[lit-ideas] Re: WTO and Immigration
- From: "Andreas Ramos" <andreas@xxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Thu, 8 Dec 2005 18:38:01 -0800
The politics on this are very convoluted.
Bush wants to get more support among Latinos, so he's pro-immigration. Most corps, the
entire hotel/restaurant industry, and agbiz (i.e., farms) also want more workers.
But Christian Republicans (i.e., small town whites) don't want brown foreign people in the
country, so they're strongly opposed. And that goes double for yellow foreign people.
"They're taking our jobs, they're criminals, they overcrowd the schools, they use up our
social services", and so on. None of those are true, but that's irrelevant: it's
fundamentally a race issue.
At stake are the upcoming mid-term Congressional elections next November. If Bush passes his
immigration reform, the Christians may boycott the election and the GOP loses heavily. If
the Christians win and he can't push through reform, the Latinos will get a clear message
from the Christians: "stay out of the USA, stay out of our party, and stay out of our
church."
So Bush is trying to weave his way on both sides for this.
As usual, this issue is being fought within the Republican party. The Dems and everyone else
have no effect on the matter.
It would be a very interesting manuver to use the WTO to resolve the issue. Congress could
say "well, folks, we're opposed, but the WTO ruled against us, so we'll have to let them
in." Thus they get to oppose and support simultaneously. The vast majority of Americans
don't realize the WTO's ability to override US law. Bush has trained them to think that the
USA is "sovereign".
China is looking to supplant stores like Walmart in this country and sell cheap, but
apparently quality, goods directly to the American consumer. No word on how Walmart is
taking it.
The "...cheap, but apparently quality..." qualifier is pretty funny. Practically everything
in the USA is already produced in Mexico, Southeast Asia, or China, both the cheap stuff and
the very high-end expensive, quality stuff. Your Prada handbag, your Salvatore Ferragamo
shoes, and so on are all made in China.
yrs,
andreas
www.andreas.com
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