Why Are We Taking in Refugees?
The controversy over Donald Trump’s call for a halt to taking in Muslim refugees until they can be adequately vetted brings to mind the question: Why is the U.S. even taking in refugees? Apart from the terrorist dangers surrounding the vetting issues, we certainly no longer have the resources to take in refugees or any new immigrants. Yes, it’s altruistic to welcome newcomers, according to the MSM, the establishment politicians, and the “We care so much” liberals, if you have the ability to take care of them or a job for them. But the reality is, the U.S. cannot take care of its own citizens, much less take care of everyone who wants to come here, whether legally or illegally.
We don’t have enough jobs for the citizens of this country, much less jobs for new arrivals. We have over 94 million working-age adults not working, most because they cannot find jobs. According to John Williams at shadowstats.com, our real unemployment is somewhere around 23 percent if you count those who are without jobs over the long term and have given up looking for work. Millions more, who would like a full-time job, are working one or more part-time jobs. Our welfare and Medicaid rolls are already overflowing with citizens and immigrants. The U.S. government is broke and paying for this welfare with borrowed dollars, all funded on the backs of taxpayers.
Our employment picture is likely to get worse as manufacturing is contracting while inventories are overstocked. Sales, both wholesale and retail are declining, and the transportation of goods by rail and trucking is decreasing even in the Christmas busy retail season. The nosedive in commodities’ prices shows a world and a U.S. that is moving into recession. The economic figures of a growing recession, stacked up against overwhelming private and public debt brought to us via the central banks, are only going to get worse in 2016 when recession layoffs begin in earnest.
The much-touted big business mergers, such as Dow and Dupont, are not signs of financial health, but rather symptoms of the Federal Reserve’s crony capitalism fueled by zero interest rates and the concentration of capital on Wall Street. Such mergers bring their own set of layoffs and an actual decline in jobs and the economy. These mergers only raise the number of big business monopolies while decreasing consumer choices and increasing consumer costs. Wall Street is one giant bubble, a pinprick away from bursting.
We have the lowest homeownership since 1965 because housing prices are back to 2008 levels, or higher, at the same time that wages are stagnant or declining. We have $1.3 trillion bubble in student loan debt, a bubble rise in sub-prime auto loans and extended loan repayment terms, and skyrocketing healthcare costs and tuition. Many Americans are maxed out when it comes to debt and disposable income. Yes, gas prices are lower, but healthcare costs, thanks to ObamaCare, have more than eaten up any savings at the pump.
At some point the federal government and blithely unaware citizens are going to have to face the facts. The federal government is currently borrowing almost a million dollars a minute, making debt slaves and tax slaves of us, our children, and grandchildren to subsidize a bloated nanny state and irresponsible government spending. Social Security and Medicare are both edging closer to insolvency. According to Dr. Lawrence J. Kotlikoff, a former Reagan senior economic advisor, we have over $211 trillion in present and future unfunded government liabilities on top of the much publicized $18.5 trillion debt. To date, few politicians, except Republicans Chris Christie and Ben Carson, have even mentioned this gigantic economic problem or how we will address it. The current baby boomer retirement rolls is spurring the costs of Social Security and Medicare and hastening the day of reckoning, our “Welcome to Greece” moment.
This perilous economic situation is not confined to the federal government. State and local governments all across the country from California, Illinois, and Kentucky, to the fiscally conservative state of Virginia, are facing deficiencies in funding their public retirement programs. Private retirement programs are facing the same scenarios with some of the unions actually cutting current retiree benefit payments.
Some economists theorize that there is some nebulous “reset” button we can push and all these debt problems will be fixed. But whatever buttons we push or whatever fixes we come up with will entail a great deal of economic pain for the citizens of this country. The average American will pay into infinity for all of this foolish Keynesian monetary economic control and government liberal altruism and irresponsibility.
So, to the establishment politicians and the liberal mouthpieces, keep the immigrants coming. Enjoy your “feel-good moments” that you are saving people from strife. You also might tell these immigrants that their free ride or their hope for a job might not be realized because the U.S. is already way overbooked and heading toward bankruptcy.