Since no one wants to talk about the US war machine…..today 99 years ago the US entered into the WW1……some of us will always remember the days when we commit our youth to war…..
Let’s move on to another subject shall we?
Immigration should be one of the most important issues of this election but it has been pushed to the back by the fear generated around refugees and the mindless dribble that the candidates keep trying to push on the pubic…..
Illegal immigration has been in the past a hot button issue…..a lot of mileage has been gotten out of the attacks on the those seeking a better life in this country….the exaggerations have gone full boogie to convince the public that these people are a threat to our way of life, whatever that is….but when did all this begin…all this illegal entry into the country, that is……
To be honest there have always been those that want to sneak into this country for whatever reason they have…if that is so….when did it become the “major” problem that we have today?
One policy and one alone can be blamed for the high influx of illegal immigrants……NAFTA!
NAFTA is that magic bullet promised by Clinton (Bill not Hil) that would make the US a wealthy place to live and give the worker some security…..to put it brutally…He was a f*cking LIAR!
(Insert a historical perspective)……
NAFTA, or the North American Free Trade Agreement, was created 20 years ago to expand trade between the United States, Canada and Mexico. Its secondary purpose was to make these countries more competitive in the global marketplace. It has been wildly successful in achieving this. NAFTA is now the largest free trade agreement in the world.
Why, then, is NAFTA so severely criticized? This success has come at a cost. One of the problems with NAFTA is that it’s reduced U.S. jobs. A second disadvantage is that it has exploited Mexico’s farmers and its environment. Find out more about the how and why was NAFTA created, and whether it has successfully fulfilled its purpose.
Article 102 of the NAFTA agreement outlines its purpose:
Grant the signatories Most Favored Nation status.
Eliminate barriers to trade and facilitate the cross-border movement of goods and services.
Promote conditions of fair competition.
Increase investment opportunities.
Provide protection and enforcement of intellectual property rights.
Create procedures for the resolution of trade disputes.
Establish a framework for further trilateral, regional and multilateral cooperation to expand the trade agreement’s benefit…..
Once the treaty was in full swing then local Mexican farms became less efficient thus they shut down or were adsorbed by big agri-business and then unemployment set in and work became almost non-existent…..and the trail went North to the US border……
NAFTA was implemented in 1994 and went into full operation…..and the tale of the tape as far as migrants go……
The number of migrants was fairly stable until NAFTA and then the numbers seem to explode……
I know that there are many that see all these different reasons for the flow of immigrants….but the truth is there are NO hidden agendas….other than people looking for work and a livelihood….
Americans seem to not be able to put themselves into the mindset of these people and understand what they are doing…..some say they can but to me it appears that they cannot or will not try to understand……but if one can understand why then a solution can be formulated…..
That is my multi-cultural, apologetic, bleeding heart opinion…..
Good article. I wouldn’t have a problerm with this either, IF the babies of these illegals were filling up the welfare rolls. If these immigrants came and worked and supported their children that would be perfectly fine. But when I walk around New York and see an immigrant with five children paying for food with her EBT card which is maintained on hard tax payer dollars it isn’t right. These same children are getting free Medicare, while so many of our Veteran’s have no decent health coverage. So, I have no problem with immigration, it is the living off the tax payors that disturbs me. And I know because I have worked for the Department of Social Services for several years. Immigrants are filling the welfare roll. Unfortunately, liberals don’t want to see this. They would rather continue to buy votes, than help Americans first. Good article.
Thanx glad you liked it. I have not seen any of these abuses where I live. I had to spend time in an ER a couple years ago and not one of the people thre were Hispanic….and food stamps…I shop twice a week and the market I use has many immigrants shopping there and so far no one around me has used food stamps or EBT. As far education goes…I am too old to hang around a school but my granddaughter has not mentioned any children other than the “mean girls”….maybe it is just regional….but we do have a large Hispanic population thanx to all the building going on now and especially after Katrina. chuq
New York is one of the more liberal states. It is supposed to be the state with the most generous and easiest of welfare requirements and in amounts provided to the poor. It is turning this state into a magnet for immigrants wanting to play with the system. Unfortunately, (not purposely) the system rewards people for having more children instead of promoting birth control for the poor. Don’t get me wrong, welfare is something that is needed. But there need to be tighter reins on this program. (I know plenty of Americans abusing this as well). It is what it is. Hey thanks for your response. Keep publishing these good posts. Be well.
Thank you I appreciate the kind words and I also appreciate your visits…please keep them coming….chuq
How often do you post? I don’t fnd you in the reader often. You’re blog is important. People should be better informed about the important subjects that are effect our lives. Good work.
Thanx for asking….my schedule starts at 01oo hrs CST until 1400 hrs….most of my sources are in Europe and the Middle East….so I start early….chuq
Ok. I will be looking out for them. Don’t unerstand how the reader works. Good day my friend.
Once again….I appreciate your interests…..thank you. chuq
Lonely One….
Re: using the WP reader & managing followed sites….
To be notified by email when chuq posts his articles, go up to the bar at the top of your page when signed in to WP. Hover over the Reader slot, then choose Manage followed sites. When on the management page, search out chuq’s site, ie, In Saner Thought. Click the arrow on the left. This will open a context menu, allowing you to set the site to notify you of his posts by email, instantly, daily, or weekly. Switch it on, and you will be notified when a new post goes up.(I suggest NOT clicking the notify of comments button; you’ll be inundated in emails….)
And, don’t feel bad. I’ve been here on WP over four years now, & just figured that out a few months ago…. They change stuff all the time, so we have to go in & manage things over every once in a while…
Happy reading, & welcome to IST…
gigoid, the dubious
Outstanding response and exactly on target! “The Lonely Author Blog” knows what it’s all about despite all the denial going on and I applaud this responder for the depth and breadth of the truth shared by this response.
Thanks. I know plenty of illegal aliens that want to assimilate to America and our way of life. Good people. But there has to be some accountability. You come to this country, you will work, and support your family. You will be registered somewhere and not move like a ghost within society. I know it is a minority that sells drugs and commit crimes, but things cannot continue the way they are going. Thanks for your kind words. Be well.
Thanx my friend….
I think maybe the Sioux Nation would have something to say about US immigration policies….
In truth, I can’t see much consistency in US policy on this in any historical sense. We, as a nation, always seem to ignore the simple fact we began as immigrants, and most of our history is the story of immigrants from around the world becoming part of the whole….
Unfortunately, thanks to the corporate hegemony which has been working to destroy the Constitution since the ink was still wet, and, who have mostly achieved their ends, culminating most recently with NAFTA, and now, with the attempt to make the entire world a corporate oligarchy, with the advent of the TPP, there is little hope of ever bringing any sense into it. You can’t make a profit off someone who won’t fall for stories… W.C. Fields was righter than he knew when he noted, ‘you can’t cheat an honest man.’
No sense can be made of this issue because there is no sense to be found in those who vote in this country…. No matter who the immigrants may be, somebody will have an objection to their presence, for we have, for the most part, become a nation of ignorant, self-indulgent, puppets at the mercy of anyone with a pretty toy to show us….especially if they tell us it’s a bargain.
gigoid, the dubious
I am waiting for the corporate state like in the original Rollerball…..blind consumerism…the true “opiate of the masses”….chuq
“Waiting”, you say? It’s already here. Maybe just not so obvious from so close.
But yeah, the original 1975 Rollerball directed by fellow Canuck, Norman Jewison kicks ass. Not the dreadful 2002 version. That was probably the WORST movie ever made…certainly in terms of dollars spent vs cinematic value. I could go on for days about this piece of utter shit, but…
1) Spoiler Alert!!! LL Cool J. is in it.
2) Kazakhstan supposedly has the top team in a major international pro-sports league.
3) The game itself appears only briefly and makes NO sense whatsoever.
4) The plot & dialogue are thinner than runway models on meth.
5) There is (what seems like) a 30 minute chase scene shot in night vision green! It’s preposterous and very hard to see. Yet you still see how it’s going end almost from the start.
6) These imbeciles cut out a Rebecca Romijn nude scene so they could get PG-13 rating…to draw in a “wider audience”. Unfortunately, they cut the only thing in this dreck people would want to go see.
Sorry about yet another movie tangent but…night vision green!
LL Cool J…..I like him….Rebecca should be seen in all her glory….chuq
LL is a likeable enough guy (with a seriously fucked up family history) but he can’t play anything but “LLCool J”. His name in the cast is a great barometer of how shitty something is. I’ve only seen him in a couple things that didn’t suck.
The studio tried desperately to salvage that $90+ million sack of shit on wheels. (For perspective, that’s roughly 180 times what it cost to make Black Christmas) They cut half an hour off this dreck, re-worked a few scenes, tried & failed to make it make sense…and loaded it full of “macho hit of the week” music to give the knuckle-dragglers something to enjoy….since they took Rebecca’s scene out.
If I recall, the DVD version (Yes, they actually bothered to put this shit on DVD) had Rebecca’s scene in it…But to top it off, it was poorly done. How you can fuck that up is beyond me, but par for the course.
Too many movies make little money as compared to the cost and regardless the “star” attraction…poor scripts…and subject matter is dismal also…at least to me….like the “Notebook” what a waste of time, cash and life.
Boy Oh Boy! gigoid is a wise man if ever I encountered one. He has a knack for hitting nails squarely on their heads and I am in awe of that ability. No, I am not being facetious!
Nice of you to say, John…. I just try to see things mindfully, which means, to me, to keep the big picture in view…
gigoid
Interesting mental floss … and this is my first exposure to this thought.
NAFTA did this country NO favors.
The Free Trade mentality has clobbered Canuckistan even worse than it has America!
We lost far more manufacturing jobs (proportionately). In just 20 years, Ontario went from being the wealthiest, most industrialized, province to being one of the basket-cases. Jobs have been draining southward ever since. In fact, many manufacturing jobs America still has were exported from Canuckistan.
This sad story is an excellent example of how it’s worked to devastate a region. Even with the overall economy picking up, things in that area are really bleak.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/caterpillar-closes-diesel-office-lays-off-50-in-london-ont/article26833707/
Hugely profitable corporations are moving good jobs from highly-ranked factories with longstanding histories of solid profit-generation (like the ones listed) to places with “lower cost” wages…and sometimes, like Caterpillar, they’re walking away with millions in government subsidies in the process!
Canada’s gone from a major exporter of goods (mostly to the US) to an economy almost entirely dependant on oil (and diminishing auto production). If we weren’t a socialist paradise, the population would be seriously fucked! And without having so much oil, we’d be Mississippi fucked!
I can attest to it…I live in Mississippi….and this state is so fucked!