12.29.2010

Obama's great inequality

Mickey Kaus points out that Obama is worsening America's income inequality by going easy on illegal immigration and importing cheap labor to compete with our poorest workers.

Well, sure. But that's just the bottom end of the income spectrum. Don't forget what he's doing at the top end of the income spectrum: continuing to bail out Wall Street via Fannie and Freddie, AIG, GMAC, etc. Wall Street couldn't be paying those huge bonuses without free money from Obama.

And then there are the armies of six-figure government bureaucrats -- what's that do to income inequality? Put a two-income family of government workers together and you've got "The Rich" by Obama's $250,000 definition.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

If anything, Obama has come down very hard on emplyers who use undocumented workers. It's about time I saw a "leftward" site complain about illegal aliens and the effect they have on U.S. labor.

Negocios Loucos said...

Anon, can you please provide a link to indicate that Obama has come down very hard on employers? I'm not aware of that and would love to read about it.

Harlan York said...

The man set the all time record for deportations in one year. As far as employers: see http://immigrationlitigation.wordpress.com/2010/03/03/employers-beware/

Negocios Loucos said...

Mr. York, posting a law firms advertisement regarding immigration does not constitute data.

Harlan York said...

It's data. Here is the complete text:

"Worksite Enforcement to Increase, Reiterates Top ICE Official; ICE Also Announces Alternatives to Detention

At a recent public leadership forum held in Washington, DC, Assistant Secretary of Homeland Security for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), John Morton, outlined his priorities and vision for the United States’ second largest enforcement agency.

Those priorities, he said, include:

(1) preventing terrorism and protecting our national security;

(2) securing the borders and protecting against transnational crime;

(3) ensuring that our immigration laws are enforced by removing criminal aliens, executing final orders of removal, and continuing worksite enforcement with a focus on employers.

Morton also discussed his plans for detention reform.

Worksite Enforcement. ICE already has stepped up its campaign of targeting employers who fail to comply with the hiring and paperwork requirements of federal law, abandoning the previous Administration’s enforcement efforts aimed at undocumented workers.

In November alone, ICE announced that 1,000 companies had been served with a Notice of Inspection and an Administrative Subpoena and that more would follow.

Mr. Morton stated that the agency will be increasing worksite visits and aggressively pursuing civil and criminal prosecutions against employers who knowingly hire undocumented workers.

Given ICE’s overall goal of creating a culture of employer compliance, Morton all but guaranteed an increase in the imposition of fines.

Detention Reform. Mr. Morton expressed commitment to an aggressive overhaul of the current detention system to reflect the diversity of those detained. He mapped out a plan to change the administration of detention facilities, improve conditions at facilities (including access to medical care), and modify the facilities themselves.

Make no mistake. ICE is committed to continue grand-scale detention. But, ICE also is exploring alternatives to detention where it has discretion. A pilot alternative detention program is expected to be launched later this month, which may include ankle bracelets and intensive supervision for individuals who might otherwise be detained."

Happy Super Tuesday!