Comments for blog.limedaley.com/post/life-as-an-immigrant

Comment #1567

2008-11-20T17:49:47Z

wow, i am not reading this.

Comment #1566

2008-03-01T08:44:17Z

Rising prices aren't relevant to whether it ought to be done, but to how much resistance there will be against it.

I agree that rewarding illegal behavior is generally a bad proposition. However, if we still are the home of the American Dream, where hard work and an enterprising attitude is all that matters for your career, then a lack of skills and education shouldn't matter a lot - and folks ambitious enough to break what they regard as an unfair law imposed by someone else probably (unfortunately) don't fit our requirements too badly. If, however, education and skills are paramount, then aren't we just being selfish by saying, essentially: "We're rich, and you don't help us get richer because your parents weren't rich enough for you to get educated, so we don't want you?" I guess I'm unsure as to what we are, what we think we are, and what we want to be, which is a level above policy decisions.

Comment #1565

2008-02-28T23:13:57Z

Sure, prices would rise, but I'm not sure that's relevant. That the economy of our southern states was dependent on slave labor did not justify the continued existence of slavery.

And price increases are not always bad. The increase in gas prices, for example, fuels interest in alternative means of transportation.

I'm sure the economics of it all is quite complicated, and if we don't want to go to the extremes we did when combating slavery, we'll have to consider ways of easing the transition -- but it's hard for me to believe that rewarding illegal behavior would be a good thing.

Comment #1564

2008-02-28T21:53:37Z

If illegal immigration didn't keep wages artificially low, wouldn't the price of goods rise dramatically as well?

Comment #1563

2007-10-26T13:11:00Z

I have an American friend who married a Swiss, but because he is the breadwinner he cannot get an American green card. They've been married over 20 years and she would have to get a job in America in order for him to get a green card. Even though many companies want him they say 'come back when you have a green card.' It's a horrible.

Comment #1562

2007-10-18T01:22:29Z

It would be so cool if you could find a job in systems management, particularly in a big company, where they'd pay you under the table.

Comment #1561

2007-10-17T22:11:38Z

Will somebody please tell me why this country makes it so difficult for law-abiding, well-educated people with high skill levels who will add value to our economy to live here, and yet wants to grant that right, en masse, to those who are here illegally, have few skills and less education, and are often a drain on our resources? Don't tell me it's because they're doing jobs Americans won't do -- if illegal immigration weren't keeping wages artificially low, there would be plenty of Americans eager for those jobs.

Things may have been made worse after 2001, but my memory is long enough to know that we have a history of keeping out well-qualified immigrants.

Not that Switzerland is any better! Of course, I'm basing most of my information on Swiss immigration on Die Schweizer Macher and I know I don't want people judging America by our movies!

Funny how Marc says of Switzerland, "people are not often exposed to other cultures and ideas," and Janet is finding Switzerland to be a place where she is experiencing just that. At her small school, "There’s only one other person from the US, one from Canada, and two from England. There are plenty of French, Spanish, and German students and also represented was Israel, Colombia, Russia, Japan, Portugal, Rumania, South Africa, Italy, and more I’m forgetting." She can easily walk from Switzerland to France and Germany, and most natives know at least two languages, often three or four.

No doubt about the Socialist direction of the country, however. Not but what we're sliding that way, too....