Sloppy U.S spending of money.

[Alidar Jarok]

^How do you enforce paying minimum wage to illegals? By definition they are not here legally and are off the books.

Most illegal immigrants get paid legally. They have fake social security numbers and fake green cars. They get paid minimum wage and have money withheld for taxes and social security. Then they never collect on that money so the government gets to keep it (it's been keeping social security in the black for decades).

 

[infinix]

Most illegal immigrants get paid legally. They have fake social security numbers and fake green cars. They get paid minimum wage and have money withheld for taxes and social security. Then they never collect on that money so the government gets to keep it (it's been keeping social security in the black for decades).

I wouldn't say most. Only the lowest of the low business owners are dumb enough to risk an audit put their illegal work force on the books with fake SSN and green cards.

My first job out of college was at Citibank. I had personally experienced a situation where an idiot restaurant owner came in with 5 people, one SSN card, and asked me to open accounts for all five under one SSN. Sure enough, I reported the guy and never heard from him since.

It is much safer to promise a cash payment because you wouldn't have to worry about banks discovering fake SSN accounts when they do an internal audit. If it is discovered that a fake account has been receiving funds from a legitimate account, the police goes after the legit account owner first.

Regarding the problem with spending... as long as we shop at walmart, there is no way we will get off of importing cheap goods made by foreign labor.

 

[KJbushway]

^OK, in the spirit of that, lets look at your reply to my post!

Good luck with that last part. and for that matter the first part.

This is a decent reply, it goes somewhat in the spirit of my post.

The problem is that the prices for everything would soar because of our set paycheck amount.

Wha? You mean price inflation? why would buying american cause price inflation? And just what is a "set paycheck amount"? Did the federal government suddenly mandate what everyone makes?

its a pipe dream, but we would be the better for it, the quality of the old days are seen today in American Pickers.

Do you really think there would suddenly be an improvement in quality if people were forced to "buy american"? Think about it.

Looks like somebody gets a little testy.

I tried to say minimum wage, but I couldn't think of the phrase at the time.
Since theres minimum wage, the product would have to be more expensive for the company to make any profit.

No, but some things that are made in America, last a lot longer than a walmart product.

 

[Nowhere Man]

Lastly, allow the States to set up thier own citizenship requirements and take it out of the hands of the Feds.

No. Hell no. We don't operate under the Articles of Confederation and states have no authority over what is by all rights a federal matter.

Beyond that, I see no evidence that states would handle things any better than the feds do. In fact, giving states jurisdiction over citizenship be an utter, unworkable disaster. Should I worry about whether or not Arizona thinks I'm a citizen? If I cross state borders do I have to worry about arrest and deportation? What if I want to move? Huge. Mess.

Come on STR. this is your bread and butter, where are ya?

I wrote the equivalent of a 3 page essay in the other thread. You want more? Paypal me some money like any other writer-on-demand.

I do know that its BS that the wealthy can't pay just 4% more tax than they are today. Even if makes small buisness pay a little bit more, the boss doesn't have to buy a golden toilet.

The problem isn't the tax rate, but tax loopholes. That was one of the highlights of the Simpson-Bowles Deficit Commission. We could reduce corporate rates AND personal rates and still bring in more income by removing asinine little exceptions that were intended for the middle class, but were taken to ridiculous extents by the wealthy.

Having said all that, the US really has unnecessarily abused that ability to borrow, and its longer-term interests would be well-served by a reduction. It has a LOT more time to play with than any other country would have with its debt/GDP level, but short-termist politicians have kept postponing the necessary budget reductions for 20+ years. Each year that passes makes the decisions harder. If the US was wise, it would use its long range ability to manage high deficits constructively, to gradually reduce them with little real impact, while it still can. In 20-30 years time, it will be too late, and more drastic measures will be required.

This.

I know we don't live under the Articles. The States had control over citizenship up until the Civil War which was under the U.S. Constitution. The power was shared at that time. You don't have to have the Articles to have State control over things. Where does it say in the Constitution that citizenship is strictly left up to the National government? If you are a citizen in one state, then you are a U.S. citizen, you don't need a visa or a passport, we are United you know.

 

[Alidar Jarok]

Most illegal immigrants get paid legally. They have fake social security numbers and fake green cars. They get paid minimum wage and have money withheld for taxes and social security. Then they never collect on that money so the government gets to keep it (it's been keeping social security in the black for decades).

I wouldn't say most. Only the lowest of the low business owners are dumb enough to risk an audit put their illegal work force on the books with fake SSN and green cards.

It looks better than hiring people with no SSN cards. Besides, they don't provide the fake cards, the employees come with them. It's considered part of the cost of working in America.

Considering that Nine Billion Dollars Per Year is paid into social security by illegal immigrants, I'm willing to bet quite a few get paid through fake SSNs and fake Green Cards.

Hilbilly Rage, the answer to your question is the privileges and immunities clause. Also, the fourteenth amendment denies the rights of states to limit citizenship simply by implication. The federal government sets citizenship requirements. Those requirements are automatic in the state in question. Every other state must recognize that citizenship. It's become a power granted to the federal government and denied to the states.

 

[Nowhere Man]

^ I was talking about the original Constitution, but imigration reform is really not my concern as far as controling spending goes. I'm concerned about the military and corperations more than anything. I have my own thoughts on imigration, but this thread is not really about that.

 

[Alidar Jarok]

Well, the original constitution controlled whether another state recognized a state's citizens. States had absolute control over citizenship until Dredd Scot. Then a class of Americans were considered non-citizens where previously a state could decide otherwise. Then the fourteenth amendment reversed that and made sure that states couldn't decide to go the same way as Dredd Scot.

Anyway, I already answered the topic above. I think the short answer is simply we're not quite at the stage where we must cut spending to the point of eliminating the budget deficit, but it's starting to be real nice.

 

[KJbushway]

^This isn't related. But your avatar makes me sad for the Kangaroo.