Global Immigration Policies: Politics of Sacrifice for Power

by Victor Sperandeo, with the Curmudgeon

Note: The opinions expressed herein are those of Victor Sperandeo and are mostly in italic font to distinguish them from hard facts and data/statistics presented.

Introduction:

While immigration issues have been a very hot topic in the US, it's a huge global problem that's been around for a very long time.

On the home front, there's been an increased influx of immigrants from Central America across the US-Mexico border.
Obama's Nov 2014 executive order on immigration is being challenged in the courts. On Friday, a federal judge overruled Obama on immigrant child detention (more below).
Almost every day there's news of African, Iraqi and/or Syrian refugees trying to escape deprivation by illegally entering Europe via over crowded boats owned by extortionists.
Most of the world has issues on immigration that are somewhat different, but the end game is the same. It's the politics of power through sacrifice by the people.

Overview of Global Immigration Problems:

Most of the world has revolted against the incredible quantity of legally forced immigration/refuges, most notably in the EU. In the US, the primary issue is illegal immigration, which has both Democrats and Republicans squabbling.

The world political leaders have shown an incredible disrespect for their citizens in not caring about the damage or the citizens opinions on immigration issues. Let's look at the US and then Europe now.

I. The US:

The recent explosion of US immigration news coverage was sparked by Donald Trump's incendiary comments about "Mexican illegals." On June 16^th, Trump said: " [Mexico is] sending people that have lots of problems and they are bringing those problems to us. They are bringing drugs, and bringing crime, and their rapists, and some I assume are good people."

That is a rare choice of words, but a straight forward statement. Trump is using "shock and awe" talk to put him at the top of the polls for the Republican Presidential candidate. “The Donald” has never looked back at being the front runner.

Meanwhile, President Obama has been called a “Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde” for his contradictory immigration policies. The White House website on immigration issues states: “America’s immigration system is broken. The President is taking executive action to fix what he can to help build a system that lives up to our heritage as a nation of laws and a nation of immigrants.”

1. Last November, Obama bypassed Congress by issuing an executive order to protect undocumented migrants in the US. The order allows certain immigrants who are parents of US citizens or legal resident children to apply for deportation reprieves and work permits. It also expanded a 2012 program, known as Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), providing similar relief to immigrants brought to the US as children. The orders, if fully enacted, could affect as many as 5 million undocumented immigrants. However, the order has been challenged in the courts and has not gone into effect yet. A good review of the immigration order's status is here.

2. President Obama had previously ordered children who entered the US illegally to be held in federal detention centers. After tens of thousands of migrant families, most from Central America, crossed the Rio Grande into Texas in the summer of 2014, the US government poured millions of dollars into two large detention centers meant to hold women and children. It was also seen as a deterrent to prevent more from coming.

3. On Friday (August 21^st), A US federal judge overruled Obama, by ordering the government to swiftly release immigrant children held at detention centers. The court's decision affirmed a July 2015 ruling that said some minors who crossed the border illegally were being detained in violation of a long-standing settlement. The ruling, by US District Judge Dolly Gee in Los Angeles, gave the Obama administration until Oct. 23^rd to comply with her order to release hundreds of unauthorized immigrant children, and in some cases their mothers, "without unnecessary delay."

II. Europe:

The technocrats of the European Union (EU) are rolling the dice on the assumption the citizens can be fooled and manipulated into doing what they wish.

1. Germany's PM Angela Merkel is quoted in an August 21, 2015 FT editorial (on line subscription required) saying that “Europe’s migrant crises could come to preoccupy the continent much more than the issue of Greece and the stability of the Euro."

2. The results are highly likely to change the ruling party in France to the far right National Front Party, led by Jean Marine LePen. Ms. LePen is not only anti-immigration, but also anti-same sex marriage and against the "trivialization" of abortion. I gather from her positions that she would vote for the separation of France from the EU, because traditional French Nationalism is being morphed into a non-cultural nomad country as a result of EU rules that limit national sovereignty.

3. EU country borders really do not exist since immigration rules permit people to move freely from one country to another after they become EU residents. Therefore, borders exist in theory, but without any real meaning.

4. In England (the UK), a referendum to leave the EU is planned for 2017. Although England does not use the Euro currency, it is still a member of the EU and has to abide by their immigration laws. The August 22, 2015 Telegraph headline story by David Barrett is titled: "Immigration is the public's biggest concern, a poll says." Here's an excerpt from the article:

"Immigration is the biggest worry among British voters, overtaking the NHS and the economy as their main concern, according to a new poll. Fifty per cent of the public said immigration was among the most important issues facing the country, the highest level ever recorded by the monthly Economist Ipsos Mori poll. Since the Calais crisis erupted, immigration has overtaken the NHS as the most commonly mentioned concern, with the health service now mentioned by 37 per cent of those polled.”

So immigration and health care are top concerns in the US and UK….what a coincidence? Like the French, the English are losing their culture and identity to primarily a Muslim influence.

5. The Islamic State has caused mass immigration to Europe after the "Arab Spring" and due to Syria from the murder by Bashar al-Assad of 250,000 of his own people to preserve his dictatorship. An estimated 6.5 million Syrians have been displaced and 3.0 million refugees have fled to other countries since August 2014, according to the UN. Add Libya, Iraq, and even Afghanistan to the people escaping their home countries for better job environments.

Opinion, Comment and Analysis:

The cost in money to support these people, and the cultural degradation is not being properly addressed by world leaders as their goal is political power. The more people, the more control and more votes for free benefits. All that in exchange for control and power.

Immigration is one of the top political issues in the US, and well it should be. According to the Migration Policy Institute: “The United States remains a popular destination attracting about 20 percent of the world's international migrants, even as it represents less than 5 percent of the global population. Immigrants accounted for 13% of the total 316 million US residents.” The US had by far the greatest number of migrants in any country, according to a UN statistics wall chart: As of 2013, there were 45,785,090 (~46M) migrants in the US (up from 35M in 2010), by far more than 2^nd place Russia's 11 Million (down from 10M in 2010).

The two party systems are both against the average American citizen in this case, and for illegal immigration. The GOP leadership, owned and controlled by the US Chamber of Commerce, wants "cheap labor" for greater profits. The Democrats (“progressives”) want Latino votes for power. In my view, both are immoral. An insult at best (or treason at worst) to our country and the American people, who want good jobs and freedom. Both parties want to sacrifice the American people for power. The GOP gets money, from contributions to buy elections, and the Dems bribe new voters with taxpayer handouts.

This issue can be slanted in many ways politically so let’s stick to economics in this analysis. “Supply and Demand” is taught in Economics 101 and is the formula to use in this case. The 11.4 million ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS (estimated by the US Dept. of Home Land Security) represents approximately 7.3% of the total US workforce today. Those illegal immigrants that are working add to the SUPPLY of labor, which naturally lowers the price employers have to pay for US workers. The End!

Don't believe the word of some economists that say, “Americans don't do the same jobs foreigners do.” The question should be at what price? If the 93 million people not now in the work force, the 46 million food stamp recipients, the high black unemployment (~10.2%) were each offered more money they would likely do whatever job was necessary. That includes picking fruit in CA, which needs no skill, merely desire.

Disappointing US Household Income & Employment Numbers:

Here are some astonishing and disappointing statistics on US median household income from Sentier Research:

The March 2015 median income of $54,203 was 1.7 % lower than the median of $55,122 in June 2009, the end of the recent recession and beginning of the “economic recovery.”

The March 2015 median was 3.5 % lower than the median of $56,149 in December 2007, the beginning month of the recession that occurred more than seven years ago.

The March 2015 median was 4.6 % lower than the median of $56,817 in January 2000, the beginning of this statistical series.

These declines result from adding the supply of immigrant workers and subtracting from the demand of Small Business creations (which are declining, as the Curmudgeon has previously reported).

According to Gallup CEO Jim Clifton in American Entrepreneurship: Dead or Alive? the US now ranks 12th among developed nations in business start-up activity. Clifton wrote: “…for the first time in 35 years American business deaths now outnumber business births." Small business accounts for 64% of new jobs created. SO MUCH FOR THE DEMAND for labor?

The result is that worker supply is up while demand for workers is down. Thereby, low wage and job growth contributes to lackluster if not dismal US economic growth and a decline in the standard of living for most Americans (top 1 % excepted).

The reported 5.4% US unemployment rate is a sham and an illusion, as John Williams of ShadowStats has consistently reported.

- As Gallup has shown net new business are declining, therefore job creation is greatly overstated.

- Another example: 65,000 jobs per month are added from the "birth death” model (created in the early 1980's when jobs exploded due to the Reagan tax cuts) in every BLS employment report.

- Finally, discouraged workers that drop out of the labor force because the unemployment rate to be much lower than it otherwise would be. (The Curmudgeon has repeatedly called attention to the multi-decade low in the labor participation rate).

Free Trade and Open Borders (Not to Be Confused):

"Treaties” like NAFTA and the recent TPP (explanation is here) are positive for (big) business, but very negative for US workers. This is the business/money influence at work in treaties and immigration policies.

The philosophy of the POLITICS pertaining to immigration as used in the EU and the US apparently comes from The Frankfurt School created in 1923 by Communists. The objectives of the School were described in a Sidebar of this Curmudgeon post. The goal was to change the cultural foundation, then to overturn the political system (capitalism).

The current immigration policy of "effective" open borders policy is like a cancer to the countries that have an open border policy AND at the same time have a welfare state. It is meant for only one reason -to kill the current system of government and change it to another one.

Here's an Open Borders description from Wikipedia:

"Open borders advocates argue that free migration is the most effective way to reduce world poverty. Migrants from developing countries can earn higher wages (AT THE EXPENSE OF CURRENT WORKERS) after moving to a more developed country, usually lifting them from 'developing world poverty' to 'developed world poverty.' They also send remittances to relatives in their home country, the glow flow of remittances being estimated to be around three times the global foreign aid spending reported by the OECD."

Please don't confuse open borders with free trade. The US is not Hong Kong, which does not offer “free everything” just for going there. With such a large population, there are very limited handouts. Hong Kong is not a welfare state for foreigners (like the US). They have some assistance programs being developed, but HK's philosophy is generally “the more you work, the more you get paid.”

Sidebar: “Anchor Babies” and the 14^th Amendment

The controversial issue of US citizenship for “Anchor Babies" (the babies of illegal aliens) is galvanizing GOP presidential candidates, led by Donald Trump. “Anchor babies” are the children of non-U.S. citizens born within America’s borders and thus immediately granted citizenship under the 14^th amendment. Federal law dictates that those children can sponsor their parents for nationalization once they turn 21 — allowing entire families of undocumented immigrants to potentially become fully-fledged Americans.

“Anchor Babies” are protected by the 14th amendment to the US Constitution (ratified on July 9, 1868), which granted citizenship to “all persons born or naturalized in the United States.” It was meant to protect the children of slaves, not anyone else and certainly NOT illegal immigrants. However, the wording is clear such that “Anchor Babies” are unintentionally protected (unless the Supreme Court rules differently after a new law/statute is passed to change the meaning of that constitutional amendment).

Over 400,000 illegal immigrant children are born in the US every year. As the US is a WELFARE STATE, that is suicide for the US in the intermediate term. The US must care for these children and every nation in the world will have their poor come here for the benefits. Even rich Chinese and Hong Kong citizens come here when their woman are about to give birth and that makes them citizens. An insane situation at best.

Conclusions:

The belief that one lives to help others is manifested in current immigration policies. In effect, the taxpayer is financially supporting immigrants for the MORAL GOOD. Ultimately, this is suicide, as it welcomes immigrants as a burden on the taxpayer, results in lower wages, lower median incomes and below average economic growth. We've tried to prove that assertion with the statistics cited in this research paper!

The philosophy of ethics used in immigration could be described as “Altruism: Self Sacrifice for the greater good.” The Ayn Rand Lexicon - Altruism Theory provides a different view:

"Do not confuse altruism with kindness, good will or respect for the rights of others…The issue is whether the need(s) of others is the first mortgage on your life and the moral purpose of your existence. The issue is whether man is to be regarded as a sacrificial animal.”

We certainly hope not!

End NOTE: “Big picture” research articles like this one on immigration take a tremendous amount of: time, focus, clarity, concentration, and mental effort. Please email the CURMUDGEON if you think it's worth our time, as we receive very few comments on them. If no emails are received, we will be forced to discontinue these types of “pro-bono” educational posts.

Till next time…

The Curmudgeon
ajwdct@sbumail.com

Follow the Curmudgeon on Twitter @ajwdct247

Curmudgeon is a retired investment professional. He has been involved in financial markets since 1968 (yes, he cut his teeth on the 1968-1974 bear market), became an SEC Registered Investment Advisor in 1995, and received the Chartered Financial Analyst designation from AIMR (now CFA Institute) in 1996. He managed hedged equity and alternative (non-correlated) investment accounts for clients from 1992-2005.

Victor Sperandeo is a historian, economist and financial innovator who has re-invented himself and the companies he's owned (since 1971) to profit in the ever changing and arcane world of markets, economies and government policies. Victor started his Wall Street career in 1966 and began trading for a living in 1968. As President and CEO of Alpha Financial Technologies LLC, Sperandeo oversees the firm's research and development platform, which is used to create innovative solutions for different futures markets, risk parameters and other factors.

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