Kirk Caraway now opining at 3rd grade level (libertarians on immigration)

Kirk Caraway is the Internet Editor of the Nevada Appeal and apparently he's spent too much time alone in his cubicle reading old copies of Reason Magazine since he offers "If you can't stop illegal immigration, then legalize it":

First, you have to stop the black market for labor. You do that by giving work permits to any immigrant who is not a felon.

Then you institute an immigration tax, where businesses would pay, say, 20 percent of any immigrant worker's salary to the government (split between federal, state and local) to help offset the costs of supporting these non-citizens.

Legalizing immigrant labor has many benefits. Immigrants who are not felons will not risk sneaking across the border - or paying smugglers - if they can come across legally, get their new free work permits, and be off on their merry way.

I notice a few minor issues with this scheme. Such as all the millions upon millions who'd come here to work, and then who couldn't find work and who'd end up overwhelming our social safety net. That would sooner rather than later become a major problem and we'd end up having to stop issuing permits. As soon as you stop issuing permits, you'd have to bring back the distinction between legal and illegal immigration. But, that distinction would have had to have been kept in place for all those who snuck over the border or who overstayed visitor visas.

And, of course, the idea that all or most businesses would submit to a 20% tax when they could just hire black market labor as they do now is ludicrous. And, needless to say, all those millions and millions of new legal workers wouldn't just work: they'd impact our society such as by (just as an example) marching in our streets and making demands. And, they'd give political power inside the U.S. to the sending countries as our illegal aliens do now.

If there are any 4th or 5th grade teachers out there, please try a fun experiment by asking your class to see just how many holes they can punch into Caraway's thoughts.

Immigration2007a · Sun, 01/28/2007 - 19:21 · Importance: 1