Monday, April 10, 2006
Globalization's second death?
The article linked in the title of this post is from the LA Times. The LA Times' editorial page is not normally a place where I find material I agree with. This is a notable exception.
On the face of it, this article sounds like it is on global free trade, lowering trade barriers, etc. It's not. I's Niall Ferguson's take on the current immigration debate.
Since, it seems, everyone else that can voice an opinion on this matter has, I might as well take a stab.
Let's start with some facts.
The illegal immigrants that come here come here for something. Basically, they want a better life than what they can get where they are from.
Some come here and don't even try to "get ahead". They just become drains on the system.
Some come here and want to work for a better life. ... For themselves and their families.
The bulk of illegal immigrants have little or no marketable skills, or education.
The types of jobs that these illegals end up taking have existed throughout American history. They did not come into being because the hispanic illegals starting coming over our borders.
Let's start with those who come across the border and act as parasites on society. As you can tell by my choice of words, I don't approve. I'll get to my solutions later, but let's just say, as far as I am concerned, we have enough deadbeats in our country. We don't need to import more.
Next, since, at least 1989, I have been an advocate of reform in the way we deal with immigration.
Let me explain why.
There is an entire strata of jobs, as Ferguson points out in this article, that there simply has not been enough Americans to fill. Actually, Ferguson points out two stratas in the job market that we are woefully short in. I won't deal with the second, as it has little bearing on what I have to say, but I do agree with him (that's a hint: I highly suggest reading the article. If I didn't think it was worth the time, I wouldn't have linked to it, and written this post.)
The strata that most concerns the illegal is jobs unskilled, blue collar jobs.
The fact of the matter is that America has not produced enough people with the appropriate qualifications for these jobs, without making them overqualified.
In other words, because we have not produced high school dropouts in significant enough numbers in the appropriate regions, our job market does not contain enough people uniquely suited for these jobs.
This is not a slur.
Historically, there have either been enough immigrants, or uneducated to fill these jobs. Our modern immigration laws, and our education system have cut down on the people available for this strata.
Let me make this personal.
My Grandpa Robertson was a gandy dancer. Not exactly a "yuppy" occupation. Grandpa never graduated from high school. My dad was 1 of 8 children (6 survived childhood). He was born in a one-room, shack with a dirt floor in a town called Possum Grape in Arkansas.
My Grandpa was part of that social and economic strata that I am talking about in this post. He did a tough, low paying job, but it was necessary for the Southern Pacific to keep running in an era when the US still lived by it's rail system.
Grandpa instilled in my Dad a drive to be more, know more, and do more. Dad graduated from high school, but never finished college. He went to work in retail. Mainly managing stores for firms like Wal-Mart. Now, he owns his own very successful janitorial supply business.
Dad instilled the same drive in me. On the Robertson side of the family, I was the third granchild to graduate from college. There are 23 grandchildren, and I fall, pretty much, in the middle, chronologically.
Sorry for the tangent on my family history. But, it illustrates something.
This issue is personal for me. I have known several illegals. Worked with a few, in fact. I saw my Grandpa in them. They came here, so that they could have a better life, and their kids an even better one. Most importantly, they were willing to work to make that happen.
I think that immigration law needs to be reformed.
I think we need to be tougher on those that just come to the US to be parasites on our society. On the other hand, I am passionate in my belief that those who want to come here, be a part of our society, add to it (like the immigrant generations before them), and work to better themselves and their families should be given the opportunity.
Let me rephrase what I am saying.
I am a college graduate, with a successful career, and plenty of opportunity ahead of me when I end this career in a few years. I could not be where I am today if it weren't for that almost illiterate, hillbilly, gandy dancer that I called Grandpa.
If we choose to kick out all the, now, illegal immigrants that want the same things my Grandpa wanted, then we deprive our society of people like ... my family, and me.
The flipside of that is, like Ferguson says, we need to start a new initiative in our education system.
We need to let those kids that are at risk for dropping out know, that there probably won't be a job, at all, for them. Our immigrant class has them all sewn up. (You REALLY need to read this article. It has a great ending!)
On the face of it, this article sounds like it is on global free trade, lowering trade barriers, etc. It's not. I's Niall Ferguson's take on the current immigration debate.
Since, it seems, everyone else that can voice an opinion on this matter has, I might as well take a stab.
Let's start with some facts.
The illegal immigrants that come here come here for something. Basically, they want a better life than what they can get where they are from.
Some come here and don't even try to "get ahead". They just become drains on the system.
Some come here and want to work for a better life. ... For themselves and their families.
The bulk of illegal immigrants have little or no marketable skills, or education.
The types of jobs that these illegals end up taking have existed throughout American history. They did not come into being because the hispanic illegals starting coming over our borders.
Let's start with those who come across the border and act as parasites on society. As you can tell by my choice of words, I don't approve. I'll get to my solutions later, but let's just say, as far as I am concerned, we have enough deadbeats in our country. We don't need to import more.
Next, since, at least 1989, I have been an advocate of reform in the way we deal with immigration.
Let me explain why.
There is an entire strata of jobs, as Ferguson points out in this article, that there simply has not been enough Americans to fill. Actually, Ferguson points out two stratas in the job market that we are woefully short in. I won't deal with the second, as it has little bearing on what I have to say, but I do agree with him (that's a hint: I highly suggest reading the article. If I didn't think it was worth the time, I wouldn't have linked to it, and written this post.)
The strata that most concerns the illegal is jobs unskilled, blue collar jobs.
The fact of the matter is that America has not produced enough people with the appropriate qualifications for these jobs, without making them overqualified.
In other words, because we have not produced high school dropouts in significant enough numbers in the appropriate regions, our job market does not contain enough people uniquely suited for these jobs.
This is not a slur.
Historically, there have either been enough immigrants, or uneducated to fill these jobs. Our modern immigration laws, and our education system have cut down on the people available for this strata.
Let me make this personal.
My Grandpa Robertson was a gandy dancer. Not exactly a "yuppy" occupation. Grandpa never graduated from high school. My dad was 1 of 8 children (6 survived childhood). He was born in a one-room, shack with a dirt floor in a town called Possum Grape in Arkansas.
My Grandpa was part of that social and economic strata that I am talking about in this post. He did a tough, low paying job, but it was necessary for the Southern Pacific to keep running in an era when the US still lived by it's rail system.
Grandpa instilled in my Dad a drive to be more, know more, and do more. Dad graduated from high school, but never finished college. He went to work in retail. Mainly managing stores for firms like Wal-Mart. Now, he owns his own very successful janitorial supply business.
Dad instilled the same drive in me. On the Robertson side of the family, I was the third granchild to graduate from college. There are 23 grandchildren, and I fall, pretty much, in the middle, chronologically.
Sorry for the tangent on my family history. But, it illustrates something.
This issue is personal for me. I have known several illegals. Worked with a few, in fact. I saw my Grandpa in them. They came here, so that they could have a better life, and their kids an even better one. Most importantly, they were willing to work to make that happen.
I think that immigration law needs to be reformed.
I think we need to be tougher on those that just come to the US to be parasites on our society. On the other hand, I am passionate in my belief that those who want to come here, be a part of our society, add to it (like the immigrant generations before them), and work to better themselves and their families should be given the opportunity.
Let me rephrase what I am saying.
I am a college graduate, with a successful career, and plenty of opportunity ahead of me when I end this career in a few years. I could not be where I am today if it weren't for that almost illiterate, hillbilly, gandy dancer that I called Grandpa.
If we choose to kick out all the, now, illegal immigrants that want the same things my Grandpa wanted, then we deprive our society of people like ... my family, and me.
The flipside of that is, like Ferguson says, we need to start a new initiative in our education system.
We need to let those kids that are at risk for dropping out know, that there probably won't be a job, at all, for them. Our immigrant class has them all sewn up. (You REALLY need to read this article. It has a great ending!)
