Posts Tagged ‘Economy’

If you haven’t seen the tongue-in-cheek fictional documentary, A Day Without a Mexican, you shouldn’t wait any longer. A strange disappearance of all immigrants brings life as we know it to a standstill. Anarchy ensues. And, surprise, it’s more than fiction – in Alabama.

What they are learning the hard way is that the crack down on all those illegals, and by extension the legals who have illegals as family members, is that the necessary work force has been gutted. No, they are not taking the jobs of real Americans. Yes, they work the jobs nobody else wants. And they do it with enough hands and cheaply  enough that our whole chain of commerce and service industries come to a stand still without them.

This is the most enormous political red herring of the decade. This is how the sound bites go: If we only get a handle on the illegal immigration issue all our problems will magically go away. Surprise, it’s just the opposite. We are incredibly dependent on them … as we abuse them. No, they are not the crux of the problem. And a crack down, the type of which intimidates and harasses, simply cuts off the proverbial nose to spite the face.

I used to live in the country of Texas.  I discovered something very interesting living there. No matter how big the walls are on the border and no matter how many border patrols scout out the human smugglers and illegals, everybody really just looks the other way. Every Texan knows that they need those people. It doesn’t matter if its for agriculture, building trades, child care, landscaping, restaurants or car washes, the labor is essential. They can’t do without it. And their work isn’t taking work away from anybody else.

Politicians posture in public, acting tough toward immigration issues. But in reality, they think differently. Everyone does. This is a fake issue. And when people act on a fake issue, as though it’s real, like in Alabama, they not only hurt the strangers in our midst, but themselves.

That’s how it always is. You might remember the stern injunction in the Hebrew scriptures about the way strangers should be treated: Remember, O Israel, you were once an alien and stranger in Egypt. So you shall treat aliens in your own land with compassion. You will not take advantage of them. In fact, the treatment you dole out will be the treatment you get back. Count on it.

Like in Alabama. Or anywhere this happens. Let those with ears, hear.

But you’d better watch the trailer for yourself –   http://www.ovguide.com/movies_tv/a_day_without_a_mexican.htm

Just this morning I listened to an economist who does pure research and answers to no political party. He provided a comprehensive, balanced, research-driven, historically based analysis of not only the present economy and most recent recession, but the whole waterfront of the last 100 years. The presentation included macro dynamics of debt, assets, unemployment, energy, concentration of wealth, regulation, market forces, trade and competing philosophies.

I felt like I could breathe again – sanity, balance, reason, real data and the absence of spin.

I’m embarrassed by the ideologically-driven leaders who are pulling the strings of our present political charade. As is often the case, a simple comparison with a man of substance exposed them for who they are and are up to.

Deliver us … from them.

Soon.

“Last year, Manhattan hedge fund manager John Paulson took home $4.9 billion in pay. Before the crash, Paulson helped inflate the housing bubble by designing junk mortgage-backed securities for Goldman Sachs – and then profited from the pop by betting that those very securities would fail.” (Sojourners, July 2011, 9)

Long over due: A Christian language in moral ethics that defines sin not by the little, safe targets, but by the big ones – the mindsets and behavior that propel over-the-top greed and harm of neighbor for the benefit of self. We would have thought that the economic meltdown would have brought about some remorse. It has not. And those who were most culpable have profited most conspicuously.

Wouldn’t it assist our moral clarity to define such practices exemplified by Paulson and his cohorts simply as sin? It is sinful. And for that only repentance, on a public scale, will do.