Someone replied to my appreciation of Kamala with disparaging comments about "millions of illegal aliens". Even at first blush, this is this simply silly. There are only around 500k net illegal immigrants, coming and going, each year. But more importantly, we *want* lots and lots more immigrants and, in my view, the illegal ones are the best kind.
This analysis by the Wharton School (link below) shows why. The problem is that Americans are not reproducing enough to support us in the future. You can read it if you want but the bottom line is the ratio of old people to young people will go bad. Then we will not have enough young people working to keep the entire society operational.
Since immigrants are overwhelmingly young people, Wharton goes on to calculate how many immigrants we need to restore the ratio of young to old to the correct value (they explain how they figure out 'correct'). The report has many details but the bottom line is:
Immigration quotas need to increase by a factor of 3.5. Presently, the quote is around a million people per year. They calculate that we need 3.5 MILLION IMMIGRANTS PER YEAR.
The second part of this story is my opinion alone. Legal immigration favors people who can afford a plane ticket. That is, relatively rich people. In my experience, relatively rich people are lazy and feckless. They do not tend to value hard work, contribution to society and the importance of mutual reliance in community.
On the other hand, people who are willing to risk everything by taking a dangerous and arduous journey that includes a terrifying hike through a desert, show the kind of grit, energy, courage and determination that I think America needs more than anything.
America was built by immigrants but by immigrants that more closely resembled today's illegal kind that the legal ones. To get here in 1900 meant a horrible journey in a disgusting ship. It meant arriving in a place with essentially no services, a ton of discrimination and being absolutely cut off from any support or comfort from home. It took enormous courage to immigrate then as it does for illegal immigrants today.
Those are the kinds of people America needs. Today we have one million rich people and only 500k poor ones coming here. We need another two million illegal immigrants each year to keep our society healthy.
This analysis by the Wharton School (link below) shows why. The problem is that Americans are not reproducing enough to support us in the future. You can read it if you want but the bottom line is the ratio of old people to young people will go bad. Then we will not have enough young people working to keep the entire society operational.
Since immigrants are overwhelmingly young people, Wharton goes on to calculate how many immigrants we need to restore the ratio of young to old to the correct value (they explain how they figure out 'correct'). The report has many details but the bottom line is:
Immigration quotas need to increase by a factor of 3.5. Presently, the quote is around a million people per year. They calculate that we need 3.5 MILLION IMMIGRANTS PER YEAR.
The second part of this story is my opinion alone. Legal immigration favors people who can afford a plane ticket. That is, relatively rich people. In my experience, relatively rich people are lazy and feckless. They do not tend to value hard work, contribution to society and the importance of mutual reliance in community.
On the other hand, people who are willing to risk everything by taking a dangerous and arduous journey that includes a terrifying hike through a desert, show the kind of grit, energy, courage and determination that I think America needs more than anything.
America was built by immigrants but by immigrants that more closely resembled today's illegal kind that the legal ones. To get here in 1900 meant a horrible journey in a disgusting ship. It meant arriving in a place with essentially no services, a ton of discrimination and being absolutely cut off from any support or comfort from home. It took enormous courage to immigrate then as it does for illegal immigrants today.
Those are the kinds of people America needs. Today we have one million rich people and only 500k poor ones coming here. We need another two million illegal immigrants each year to keep our society healthy.