TOM TANCREDO for PRESIDENT 2008: Our Last and Only Hope to Save America
Posted on 01/03/2005 9:51:55 AM PST by nanak
Barron's has an important lead article out today on "the underground economy" (password required).
According to Robert Justich, a senior managing director at Bear Stearns Asset Management in New York, current estimates of the illegal alien population (most news articles cite the old 8 to 13 million figure) are too low. He puts the figure at 18 million to 20 million.
The article's author, Jim McTague, notes some devastating consequences of the failure to enforce our immigration laws--and he does so with a bluntness that is unusual for the usually open-borders-friendly business press:
[T]he underground economy is undermining the effectiveness of the Internal Revenue Service, which is highly dependent on employees' withholding taxes. If the IRS could collect all the taxes it says that it is owed from the underground economy in a given year, then the current budget deficit would disappear overnight. And if the IRS could collect these taxes every year, then the nation would have surpluses as far as the eye can see. The IRS has estimated that its tax gap -- the estimated amount of taxes owed minus the amount collected -- is around $311 billion in any given year. The agency will produce a new estimate in 2005, and it could be as high as $400 billion, says former IRS Commissioner Donald Alexander.
McTague addresses pollyannas who note that our underground economy is smaller than other high-tax European countries:
To be sure, the U.S. underground economy, as a percentage of GDP, is smaller than those of some other countries. In a 2000 paper in a publication of the Independent Institute, a nonprofit research organization, Schneider found that Greece, as of 1998, had the largest underground economy, at 29% of its GDP, followed by Italy at 27.8% and Spain at 23.4%. Countries with high tax burdens and high social security costs lead the list.
But the sheer growth of the underground economy in the U.S. is cause for concern. If Justich's estimate of illegal immigrant workers is correct, the underground economy may now be growing at a markedly faster rate than the legitimate economy. Justich, working with Bear Stearns colleague Betty Ng, an emerging- markets economist, says he's found evidence of a larger illegal immigrant population by analyzing data on construction and on remittances sent from the U.S. to Mexico and other countries. He also had conversations with over 100 immigrants from Mexico, Brazil, the Dominican Republic, Guinea, China and Tibet. And he interviewed local business owners, real-estate sales people and police...
McTague also considers the impact Justich's research may have in Washington:
A larger number of illegal immigrants also would have a profound impact on coming discussions on immigration reform. President Bush proposes temporary amnesty for illegal aliens already in the country, allowing them to obtain permits to work legally for three years and stay longer if their jobs otherwise can't be filled by native-born workers. But if there are, in fact, 20 million illegal aliens, the Bush proposal could engender a situation not unlike the German unification of the 1990s, which triggered huge demand for social services in East Germany. Unanticipated costs here could be enormous.
The article should be must-reading for every member of Congress as President Bush prepares to foist his amnesty plan on America.
TOM TANCREDO for PRESIDENT 2008: Our Last and Only Hope to Save America
How about we repeal the 16th amendment, so the entire economy is underground?
Then we kick out the UN.
Then we reduce federal functions to those authorized by the constitution.
Good grief.
God bless your patriotic heart!
And how many of these illegals are now members of terrorist cells? More than a few I would suspect.
I didn't want you to miss 1/4 of your dream...
*wave of the hand* These are not the illegal aliens you are looking for...*wave of the hand*
Neocons, 'These are not the illegal aliens we are looking for.'
*wave of the hand* These are hard working Americans looking to feed their families....*wave of the hand*
Neocon, 'They just want to feed their families...'
*wave of the hand* They have no terrorists with WMDs among them....*wave of the hand*
Neocon, 'They are free of any danger to us and have no WMDs.'
*wave of the hand* You may go back to work now...*wave of the hand*
Neocon, 'I can go back to work now.'
Neocon, 'Thank you.'
My stepson would love to be able to land a construction job, but they are all farmed out to illegals. It is impossible to find a house being built that does not use illegal immigrants.
:)~
Michelle ping.
Very clever.
Articles from other conservatives:
Immigration: The New Third Rail
On News/Activism 11/09/2004 3:44:38 AM PST · 85 replies · 917+ views
frontpagemagazine.com ^ | November 9, 2004 | Michael Reagan
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1275171/posts
If any of those contractors have deep pockets, I wonder if your stepson could find some young smart motivated attorney to file a civil RICO lawsuit...there might be a case to be made and a jury might just be willing to punish the employers of illegal aliens.
"Just taking jobs that Americans don't want"
"Just sucking up welfare that Americans can't afford"
This Barron's article was great.
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This message (below) by Regulator describes the ramifications of "they" becoming "us."
This article is getting a lot of airplay in the MSM as well. The obvious conclusions are
* The lost tax revenue is about equal to the current deficit
* There are far more illegal aliens in the country than the government is willing to admit (they know, but won't say)
* The country is now essentially a criminal country, like most Latin American "nations", where laws are just noise on paper
* The rest of the country is subsidizing the few (maybe not so few) who are cheating at the game
* If an amnesty is passed, the social costs bankrupt probably all the Southwestern states, and maybe a few Southern states
Welcome to the new Peronist America. We even have a major currency problem. Just like all the other narco-terrorist kleptocracies.
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We have imported their poverty, disease and crime. We are now Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, El Salvador -- with their attendant problems.
"Very clever."
Tanks.
My wife says I am a real wit half the time, or something like that, heh.
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