American Elephants

“This is our moment. This is our time— to put our people back to work and open doors of opportunity for our kids; to restore prosperity and promote the cause of peace; to reclaim the American Dream; and reaffirm the fundamental truth— that out of many we are one.”   Well, that didn’t work out so well.

Oddly enough, according to Gallup, Obama’s perceived honesty, and his display of good judgment in managing a crisis is what drives his job approval numbers.

The unemployment rate for African Americans is a devastating
23.7 percent.

The unemployment rate for Hispanics is 13.2 percent.

The unemployment rate for women is an unbelievable 11.6 percent.

The unemployment rate for youth is 16.1 percent.

For the entire first half of 2013, only 13,000 full-time jobs have
been created.

The media hailed the 7.6 official unemployment number as a sign that the economy is perking up. But true unemployment which includes part-time workers seeking full-time work jumped to 14.3 percent. The percentage of people in the work force— those who actually have a job— started dropping in November of 2008, from over 66 percent and has dropped slowly to 63.5 percent at present.

Wal-Mart is the nation’s largest employer. The second-largest employer in America is Kelly Services, a provider of temporary work. Part time jobs are at an all time high, with 28 million Americans now working part-time. Ask yourself why employers prefer to hire a temp at present.

A new study from the Center for Immigration Studies called “Immigrant gains and Native Losses in the Job Market, 2000 to 2013,” shows that all of the net gain in employment over the last 13 years has gone to immigrants (legal and illegal.

From  the first quarter of 2000 to the first quarter of 2013, the numbers of native-born Americans working fell by 1.3 million while the overall size of the working age (16-65) native population increased by 16.4 million. Over the same time period the number of immigrants (legal and illegal) increased by 5.3 million.

Jobs, of course, are always being created and lost, and the numbers of workers rises and falls with the economy. The theory behind the Schumer-Rubio Immigration bill is that the nation does not have enough workers. That idea does not seem to be supported by the numbers. Another part of the theory is that immigration always creates jobs for natives, but it seems that large-scale immigration can go hand-in-hand with weak job growth and persistent high rates of unemployment among the native-born population.

“It would be a mistake to think that every job taken by an immigrant is a job lost by a native. But it would also be a mistake to think that dramatically increasing the supply of workers has no impact on the employment prospects of natives. The idea that there are jobs Americans don’t do is simply not supported by the data. There is good research showing that immigrants displace natives from the labor market.” from the CIS conclusion.

Our immigration system is badly broken. The federal government is deliberately ignoring laws regarding border enforcement, the Senate is playing politics with the problem, and the so-called “path to citizenship” is not a solution to the real problems that make our immigration system “broken.” The law that has passed the Senate makes clear the administration’s approach to the rule of law. The immigration bill, at last count, had 222 instances of a discretionary “may” and 153 instances of “waive.” No teeth. The clear intent written into the bill is to give whoever is in charge maximum ability to ignore the law.