WSJ - They Don't Get it.

Here's an editorial from the Wall Street Journal, a newspaper whose editorial position I often agree with. But they are WRONG, WRONG, WRONG, on illegal immigration. They seem to confuse 'what's good for employers who don't wish to pay prevailing wages' with 'what's good for America'. I understand that the free market is key to liberty...but opening the borders to bring down wages and increase profits, by hiring illegals RATHER than Americans is not market freedom, it's robber-baron market manipulation and exploitation of workers.

Here's a clue: American construction workers are being priced out of the market because illegal aliens are taking construction jobs at low wages, making those companies who hire Americas charge higher prices, lose contracts, go out of business, losing jobs for native born Americans in favor of Mexican wetbacks.

It is certainly true illegal Mexicans come here to take jobs Americans won't do....because Americans won't do construction jobs for burger-flipping wages. NOR SHOULD THEY!

When Liberals accuse the Republicans or Conservatives of only serving the interests of Greedy Corporations, this is EXACTLY what they mean. And in this case, they'd be right.

"Yesterday's May Day immigration demonstrations dominated cable TV, but they were more sound than substance. The bigger news is the recent Wall Street Journal report that illegal border crossings have slowed by more than 10% this year. The Bush Administration credits stepped-up enforcement, but our guess is that the cause is mostly labor supply and demand. A slump in the housing market has resulted in fewer jobs in the building trades, which are increasingly filled by Latino immigrants. With fewer jobs available, fewer immigrants are headed north. It's another example of the market's ability to determine how much foreign labor our economy needs. It also indicates that immigrants come here primarily to work, not to idle and collect welfare. We'd like to think these economic realities will inform any legislation produced this year... Given that illegal immigration is caused above all by a worker shortage for certain types of jobs in the U.S. , any reform that doesn't take into account labor-market needs won't solve the problem and risks making matters worse. Unfortunately, the immigration draft proposal recently circulated by the Bush Administration all but ignores the economic factors that drive illegal immigration. Aside from that, the proposal is unduly restrictive and thus probably unworkable... We hope a compromise is still possible, and we think a realistic guest worker program would make sense both for the U.S. economy and the needs of post-9/11 security. But any policy overhaul that provides little incentive for illegals in the U.S. to acknowledge their status, and then prices legal entry out of reach for most future workers, is likely to increase illegal immigration. Which is to say that any reform failing to recognize labor market realities is worse than no reform at all." ---The Wall Street Journal

The Gunslinger