Since 2003, I've worked with various NGOs, government entities, churches,schools and universities in developing nations around the world. I've been to approximately 40 nations on six continents . Part of my role has been offering "mindset training" concerning how developing nations can transition into first-world economies. I've spoken twice at the CIA headquarters in Langley on the entrepreneurial mindset.
This is the simplified version: in any nation where more people than not wake up each day and do the right thing, simply because it is the right thing, that stability inevitably leads to prosperity (prosperity mindset). In any nation where more people than not wake up each day and do whatever they can get by with when no one is watching (corruption, indolence, petty theft, etc - a poverty mindset), that instability dooms a nation to economic and political failure.
The tipping point is critical and population is a key factor. Remember, it's when "more people than not" conduct themselves with integrity.
For two decades, I've devoted much my time and energy to Latin America, so I'm impervious to accusations of racism. Here's the truth: the minute someone crosses the border illegally, that person has tipped the scales toward chaos.
Here's a personal anecdote that illustrates the point. As much as I love my work, whenever I came home from extended trips abroad (typically 3-6 month stints in the various nations I was working in), one thing I always appreciated was being able to take a bathroom break while sitting in a coffee shop, without worrying about my stuff. Because no one in America would even consider walking off with my laptop.
Yesterday, I was sitting in Panera Bread. And felt the need to pack up my stuff for a 3-minute potty break. My business partner's SUV was stolen last month, right out of her driveway in a Tampa suburb; it was one of 26 vehicles stolen from her neighborhood in one night.
When a nation imports tens of millions of people with a poverty mindset, while intentionally stirring the twin pots of indolence and grievance among the existing populace, that nation is doomed. That's why I'm in the process of becoming an Irish citizen by descent. The scales have tipped in America.
You are not a country without a viable border. Legal controlled immigration yes. Illegal immigration NO. ALL immigrants need to learn and use the English language, join our common culture and history. Trump did a much better job with the border and Biden destroyed it.
“In 2022, there were over 2.76 million illegal migrant crossings at the Southwest border.”
—————————————————————
I love how the number of available unfilled positions stayed stable at 10 million as 7 million “hardworking folks” poured across the border.
I wonder if it’s because that envelope they are handed by the “Catholic Charities”, AKA MS-13 North, is filled with instructions on how to exploit the welfare system?
Please walk into the ocean if you think destitute illiterate people with no skills who can’t speak English are helping the economy. They are not.
Funny that this published today since I was just talking yesterday about how “seeking a better life” is such an asinine way to defend criminal aliens since literally everyone in the history of earth, including Mussolini, has been seeking a better life. It is a statement that means nothing that is designed to emotionally manipulate dumb people.
I am also reminded of how the people who claim that not wanting to live in a failed state is xenophobic are definitely people who live in segregated all-white white areas and only associate with white people. Everyone else in the United States is well aware that America is not a white country. America is mostly non-white and importing beige people does not improve “diversity” because we are already maximally diverse.
Sorry Bari, I couldn't get through this episode. Started listening and instead of a real honest talk about immigration, all I was hearing were two puppets of opposite political sides reciting left/right talking points. We heard this all already and enough of it from propaganda media talking heads. i was looking forward to a discussion where the panelists would say obvious truths we all are thinking but the media and politicians won't say or talk about. Instead we got political talking points. Does either of them know how stupid they sound when they're so obviously biased? Both guests irritated me exceedingly and I had to bow out and turn them off.
“Alex is the director of Economic and Social Policy Studies at the Cato Institute, a libertarian think tank.”
——————————————————-
This is one issue where the adolescent utopian thinking of libertarians (sorry if you’re one of the smart ones) proves most clearly to be just as imbecilic as the utopianism of Marxists.
“People need money fix problem by giving them money.”
“Freedom good must have zero laws because freedom good.”
I immigrated legally to the USA in the 90s. There were many rules to follow and steps to take. At the time, I thought it was worth it to pursue my personal American Dream. I am not sure I would do it again today, given how much our country has declined.
I am pro free immigration if we have a free America. I mean free immigration like we more or less (*) had 120 years ago at Ellis Island, where millions of immigrants entered the USA to escape bad countries. Getting in required proving you were moderately healthy (no TB) and had $5 in cash (about $100 in today's money). There were NO social benefits then. Or income tax for that matter. So immigrants expected to work hard for their money. Many did exactly that and built their American Dream and middle class or better life for their kids.
You can't (successfully) have open borders and give out social benefits to all who enter. Pick one. Either you have open borders and no social benefits. Or you have closed borders and social benefits. This is basic math. American does not have the money to pay social benefits to everyone who wants to come here.
---
(*) the less part of free immigration in 1900 were the anti Asia "yellow" laws that limited immigration from China, Japan etc to only male temporary workers and they could not legally bring their wives and children here. This kind of discrimination was the reason for the creation of China Towns in many American cities. Fortunately, these racist laws have been removed.
“We need to help child molesters and criminal organizations because that is what our principles demand!!”
--Left-wing statist disguised as libertarian who supports queer indoctrination and open borders because they know the end result will be an even more extreme left-wing totalitarian central government
Daily reminder that using your principles and ethics and morals against you to achieve an outcome via manipulation is a known trait of the psychopath.
It's hard for me to listen to the "experts" that Bari has on these podcasts. She needs to invite the folks who live in the border towns in Texas who have the terrifying experiences of home invasions and worse. While Biden has been busy with "other things" and Harris have been giggling, documentarians like Peter Santenello (check out his YouTube channel) have visited the border and chronicled the day to day experiences of people who have called these towns home for generations.
Sorry, I don't care to listen to an idiotic discussion. Better yet let's debate the merits of pedophilia. No. Illegal immigration is both wrong legally and an insane policy for our nation. We can debate legal immigration. Not normalizing illegals. I want a president who will deport every single person illegally in our country. Period. Without borders, we can't have a county. Or even the social safety net that our friends on the left hold dear.
For years I’ve been wanting to spend a long weekend in NYC but the hotels are so damn expensive that I never followed through. But now, I sense opportunity. I figure if I work on my tan, brush up on my espanol, hang out at a drop off point and commingle with the illegals, maybe I can cop one of those $500 a night Times Square hotel rooms mayor Adams ( or is it the US taxpayer?) is handing out. Of course I’ll probably need to upgrade my wardrobe to mimic the “asylum” seekers I’ll be embedded with but I’m thinking I can scrape up enough dinero to pull it off. If I’m lucky, maybe I’ll even get a room with a few bottles of leftover cerveza from the previous occupant.
I haven’t listened yet, but I will. My preliminary reaction, informed only by a literal reading of Bari’s description of Alex favoring “free” immigration, is You Can’t Be Serious!” Does any country in the world allow “free immigration,” meaning without restrictions? Does not EVERY country have measures in place to regulate who comes in, and how many? Not to mention our own, particular national interest in keeping out terrorists, criminals, traffickers in the sex and drug trades, and layabouts looking for freebies. I’ll listen for an explanation of why free immigration can possibly be a good thing.
Every cultural-ethnic group that moved to the United States brought its downsides.
Anglo-Saxons brought genocide, slavery and uniquely deep version of racism.
Italians brought organized crime on an unprecedented scale.
Irish brought widely spread corruption in politics and law enforcement.
Most of them came from poor, crime-ridden, desperate, and uneducated areas.
And as each previous group got established, they despised and harassed the newcomers.
And so on and so forth.
Yet, they all built our country.
As long as the incomers are willing to integrate, work hard and abide the laws, they will be net positive and their children will grow up completely American.
I've never seen people who work harder than Mexicans. In multiple states, from Alabama to California, the US agriculture and construction would collapse without them.
As a professional scientist, I've seen over last 15-30 years how US science and technology have been overwhelmingly developed and supported by Asian immigrants. Native born Americans are no longer interested in STEM, so our edge in R&D will not exist without a constant influx of Chinese and Indians. We probably wouldn't even have enough medical practitioners.
And so on and so forth.
To conclude, I think that in the best US interests, the immigration should be legalized and encouraged. The immigrants should have a minimal (and no more) safety net and a permission to work. Everybody who lived in the country for 5 (?) years with a clean criminal record should be able to get citizenship having passed English language, civics and history exams.
The comments from the folks are great, shows just how frustrated everyone really is about this tragedy. Neither party wants to fix this problem because it’s too valuable of a political weapon not to fix it. Just like gun control and now, shockingly, classified documents. Inside the Beltway is a cesspool. Our political leaders are incompetent idiots.
Victor Davis Hanson wrote this week about how much Mexico benefits from our open border by sending their poor and hungry here (so they don’t have to care for them) and workers here sending money back to Mexico to the tune of about $60 billion per year.
I know we benefit from immigration, I’m an immigrant myself, but the “let er rip” policy we have in place now is a humanitarian and economic catastrophe. For Alex to say the real problem is “we just aren’t letting enough people in” is one of those luxury beliefs the zoomocracy gets to type about in their Jammies while sipping imported coffee.
So illegal immigrants use 28% less welfare benefits??? How about getting that from 28% down to zero. It's not justified in illegals just because it's a smaller amount. Kate Steinle's dad probably shares a corollary to this view.
Since 2003, I've worked with various NGOs, government entities, churches,schools and universities in developing nations around the world. I've been to approximately 40 nations on six continents . Part of my role has been offering "mindset training" concerning how developing nations can transition into first-world economies. I've spoken twice at the CIA headquarters in Langley on the entrepreneurial mindset.
This is the simplified version: in any nation where more people than not wake up each day and do the right thing, simply because it is the right thing, that stability inevitably leads to prosperity (prosperity mindset). In any nation where more people than not wake up each day and do whatever they can get by with when no one is watching (corruption, indolence, petty theft, etc - a poverty mindset), that instability dooms a nation to economic and political failure.
The tipping point is critical and population is a key factor. Remember, it's when "more people than not" conduct themselves with integrity.
For two decades, I've devoted much my time and energy to Latin America, so I'm impervious to accusations of racism. Here's the truth: the minute someone crosses the border illegally, that person has tipped the scales toward chaos.
Here's a personal anecdote that illustrates the point. As much as I love my work, whenever I came home from extended trips abroad (typically 3-6 month stints in the various nations I was working in), one thing I always appreciated was being able to take a bathroom break while sitting in a coffee shop, without worrying about my stuff. Because no one in America would even consider walking off with my laptop.
Yesterday, I was sitting in Panera Bread. And felt the need to pack up my stuff for a 3-minute potty break. My business partner's SUV was stolen last month, right out of her driveway in a Tampa suburb; it was one of 26 vehicles stolen from her neighborhood in one night.
When a nation imports tens of millions of people with a poverty mindset, while intentionally stirring the twin pots of indolence and grievance among the existing populace, that nation is doomed. That's why I'm in the process of becoming an Irish citizen by descent. The scales have tipped in America.
You are not a country without a viable border. Legal controlled immigration yes. Illegal immigration NO. ALL immigrants need to learn and use the English language, join our common culture and history. Trump did a much better job with the border and Biden destroyed it.
“In 2022, there were over 2.76 million illegal migrant crossings at the Southwest border.”
—————————————————————
I love how the number of available unfilled positions stayed stable at 10 million as 7 million “hardworking folks” poured across the border.
I wonder if it’s because that envelope they are handed by the “Catholic Charities”, AKA MS-13 North, is filled with instructions on how to exploit the welfare system?
Please walk into the ocean if you think destitute illiterate people with no skills who can’t speak English are helping the economy. They are not.
Funny that this published today since I was just talking yesterday about how “seeking a better life” is such an asinine way to defend criminal aliens since literally everyone in the history of earth, including Mussolini, has been seeking a better life. It is a statement that means nothing that is designed to emotionally manipulate dumb people.
I am also reminded of how the people who claim that not wanting to live in a failed state is xenophobic are definitely people who live in segregated all-white white areas and only associate with white people. Everyone else in the United States is well aware that America is not a white country. America is mostly non-white and importing beige people does not improve “diversity” because we are already maximally diverse.
Sorry Bari, I couldn't get through this episode. Started listening and instead of a real honest talk about immigration, all I was hearing were two puppets of opposite political sides reciting left/right talking points. We heard this all already and enough of it from propaganda media talking heads. i was looking forward to a discussion where the panelists would say obvious truths we all are thinking but the media and politicians won't say or talk about. Instead we got political talking points. Does either of them know how stupid they sound when they're so obviously biased? Both guests irritated me exceedingly and I had to bow out and turn them off.
“Alex is the director of Economic and Social Policy Studies at the Cato Institute, a libertarian think tank.”
——————————————————-
This is one issue where the adolescent utopian thinking of libertarians (sorry if you’re one of the smart ones) proves most clearly to be just as imbecilic as the utopianism of Marxists.
“People need money fix problem by giving them money.”
“Freedom good must have zero laws because freedom good.”
Morons.
I immigrated legally to the USA in the 90s. There were many rules to follow and steps to take. At the time, I thought it was worth it to pursue my personal American Dream. I am not sure I would do it again today, given how much our country has declined.
I am pro free immigration if we have a free America. I mean free immigration like we more or less (*) had 120 years ago at Ellis Island, where millions of immigrants entered the USA to escape bad countries. Getting in required proving you were moderately healthy (no TB) and had $5 in cash (about $100 in today's money). There were NO social benefits then. Or income tax for that matter. So immigrants expected to work hard for their money. Many did exactly that and built their American Dream and middle class or better life for their kids.
You can't (successfully) have open borders and give out social benefits to all who enter. Pick one. Either you have open borders and no social benefits. Or you have closed borders and social benefits. This is basic math. American does not have the money to pay social benefits to everyone who wants to come here.
---
(*) the less part of free immigration in 1900 were the anti Asia "yellow" laws that limited immigration from China, Japan etc to only male temporary workers and they could not legally bring their wives and children here. This kind of discrimination was the reason for the creation of China Towns in many American cities. Fortunately, these racist laws have been removed.
“We need to help child molesters and criminal organizations because that is what our principles demand!!”
--Left-wing statist disguised as libertarian who supports queer indoctrination and open borders because they know the end result will be an even more extreme left-wing totalitarian central government
Daily reminder that using your principles and ethics and morals against you to achieve an outcome via manipulation is a known trait of the psychopath.
It's hard for me to listen to the "experts" that Bari has on these podcasts. She needs to invite the folks who live in the border towns in Texas who have the terrifying experiences of home invasions and worse. While Biden has been busy with "other things" and Harris have been giggling, documentarians like Peter Santenello (check out his YouTube channel) have visited the border and chronicled the day to day experiences of people who have called these towns home for generations.
Thanks to “Mother Merkel”, Europe played the open borders game in 2015 using the same arguments. Can we not learn from what happened there?
Sorry, I don't care to listen to an idiotic discussion. Better yet let's debate the merits of pedophilia. No. Illegal immigration is both wrong legally and an insane policy for our nation. We can debate legal immigration. Not normalizing illegals. I want a president who will deport every single person illegally in our country. Period. Without borders, we can't have a county. Or even the social safety net that our friends on the left hold dear.
For years I’ve been wanting to spend a long weekend in NYC but the hotels are so damn expensive that I never followed through. But now, I sense opportunity. I figure if I work on my tan, brush up on my espanol, hang out at a drop off point and commingle with the illegals, maybe I can cop one of those $500 a night Times Square hotel rooms mayor Adams ( or is it the US taxpayer?) is handing out. Of course I’ll probably need to upgrade my wardrobe to mimic the “asylum” seekers I’ll be embedded with but I’m thinking I can scrape up enough dinero to pull it off. If I’m lucky, maybe I’ll even get a room with a few bottles of leftover cerveza from the previous occupant.
I haven’t listened yet, but I will. My preliminary reaction, informed only by a literal reading of Bari’s description of Alex favoring “free” immigration, is You Can’t Be Serious!” Does any country in the world allow “free immigration,” meaning without restrictions? Does not EVERY country have measures in place to regulate who comes in, and how many? Not to mention our own, particular national interest in keeping out terrorists, criminals, traffickers in the sex and drug trades, and layabouts looking for freebies. I’ll listen for an explanation of why free immigration can possibly be a good thing.
An immigrant's observation:
Every cultural-ethnic group that moved to the United States brought its downsides.
Anglo-Saxons brought genocide, slavery and uniquely deep version of racism.
Italians brought organized crime on an unprecedented scale.
Irish brought widely spread corruption in politics and law enforcement.
Most of them came from poor, crime-ridden, desperate, and uneducated areas.
And as each previous group got established, they despised and harassed the newcomers.
And so on and so forth.
Yet, they all built our country.
As long as the incomers are willing to integrate, work hard and abide the laws, they will be net positive and their children will grow up completely American.
I've never seen people who work harder than Mexicans. In multiple states, from Alabama to California, the US agriculture and construction would collapse without them.
As a professional scientist, I've seen over last 15-30 years how US science and technology have been overwhelmingly developed and supported by Asian immigrants. Native born Americans are no longer interested in STEM, so our edge in R&D will not exist without a constant influx of Chinese and Indians. We probably wouldn't even have enough medical practitioners.
And so on and so forth.
To conclude, I think that in the best US interests, the immigration should be legalized and encouraged. The immigrants should have a minimal (and no more) safety net and a permission to work. Everybody who lived in the country for 5 (?) years with a clean criminal record should be able to get citizenship having passed English language, civics and history exams.
The comments from the folks are great, shows just how frustrated everyone really is about this tragedy. Neither party wants to fix this problem because it’s too valuable of a political weapon not to fix it. Just like gun control and now, shockingly, classified documents. Inside the Beltway is a cesspool. Our political leaders are incompetent idiots.
Victor Davis Hanson wrote this week about how much Mexico benefits from our open border by sending their poor and hungry here (so they don’t have to care for them) and workers here sending money back to Mexico to the tune of about $60 billion per year.
I know we benefit from immigration, I’m an immigrant myself, but the “let er rip” policy we have in place now is a humanitarian and economic catastrophe. For Alex to say the real problem is “we just aren’t letting enough people in” is one of those luxury beliefs the zoomocracy gets to type about in their Jammies while sipping imported coffee.
So illegal immigrants use 28% less welfare benefits??? How about getting that from 28% down to zero. It's not justified in illegals just because it's a smaller amount. Kate Steinle's dad probably shares a corollary to this view.