Sunday, July 22, 2007
Another Washington Post lecture
The Washington Post today flashes its progressive bona fides with a predictable scolding of two northern Virginia counties for their reaction to their illegal immigrant problems:
“In both cases, the favorite fantasy of elected politicians is that the pressure on undocumented residents will drive them out of the county and into the waiting arms of the feds. Not likely.
“Illegal immigrants are in Northern Virginia for the same reason that they are in so many other parts of the country: Their labor is in demand. That's not going to change, unless the powers that be in Prince William and Loudoun have discovered a way to defeat market forces.” Nativism's Toxic Cloud - washingtonpost.com
NOW the Washington Post cites market forces?? Does anyone recall the Post ever seeing a minimum wage hike it couldn’t support? Don’t minimum wage rates simply defy the market forces – with the mere passage of a law - that have people working at a lower wage rate?
To the extent that illegal immigrants are in demand (idle thought - do you think the Post has any on their editorial staff?), such demand is not just for their labor but for their labor at a certain price. Anyone with even a basic understanding of supply-and-demand knows what more supply at cheaper prices does for any market.
The Senate failure to pass immigration reform is just an outward sign of their political unwillingness to address the part of the problem that most would seem to agree on – enforcement of current standards. I applaud Loudon and Prince William Counties for attempting to take care of their little part of the world – perhaps their efforts will make life uncomfortable for illegals trying to settle there. If that chases them off to their more “progressive” neighbors to the north – even better. Of course, best of all would be if the problem relocated into the comfy neighborhoods occupied by these enlightened and condescending denizens of the Post editorial staff. That would give them a long overdue opportunity to walk the walk.
“In both cases, the favorite fantasy of elected politicians is that the pressure on undocumented residents will drive them out of the county and into the waiting arms of the feds. Not likely.
“Illegal immigrants are in Northern Virginia for the same reason that they are in so many other parts of the country: Their labor is in demand. That's not going to change, unless the powers that be in Prince William and Loudoun have discovered a way to defeat market forces.” Nativism's Toxic Cloud - washingtonpost.com
NOW the Washington Post cites market forces?? Does anyone recall the Post ever seeing a minimum wage hike it couldn’t support? Don’t minimum wage rates simply defy the market forces – with the mere passage of a law - that have people working at a lower wage rate?
To the extent that illegal immigrants are in demand (idle thought - do you think the Post has any on their editorial staff?), such demand is not just for their labor but for their labor at a certain price. Anyone with even a basic understanding of supply-and-demand knows what more supply at cheaper prices does for any market.
The Senate failure to pass immigration reform is just an outward sign of their political unwillingness to address the part of the problem that most would seem to agree on – enforcement of current standards. I applaud Loudon and Prince William Counties for attempting to take care of their little part of the world – perhaps their efforts will make life uncomfortable for illegals trying to settle there. If that chases them off to their more “progressive” neighbors to the north – even better. Of course, best of all would be if the problem relocated into the comfy neighborhoods occupied by these enlightened and condescending denizens of the Post editorial staff. That would give them a long overdue opportunity to walk the walk.
