Friday, September 29, 2017

SHOULD EMPLOYERS OF ILLEGALS GO TO PRISON?

Forget the Border Wall, Mr. President. Look to the Hole in Worksite Enforcement Rules
By Jerry Kammer
PBS NewsHour, September 25, 2017
If President Donald Trump is serious about stopping illegal immigration, he should forget about the border wall and turn his attention to the gaping hole in the enforcement of immigration law at U.S. worksites.

Washington has been unwilling to repair this problem, despite three decades of failure since Congress passed the erroneously named Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 (IRCA). As a result of the law, the U.S. population of undocumented immigrants grew from about 3.5 million in 1990 to its peak of 12.2 million in 2007. The current estimate is 11.3 million people.

Presented as a compassionate but pragmatic compromise, IRCA coupled a one-time amnesty for millions of illegal immigrants with an employer sanctions regime to punish those who knowingly hired persons not authorized to work in the United States.

But the law came into the world with a fatal defect. Because of the clout of strange-bedfellows — a left-right coalition that united immigrant rights activists, Latino politicians, businesses, and libertarians — IRCA was stripped of a mandate for the executive branch to develop a secure means of verifying that workers were authorized. Instead, workers were allowed to present documents from a wide assortment of easily counterfeited identifiers, and employers were required to accept any document that “reasonably appears on its face to be genuine.”


http://www.pbs.org/newshour/making-sense/column-forget-border-wall-mr-president-look-hole-worksite-enforcement-rules/



JEFF SESSION’S LONG BATTLE FOR THE 

AMERICAN WORKER  

He is the only one in the country that has consistently spoken out for the AMERICAN WORKER!



Sessions should keep dragging Trump out of his amnesty closet and build the wall against NARCOMEX!


Los Angeles’ Mexican tax-free underground economy is estimated to be in excess of $2 BILLION PER YEAR.

*
IMPOSE E-VERIFY AND THE MEX OCCUPATION ENDS THE NEXT DAY! PUT EMPLOYERS OF ILLEGALS IN PRISON AND THE MEX OCCUPATION ENDS WITHIN MINUTES!
*
JOE LEGAL v LA RAZA JOSE ILLEGAL

Here’s how it breaks down; will make you want to be an illegal!



Digital Enforcement: Effects of E-Verify on Unauthorized Immigrant Employment and Population
By Pia Orrenius and Madeline Zavodny
Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas Special Report, September 2017
https://www.dallasfed.org/-/media/Documents/research/pubs/everify.pdf?la=en



September 29, 2017


DoJ sues company that refused to hire Americans



More of this, please.
The Department of Justice is cracking down on companies that show a preference for hiring foreign workers over Americans.  DoJ filed suit against a Colorado company that refused to hire three Americans as seasonal technicians, preferring to employ foreign workers under the H-2A visa program. 
The complaint alleges that in 2016, Crop Production discriminated against at least three United States citizens by refusing to employ them as seasonal technicians in El Campo, Texas, because Crop Production preferred to hire temporary foreign workers under the H-2A visa program. 
"In the spirit of President Trump's Executive Order on Buy American and Hire American, the Department of Justice will not tolerate employers who discriminate against U.S. workers because of a desire to hire temporary foreign visa holders," Attorney General Jeff Sessions said in a statement. "… Where there is a job available, U.S. workers should have a chance at it before we bring in workers from abroad."
This is the first complaint filed stemming from the "Protecting U.S. Workers Initiative," which was launched on March 1.  
A Civil Rights Division official told Fox News that since the initiative's launch, the division has opened 29 investigations of "potential discrimination against U.S. workers based on a hiring preference for foreign visa workers."
DOJ officials also told Fox News the department has reached at least one settlement with a company discriminating against U.S. workers in favor of foreign visa workers, and distributed over $100,000. 
There is no more abused immigration rule than worker visa programs.  The H-2A program, and other visa programs that allow foreign workers into the U.S., was never meant to replace American workers or keep Americans from being employed.  These programs were designed to take up the slack in seasonal employment and hire foreigners when there aren't enough Americans qualified to do the job.
The latter reason is dubious and complicated, which is why companies can get away with preferential hiring.  In this case, the transgression was apparently so obvious that DoJ sued.  You can expect a settlement by the company, who won't want to go through an extended legal process.
The case will also act as a deterrent to other companies who are abusing the visa program and keeping Americans from working jobs for which they are qualified.


Border Patrol Officers Seized More Than $3.2 Million in Crystal Meth Last Weekend



Timothy Meads
|
Posted: Sep 29, 2017 6:00 PM
  Share (595)   Tweet
Border Patrol Officers Seized More Than $3.2 Million in Crystal Meth Last Weekend



Last weekend, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers seized 158 pounds of alleged crystal methamphetamine during two separate routine vehicle searches at the Juarez-Lincoln International Bridge.
On Saturday, September 23, CBP officers became suspicious of a 2009 GMC Sierra driven by a 29-year-old American citizen. After issuing a second examination of the car, a CBP canine unit alerted authorities to the presence of drugs inside the vehicle. A thorough search of the car found 32 packages of alleged crystal meth, totaling 122 pounds.
Then on Monday, September 25, CBP officers again suspected a driver of smuggling drugs into the United States. Here, the canine unit discovered 36 pounds of alleged meth. This alleged drug smuggler was a 40-year-old Mexican citizen.
Both drivers were arrested and the case was handed to Immigration Customs Enforcement. The drugs and vehicles were detained by authorities as well.
In total, the confiscated drugs are worth $3,247,816.
“These significant narcotic seizures are examples of the remarkable border security work our CBP officers undertake on a daily basis,” said Port Director Gregory Alvarez, Laredo Port of Entry. “Our officers remain vigilant and continue to be successful in keeping these narcotics off our streets and away from our youth.”
Earlier this month, CBP authorities confiscated nearly $4 million worth of alleged crystal methamphetamine hidden within a commercial trailer.
CBP authorities are in charge of protecting the nation primarily from terror threats crossing the border, but their rigorous inspection process often yields millions worth of illegal drugs as well.
On Wednesday alone, El Paso port authorities seized 450 pounds of marijuana in five different searches.
“The smuggling threat is consistent. Vigilant CBP officers are stepping up every day to stop drug loads,” said one CPB director. “The work we perform plays an important role in keeping our nation safe from all threats.”
Meth, in particular, is becoming increasingly popular on oil rigs in Texas. Texas has experienced a burst in expansion in the shale industry. Many workers take meth in order to stay on the job longer. The drug has the ability to "wire" people's brains so they can supposedly stay awake for 24 hours and work at a faster rate.
One oil rig worker told Reuters, “(On meth) I’d work 24 hours…I was just plagued with fatigue and needed something to improve my work ethic.”
According to the Albuquerque Journal, about 90 percent of meth consumed in the United States is manufactured in Mexico. This meth is often smuggled into the States in by various Mexican drug cartels. These cartels contribute to violence and murder in America due to the lucrative but dangerous black-market for drugs. 
U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions noted earlier this year, 
“Drug cartels bring death and destruction across our Southern border and sell drugs that take lives all across America. The work our ICE officers do every day to keep these criminals out of our country and secure our border is heroic and makes all of us safer."
But, as stated last year in a report by the New York Times, drug cartels have paid hundreds of Homeland Security officials nearly $15 million to “look the other way” to similar drug smuggling attempts over the last decade.
President Donald J. Trump has vowed to stop drugs coming in via the southern border. In August, he declareda national emergency to address the opioid epidemic plaguing various communities around the U.S. In 2016, there were roughly 50,000 deaths caused by drug overdoses.

JEFF SESSIONS GOES AFTER COMPANIES THAT HIRE ILLEGALS..... BUT WON'T THAT PUT 99% OF ALL CALIFORNIA BUSINESSES OUT OF BUSINESS??? - Let us hope so!

JEFF SESSION’S LONG BATTLE FOR THE 

AMERICAN WORKER  

He is the only one in the country that has consistently spoken out for the AMERICAN WORKER!



Sessions should keep dragging Trump out of his amnesty closet and build the wall against NARCOMEX!


Los Angeles’ Mexican tax-free underground economy is estimated to be in excess of $2 BILLION PER YEAR.

*
IMPOSE E-VERIFY AND THE MEX OCCUPATION ENDS THE NEXT DAY! PUT EMPLOYERS OF ILLEGALS IN PRISON AND THE MEX OCCUPATION ENDS WITHIN MINUTES!
*
JOE LEGAL v LA RAZA JOSE ILLEGAL

Here’s how it breaks down; will make you want to be an illegal!



Digital Enforcement: Effects of E-Verify on Unauthorized Immigrant Employment and Population
By Pia Orrenius and Madeline Zavodny
Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas Special Report, September 2017
https://www.dallasfed.org/-/media/Documents/research/pubs/everify.pdf?la=en



September 29, 2017


DoJ sues company that refused to hire Americans



More of this, please.
The Department of Justice is cracking down on companies that show a preference for hiring foreign workers over Americans.  DoJ filed suit against a Colorado company that refused to hire three Americans as seasonal technicians, preferring to employ foreign workers under the H-2A visa program. 
The complaint alleges that in 2016, Crop Production discriminated against at least three United States citizens by refusing to employ them as seasonal technicians in El Campo, Texas, because Crop Production preferred to hire temporary foreign workers under the H-2A visa program. 
"In the spirit of President Trump's Executive Order on Buy American and Hire American, the Department of Justice will not tolerate employers who discriminate against U.S. workers because of a desire to hire temporary foreign visa holders," Attorney General Jeff Sessions said in a statement. "… Where there is a job available, U.S. workers should have a chance at it before we bring in workers from abroad."
This is the first complaint filed stemming from the "Protecting U.S. Workers Initiative," which was launched on March 1.  
A Civil Rights Division official told Fox News that since the initiative's launch, the division has opened 29 investigations of "potential discrimination against U.S. workers based on a hiring preference for foreign visa workers."
DOJ officials also told Fox News the department has reached at least one settlement with a company discriminating against U.S. workers in favor of foreign visa workers, and distributed over $100,000. 
There is no more abused immigration rule than worker visa programs.  The H-2A program, and other visa programs that allow foreign workers into the U.S., was never meant to replace American workers or keep Americans from being employed.  These programs were designed to take up the slack in seasonal employment and hire foreigners when there aren't enough Americans qualified to do the job.
The latter reason is dubious and complicated, which is why companies can get away with preferential hiring.  In this case, the transgression was apparently so obvious that DoJ sued.  You can expect a settlement by the company, who won't want to go through an extended legal process.
The case will also act as a deterrent to other companies who are abusing the visa program and keeping Americans from working jobs for which they are qualified.

RICK MORAN - VICTORY FOR LEGALS! ICE ARRESTS 450 ILLEGALS IN SANCTUARY CITIES - But aren't illegals above the law?

ICE arrests 450 illegals in sanctuary cities

If you want something done right, do it yourself.
The Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency (ICE) carried out a nationwide sweep of sanctuary cities, arresting nearly 450 illegal aliens with additional criminal charges or known gang affiliation without the help of local authorities.
Illegal immigrants with criminal charges or known gang-affiliations were targeted, the release said, noting that recipients of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program were not.
In Philadelphia, 107 illegal immigrants were arrested, while 101 were arrested in Los Angeles and 45 people were arrested in New York.
The release noted that 18 of the 498 people arrested were gang members or have gang affiliations.
A Mexican illegal immigrant in Los Angeles who was arrested is a member of the Colonia Chiques gang, a group dubbed one of the "largest and deadliest gangs" in southern California's Ventura County by the FBI.
That immigrant, who was found with a handgun, allegedly rammed a number of law enforcement vehicles in an attempt to escape from authorities.
Sanctuary cities – or cities that don't cooperate with federal immigration policy – have become a heated topic as the Trump administration has pushed for a stronger crackdown on illegal immigration.
Even though ICE has said arrests of illegal immigrants are up 43 percent since this time last year, deportation numbers are down, according to The Washington Post.
This is taking the war directly to the enemy, as the acting director of ICE explained.
"Sanctuary jurisdictions that do not honor detainers or allow us access to jails and prisons are shielding criminal aliens from immigration enforcement and creating a magnet for illegal immigration," said ICE Acting Director Tom Homan in a statement announcing the arrests. "As a result, ICE is forced to dedicate more resources to conduct at-large arrests in these communities."
According to the ICE press release, more than 300 of the illegals who were detained had criminal convictions:
All told, more than 300 of those arrested had criminal convictions, according to figures released by ICE. Nearly 90 of those people had been convicted of drunk driving, the most common offense.
In a press release, ICE highlighted the most serious criminals caught. It described the arrest of a Colonia Chiques gang member in Los Angeles as part of the raid, saying he "rammed multiple law enforcement vehicles in an effort to evade arrest" and was found with a loaded handgun.
Talia Inlender, a senior staff attorney at Public Counsel, which advocates for immigrants, criticized the focus on sanctuary cities.
"It's clearly a political move that is not actually geared toward public safety," she said.
Getting a couple of hundred drunk drivers off the roads doesn't contribute to public safety?  Guess again.
It is unfathomable that cities would resist getting illegal aliens committing additional crimes off the streets.  How can they possibly defend their position or criticize ICE?  It shows just how warped the thinking of sanctuary city politicians has become, where they defend gang-bangers against the lawful federal authority trying to remove them from the country.







ICE Arrests Nearly 500 Illegal Immigrants in Crackdown on Sanctuary Cities

Leah Barkoukis
|
Posted: Sep 29, 2017 11:45 AM




ICE Arrests Nearly 500 Illegal Immigrants in Crackdown on Sanctuary Cities
As part of its crackdown on sanctuary cities, Immigration and Customs Enforcement announced it arrested nearly 500 illegal immigrants over a four-day period that ended Wednesday.
The illegal immigrants arrested as a result of Operaiton ‘Safe City’ were from 42 countries and had been in violation of federal immigration laws in cities across the U.S. There was a prioritization on those with criminal convictions, gang members and affiliates, immigration fugitives, those with pending criminal charges, and individuals who re-entered the country after deportation. The announcement from ICE made clear that active DACA recipients were not the target of the arrests.
Operation Safe City arrests took place in Baltimore (28), Cook County, Illinois (30), Denver (63), Los Angeles (101), New York (45), Philadelphia (107), Portland, Ore. (33), Santa Clara County, Calif (27); and Washington, D.C. (14) and the state of Massachusetts (50).
Among those arrested during this week’s operation were:
  • In Baltimore, a citizen of El Salvador who entered the U.S. illegally on a fraudulent passport, and was previously charged with attempted murder/conspiracy to commit murder and convicted of first degree assault. She was previously released from local custody before ICE could assume custody.
  • In Boston, a citizen of India who entered the U.S. illegally and who was convicted of indecent assault/battery on a person over 14 and was required to register as a sex offender.
  • In Denver, a citizen of Guatemala with lawful permanent legal status who was previously convicted of felony menacing, 6 DUIs, child abuse, assault and domestic violence harassment.
  • In Los Angeles, a citizen of Mexico and documented Colonia Chiques gang member who entered the United States illegally. At the time of his arrest, the subject rammed multiple law enforcement vehicles in an effort to evade arrest. After he was placed under arrest, a search of his person revealed a loaded handgun in his pocket. The subject was turned over to local authorities and charged with assault with a deadly weapon, probation in possession of firearm, carrying a concealed weapon and carrying a loaded firearm in public.
  • In New York, a citizen of Ecuador with lawful permanent resident status who was previously charged with sexual abuse of a minor and convicted of endangering the welfare of a child, and convicted of sexual abuse of a minor under 14. He was previously released from local custody before ICE could assume custody.
  • In Philadelphia, a citizen of the Dominican Republic, who entered the country illegally and who has previous convictions for possession of firearms. He was previously released from local custody before ICE could assume custody.
  • In San Francisco, a citizen of El Salvador who entered the country illegally and who has previous convictions for sex with a minor under 16. He was previously released from local custody before ICE could assume custody.
  • In San Jose, a citizen of Mexico who entered the U.S. on a visa and overstayed that visa for more than 10 years. He was previously convicted of felony possession and purchase of narcotics, possession of a controlled substance for sale, and felony child cruelty with the possibility of injury or death. He was previously released from local custody before ICE could assume custody.
  • In Seattle, a citizen of Mexico who entered the country illegally and who has previous convictions for DUI, reckless endangerment and negligent driving.
  • In Washington, D.C., a citizen of El Salvador who entered the country illegally and who has previous convictions for possession of an unregistered firearm and unlawful possession of ammunition. (ICE)
“Sanctuary jurisdictions that do not honor detainers or allow us access to jails and prisons are shielding criminal aliens from immigration enforcement and creating a magnet for illegal immigration,” ICE Acting Director Tom Homan said in a statement. “As a result, ICE is forced to dedicate more resources to conduct at-large arrests in these communities.”
He added: “ICE’s goal is to build cooperative, respectful relationships with our law enforcement partners to help prevent dangerous criminal aliens from being released back onto the streets. Non-cooperation policies severely undermine that effort at the expense of public safety.”






Report: Illegal aliens cost American taxpayers $135 billion



Federation for American Immigration Reform report reveals that illegal aliens are costing the US taxpayer $135 billion. That cost includes medical care, education, and law enforcement expenses.
Washington Examiner:
The swelling population of illegal immigrants and their kids is costing American taxpayers $135 billion a year, the highest ever, driven by free medical care, education and a huge law enforcement bill, according to the the most authoritative report on the issue yet.
And despite claims from pro-illegal immigration advocates that the aliens pay significant off-setting taxes back to federal, state and local treasuries, the Federation for American Immigration Reform report tallied just $19 billion, making the final hit to taxpayers about $116 billion.
State and local governments are getting ravaged by the costs, at over $88 billion. The federal government, by comparison, is getting off easy at $45 billion in costs for illegals.
President Trump, Attorney General Jeff Sessions and conservatives in Congress are moving aggressively to deal with illegals, especially those with long criminal records. But their effort is being fought by courts and some 300 so-called "sanctuary communities" that refuse to work with federal law enforcement.
The report, titled "The Fiscal Burden Of Illegal Immigration on U.S. Taxpayers," is the most comprehensive cost tally from FAIR. It said that the costs have jumped about $3 billion in four years and will continue to surge unless illegal immigration is stopped.
The cost of allowing illegals into the country is only going to get larger as states and cities with sanctuary policies dole out more and more benefits to those here illegally.
The $135 billion price tag far exceeds what the US government spends on transportation and nearly equals the entire Department of Education budget. Perhaps if we reminded the American people when they are travelling down poorly maintained roads and wondering why school funding is getting short changed, that a primary cause is the cost of allowing people who have no business being in the country recieving benefits that used to be reserved for US citizens.



BOOK:
…………………..TRAGIC!

THE DEATH GAP: INEQUALITY IS KILLING AMERICA!


CALL IT OBAMA-CLINTONOMICS OR TRUMPERNOMICS FOR THE SUPER RICH!

More than 52 million Americans live in economically distressed communities

By Sandy English
28 September 2017
A new analysis of Census data shows that the so-called economic recovery under the Obama administration was an unmitigated catastrophe for the 20 percent of the American population that live in the poorest areas of the United States and that gains of jobs and income have gone overwhelming to the top 20 percent richest areas.
The 2017 Distressed Communities Report,” published by the Economic Innovation Group (EIG), analyzes the census data for 2011-2015 for people living in each of the nearly 7,500 American zip codes according to several criteria.
The EIG’s Distressed Communities Index (DCI) considers the percentage of the population without a high school diploma, the percentage of housing vacancies, the percentage of adults working, the percentage of the population in poverty, the median income ratio (the percentage of median income that a zip code has for its state), the change in employment from 2011 to 2015, and the change in the number of businesses in the same period.
The report divides the findings for zip codes into five quintiles based on these indicators, rated from worst- to best-performing: distressed, at risk, mid-tier, comfortable, and prosperous.
The results show that distressed communities—52.3 million people or 17 percent of the American population—experienced an average 6 percent drop in the number of adults working and a 6.3 percent average drop in the number of business establishments.
“Far from achieving even anemic growth from 2011 to 2015,” the report notes, “distressed communities instead experienced what amounts to a deep ongoing recession.”
Further, “fully one third of the approximately 44 million Americans receiving SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program or food stamps) and other cash public assistance benefits (such as Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF)) live in distressed communities.” The report notes that most distressed communities have seen zero net job growth since 2000.
Residents in these zip codes are five times more likely to die than those in prosperous zip codes. Deaths from cancer, pregnancy complications, suicide, and violence are even higher. “Mental and substance abuse disorders are 64 percent higher in distressed counties than prosperous ones, with major clusters in Appalachia and Native American communities where rates exceed four or five times the national average,” the report continues.
One other important and alarming fact which the report highlights is that over a third of the distressed zip codes contain so-called “brownfield” sites—areas which are polluted or contaminated in some way. Not only do these have impacts on real estate and business development, they present a whole array of health hazards to the very poorest Americans.
Distressed communities can be found all over the United States but are concentrated in the South: 43 percent of Mississippi’s zip codes are distressed, followed by Alabama, West Virginia, Arkansas and Louisiana. According to the report, [the South] “is home to a staggering 52 percent of all Americans living in distressed zip codes—far above its 37.5 percent share of the country’s total population.”
After this, the Southwest and Great Lakes region have the largest share. In the Northeast, most distressed communities tend to be found in urban areas and in the South, primarily in rural areas.
The biggest cities with the largest numbers of distressed zip codes are Cleveland, Ohio, Newark, New Jersey, Buffalo, New York, Detroit, Michigan and Toledo, Ohio. Mid-sized cities with the highest number of distressed zip codes include Youngstown, Ohio, Trenton, New Jersey, Camden, New Jersey, Gary, Indiana, Hartford, Connecticut and Flint, Michigan.
Urban counties with the highest number of distressed zip codes include Cook County in Illinois, with Chicago at its center, Los Angeles County in California, Harris County in Texas, with Houston at its center, and Wayne County in Michigan, encompassing Detroit. Most of these urban areas were once industrial centers and home to the industrial working class.
Distressed zip codes that have a majority of minorities living in them are more than twice as likely to be distressed as zip codes that are majority white. “In total,” the report notes, “45 percent of the country’s majority-minority zip codes are distressed and only 7 percent of them are prosperous.” At the same time there are numerous distressed communities that are almost completely white. A quarter of the total distressed population is under 18.
The report found that the economic benefits 

of the recovery after the 2008 recessions 

have gone to the top quintile of zip codes, 

where the wealthier layers of the population 

live, including not only the very rich but also 

the upper middle class.
These areas, which the DCI terms prosperous, and make up roughly 85 million Americans or 27 percent of the US population, have for the most part the economic wherewithal to finance higher levels of education, have the lowest housing vacancy, highest percentage of working adults, and have had the lion’s share of job and business expansion.
“The job growth rate in the top quintile was 2.6 times higher than nationally from 2011 to 2015, and business establishments proliferated three times faster than they did at the national level,” the report notes. “Prosperous zip codes stand worlds apart from their distressed counterparts, seemingly insulated from many of the challenges with which other communities must grapple. The poverty rate is more than 20 points lower in the average prosperous community than it is in the average distressed one.”
The report makes much less of an analysis of the other three, middle quintiles, the at risk, mid-tier, and comfortable categories, but it does note some trends that address the overall trends nation-wide. “A remarkably small proportion of places fuel national increases in jobs and businesses in today’s economy. High growth in these local economic powerhouses buoys national numbers while obscuring stagnant or declining economic activity in other parts of the country.”
One of the more telling aspects of the report is that extreme poverty in the US is presided over by both capitalist parties: Democratic and Republic politicians have equal numbers of distressed communities in their constituencies. Democrats, in fact, “represent six of the 10 most distressed congressional districts.”
Another observation from the voting data, and one of the few that looks at conditions beyond the bottom and top quintiles, is worth quoting in full:
“President Trump accumulated a 3.5 million vote lead in counties that fell into the bottom three quintiles of well-being (equivalent to 9.4 percent of all votes cast in these counties). A vast array of factors determined voting patterns in the 2016 election, but it stands that the ‘continuity’ candidate performed better in the places benefiting most from the status quo, while the ‘change’ candidate performed better in the places one would expect to find more dissatisfaction.”
Broader figures and the historical view of wealth distribution in the US—that one percent of the population control 40 percent of the wealth or the decades-long decline in the percentage of the national income that goes to the working class—is not brought out in the report but the data add to a complete picture of social conditions across the United States, the character and geographical distribution of social and economic conditions in a country of more than 320 million.
The portrait provided by the EIG report is not simply one of increasing misery and poverty for the bottom 20 percent, and not only one in which only a minority of Americans are achieving anything like “prosperity,” but of growing and explosive dissent among tens of millions.
It exposes as a bold-faced lie the claim 

that President Obama made at the end 

of his second term, that “things have 

never been better” in America.

 



September 20, 2017

The Awful Future that Looms for a Majority of Today’s Americans

When it comes to the future, an overwhelming majority of Americans have adopted a mindset that is a variation of Isiah 22:12: “Let us eat, drink and be merry for tomorrow does not matter.”   Recently, federal debt surpassed the $20 Trillion mark (additional state and local debt amount to another $2.9 Trillion).  That milestone was greeted by the Ruling Class and a vast preponderance of the citizenry with a yawn and a shrug of the shoulder.   As the ongoing determination to promote new entitlement spending and the refusal to rein in, but instead to expand, existing programs continues unabated.   
Any attempt to seriously discuss the financial fate of the nation is ignored and dismissed with the proviso that its someone else’s problem for another day down the road.  In reality, this dilemma is not someone else’s problem.  The average life expectancy in the United States today is 79.  That means that over 225 million citizens and non-citizens in the country today will still be alive in 30 years.
And what will this nation be facing 30 years hence?  Recently, the Government Accountability Office as well as a number of experts such as Price Waterhouse have projected what that scenario will be if the country remains on its present course (with no new entitlements such as single payer health care and government mandated and paid maternity leave.)  Note: All dollar amounts are in 2017 Dollars.
A.  http://admin.americanthinker.com/images/bucket/2017-09/200797_5_.jpgFederal, State and local government spending currently amounts to $7 Trillion per year or 37% of the nation’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP).  By 2048 these entities combined will be spending in excess of $17 Trillion per year, or over 50% of GDP.   As interest costs on the overall debt will increase from $0.4 Trillion to $2.4 Trillion, healthcare spending (includes Obamacare subsidies) will vault from $1.6 Trillion to $3.7 Trillion, Social Security and pension payments will grow from $1.4 Trillion to $3.5 Trillion, education spending from $1 Trillion to $2.4 Trillion, and welfare programs from $0.5 Trillion to $1.3 Trillion. 
B.  The dramatic increase in spending and borrowing combined with the inevitable necessity of increased tax rates will crowd out private and public investment thereby slowing the growth of productivity, worker’s wages and the GDP.  The Congressional Budget Office estimates that by 2040 the average annual real income per person will fall by $6,000.00. Thus, by 2048 the GDP of the United States will lag significantly behind China and India, as it falls to third place among the nations of the world.  The U.S. GDP will increase only 76% by 2048 while government spending increases by 142%.
C.  Concurrent with and because of the spending, stagnant growth and reduced personal income, the overall government debt will increase significantly as tax proceeds (despite eventual higher rates) will not generate anything close to the revenue necessary to offset spending, as tax revenues to the Federal, State and local governments will not exceed 30% of the GDP, whereas spending will absorb 51% of the GDP.  By 2048 the overall government debt (Federal, State and local may well exceed $68 Trillion as compared to $23 Trillion today.  Thus, the interest costs will increase fivefold, as not only does the debt swell, but the United States will have to appeal to lenders willing to underwrite a nearly bankrupt nation.  Today this country, with 5% of the world’s population, accounts for over 32% of Global debt, but by 2048 it will account for 49% of Global debt.  In essence, America will be at the mercy of the rest of the world and a second-tier economy.
D.  Over the next 30 years there will be inevitable recessions, global financial crises and international military encounters.   The United States will, with this level of debt and spending, find itself in an increasingly precarious position, as it may not be able to successfully weather any serious economic downturn or global conflict.
E.   The above statistics do not include the current Democratic Party’s love affair with single-payer healthcare or “Medicare for all.”  If that program were included, the annual government expenditures in 2048 (over and above current healthcare spending and interest costs) would balloon from $17 Trillion to $20 Trillion (60% of annual GDP) (and the debt would grow from $68 Trillion to over $86 Trillion.
The tsunami that will inundate this nation is inevitable as there is no willingness, regardless of party, to confront these issues. 
The Democrats and their mind-numbed followers, now fully wedded to socialism, have convinced each other, and unfortunately much of the citizenry, that there is a bottomless pit of money to be siphoned from the so-called rich and the golden goose that is Capitalism, the engine of the nation’s GDP, will continue in perpetuity to lay the gold eggs regardless of any abuse or restraint.  The one-time confiscation of the wealth of all the billionaires in the U.S. would amount to $2.2 Trillion (less than 31% of all government spending in 2017).  Further, Capitalism cannot thrive without capital and profit, both of which the Democrats would severely restrict and control, thus, exacerbating the scenario outlined above.
The Republicans, while cognizant of the dire future ahead, prefer to hide their heads in the sand and defer matters to another day and another Congress and another President, as they are fearful of telling the people the truth and risk losing political power.  Thus, their pre-determined inability and lack of fortitude in addressing Obamacare or any long-term spending programs.
Donald Trump continues to tout new programs (such as paid maternity leave), adamantly refuses to address the out of control entitlement spending, and is content with modified single-payer health care.  He claims that economic growth will take care of all the problems; however, unless he and his successors find a way to grow the economy at an annual 5-7% per year for the next 20 to 30 years, that platitude is meaningless (the highest ten-year period of GDP growth -- 6.7% -- in the past 100 years took place in 1939-1948, which included massive war production for World War II).  President Trump, has no plan or desire to mitigate the disaster looming on the horizon preferring to kick the can down the road while mouthing the usual banalities about reining in spending.
Thus, the populace, instead of being aware of the disaster ahead, is taking its lead from the Ruling Class.  Alternatively, the American people are blithely swimming in a sea of banalities and faux causes.  Whether it is promoting transgenderism, drowning in cults of personality, defacing and tearing down statues, feverously looking for supposed racism under every rock, asserting hypothetical compassion in the promotion of open borders and amnesty for untold millions, breathlessly endorsing the false God of climate change, cheering for their side of the political spectrum to humiliate the other, or demanding that government make their lives better.
I will not be among the 225 million Americans living today that will be alive in 2048.   I have been fortunate to live throughout the golden age of America’s power and influence, but regrettably to also see the impending end of this glorious and short-lived era.   The true tragedy is that those 225 million refuse to understand that for them there is no tomorrow to disregard.
When it comes to the future, an overwhelming majority of Americans have adopted a mindset that is a variation of Isiah 22:12: “Let us eat, drink and be merry for tomorrow does not matter.”   Recently, federal debt surpassed the $20 Trillion mark (additional state and local debt amount to another $2.9 Trillion).  That milestone was greeted by the Ruling Class and a vast preponderance of the citizenry with a yawn and a shrug of the shoulder.   As the ongoing determination to promote new entitlement spending and the refusal to rein in, but instead to expand, existing programs continues unabated.   
Any attempt to seriously discuss the financial fate of the nation is ignored and dismissed with the proviso that its someone else’s problem for another day down the road.  In reality, this dilemma is not someone else’s problem.  The average life expectancy in the United States today is 79.  That means that over 225 million citizens and non-citizens in the country today will still be alive in 30 years.
And what will this nation be facing 30 years hence?  Recently, the Government Accountability Office as well as a number of experts such as Price Waterhouse have projected what that scenario will be if the country remains on its present course (with no new entitlements such as single payer health care and government mandated and paid maternity leave.)  Note: All dollar amounts are in 2017 Dollars.
A.  http://admin.americanthinker.com/images/bucket/2017-09/200797_5_.jpgFederal, State and local government spending currently amounts to $7 Trillion per year or 37% of the nation’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP).  By 2048 these entities combined will be spending in excess of $17 Trillion per year, or over 50% of GDP.   As interest costs on the overall debt will increase from $0.4 Trillion to $2.4 Trillion, healthcare spending (includes Obamacare subsidies) will vault from $1.6 Trillion to $3.7 Trillion, Social Security and pension payments will grow from $1.4 Trillion to $3.5 Trillion, education spending from $1 Trillion to $2.4 Trillion, and welfare programs from $0.5 Trillion to $1.3 Trillion. 
B.  The dramatic increase in spending and borrowing combined with the inevitable necessity of increased tax rates will crowd out private and public investment thereby slowing the growth of productivity, worker’s wages and the GDP.  The Congressional Budget Office estimates that by 2040 the average annual real income per person will fall by $6,000.00. Thus, by 2048 the GDP of the United States will lag significantly behind China and India, as it falls to third place among the nations of the world.  The U.S. GDP will increase only 76% by 2048 while government spending increases by 142%.
C.  Concurrent with and because of the spending, stagnant growth and reduced personal income, the overall government debt will increase significantly as tax proceeds (despite eventual higher rates) will not generate anything close to the revenue necessary to offset spending, as tax revenues to the Federal, State and local governments will not exceed 30% of the GDP, whereas spending will absorb 51% of the GDP.  By 2048 the overall government debt (Federal, State and local may well exceed $68 Trillion as compared to $23 Trillion today.  Thus, the interest costs will increase fivefold, as not only does the debt swell, but the United States will have to appeal to lenders willing to underwrite a nearly bankrupt nation.  Today this country, with 5% of the world’s population, accounts for over 32% of Global debt, but by 2048 it will account for 49% of Global debt.  In essence, America will be at the mercy of the rest of the world and a second-tier economy.
D.  Over the next 30 years there will be inevitable recessions, global financial crises and international military encounters.   The United States will, with this level of debt and spending, find itself in an increasingly precarious position, as it may not be able to successfully weather any serious economic downturn or global conflict.
E.   The above statistics do not include the current Democratic Party’s love affair with single-payer healthcare or “Medicare for all.”  If that program were included, the annual government expenditures in 2048 (over and above current healthcare spending and interest costs) would balloon from $17 Trillion to $20 Trillion (60% of annual GDP) (and the debt would grow from $68 Trillion to over $86 Trillion.
The tsunami that will inundate this nation is inevitable as there is no willingness, regardless of party, to confront these issues. 
The Democrats and their mind-numbed followers, now fully wedded to socialism, have convinced each other, and unfortunately much of the citizenry, that there is a bottomless pit of money to be siphoned from the so-called rich and the golden goose that is Capitalism, the engine of the nation’s GDP, will continue in perpetuity to lay the gold eggs regardless of any abuse or restraint.  The one-time confiscation of the wealth of all the billionaires in the U.S. would amount to $2.2 Trillion (less than 31% of all government spending in 2017).  Further, Capitalism cannot thrive without capital and profit, both of which the Democrats would severely restrict and control, thus, exacerbating the scenario outlined above.
The Republicans, while cognizant of the dire future ahead, prefer to hide their heads in the sand and defer matters to another day and another Congress and another President, as they are fearful of telling the people the truth and risk losing political power.  Thus, their pre-determined inability and lack of fortitude in addressing Obamacare or any long-term spending programs.
Donald Trump continues to tout new programs (such as paid maternity leave), adamantly refuses to address the out of control entitlement spending, and is content with modified single-payer health care.  He claims that economic growth will take care of all the problems; however, unless he and his successors find a way to grow the economy at an annual 5-7% per year for the next 20 to 30 years, that platitude is meaningless (the highest ten-year period of GDP growth -- 6.7% -- in the past 100 years took place in 1939-1948, which included massive war production for World War II).  President Trump, has no plan or desire to mitigate the disaster looming on the horizon preferring to kick the can down the road while mouthing the usual banalities about reining in spending.
Thus, the populace, instead of being aware of the disaster ahead, is taking its lead from the Ruling Class.  Alternatively, the American people are blithely swimming in a sea of banalities and faux causes.  Whether it is promoting transgenderism, drowning in cults of personality, defacing and tearing down statues, feverously looking for supposed racism under every rock, asserting hypothetical compassion in the promotion of open borders and amnesty for untold millions, breathlessly endorsing the false God of climate change, cheering for their side of the political spectrum to humiliate the other, or demanding that government make their lives better.
I will not be among the 225 million Americans living today that will be alive in 2048.   I have been fortunate to live throughout the golden age of America’s power and influence, but regrettably to also see the impending end of this glorious and short-lived era.   The true tragedy is that those 225 million refuse to understand that for them there is no tomorrow to disregard.



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Rural New York schools grapple with declining population, increasing poverty

By Jason Melanovski
20 September 2017
A recent report has highlighted the dire development of increasing poverty and declining enrollment many rural school districts are facing across New York state, forcing these districts to choose between making onerous cuts, combining with other districts, or closing schools within the district, thus forcing students to travel longer distances.
According to a report titled “Demographic Challenges Facing Rural Schools: Declining Enrollment and Growing Poverty” by the New York State Association of School Business Officials, the dual phenomena of increased poverty and lower enrollment are wreaking havoc on local school budgets, which are primarily funded by local property taxes.
Calling enrollment declines “omnipresent,” the report states that “96.7 percent of rural school districts had declining enrollment and 84.9 percent had drops of at least ten percent.”
While the rate and overall population in poverty is still higher in New York’s suburban and urban school districts, the poverty rate in rural areas is increasing at a noticeably faster pace.
From 2003 to 2015, the poverty rate for school-age children increased from 14 percent to 18 percent for children in rural school districts and from 19 percent to 21 percent for children in non-rural school districts. For both rural and non-rural school districts the greatest jump in poverty rates occurred between 2009 and 2011 following the 2008 financial crisis.
Another measure of the economic plight of school children is the percentage of children receiving free or reduced priced lunches. In rural school districts 48.3 percent of students receive free or reduced priced lunches, and that number rises to 53.2 percent of students in non-rural districts. A student is eligible for free or reduced priced lunch when his or her family makes less than 185 percent of the poverty level.
Although the report was released to shed light on the challenges facing rural school districts, it made clear that poverty among the state’s school children has no geographic limits. According the report, “The combination of poverty and Free- and Reduced-Price Lunch (FRPL) data show that a little more than one in every five schoolchildren in New York lives in poverty, while a little more than half of all school children face significant economic constraints at home.”
The report compiled data from the 340 rural school districts, which make up about half of those in New York State, but serve only a little more than 11 percent of the students.
The report noted that the population losses and increases in poverty cannot be separated from the financial crisis of 2008, stating “for a few years prior to the onset of the Great Recession, growth rates in urban and rural counties were closely related. Beginning in 2008, rural populations entered a period of sustained decline, while urban populations continued to grow, though their pace of growth slowed after 2011.”
According to United States Census data, the emptying of much of rural America can be directly connected to the shrinking number of jobs in non-metro areas, as the rural job market is now 4.26 percent smaller than it was in 2008.
Speaking to the Daily Star of Oneonta, NY, the rural Delaware Academy School District’s Superintendent Jason Thomson stated that the current 47 percent of students who qualify for free or reduced price meals is the “highest we’ve ever seen.”
In addition, many of the rural counties mentioned in the report have also been hit hard by the opioid epidemic, claiming the lives of young workers and reducing an already declining population. Tioga County, for instance, lost up to 10 percent of its population between 2002 and 2016 and averaged 16.7 opioid deaths from 2013 to 2015 according to New York state.
With rapidly declining enrollment, rural schools are forced to count on smaller and smaller budgets with each succeeding school year, resulting in cuts to classes, teachers, programs and extracurricular activities and an overall sense of living in a world with scant opportunities for future life.
As the report states, rural “schools may have to cut back on valuable academic and enrichment opportunities, from Advanced Placement courses to music and sports programs, when they no longer have the student numbers needed for viability. Any potential reductions in college readiness preparation are incredibly serious. Decreasing enrollment can also increase students’ sense of isolation as there are literally fewer peers for them to interact with.”
To add to an already dire state of morale in rural schools, despite the fact that poor rural schools often have significantly higher graduation rates than poor urban schools, diplomas from rural schools are often seen as “worthless” according to David Little, executive director of the New York State Rural Schools Association. Poor rural schools in New York are simply unable to afford the cost of offering advanced placement (AP) and college-level coursework that is seen as necessary by college admissions officers.
For its part, the New York state government and the Andrew Cuomo administration have failed to respond to the demographic and social declines in rural school districts and increase state aid. The state continues to use a formula created in 2008, prior to the financial crisis, which categorizes the majority of rural schools as “average need.” If current demographic and poverty data were used, the majority of rural schools would now be considered “high-need,” requiring increased state aid.
Increasing rural poverty is not unique to New York. It has been rising across the country after falling sharply over many decades to a record low rate in 2000 of 13.4 percent. 16.7 percent of rural Americans lived in poverty in 2015, compared to 13 percent in poverty within metropolitan areas, according to the United States Census Bureau.


 

 

US Census report shows increasing social inequality

By Eric London
15 September 2017
US Census data from 2016 released on Tuesday shows increasing social inequality amid a small gain in household income that is offset by a massive growth of personal debt and rising living costs.
The data tracks the ongoing redistribution of wealth from the working class to the wealthy as a result of the pro-Wall Street policies of both the Republican and Democratic parties. It substantiates the oligarchic character of the United States.

Social inequality

The Gini index, used to measure social inequality, with higher figures indicating a wider economic divide, rose slightly from 2015 (.479) to 2016 (.481). The 2016 figure, according to rankings in the CIA World Factbook, makes the US slightly more equal than Madagascar and less equal than Mexico.
In terms of aggregate income share, the shift from 2015 to 2016 is as follows:
The growth in inequality is even starker when traced from 2007, the year before the Wall Street crisis.
The data reflects income and not wealth, thereby providing an incomplete and conservative indication of the scale of inequality. Even within the highest quintile, the income share increased only for the top 10 percent, and, in particular, the top 5 percent.

Household income

The corporate media has portrayed the report as a sign of positive income growth, since it shows a slight rise in median income of 3.2 percent from 2015 to 2016.
But according to the Census data, the earnings of “full-time, year-round workers” remained stagnant. For men in this category, a total of 63.9 million people, earnings declined by 0.4 percent, from $51,859 in 2015 to $51,640 in 2016. For women in this category, 47.2 million people, there was a minor increase, 0.7 percent, from $41,257 in 2015 to $41,554 in 2016. In other words, families with 2 adults working full-time saw a paltry $78 increase in their yearly earnings from 2015 to 2016.
Claims of rising incomes mask the growth of inequality. The Census data shows that the household income of the 90th percentile (the 100th being the highest) was 12.53 times higher than the household income of the 10th percentile in 2016, up from 12.23 times higher in 2015 and 11.18 times higher in 2007. The degree to which income is concentrated in the richest 10 percent of the population is exemplified by the fact that the 5th percentile boasted a household income 3.82 times higher than the 50th percentile in 2016, up from 3.79 times in 2015 and 3.52 in 2007.
As Bloomberg News reported Wednesday, “Since 2007, average inflation-adjusted income has climbed more than 10 percent for households in the highest fifth of the earnings distribution, and it’s fallen 3.2 percent for the bottom quintile. Incomes of the top 5 percent jumped 12.8 percent over the period.”
For the working class, any income increase was transferred to the corporate elite in the form of rising debt payments and increasing living expenses, especially for health care.
According to figures from eHealth, a large private health exchange, average deductibles for families rose 5 percent from 2016 to 2017 (a year after the period covered by the Census report) and average individual premiums rose 22 percent over the same period.
The rising cost of student debt alone largely erases income increases seen by some young people. According to the Census, those aged 15 to 24 saw an income increase of 13.9 percent, from $36,564 in 2015 to $41,655 in 2016, while incomes for young people aged 25 to 34 rose 4.9 percent, from $58,091 to $60,932, nearly double the percentage increase for older age groups.
However, in 2016, student debt rose to an average of $30,000 per young person, up 4 percent from 2015, eliminating over 80 percent of the income rise for 25-34 year olds. For 15 to 24 year olds, the $4,000 increase in median income would hardly cover one sixth of the average debt payment, let alone make up for the fact that young people face a future in which they are unlikely to receive a pension, Social Security or Medicare.
Rising debt levels are not a phenomenon limited to young people. A Bloomberg report from August 10 notes that credit card defaults increased from the beginning of 2015—when roughly 2.5 percent of debt holders defaulted—to the end of 2016, when the total hit 3 percent. This figure subsequently climbed in 2017 to reach 3.49 percent.
Bloomberg notes: “After deleveraging in the aftermath of the last US recession, Americans have once again taken on record debt loads that risk holding back the world’s largest economy... Household debt outstanding--everything from mortgages to credit cards to car loans--reached $12.7 trillion in the first quarter [2017], surpassing the previous peak in 2008 before the effect of the housing market collapse took its toll, Federal Reserve Bank of New York data show.”
“For most Americans,” the report continues, “whose median household income, adjusted for inflation, is lower than it was at its peak in 1999, borrowing has been the answer to maintaining their standard of living. The increase in debt helps explain why the economy’s main source of fuel is providing less of a boost than in the past. Personal spending growth has averaged 2.4 percent since the recession ended in 2009, less than the 3 percent of the previous expansion and 4.3 percent from 1982-90.”
The Bloomberg report explains that income from wages minus household debt trended downward in 2015, meaning that debt is rising faster than wages, causing a loss of roughly $500 billion across the US economy in the space of just one year.

Poverty rate

Though the Census report shows that the poverty rate declined from 13.5 percent of households in 2015 to 12.7 percent in 2016, this figure is substantially higher than the 11.3 percent level that prevailed in 2000. In reality, individuals and families must make 2.5 to 3 times the official poverty rate of $12,000 for an individual, $15,500 for a married couple and $25,000 for a family of four just to make ends meet.
What the data really shows is that the poorest half of the country--over 150 million people--is in a desperate financial position, with the next poorest 40 percent facing constant financial strain and a declining share of the national income. In regard to poverty, the Census Bureau maintains figures that go up only to 200 percent of the official poverty level. The latest report shows that 95 million people—29.8 percent of the population—fall into this category. The share of those under the age of 18 in this category is much higher--39.1 percent.
This is the context for the drive by the Trump administration and both big business parties to slash corporate taxes, impose a health care “reform” that will increase costs for millions of people, and accelerate the transfer of wealth from the working class to the financial aristocracy.

Census Bureau: Mens’ Wages Remain Below 1973 Levels


0
wages
AP Photo/David Goldman

Americans’ median pay packets have been flat since 1973, even though the vastly expanded federal government has justified its own salaries and its many massive spending and policy programs as a sure-fire way to boost education, productivity, and wages.

The colossal 44-year failure of the federal government to help grow American men’s wages — or even to reduce poverty rates — is laid bare in the latest report from the Census Bureau, “Income and Poverty in the United States: 2016.”
The dense report includes myriad detailed tables of data around one shocking chart, which reveals no growth in men’s wages for the past 44 years, or since President Richard Nixon was beginning his second term in office.
http://media.breitbart.com/media/2017/09/Screen-Shot-2017-09-13-at-12.02.41-AM.png
Median earning of full-time, year-round workers, 15 years and older, 1960 to 2016.
The sudden flatline followed a 31 percent rise in all men’s median wages from 1960 to 1972.

http://media.breitbart.com/media/2016/07/Nixon-1968-campaign-AP.jpg
During the 44-year period since 1973, income among women grew by roughly 30 percent as more skilled and trained women entered the market, gained experience, and were promoted to better-paying jobs. Those opportunities and contributions are good news — but they do not change the reality that men’s income has been flat for 44 years.
In fact, the report notes that “the real median earnings of full-time, year-round working men were 1.1 percent lower in 2016 than in 2007.”
There are many explanations for the flat income, such as the massive growth in the labor supply when 30 million additional American women and roughly 30 million immigrants joined in the marketplace competition for good jobs. For example, a pro-immigration panel at the prestigious National Academies of Science estimated in 2016 that the huge government-imposed inflow of immigrants since 1965 has imposed a hidden 5 percent “immigration tax” on Americans’ pay packets.
Technology has made many individuals workers more productive but also sidelined many others, such as newspaper printers and steelworkers. Peaceful international trade has allowed men to sell more products overseas but also allowed employers to hire foreign workers instead of Americans. Whatever the combinations of reasons, the mid-point for men’s income has been flat for 43 years, according to the Census Bureau.
The flat-earnings chart needs some explanation:
It shows only inflation-adjusted, pre-tax pay packets, so it excludes the impact of inflation, taxes and government benefits, such as food-stamps and tax-breaks for children, or of Obamacare’s subsidies and spending obligations.
It shows median income, which is the midpoint of the income scale. Half the people earn above the line, half the people earn below the line. Average income would be higher, but less revealing, because a higher share of income is going to the highest earners, compared to back in the 1970s.
The chart shows the income of year-round, full-time workers, excluding part-workers or seasonal workers, or those who work on-and-off under contracts. The chart does not make distinctions by race.
The chart shows individuals’ income, not the income of households, which has fluctuated as the average number of children or adults has declined.
The chart only shows income, but not the quality of goods in the stores, such as Starbucks coffee, cheap products imported from China, high-tech music players, improved autos or better health-care. That rise in product quality from competing companies — not claimed policy improvements from federal agencies — has provided the vast majority of material gains for Americans amid flat incomes.
The details are provided on Table A-4, on page 49 of this PDF.
The median earnings for all men employed year-round was $51,640 in 2016, which is still far below the $54,030 earned by full-time men in 1973. It is also below the $51,938 earned in the 2000 Internet boom, or the $52,222 earned in the 2007 property bubble when large-scale legal and illegal immigration provided employers with millions of alternative imported workers.
The post-1973 reality of flat income is a huge contrast to the rapid growth from 1960 up to the 1973 oil shock and the reopened inflow of immigrant labor after 1965.  During the twelves years 1960 to 1972, the median average wages for all males — including minorities, seasonal workers, and contract workers — rose from by 31 percent, from $31,926 to $41,013.
When the income of all men is gauged, the Bureau concluded that all men’s median income in 1973 was $41,935. It dropped after 1973 and rose back up to $43,360 in 1999 as companies competed for the few unemployed workers during the first Internet boom. Income crashed in 2008 to a depression-low of $39,636 in 2012 once the federal government’s real-estate bubble burst. Since then, income has slowly climbed back to $42,220 in 2016 amid the continuous public protest against the federal government’s cheap-labor economic strategy, which is exemplified by the bipartisan 2013 “Gang of Eight” amnesty legislation.
Other data in the report shows that the nation’s poverty rates have barely budged since the 1960s, although many people in the United States are wealthier than many people n Europe. For example, the percentage of American said to be in poverty was 11.1 percent in 1973 and 12.7  percent in 2016.
That national poverty rate climbed, in part, because of the population of Latinos spiked from 10.8 million in 1973 to 57.6 million in 2016. Poverty among Latinos was 19 percent in 2016, little changed from 1973.
The report also noted that:
The official poverty rate decreased by 0.8 percentage points between 2015 and 2016. At 12.7 percent, the 2016 poverty rate is not statistically different from 2007 (12.5 percent), the year before the most recent recession.
In real terms, median earnings of full-time, year-round working women in 2016 were 2.3 percent higher than their 2007 median, the year before the most recent recession. The real median earnings of full-time, year-round working men were 1.1 percent lower in 2016 than in 2007.
In 2017, the number and percentage of shared households remained higher than in 2007, the year before the most recent recession. In 2007, 17.0 percent of all households were shared households, totaling 19.7 million households. In 2017, 19.4 percent of all households were shared households, totaling 24.6 million households.
Read it all here.
OBAMA-CLINTONOMICS to serve the filthy rich

The same period has seen a massive growth of social inequality, with income and wealth concentrated at the very top of American society to an extent not seen since the 1920s.

“This study follows reports released over the past several months documenting rising mortality rates among US workers due to drug addiction and suicide, high rates of infant mortality, an overall leveling off of life expectancy, and a growing gap between the life expectancy of the bottom rung of income earners compared to those at the top.”


A 'Read-My-Lips' Moment for Trump?

Patrick J. Buchanan
 By Patrick J. Buchanan | September 15, 2017 | 4:38 AM EDT
https://www.cnsnews.com/s3/files/styles/ap_image/s3/potus-irma_2.jpg?itok=xunRbt26
President Donald J. Trump participates a Hurricane Irma briefing call with FEMA Administrator William "Brock" Long, Monday, Sept. 11, 2017, joined by White House Chief of Staff Gen. John Kelly, left; Homeland Security and Counter Terrorism Adviser Thomas Bossert, right, and Deputy Homeland Security Adviser John J. Daly, seated, in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, D.C. ( Official White House Photo by Shealah Craighead)
"Having cut a deal with Democrats for help with the debt ceiling, will Trump seek a deal with Democrats on amnesty for the 'Dreamers' in return for funding for border security?"
The answer to that question, raised in my column a week ago, is in. Last night, President Donald Trump cut a deal with "Chuck and Nancy" for amnesty for 800,000 recipients of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program who came here illegally as youngsters, in return for Democratic votes for more money for border security.
According to preening Minority Leader Pelosi, the agreement contains not a dime for Trump's Wall, and the "Dreamers" are to be put on a long glide "path to U.S. citizenship."

Trump denies this is amnesty, and says the Wall comes later.

Fallout? Among the most enthusiastic of 

Trump backers, disbelief, disillusionment 

and wonderment at where we go from here.

Trump's debt-ceiling deal cut the legs out from under the GOP budget hawks. But amnesty would pull the rug out from under all the folks at those rallies who cheered Trump's promise to preserve the country they grew up in from this endless Third World invasion.
For make no mistake. If amnesty is granted for the 800,000, that will be but the first wave. "There are reasons no country has a rule that if you sneak in as a minor you're a citizen," writes Mickey Kaus, author of "The End of Equality," in The Washington Post.
"We'd be inviting the world. ... (An amnesty) would have a knock-on effect. Under 'chain migration' rules established in 1965 ... new citizens can bring in their siblings and adult children, who can bring in their siblings and in-laws until whole villages have moved to the United States.
"(T)oday's 690,000 dreamers would quickly become millions of newcomers who may well be low-skilled and who would almost certainly include the parents who brought them — the ones who in theory are at fault."
Trump is risking a breach in the dam. If the populists who provided him with decisive margins in Ohio, Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania feel betrayed, it's hard to blame them.
Why did Trump do it? Clearly, he relished the cheers he got for the debt ceiling deal and wanted another such victory. And with the rampant accusations of a lack of "compassion" for his cancellation of the temporary Obama administration amnesty, he decided he had had enough heat.
It is not easy to stand up for long to the gale force winds of hostile commentary that blow constantly through this city.
Trump's capitulation, if that is what turns out to be, calls to mind George H. W. Bush's decision in 1990 to raise the Reagan tax rates in a deal engineered for him by a White House-Hill coalition, that made a mockery of his "Read my lips! No new taxes!" pledge of 1988.
For agreeing to feed the beast of Big Government, rather than cut its rations as Reagan sought to do, Bush was called a statesman.
By the fall of '92, the cheering had stopped.
Can Trump not know that those congratulating him for his newfound flexibility will be rejoicing, should Bob Mueller indict his family and his friends, and recommend his impeachment down the road?
What makes pre-emptive amnesty particularly disheartening is that the Trump policy of securing the border and returning illegal immigrants to their home countries appears, from a Census Bureau report this week, to be precisely the prescription America needs.
In 2016, paychecks for U.S. households reached an average of $59,039, up 3.2 percent from 2015, a year when they had surged.
U.S. median household income is now at its highest ever.
Yet there are inequalities. Where the median family income of Asian-Americans is above $81,400, and more than $65,000 for white Americans, the median family income of Hispanic families is $47,675, and that of African-American households far less, $39,490.
Consider. Though black Americans are predominantly native-born, while high percentages of Hispanics and Asians are immigrants, from the Census numbers, Hispanics earn more and Asians enjoy twice the median family income of blacks, which is below where it was in 2000.
Still, black America remains steadfastly loyal to a party that supports the endless importation of workers who compete directly for jobs with them and their families. Writes Kaus, "The median hourly wage (of DACA recipients) is only $15.34, meaning that many are competing with hard-pressed, lower-skilled Americans."
Looking closer at the Census Bureau figures, Trumpian economic nationalism would appear to have its greatest appeal to the American working class, a huge slice of which is native-born, black and Hispanic.
The elements of that policy?
Secure the border. Halt the invasion of low-wage workers, here legally and illegally, from the Third World. Tighten the labor market to force employers to raise wages in our full-employment economy. Provide tax incentives to companies who site factories in the USA. Impose border taxes on the products of companies who move plants abroad.
Put America and American workers first.
Will any amnesty of undocumented workers do that?

Patrick J. Buchanan is the author of a new book, "Nixon's White House Wars: The Battles That Made and Broke a President and Divided America Forever."



Two Previously Deported MS-13 Gang Members, Child Rapist Arrested at Border




Border Patrol agents arrested two previously-deported MS-13 gang members and a convicted child rapist after they illegally snuck across the Arizona border. The arrests occurred in three separate smuggling attempts.

Federal authorities arrested 31-year old Eugenio Franco shortly after he had illegally crossed into the country just west of Nogales, Arizona, information provided to Breitbart Texas by the U.S. Border Patrol revealed. While processing the foreign national, authorities determined Franco to be an illegal alien from Mexico with a long criminal history in the U.S. He is also a known member of the MS-13 criminal gang.
While carrying out regular patrols in the desert area near Arivaca, Arizona, federal authorities also arrested 41-year-old Julio Santos, an illegal alien from El Salvador. During processing, authorities discovered the man had a long criminal history in the U.S. He is also a known MS-13 gang member.
Shortly after the arrest of the two MS-13 gang members, authorities arrested another Mexican national, 42-year-old Fernando Lopez De La Cruz, near Tucson. While processing De La Cruz, authorities learned the man had been deported and is a convicted sex offender. A Washington state court convicted De La Cruz and sentenced him to 71 months in prison on the charges of rape and attempted rape of a child.
The discovery of the two MS-13 gang members and the convicted sexual predator was made possible after border patrol agents processed the illegal aliens at the station by taking their photograph and fingerprinting them in order to find out if they are known to law enforcement.
Law enforcement officials nationwide are targeting MS-13 members, many of which are illegal aliens with violent criminal records. In October 2012, the U.S. Department of Treasury labeled the group a “transnational criminal organization,” the first such designation for a street gang. During a 10-year period between 2005 and 2014, officials arrested 4,000 members of MS-13 — 92 percent of those were in the United States illegally — according to information provided by the Center for Immigration Studies.
Recently, the state of New York announced the deployment of a new Gang Violence Prevention Unit specifically tasked with combating the MS-13 crisis in Suffolk County, Breitbart Texas reported. The unit consists of ten state police troopers, who are being deployed to the top ten high-risk Suffolk County schools that currently serve as ground zero for gang activity and recruitment.
Most gang experts believe that the presence of illegal alien gangs in U.S. communities is due to decades of failure on the part of our federal government to secure our southern border and policies that allow such criminals to find sanctuary on U.S. soil. 
Robert Arce is a retired Phoenix Police detective with extensive experience working Mexican organized crime and street gangs. Arce has worked in the Balkans, Iraq, Haiti, and recently completed a three-year assignment in Monterrey, Mexico, working out of the Consulate for the United States Department of State, International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Program, where he was the Regional Program Manager for Northeast Mexico (Coahuila, Tamaulipas, Nuevo Leon, Durango, San Luis Potosi, Zacatecas.)

Border Patrol Officers Seized More Than $3.2 Million in Crystal Meth Last Weekend



Timothy Meads
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Posted: Sep 29, 2017 6:00 PM
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Border Patrol Officers Seized More Than $3.2 Million in Crystal Meth Last Weekend


Last weekend, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers seized 158 pounds of alleged crystal methamphetamine during two separate routine vehicle searches at the Juarez-Lincoln International Bridge.
On Saturday, September 23, CBP officers became suspicious of a 2009 GMC Sierra driven by a 29-year-old American citizen. After issuing a second examination of the car, a CBP canine unit alerted authorities to the presence of drugs inside the vehicle. A thorough search of the car found 32 packages of alleged crystal meth, totaling 122 pounds.
Then on Monday, September 25, CBP officers again suspected a driver of smuggling drugs into the United States. Here, the canine unit discovered 36 pounds of alleged meth. This alleged drug smuggler was a 40-year-old Mexican citizen.
Both drivers were arrested and the case was handed to Immigration Customs Enforcement. The drugs and vehicles were detained by authorities as well.
In total, the confiscated drugs are worth $3,247,816.
“These significant narcotic seizures are examples of the remarkable border security work our CBP officers undertake on a daily basis,” said Port Director Gregory Alvarez, Laredo Port of Entry. “Our officers remain vigilant and continue to be successful in keeping these narcotics off our streets and away from our youth.”
Earlier this month, CBP authorities confiscated nearly $4 million worth of alleged crystal methamphetamine hidden within a commercial trailer.
CBP authorities are in charge of protecting the nation primarily from terror threats crossing the border, but their rigorous inspection process often yields millions worth of illegal drugs as well.
On Wednesday alone, El Paso port authorities seized 450 pounds of marijuana in five different searches.
“The smuggling threat is consistent. Vigilant CBP officers are stepping up every day to stop drug loads,” said one CPB director. “The work we perform plays an important role in keeping our nation safe from all threats.”
Meth, in particular, is becoming increasingly popular on oil rigs in Texas. Texas has experienced a burst in expansion in the shale industry. Many workers take meth in order to stay on the job longer. The drug has the ability to "wire" people's brains so they can supposedly stay awake for 24 hours and work at a faster rate.
One oil rig worker told Reuters, “(On meth) I’d work 24 hours…I was just plagued with fatigue and needed something to improve my work ethic.”
According to the Albuquerque Journal, about 90 percent of meth consumed in the United States is manufactured in Mexico. This meth is often smuggled into the States in by various Mexican drug cartels. These cartels contribute to violence and murder in America due to the lucrative but dangerous black-market for drugs. 
U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions noted earlier this year, 
“Drug cartels bring death and destruction across our Southern border and sell drugs that take lives all across America. The work our ICE officers do every day to keep these criminals out of our country and secure our border is heroic and makes all of us safer."
But, as stated last year in a report by the New York Times, drug cartels have paid hundreds of Homeland Security officials nearly $15 million to “look the other way” to similar drug smuggling attempts over the last decade.
President Donald J. Trump has vowed to stop drugs coming in via the southern border. In August, he declareda national emergency to address the opioid epidemic plaguing various communities around the U.S. In 2016, there were roughly 50,000 deaths caused by drug overdoses.