Thread: Charlotte Observer - more support for Immigration Reform

Today, June 4, this article was published in the Charlotte, NC Observer newspaper on the Viewpoint page, 11A. It's obvious it was written by an empty suit (chief economist at the Wachovia Corp. - a huge financial institution and he's also a a member of the North Carolina Economic Development Board - therefore a double empty suit???). Anyway these are the danerous people Congressmen are listening to. Note how he states "Immigration reform creates a new incentive for immigrants and potential immigrants. It encourages good behavior and motivates them to embark on a long-term process to obey the law..." He also quotes the recent NY Times immigration poll results which has been discredited. I have included the link to this article at the bottom. Even more infuriating he states "...immigration reform provides a basis for a better quality and more reliable workforce." A double empty suit, indeed.

Immigration reform benefits N.C. workforce
It would lead to better quality workers and would sustain growth

JOHN E. SILVIA
Special to the Observer

The last decade has witnessed a continued acceleration of economic growth in the Carolinas relative to the rest of the nation. This growth has been accompanied by a steady immigration of young people and families looking for work.

The sharp increase in the immigration of workers from both north of the Mason-Dixon Line and south of the Rio Grande comes as no surprise since the Carolinas are short on skilled labor relative to our rapid rate of economic growth.

In light of this phenomenon, immigration reform provides a basis for a better quality and more reliable workforce.

For our workforce, one crucial principle in the proposed immigration reform is the incentive to foster a better citizenry, with a tilt toward immigrants who have job skills, education and English language proficiency that will make them more productive citizens.

Skills, education take priority

The proposed shift from a family-based immigration system to a merit-based system would allow this region to meet pressing labor needs, especially those for high-skilled workers. This transforms the process for selecting new immigrants -- giving priority to job skills and education levels over time.The new system is more attuned to economic demands in the Carolinas by giving priority to job skills and educational accomplishment. The reform bill improves the quality of the immigrant labor force by requiring background checks and accelerated English and civics requirements for Z visa applicants. With the electronic employment eligibility verification system, the reform establishes a business-government partnership to more easily determine which employers are knowingly violating the law.

The reform proposal also establishes criteria to allow Z visa holders to begin the pathway to citizenship if they demonstrate a commitment to maintaining employment and abiding by American law.

Despite the vitriol of critics, these common-sense proposals hold appeal for Americans. For example, a recent New York Times-CBS News poll revealed that two-thirds of Americans favor creating a guest-worker program for future immigrants.

The reform proposal before Congress provides a viable, pro-growth solution for the Carolinas.

We must recognize that the current immigration system does almost nothing to encourage good behavior or to maximize the nation's supply of human capital. For many current immigrants, the only incentives are over the short term, offering little reason for them to invest in their own future.

Moreover, we must understand that the estimated 12 million illegal immigrants already in this country are not going to be rounded up and deported -- they must be dealt with as permanent residents. That's the reality of our broken system, and any meaningful fix must address this problem accordingly.

Motivation to obey law

Immigration reform creates a new incentive for immigrants and potential immigrants. It encourages good behavior and motivates them to embark on a long-term process to obey the law, learn English and save money (to pay the fines). The new proposed visa system is founded on a merit-based points system that rewards education and English proficiency -- not criminality.

Contrary to some political rhetoric, the Carolinas are not a fixed pie with more workers splitting smaller pieces over time. On the contrary, the economy is growing and needs better quality workers in the future to sustain our expansion.

Our growth today is limited by the quality of our workforce. Comprehensive immigration reform improves that quality and will help promote potential economic gains in the future.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
John E. Silvia is chief economist of Wachovia Corp. and a member of the North Carolina Economic Development Board. The views expressed are his own, not those of Wachovia or the board.

Link to this article:
http://www.charlotte.com/409/story/146463.html

Has he read the bill? The "shift" is extremely backloaded and has all manner of loopholes. We know now why legislators do these kinds of things. They know how to hide the meat of a bill.

Thanks for the link!

I used it to forward the following letter to the editor. Who knows, maybe they'll even print it. Please let me know if they do...

__________________________________________________ __________

Today I was directed to an article that appeared in your paper concerning immigration reform, as seen through the eyes of John E. Silvia at Wachovia. I respectfully disagree with Mr. Silvia and suggest he visit ALIPAC.US, where daily he can find posted numerous reports of the effects on communities by the influx of what he chooses to call "skilled workers". The postings I refer to come from all across the nation, and represent a TRUE picture of what Mr. Silvia is supporting. If you are going to allow Mr. Silvia to paint the picture with his broad brush, at least print this and allow your readers to examine Mr. Silvia's art with a clearer lense.

Regards,
[Edit]
Graham, N.C.
supporter of Americans for Legal Immigration PAC

I will keep my eyes open on their viewpoint and editorial pages. Good letter, thanks for sending it to the newspaper.

Hey Zeezil,

I decided to look a little closer at Mr. Silvia and his organization (Wachovia) after reading his article. (I thought it odd that a bank official would feel the need to comment publicly on such a sensitive issue at this particular time.) I was not surprised to find scandal swirling around the halls of Wachovia Corporate, and since Mr. Silvia was so kind as to lend his voice to the OBL crowd, I thought it only appropriate to post some of his company's other interests here for public scrutiny. If you read the following stories and find a possible motive for encouraging his style of "immigration reform" I won't be surprised. (Of course he did offer a disclaimer in his article "The views expressed are his own, not those of Wachovia or the board." So I will casually point that out here....you can be the judge!)
__________________________________________________ ___________

Sunday, May 20, 2007
Is the Noose tightening around Wachovia Bank?
The NY Times reports on an epidemic of financial fraud that has gone almost unchecked for years. These scams are perpetrated mostly on the elderly with the active or passive assistance of several (poorly) regulated service industries—especially banks. Of those banks, Wachovia appears to be the most culpable and certainly the most flagrant in its disregard for basic rules that would inhibit such fraud.
Last year, my wife and I talked my elderly neighbor out of falling for one such scam. He had mailed in an entry to an international "sweepstakes", and soon began to get all sorts of calls and mailings that he realized came from scam artists. One appeal for personal information, however, appeared to him to be legitimate because it carried what purported to be an official seal from a European government. It took us about an hour to dissuade him from responding to the letter.
This is just one of millions of such tales. Too many of them end badly, with elderly and frequently poor victims losing their life savings.
The greater scandal is this: Fraud on a massive scale has grown in the US despite regulations that, if properly enforced by the federal government, would hinder or prevent it. Slowly, US Attorneys in several states have begun to investigate and prosecute institutions that play a role in these scams. Yet many of the institutions continue to wash their hands of any responsibility, and still fail to abide by the rules that are in place.
The scams are possible because of the personal-database industry. Companies that collect and sell personal information are required by law to ensure that their customers are not engaged in fraud. Yet some of these companies engage in fraud in order to obtain personal information in the first place (advertising fake "sweepstakes", for example); and then sell their databases to others whom they know, or have strong reason to suspect, are fraudsters. In fact, the database merchants will sometimes advertise specific lists as a database of 'marks', 'suckers', 'pigeons'...call them what you want. They know perfectly well that some of their best-paying customers are running frauds, and the database merchants tailor some of their lists accordingly.
One of the worst of these, according to the Times, is infoUSA:
InfoUSA advertised lists of “Elderly Opportunity Seekers,â€