http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/12/22/immigrants.leave.ap/index.html?eref=rss_topstories
"As the jobs dwindle and the environment becomes more unpleasant in more ways than one, you then decide what to do, and perhaps leaving looks like a good idea," she said. "And certainly that creates a problem, because as people leave, they take the jobs they created with them."
- Dawn McLaren
Ok, Ms. McLaren is a professor at ASU so she is close to this issue and has studied it herself. She wrote a paper on the subject. But her paper attempts to show that the issue is not being clearly defined and thus the solutions are short sighted. She may be right in some respects. But her paper also makes it clear that she does not understand her own free market society that she lives in. That's sad for an economics professor. Her entire article addresses the job market but mentions nothing about supply and demand in the marketplace.
McLaren gives an example about a factory worker in Michigan being laid off. She says that just because there's a worker in Michigan and a job in Arizona does not mean that the worker will move to Arizona. She's right that there would have to be other factors to give the worker incentive to move. One of the major factors would be economic. If the pay rate were such that the worker realized he could provide for his family by moving to Arizona, I bet he'd move.
Price is not static, if demand increases, the price will increase. If supply diminishes, the price will increase. This is one of the factors that brings stability to a free market society. It's also the way that a market regulates itself into producing only those goods and services that are necessary. If a service becomes unnecessary, the workers providing that service must adapt.
What boggles my mind with the quote above is not only that McLaren doesn't understand this simple concept of economics (or understands but does not think it exists), but that she apparently believes that illegal immigrants create jobs when they come over. The absurdity of this thought is compounded when the very thing she is commenting on is a policy that takes away the job that the illegal came for in the first place. If the illegal immigrant brought the job with him, there would be no way for us to take it away.
It's just silly, but that's what happens when you live your life in a world set apart from the free market. Professors are not part of the free market so they can't understand the culture they live in.
Saturday, December 22, 2007
Wednesday, December 19, 2007
If this is where we look, then...
http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1576784/20071219/id_0.jhtml
It's no wonder our world and culture are screwed up so badly if this is where we look for advice. Apparently Britney Spears' mom, Lynne Spears, thinks she did a pretty good job in the parenting department. Of course I'm not one to blame parents for everything their children do, but at some point you have to say "huh".
Yes this is the same Britney Spears you have read and heard about who is such a stellar parent herself that her kids have been taken from her http://www.abcnews.go.com/GMA/Entertainment/story?id=1971687&page=1 and http://www.cnn.com/2007/SHOWBIZ/Music/10/01/spears.federline/index.html
She gets to visit them still as long as she submits to twice weekly drug tests and sees a "parenting coach". Presumably the coach will not be her mother Lynne Spears.
Now the book is on "hold" since Jamie Lynn Spears, Britney's sister, is pregnant at 16 years old. Perhaps the book should be put out, as long as its premise is "Here's what I did, don't make the same mistakes." Now that's one we could use. It would be refreshing. I might even buy it.
Maybe not.
It's no wonder our world and culture are screwed up so badly if this is where we look for advice. Apparently Britney Spears' mom, Lynne Spears, thinks she did a pretty good job in the parenting department. Of course I'm not one to blame parents for everything their children do, but at some point you have to say "huh".
Yes this is the same Britney Spears you have read and heard about who is such a stellar parent herself that her kids have been taken from her http://www.abcnews.go.com/GMA/Entertainment/story?id=1971687&page=1 and http://www.cnn.com/2007/SHOWBIZ/Music/10/01/spears.federline/index.html
She gets to visit them still as long as she submits to twice weekly drug tests and sees a "parenting coach". Presumably the coach will not be her mother Lynne Spears.
Now the book is on "hold" since Jamie Lynn Spears, Britney's sister, is pregnant at 16 years old. Perhaps the book should be put out, as long as its premise is "Here's what I did, don't make the same mistakes." Now that's one we could use. It would be refreshing. I might even buy it.
Maybe not.
Tuesday, December 18, 2007
Ethanol from corn is now bad
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/nation/stories/DN-deadzone_18nat.ART.State.Edition1.36b7fdd.html
This falls into the category of "what's bad is good, what's good is bad". According to recent news the use of ethanol as opposed to regular gas is supposed to be better for the environment. It's a renewable resource producing cleaner energy. But wait, our solution has apparently created a deadly side effect in the Gulf of Mexico. The fertilizer (crap) used to grow corn crops eventually makes its way there and depletes the waters of oxygen. Fish and crabs die off (or move elsewhere). Could this be as bad as an oil spill? Maybe it's worse since cleaning up an oxygen depleted ocean could take centuries. And it's especially bad since the problem is now getting worse.
Farmers now get paid $4 per bushel up from $2 in 2002. So the real question is "what is going on with this country?" How can we allow farmers to make more money by growing corn than they do by NOT growing corn? What happened to our subsidy program. Isn't it immoral for us in the most powerful country on earth to force people to earn a living by farming? When will the environmentalists be organizing their marches against the farmers?
This falls into the category of "what's bad is good, what's good is bad". According to recent news the use of ethanol as opposed to regular gas is supposed to be better for the environment. It's a renewable resource producing cleaner energy. But wait, our solution has apparently created a deadly side effect in the Gulf of Mexico. The fertilizer (crap) used to grow corn crops eventually makes its way there and depletes the waters of oxygen. Fish and crabs die off (or move elsewhere). Could this be as bad as an oil spill? Maybe it's worse since cleaning up an oxygen depleted ocean could take centuries. And it's especially bad since the problem is now getting worse.
Farmers now get paid $4 per bushel up from $2 in 2002. So the real question is "what is going on with this country?" How can we allow farmers to make more money by growing corn than they do by NOT growing corn? What happened to our subsidy program. Isn't it immoral for us in the most powerful country on earth to force people to earn a living by farming? When will the environmentalists be organizing their marches against the farmers?
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