Tag Archives: jobs

Economics

Fact: Illegal aliens steal jobs and suppress the wages of remaining jobs

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And they destroy the communities they are poured into — which, of course, aren’t the communities of the elitist virtue-signaling whites who push for open borders.

The title is such a Captain Obvious kind of economic statement, founded on the simple and timeless impact of the law of supply and demand, that it should go without saying.  But because Leftists literally fail at basic economic concepts and throw low economic status minorities under the bus to pander to illegal aliens,  it needs to be repeated over and over.

The Left pretends that the only jobs that illegal aliens take are those of picking crops and such (as if that would justify them breaking the law).  But here’s a recent example that I heard about in detail from an accounting executive of a company in the U.S. (I’m not being overly specific here because of confidentiality issues).

  • A couple hundred illegal aliens who performed semi-skilled labor walked off the job at a U.S.  manufacturing company because they heard that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) was going to do a raid.  (It wasn’t clear whether the company knew they were illegal aliens or not.)
  • The company was understandably desperate to fulfill their customer orders, so they went to the market to replace the employees.  When they did so they realized that they had to pay fifty percent more in wages.  Fifty percent!
  • The remaining employees who were citizens got a huge raise.
  • The new employees got market wages.
  • These jobs were ideal for those without college educations or formal training.  They require some skill, but it can be learned on the job.

Simple and valuable lessons:

  • Illegal aliens took jobs of U.S. citizens, because they were willing to work for so much less.
  • Illegal aliens significantly suppressed the wages of the remaining jobs, because they were willing to work for so much less.
  • Law enforcement works!  What a concept, eh?  We still need a wall and/or much better border control, like any sane country would have.  But in the mean time merely enforcing some of our existing laws has a huge benefit for our citizens.  If companies know they’ll get caught and fined they won’t hire illegal alien labor to begin with.  And the honest companies won’t be at a competitive disadvantage for doing the right thing.
  • Getting citizens off unemployment / welfare reduces the burden on society and has more people paying into the system.
  • The Left — including the “Christian” Left — pretends to care about low income blacks while acting against their best interests 24×7.  They pander to illegals to get votes so they can stay in power and reap the benefits of crony capitalism, but that means the low income minorities stay on the Democrats’ plantation.
  • Obama & Co. pretended to care about blacks, but what did they have to show for it after 8 years besides higher unemployment, destroyed towns like Ferguson and the worst race relations in half a century?  The Left has to constantly play the race card on Trump because he is actually helping blacks get jobs.
  • This doesn’t even include the huge tax burden of millions of illegal aliens consuming educational, welfare and other resources.
  • It doesn’t include how many jobs are now unattainable for blacks because they require bi-lingual skills.
  • When the “Christian” Left tries to claim that Jesus was an illegal alien, remind them that their claim is historically false, we don’t live in an Israelite theocracy, and people who repeat that nonsense to promote open borders just for the U.S. are some combination of ignorance, malice and treason.

The working poor – which have a disproportionate amount of minorities – are already benefiting by the reduction of illegal aliens entering the country.

And, ironically, they have President Trump to thank for it.

Economics, Politics

One of the hidden job-killing methods of our government

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This is sad and takes place all over the country.  See Exxon fighting regulatory “pirates” in Gulf of Mexico.  While pretending to be pro-drilling, this is what happens behind the scenes.  It is costly and damaging for all of us, via higher energy costs, lower tax receipts, more dependence on the Middle East, higher welfare costs and the unemployment it causes.

ExxonMobil, and its Norwegian partner Statoil made the biggest discovery of all — a field worth a billion barrels of oil — 7,000 feet below sea level in its “Julia” field in 2007.

. . . Instead of marvel at the continuing treasures of the New World, or hail the human ingenuity that made retrieval of so much oil possible, or simply quantify how this discovery will boost U.S. energy security, Interior Department bureaucrats moved instead to snatch Exxon’s permits and shut the whole thing down.

Employing an extreme technicality, these regulators claimed that Exxon’s request in 2008 for a short suspension of activity to upgrade and make safer its drilling operation amounted to an abandonment of three of its five permits, simply because Exxon hadn’t signed a contract with another partner, Chevron, by the time the suspension was completed. …

Exxon is now fighting the permit action in a federal court in Lake Charles, La., calling it “arbitrary,” “capricious” and “an abuse of law.” It’s also a textbook case of the anti-business climate fostered by the Obama administration which should be bending over backward to help Exxon create jobs and profits.

So let’s look at what the Obama administration is trying to accomplish, and what it’s costing you as a result.

Well, it’s going to cost us jobs in the Gulf, and not just there, either.  As IBD points out, drilling requires a lot more support than just people working on the rig.  The rigs have to be built, and then the heavy machinery has to be manufactured — “in places like Youngstown, Ohio,” at a steel plant that makes the pipes for the rig.

So killing the project means killing those jobs, which means less tax revenue for Uncle Sam,  And speaking of revenue, let’s not forget that Exxon would have to pay taxes and royalties on production, with revenue reaching into the billions.  Wouldn’t that help us out with our fiscal troubles in Washington, at least in some small measure?  You bet it would.

 

Financial, Politics

Some solutions are simple: End the drilling moratorium to increase employment, reduce the deficit, help the hungry and cut gas prices

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Unemployment has a compounding effect in either direction: More unemployed means less people paying taxes and less people with spending power, which leads to more unemployment.  The reverse is true as well: Ending the drilling moratorium would increase jobs, reduce the tax burdens for supporting the unemployed, give those people more money to spend, and increase employment for those providing goods and services to those employees.

It would also lower gas prices very quickly, and not just because of the increased supply.  The Middle East plays us like the (collective) fools we are.  If we get serious about drilling, prices will go down.

High fuel prices have all sorts of unintended adverse consequences.  They are very inflationary because the cost of nearly everything else goes up.  The poor suffer because what used to be used as food is now sometimes used as fuel (my wife was just reading about how this is happening in Kenyan slums).

But that isn’t happening: See Good News! Obama To Authorize Tons Of Drilling Permits To Lower Gas Prices : Stop The ACLU (the title is being sarcastic, of course).

Drill now, and see benefits now and later.  If you want to help the poor, reduce unemployment, reduce the deficit and cut gas prices, then drill now.

Financial, Politics

Illegal immigration = the ultimate outsourcing

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Think about it.  The real objection to companies shifting jobs to other countries isn’t the location of the jobs, it is the move from U.S. citizens*  to non-U.S. citizens.  If the jobs went overseas to U.S. citizens I doubt people would object.

So what happens with illegal immigration?  Non-U.S. citizens take the jobs of U.S. citizens and consume far more resources than they contribute.  At least the Indian guy on the support desk isn’t demanding that you fund the medical and education costs for him and his family, and he isn’t committing crimes in this country.

The great irony is that open border Leftists like Jim “the Gospel is all about wealth redistribution” Wallis are the ones who claim to care about the poor.  But the illegal immigrants drive down the wages of the poor in this country and take many of their jobs.  What kind of “social justice” is that?

If anyone objects to outsourcing of U.S. jobs – and most people seem to — do a consistency check and ask them their views on illegal immigration.  Be sure to gently point out any inconsistencies.

*or guests in the U.S. — i.e., people who have the proper immigration approvals

Financial, Politics

Jobs!!! Part 3

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The final piece of this short series . . .

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If you had to blame the recession on one person, who would it be? — The Wintery Knight rightly picks Barney Frank, who along with his fellow Democrats insisted that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were fine and the concerns over a housing bubble were unfounded.  Oh, and they resisted the Republican calls for regulation.  Watch the videos.  Facts are pesky things.  If only they got reported by the mainstream media we’d all be in better shape.

And guess what party the top 5 recipients of Fannie/Freddie contributions belonged to?  Hint: It starts with a “D.”

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We need more Junior Achievement classes in all grades.  They are proven to reduce drop out rates and they provide excellent training in basic economic and money management principles.

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Intel CEO Otellini: The Democrats Are Destroying our Economy — this is basic stuff to people who know anything about business.  You shop at businesses that treat you better and have lower prices, right?  What makes you think investors won’t do the same?  If you charge higher prices (i.e., taxes), offer lousy service and demonize your customers then don’t be surprised when they leave you.

The most disturbing part of Otellini’s comments is that he says nothing groundbreaking, nothing unexpected, and nothing that we have not heard many times before. Otellini talks about regulation, taxation, litigation and transparency – all issues that have been cited by business leaders for years. But our ‘leaders’ in Washington ignore these concerns, and instead pile on more taxes, more regulation, more litigation costs, greater uncertainty about the climate going forward. And they do all this while claiming to be ‘pro-jobs.’

Will Congress and the White House ever realize that business leaders are telling the truth? As our government continues to make it more difficult to do business in the US, companies must increasingly look to more favorable climates abroad. If Washington really wants to spur job creation here in the US, they should repeal the health care overhaul, reduce spending, cut the corporate tax rate, give up on cap and trade, and reform litigation. Instead we have been treated to an extended experiment in government control – one that is obviously not producing new wealth, new jobs, or any real hope for the emergence of the industries of the future.

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As noted in the first part, it is proven that Liberals have a very poor understanding of basic economic principles.  They should not be in charge of the economy.  Get out and vote this November, people!  Republicans have their flaws, but their policies result in having employed people complain about them rather than unemployed.

Financial, Politics

Jobs!!! Part 2

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Continuing a three-part series on jobs . . .

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Roxanne explores the vast misunderstandings about job creation in Failing Capitalism (and common sense) 101.  Read it all.

Whether or not you ascribe to that  particular ideology, you should understand the theoretical basis of the reigning ideology of your country.  So, if you live in the Western world, you should have some idea of what capitalism is all about.  That is, you should not write things like:

“Creating jobs is not about intelligence or education. It’s about having enough money to pay someone to do something. And :drumroll:…. having money is not exclusively a function of being educated, intelligent, good-smelling, or anything else, really. Of course, if we argue that wealth is solely a function of merit (as measured by education, which we assume is a function of intelligence), then yeah, it’s pretty much axiomatic that a more educated populace will create more jobs.”

Then Marshall asks, “Who would hire?  Who could?”

This article from Investor’s Business Daily lists ten reasons for the poor job situation in this country: (Hat tip–Wintery Knight)
-Executive orders and regulations promoting compulsory unionism.
-Obama’s forced restructuring of GM.
-Patient Protection and Affordable Health Care Act of 2010 (ObamaCare).
-Extension of unemployment benefits to 99 weeks — almost two years!
-American Recovery & Reinvestment Act of 2009.
-Minimum wage laws.
-Restoring American Financial Stability Act of 2010.
-Moratorium on offshore oil drilling.
-Expiration of the Bush tax cuts.
-Obama’s runaway spending.

Not surprisingly, people with no business experience don’t know how to create jobs. Obama’s cabinet has the least private sector experience ever, by far.

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Is the media helping educate people on the problem? Of course not. As Rich Karlgaard of Forbes notes, editorial after editorial blames business for the problem but never talks to the business people. I guess they must be omniscient and don’t need to actually interview the people in question.

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Also see Obama’s Washington: No experience necessary

Wonder how Recovery Summer turned into Wreckovery Bummer?  How an administration ginned up its entire economic strategy into one stimulus bill and has done nothing since, even as the economy disintegrated?  Marty Robins advises his readers to check the CVs of the people in charge in Washington to understand just how incompetence has triumphed — and not just Barack Obama’s . . .

Financial, Politics, Roundup

Jobs!!! Part 1

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I really feel for the countless people out of work now.  That is an extremely stressful place to be.  Then there is the multiplier effect: People without jobs spend less and consume more resources from the public (i.e., those who are fortunate to still have jobs), so there is less demand, which results in fewer jobs, and so on.

Here’s a huge part of the problem: Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader?  Self-identified liberals and Democrats do badly on questions of basic economics.

Who is better informed about the policy choices facing the country—liberals, conservatives or libertarians? According to a Zogby International survey that I write about in the May issue of Econ Journal Watch, the answer is unequivocal: The left flunks Econ 101.

These are the scores by political affiliation on a basic economics survey.  Anyone who can’t get at least six right should not be considered for public office.  (Yes, I got all eight right, but I wouldn’t expect everyone to do that.  I’m a CPA with 25 years of business experience and taught Junior Achievement for 12 years.)

If these people can’t get basic economic questions right — and those scores are squarely in the FAIL category — why would you hire them to run your economy?

Not surprisingly, you really, really don’t want to listen to what “progressive” (read: theologically Liberal or just “fake”) churches have to say about economics.  They don’t even understand the Bible, let alone a basic understanding of economics.  So why should people like Jim “the Gospel is all about wealth redistribution” Wallis be advising the President — especially after he was caught lying about taking donations from George Soros?

What you do want is more Junior Achievement classes in all grades.  They are proven to reduce drop out rates and they provide excellent training in basic economic and money management principles.

Financial

Important job hunting tips

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Some excellent job-hunting tips from The Ladder.  No, I’m not looking.  I’m quite happy where I am, but I like to keep up on the market and thought that others might benefit from these.

 1. Computers can’t read – here’s how to make your resume computer–friendly.
2. Age discrimination – it exists. Now what are we going to do about it?
3. The taxman cometh, your job goeth. How to make the job hunt tax-efficient.
4. Dude, lose the sweatpants while you’re unemployed, OK?
5. What you absolutely must know about headhunters.
6. “I’m mad as hell and I’m not going to take it anymore!” – how to stop job–loss anger from stopping you.
7. What naughty things are your future employers reading about you right now?
8. Yes, tie clips are out of style – try not to look like you’re past the expiration date, OK?
9. Job Hunt 101 – you think you know this stuff. You don’t. Please read.
10. Who moved my industry? What do you do when your industry evaporates?

Bible, Christian living

Work and church

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work2.jpgNavigating faith / work issues can be tricky.  How do you ensure that you are doing the right things for the right reasons?  It seems like some people come to church to make business contacts, and I find that repulsive. 

A lawyer who attends our church called because he wanted to visit our Sunday School class, which of course I encouraged.  Then he “added” that he wanted to do a pitch on estate planning and would give church members a discount.  When I pointed out that we avoided that sort of thing with our email lists and class time, I never heard from him again. 

A local exterminator made a point of mentioning on their signs that they were a Christian company.  Maybe they prayed over the bugs before gassing them.  On the one hand, all other things being equal I’d rather do business with Christians.  But, as the saying goes, going to church doesn’t make you a Christian any more than going in a garage makes you a car. 

Now, if I need certain goods or services I am glad to seek out people I know at church.  But the thought of church directories with people’s business information in there bothers me.  I’m leery of people who use their faith as an “in,” and it seems like that process lends itself to that.

What do you think?  What are your experiences with this?