America Needs People

And thousands are applying

Jul 19, 2023

Florida has 55 available workers for every 100 open jobs. Yet Governor DeSantis is creating an environment hostile to immigrants. His bigotry and economic ignorance will be his demise. Workers are leaving the state. Enjoy our strawberries while we can.

How many of us are grateful for these workers?

Please visit this site and tap on the state you are interested in. See the condition of the workforce. We are in trouble.

Americas birthrate is below replacement level
Millions of Boomers are retiring - enrolling in Social Security and Medicare
Lack of workers means less funding of our Social Safety Net
Essential jobs are not being filled - holding back the economy

Recently five souls were lost in the Atlantic as their recreational submersible imploded. The 500+ migrants lost in the Mediterranean Sea were a less exciting story for some. Apparently, reading about the fate of really rich tourists who ventured to see the grisly remains of a famous sunken ocean liner has much greater morbid entertainment value than the drowning of 500+ desperate impoverished travelers who were seeking a life of shelter, food and safety from thugs.
How much money was invested in the rescue efforts of the five Titanic viewers vs the hundreds of folks who simply wanted to survive?

Migration is a political football. Republicans won’t join Democrats to address a humane way to deal with it because they would lose a “blaming tool”. Democrats are reluctant to do the right thing because they are afraid of losing votes.

The immigration problem is growing exponentially. Europe is reeling from the number of Africans that have arrived in their countries. The concept of being French or Swedish in a traditional manner is driving xenophobic anti-immigrant rhetoric to a breaking point. What will it mean if there are more Sudanese in a region of France than Europeans? It will mean change.

Every person on this Earth is a product of migration. Europeans shifted around from location to location for eons. The British are Nordic. National purity is a myth.

The US faces a similar dilemma. Encourage your kids and grand kids to learn Spanish and Portuguese. Over the next few years the wave of immigration from South and Central America will be an unstoppable tsunami of humanity. When you can’t grow food because of the Climate Crisis and the gangsters are raping you and/or killing your children, you run. When the ocean or river drowns your town, you can’t just become an amphibian. People are coming north. It’s not a discussion. It’s a fact.

Risking their lives crossing the Darien Gap.

It has happened before. Consider the Irish who were starving in their homeland.
”Census figures show an Irish population (in Ireland) of 8.2 million in 1841, 6.6 million a decade later, and only 4.7 million in 1891. It is estimated that as many as 4.5 million Irish arrived in America between 1820 and 1930. Between 1820 and 1860, the Irish constituted over one third of all immigrants to the United States.”
And this is how they were welcomed:

Some thought the Irish were coming to “take our jobs”. Instead, they helped build our nation.

And the Jews, the Poles, the Italians - the list of nationalities and faiths that were deemed un-American and suffered brutal discrimination upon arrival here is endless. A stupid selfish pattern of “I’ve got mine and now you can grovel for yours - or go home.” Too few of us embrace the fact that we are ALL immigrants. No human in North America is really a “native”. We are all a product of immigration - whether it was a generation ago or many. Even our “indigenous” tribes came from somewhere else. Sadly, humility and the welcome mat don’t ever seem to be trending.

America welcoming desperately needed workers

Of course, there is another way to look at this. The United States is VERY short of workers. This recent article about an aging America should set off loud alarm bells. The median age of Americans is almost 40. Boomers are retiring in droves because, well, that’s what you do when you get old. And millions suffer from “Long Covid”. Hence, worker participation is lower than before the Pandemic. There are not enough younger people to replace the doctors, nurses, teachers, construction workers, hospitality workers - you name it. We are in trouble.

What if we looked at all the job applicants knocking on our doors? What if we embraced the people that want to work here, pay taxes here - live wholesome lives here? What if we processed them efficiently and safely? What if we provided English language and job training so they could feed their families and pay those taxes to help support an aging population? Win, Win!

And aging we are. Please check out this well composed and graphic article from the NY Times (no pay wall) that details the aging of humanity - country by country.

Immigrants have a record of working hard and committing LESS crimes than American citizens. I would say it’s only logical to say “You’re Welcome!” They are coming anyway. Why not do it the right way? That does NOT MEAN open borders. It means letting more people move to America - in a systematic and safe way. We have the system. We just haven’t invested in the people and infrastructure to properly process the families we NEED. And I do mean invest. It’s not just charity. Although helping fellow humans does have a nice ring to it. It means hiring and filling the positions that are open!

Congress is charged with legislating our immigration policies and procedures as well as providing the funds for it. Because of political ambition, they have done nothing. Why give up a campaign weapon?

But with unsurprising adeptness, President Biden has begun addressing the problem. A small but important and symbolic step. Read here about the ways we are now discouraging illegal entry as well as targeting the population that so needs our help. It’s a small smart start. Immigrants are a resource, not an enemy.

It really comes down to your world view. Are we all in this together or not? Are all humans in the same boat? Don’t all humans have the same value? I know of some religions that have preached that. “Am I my brother’s keeper?”…“All are welcome at His table?”…”Offer shelter to the stranger?”……

Are we to act like a species or just a bunch of warring tribes? How big is YOUR boat. Mine is called Earth.

Or, if you don’t care about “them”, consider the fact that as we age, there are not enough younger citizens to support us. That’s just math. How much do we love our elders?

Bill’s Focus

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