June 12, 2006
Surprising Corners
Blending In, Moving Up
By Tyler Cowen and Daniel M. Rothschild
Monday, June 12, 2006; A21
Beneath the surface of the immigration debate is a debate about shared values. If we look at just three of those values -- the English language, family and hard work -- we see a higher level of Latino assimilation than is often presumed.Despite claims to the contrary, census data show that most Latino immigrants learn and speak English quite well. Only about 2.5 percent of American residents speak Spanish but not English. The majority of residents of Spanish-speaking households speak English "very well."
Only 7 percent of the children of Latino immigrants speak Spanish as a primary language, and virtually none of their children do. Just as they did a century ago, immigrants largely come knowing little English. But they learn, and their children use it as a primary language. The United States is not becoming a bilingual nation.
A key indicator is the rise of the English-language Latino publication market. National magazines such as Hispanic Business (circulation 265,000) and Latina (circulation 2 million) are published in English. So are regional publications in cities including New York, Houston and Los Angeles. The reason is simple: English is becoming the language of Hispanic American commerce and culture. Just as few Jewish-interest magazines are published in Yiddish, in a generation most Latino-interest publications will probably be in English.
The family has long been the core social unit in America, and immigrants share that value. Census data show that 62 percent of immigrants over age 15 are married, compared to 52 percent of natives. Only 6 percent of Latino adults are divorced, compared with 10 percent of whites and 12 percent of African Americans. Latino immigrants are more likely to live in multigenerational households rather than just visiting grandparents a couple of times a year.
Most Latino immigrants want to become U.S. citizens. This process takes years, so recent immigrants are not a good barometer. But according to the 2000 Census, the majority of Latinos who entered the United States before 1980 have become citizens. And second-generation immigrants are more likely to marry natives than immigrants, further assimilating their children. The majority of immigrants also own their own homes, a key part of the American dream.
I know Tyler and a liberal he ain't: he's a freemarket libertarian guy. He's making the case for the facts of hispanic immigration in the US. But that's not what Bushco is up to, facts don't matter when you are playing to the anti-brown, racist base.
Posted by Melanie at June 12, 2006 12:56 PM | TrackBackI'm sorry...did I miss something? What do ILLEGALS streaming across the border by the tens of thousands have to do with legal immigration, or racism?
For all your socialist blathering about low wages and the foot of the captialist oppressors on the neck of the noble poor: did you EVER wake up in ECON 101 long enough to remember the basic laws of supply and demand?
Did it EVER cross your mind that turning off the tap of illegal cheap labor by enforcing our borders (the MOST basic of governmental duties) would cause the wages of all to rise? No, certainly not! That simple logic doesn't fit in with your ideology.
I don't know why I bother...I know you'll just delete this like any other post that doesn't fit in (like you've done before). You spew out expletives in the name of passion (always justified, of course) but delete those posts which point out errors or make you uncomfortable.
What was it you called Ann Coulter? If the shoe fits......
Gee, Tom, is somebody making you come here? If you don't like the place, go elsewhere. There are 20 million blogs out here.
No, that's the best she has time and patience for.
Rethug trolls aren't going to play by any rules of debate save those they make up from whole cloth at the spur of the moment. And their reasoning ability would apall a gaggle of geese. But then, one doesn't need reasoning ability to spout canned rhetoric at the behest of one's masters.
So why on earth should she or I or anybody else spend time we could otherwise spend productively on something worthwhile, bandying words with a sack of rocks?
I don't bother, myself. I got out of the education biz almost two decades back, and see no reason to return to it.
You cannot teach calculus to a horse.
As Charles put it, that's the best I have time for, and wasting it on you, Tom, isn't how I'm gonna spend my time.
Your Bush buddy loves the guest worker program, so what's your plan?
Rethug troll? Sack of rocks? Goodness, I'm shocked! Let's all rally 'round the namecalling!
But really, now. The silly new "guest worker" program stinks...we already have one; it's called a work visa. And as far as "graduated amnesty" or whatever the latest spinwords are from the beltway, that's a travesty, too.
I'm no slavish supporter of George Bush or anybody else.....
What I am FOR is a government that fulfills it's obligations to it's citizens to protect the borders, and to enforce it's existing immigration laws. Once the borders are secure, I'm for a structured, long term plan to return those folks that are here by illegal means, to be returned to their country of origin.
I'm for massive fines and maybe jail time for businesses who knowingly employ illegals; it's a known fact that many businesses contract with the coyotes to bring in a regular supply of workers. Make the downside outweigh the benefits, and you'll stop that garbage in a heartbeat. Nothing like a couple dudes in expensive suits doing the "perp walk" to get the message across.
All this has nothing to do with racism, anti-brownism, or the fact that I was bottle-fed as an infant. It's simple economics: If you have an unchecked and bottomless supply of unskilled, uneducated, but hardworking people who are willing to work for an artificially low wage (you aren't really gonna go file a FED Wage and Hour complaint if deportation is hanging over your head, are you?) in appalling working conditions (OSHA...oh please!)...you then end up with a multitude of effects (some would call them problems).
Like an overwhelmed social safety net: school sytems, hospitals and local governments in local areas of the southwest are being bankrupted by the influx of illegals, while being forced by courts to provide "free" services.
Like whole areas staying economically depressed, because of the influx of cheap, willing and illegal labor.
Like somewhere between 10-14 MILLION people here in the workforce illegally, either through illegal border crossing or "ducking out" of expired school or work visas....
That supply of illegal workers depresses both the availability of work and the prevailing wages of available jobs for those that are here legally.
You want better wages, better conditions and a better standard of living? Restrict the supply on the bottom, and everbody wins. Labor unions learned that early on. Strikes, union membership and work rules are nothing more than the restiction of labor...no labor, no productivity; no productivity, no income. Do the same with immigrant labor and everybody wins...especially the workers.
And as far as the bogus argument about their being jobs that Americans won't do...BS! I used to help my father tear up and install septic systems, and I worked as a fish gutter; two of the nastier things I can think of doing. But I did 'em...because I needed the money, and they paid well. But I wouldn't have done them for half the pay. Think about it.
And this isn't even touching on the lost tax revenue issue....if we don't know how many illegals we have working in this country (10-14 million is quite a spread) God only knows how much uncollected income and SS tax revenues we have.
If we truly need more workers (and we will), expand the visa work program as is really required .
Canada doesn't want me as an immigrant unless I have proven and substantial means and existing employment; neither does Mexico. If I imigrate to Mexico and become a citizen, I can never vote, own certain property, or even comment, privatly or publicly, on the government or it's policies.
If I try to enter either of these countries illegally, I will be at the least deported, and at the worst, I may become the temporary plaything of the Federales.
So please explain to me how an "open borders" policy is going to do anything but make things worse?
Whinny!!!!(pawing the ground)
