in part).
If you try to call the police or force me out, I will call my friends who will picket your house carrying signs that proclaim my RIGHT to be there. It's only fair, after all, because you have a nicer house than I do, and I'm just trying to better myself. I'm a hard-working and honest, person, except for well, you know, I did break into your house. And what a deal it is for me!!! I live in your house, contributing only a fraction of the cost of my keep, and there is nothing you can do about it without being accused of cold, uncaring, selfish, prejudiced, and bigoted behavior. Oh yeah, I DEMAND that you learn MY LANGUAGE!!! so you can communicate with me.
Why can't people see how ridiculous this is?! Only in America .
Let me know if you see the value of this....
If not blow it off.........along with your future Social Security
funds, and a lot of other things.
Well folks, you'll either either love me or hate me now. Let's see what you think.
10 comments:
May I offer some additional material to consider.
As I understand it, the Immigration Issue was a leftover from the previous campaign planks of the Republicans. At that time, it was being used to drum up support from the faithful, to get them to the voting stations and the polls, by playing the "race" card with a little more finesse than "all them mooslims hate us anyways, so let's kill all the damned sand niggers" or "them towel-wearing hindu's stole my job for a quarter of my salary." Not that either of those points are incorrect, but that is not where I was going. I just wanted to indicate where the issue came from and why it has risen to ther fore. The Conservative base has a very long memory (viz., baby boomers lost the Vietnam War and, hence, put the American domination of world markets into the toilet) and when they found they could no longer find any support among their constituents for the Iraq War, they turned to the last successful voter-turn-out device. Unfortunately, it backfired in the backlash created by just the attitudes you shared here.
I readily admit I feel exactly as you do on many occasions, but that is only when I fail to remember that I am having my emotions manipulated. And this is not a difficult thing to do. I could cite Hermman Goering and Rudolph Hess, however that would take too much time and I think you know where that would lead.
What I would like to add to your post is this. America was not America when the natives populated this land. It was taken over by a variety of European colonists who proceeded to establish ownership along the lines of traditional real estate laws...in a country which never knew a surveyor's stake or a deed. The first "Americans" invaded and stole a continent. (Let alone the importation of slave labor.)
Ok. Ancient history. Fast forward. The immigrant really DID build this nation. And yes, you are absolutely correct in that the process for them was one of earning their status through a process of enculturization and extensive contributions to its growth and military, sacrificing much in order to attain this prize.
However, things have changed. As noted above, the export of once-thriving industries overseas has decimated the earning power of all of us here, turning a manufacturing giant into a service economy. And even that sector is shrinking. What is worse, the baby boom bubble is soon to burst, hitting the Social Security administration at he exact same moment as the present executive has already spent it into such a deficit as to leave only the terminally deluded believing that they will see enough chump change to be acquainted with more than the Dollar Menu at McDonalds into their Sunset Years.
So? A solution? It may not be elegant, but it might work: re-engage the Exploit the Immigrant scenario. It would, of course, be necessary to tax the living daylights out of them, at least to pay for my generation to die with some sort of dignity. As for rights? I wouldn't worry too much about them. As the government is bled white by its cash outflow into the medicare cards, they will be less and less. That's the Law of nature, lad.
Do i propose that America become a Third World Nation? More like Second World: one in which machinery and infrastructure are in place but which also has a large supply of cheap labor. Like India, or Malaysia. Then let then work like coolies until they drop... And then, maybe, they might be smart and tough enough to endure striking for better living conditions and bring the unions back from the brink of virual impotence.
Sorry to be so pedantic. Just thought you might enjoy an alternate view.
Let me say this: Why is someone leaving his or her country? Why do people do this?
Simply because they think that they can make a better living somewhere else.
And why do they think they can make a better living somewhere else?
That's very complex. Poverty is one of the main reasons. And what about war? What about nations who are not governed well? What about gangs terrorising the people?
The world we're living in has become a global village. If we like it or not.
Why are companies relocating to other countries like Mexico or Turkey or Indonesia, for instance? Simply because they can make more money over there. And every one is doing it. So...
Economically the world is already a global village. But politically the world isn't.
Politically some countries support their farmers by subsidizing their products. This products can sometimes make it very difficult for some else in an other country to keep producing.
Do we need to stop subsidizing? i don't know. But we'll have to realize that the way we behave has some consequences somewhere else. A farmer in States or Europe should have the possibility to earn a living. Just as a farmer in Mexico or Africa or...
If people can make a living where they are living, than not many people will want to leave. At least out of poverty.
What about immigrants? Why do we always think in black-and-white? The good migrant vs the bad native? People are people. They aren't completely good. Nor aren't they completely bad.
About the hispanics who are living in the States. I think they should speak english. It can't be that spanish could become the second language. They should integrate. And I think and hope some do. But again some don't or won't. It's the same in Europe.
What about illegal immigrants? It is possible to legalise them. But the problem won't be solved. Unless something will be done at the roots of this problem (poverty, war, bad government...).
But even illegal immigrants are human beings and should be treated as such.
Again it's a very complex matter. And it isn't state bound. It concerns the way we are living together as human beings and the way we are living together as human beings worl wide.
Stefan
Very true, Stefan, they are human beings! And I don't want to see them raped and tortured in mass prisons or anything like that. As I said in the post, I feel for these people, and understand their plight more than a lot of people. But it's the free pass that bothers me. What they did was illegal in the first place, and unfortunetly what the original immigrants back in the 1600's and 1700's did was not (weather or not what they did was wrong is immaterial because of it), as there were no laws governing this country.
Basically the whole point of my post is it is unfair that different people be held to different standards in this day and age, and why should these people be given a free pass when people from Canada, Eurpoe and Asia still have to work hard and long to get the same end result. That is the race card if there is one to call out in this whole scenario. Funny thing is they should be more upset about it than I am and very few people seem to really care.
And taxing the living daylights out of them, while a grand solution on paper, probably will not happen. They are using fictious identification and will probably change it from year to year to avoid it. You can possibly get some taxes up front like a FICA tax or medicade tax, but they will be claiming so many dependants it won't offset the costs of making them legal and many will instantly quit working, because they will still be able to make more off of our welfare system than if they stayed in Mexico and worked a "real job". It's just one of those situations where if you look at the big picture and also look into the future, so many loopholes will open up that it will be the biggest mistake this country has ever made. That's my prediction, and although I'm just a "goofball" by my own admission, and I have no polictical savvy to speak of, something still gives me a very bad feeling here.
Clarification: the "they" in the last line of the second paragraph above should read "legal immigrants".
First of all, I don't know the exact situation in the Staes. But I do recognize your complaints. In Europe we also have to deal with illegal 'immigrants' who are called 'political' refugees. And we also have a lot of legal immigrants from Turkey, North Africa or Pakistan. Some of them do integrate others don't or won't. And those things you're saying are used by some people to blame them. And I can't say they are totally wrong. But generalising has never been good.
You're probably wright about people from Canada, Europe and Asia have to work hard and long to get a pass. And that's not right.
When something is legal, is it just then? When it's legal to discriminate somebody for instance for his or her skin, is it just?
I don't think so. When it's illegal to discriminate than it is just.
And sometimes it's difficult to know if something is just. Millions of poor people left from all over Europe for example to build up a better live in the States for example. Is it just for them to look to build up a better live somewhere else? I think that's just. But what about the native people who were living there already? Their land has been taken. I think that's not just.
I don't have an easy solution for this. But I'm thinking of sharing.
And the global situation is even more complicated. What about resources? What about getting those resources? At which cost?
What do you think about sharing? There can be enough food for everyone on this planet for instance.
And solidarity? The strong are looking after the week. The rich are helping the poor. Not only with money but also if good laws and regulations so the poor can also earn a descent income. The healthy are taking care of the sick. The young are concern about the elederly. The employed are contributing for those who are umeployed.
I'm only brainstorming.
Maybe it's utopian. Because human being remain human beings.
But is there another way?
Stefan
The biggest problem with this issue is that both sides have drawn the race card and we allow them to play it, even though this issue has nothing to do with race.
There are legal ways to enter this country & none of them have anything to do with swimming the Rio Grande or disappearing when your visa expires.
In order to work in the USA you have to have a social security number or papers that say you are here legally. If you are here illegally you have to either steal someone's identity,forge documents or find an employer who is willing to give you a job without the proper paperwork. All of these are crimes, but when an illegal immigrant is actually arrested for being here illegally the INS deports them and they usually show up back at their job within a week. Nobody is fined, nobody goes to jail. If you are an American and commit these same crimes: Identity theft, tax fraud you'll go away for a long time.
How is an employer who goes by the book supposed to compete with one who doesn't pay matching state & federal taxes for their employees? How is a "legal" employee supposed compete with a person who deducts a minimum amount from his check that would never cover what they would owe in taxes at the end of the year, or in many cases no deductions at all?
If a person is poor are we supposed to let them ignore the law? If so at what income level? Can an American deal drugs or become a prostitute if they make less than, let's say $20,000 a year?
Mexico needs to put social programs in place to help it's poor people just like the USA has done. I feel that America should pressure them to do so. They need to build their own middle class and quit eroding ours.
Valid points, all! Even good old WalMart was using illegal aliens for their nighttime cleaning crews, and no one can compete with them.
That was a point I forgot to mention, and I applaud you for doing so.
Case in point:
A couple years back there was a crew of Mexican roofers going around our town lowballing every legit roofing business in town. Every street you would see 3-5 signs from this particular crew of roofers. End result: 4 or 5 huge legit businesses went under, the city lost hundreds of thousands in tax dollars (because this particular crew made their money and moved on, never to be heard from again). Nobody said as much as boo-hoo, but legitamate businesses that hardworking honest AMERICAN CITIZENS built up were hit hard or destroyed and no one did a thing about it.
I'll agree with most of the arguments which have been given.
But if 'illegals' get a job, who is employing them? And why? Probably because they are cheaper than american workers. That's another argument for minimum wages. So if someone wants to work below the minimum wage, you'll know that there is something wrong.
And if you are employing illegal workers then there are laws to persecute you.
I'm not saying that getting illegal into another country is okay. It isn't. But I'm trying to put it in perspective. There are reasons why people are leaving their country to become a legal or an illegal immigrant or a guest worker.
I think the major reason for that is that people want to improve their standard of living for them and their families. And I agree, some of them don't do it all by the rules. I can't give a percentage from who does it by the rules and who doesn't.
It's easy for us to say that Mexico needs start up social programs to help their poor citizens. Do they have the means? Are they doing already some programs? How much money do they have to spend for that?
We can compare social programs in the States with Mexico. But what about comparing social programs in the States with Sweden.
I don't think there is an easy solution. People who are illegal in the States don't come from Mexico alone (Guatemala, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Haiti...?), I suppose.
In Europe it's the same. You must be nuts to get in a small boat and trying cross the sea. And many die on their way. They drown in the sea. Some are even freezing to death in containers. And some guys are even making money to get people illegal into Europe.
I'm afraid that it will keep on going on.
And I think we all agree that something has to be done.
Stefan
Now listen the third world a word.
Back in the 80's, I was in USA, illegally i must say. Back then, i met a crowd that was there (some still are) by the same reasons. Just trying to make a living, no matter what were doing.
I'm form Brazil. I guess you know the "shithole", is the place where the 'suits' form the american oil, communications, hard and softers, all sorts of food, and so on companies, defecate their demands on my "bad government".
I feel guilty of being born "outside" the "good" world. If that is possible: to exists a "good world".
You may have notice either, that the "language" i use is not the portuguese. My mother language.
I spend over america one year or so, 23 years ago, and i somehow manage to learn the english (not quite well, but enough to make you understand what i say).
The thing is, we are human beings. We are entitle to live wherever we want for as long as we want. Because thats what the "suits" from abroad do. They pick up a place to live and pay for that. Fuck!
Thats is not what YOU do because you make less than 7,000,00 year (by the way, is less than i make here, in this "shithole" working to a brazilian company).
I may suggest you: go back to your music blog. I miss you there. There the music is something universal. Thats why i like you.
I don't give a shit to the american middle class immigration problem. I'm sorry. I can't feel a thing to anybody that is not worried about your own environment (remember, your responsible for 32% of the WORLD's air pollution problem and ....) what is close to: do not shit where you eat! nor even dogs do so!
I will listen...
ML
Hi ML,
I'm still doing the music blogs. This is just a place for things other than music.
And by the way, if you can get into the USA legally, you should do so if you are dissatisfied with your own country. I don't expect everyone to agree with the points I make here, or for them to be any concern for those outside of my country. I can only speak of issues which affect me personally. But I agree with you that a lot of countries mode of living leaves a lot to be desired. And I will touch on that very soon here.
TT-
Post a Comment