patrick.net

thunderlips11 says

I pay full taxes in BOTH countries.

You are implying you pay double taxes. No you don't. You pay taxes in your country of residence and get a credit for those taxes paid against any taxes owed in the US. That would be US taxes owed after you deduct the foreign earned income exclusion of 100,800 from your income.

bob2356 says

You are implying you pay double taxes. No you don't. You pay taxes in your country of residence and get a credit for those taxes paid against any taxes owed in the US. That would be US taxes owed after you deduct the foreign earned income exclusion of 100,800 from your income.

No.

The income tax here is 1% on income earned within the country. The sales tax is 10%. I pay the latter, since I don't earn income within the country, along with my usual 1044. I do not claim my sales tax receipts on my 1044.

Additionally, I'm not drawing food stamps, housing, refugee relocation benefits nor anything else. Nor am I western unioning a large portion local-made paycheck to Mexico. I'm bringing money into the country and not taking a job from somebody here.

I'm also completely and totally legally residing here.

Explain to me how this helps:

Last year, Disney World fired 250 American workers and replaced them with cheaper foreign workers, through the H-1B visa program.

One of those displaced American workers was Leo Perrero who said he and his co-workers were shocked and surprised when they heard the news that they were being fired.

“We thought we were being brought in to be delivered news of accolades, bonuses, and possibly promotions because I had just received my best possible performance review,” Perrero said. “It was a complete surprise when we walked into this room and we could feel the chill in the air that something good was not going to happen.”

“The Disney executive broke the news to us, we were shocked and surprised that we were told our jobs were ending in 90 days,” he said. “We would be laid off in 90 days and not only that, we would have to train foreign replacements that were just brought into our country on foreign guest worker programs.”

Perrero notes that this action was not an anomaly and abuse in the H-1B visa program is happening all over the country.

“This story must be told–Americans must be warned and take action,” said Dan Stein, president of FAIR. “Walt Disney is one of many well-known examples of companies exploiting gaping holes in our nation’s immigration system to displace and undermine American workers.”

Behind all the moaning about freedom of travel, xenophobia, etc. this is the real purpose of US Immigration and VIsa Policy. A drive for Labor Flexibility (aka "Labor Discipline" in the old days) and Low Wages by 1%ers who were already making handsome incomes and possess princely wealth before these policies were enacted.

marcus says

IT's not. The government does a lot to prevent it. Obama beefed up border controls. We had 21,000 border agents as of 2012, it's probably more now. The best info we have is that the number of illegal Mexican immigrants in the country has actually decreased by 20% from it's peak in 2007.

I still say that when you contrast that fact with the demagoguery from Trump around the supposed need for a giant wall on our southern border, it shows that in some ways, we we already are an idiocracy.

I don't deny that the border is probably more secure. I agree your data probably is or could be among the best. I still think being skeptical of the stats for unauthorized people is valid though. It's not as clear cut say as asking someone if they own a home or not. There's almost no reason to lie in that scenario. Is it down, probably. Partly because of the economy. Partly because of beefed up border patrol. I just don't think anyone really has true and even close to an accurate data set of how big/small the problem really is. This is based on the simple fact these people know they're here illegally and are not singing it from the mountains or seeking out methods/surveys to make data more accurate.

I'm somewhat new here and haven't read a ton of your posts, but you have to admit there's at least a problem with immigration, right? I don't claim to have some solution, but I have to agree with the viewpoint that we have laws in this country. It becomes a slippery slop when you punish some and not others. Even if the numbers show it's 50% down, there's still something going on that directly impacts citizens that are already here. Isn't that why we have a government in the first place? This I guess is why I don't really care about the numbers. At some point they will matter. But right now there's a problem that needs to be addressed. Whether the issue is a level 10 of importance or 7 out of 10 seems like a moot point to me.

And back to Trump, I personally don't think a wall is a realistic solution. But if Trump or whoever can actually get Mexico to pay for a wall and not the US taxpayers, who really cares? Will it solve illegal immigration? No. Will it probably slow it? Yes. Fact is very few politicians who actually get elected ever get anything done that they stated during their campaign speeches. I don't get the love for going after Trump for being vague and doing what every other candidate does during an election. This is not something new to either party. Trump is just obnoxious about it. His immigration plan is unrealistic.

For example, free college and heath care I think is something most people could get on board with. But is it realistic? It may be at some point, but not in this political environment. So a candidate like Bernie is really not that much different than Trump spouting off about an unrealistic and HUGE wall. Both have the potential to be done. Both ideas appeal to large segments of the population. Both are currently unrealistic.

Bellingham Bill says

I just don't get why it is at all acceptable that some one enters a country illegally.

I just don't get why it is at all acceptable that some one enters a state illegally.

I just don't get why it is at all acceptable that some one enters a county illegally.

I just don't get why it is at all acceptable that some one enters a city illegally.

I just don't get why it is at all acceptable that some one enters a neighborhood illegally.

Some would argue that humans are people first and citizens of this or that country second.

And people generally have a right to live, work, and just go wherever the hell they want.

Addressing what Bob said. In a Utopian view of the world I agree 100% free movement any where on this earth would be the ideal. We're all humans. I get it. We should all just get along. Problem is some humans are lazy. Some humans like to steal things. The list goes on. As a society we have and need rules and laws. Is everything fair? No. But what other way is realistic based on human behaviors? I'm not sure there's a much better option then what we have going. But I could be wrong.

I'm not an open border extremist, and I can appreciate the idea of limits on immigration. But at the same time, when I consider the problem of Mexican immigrants taking jobs that prevent wages for others being higher, I am capable of at least seeing the flip side. And that is that that the Mexican immigrants life is better for having come here, and I believe the opposite of what Trump says to be true. Most Mexican immigrants are good family people and we will add their biological distinctiveness to our own, in a positive way (forgive the Star Trek Reference). The propaganda that Mexicans are lowlifes is the same nonsense that was said about the Irish, the Italians, the Polish, and every other non-Anglo immigrants that have come here. There are always more criminals among the very poor. But that doesn't mean that such ethnic generalizations apply.

I don't know whether I buy the conspiracy idea of immigration being intentional to keep wage inflation down. Surely it has this affect to a degree, but it's not clear how much. . Perhaps it is tolerated in part for these reasons. But the truth is, that a lot of immigrants are willing to pick fruit or work in kitchens or otherwise do near slave labor. IT's the system we live in that perpetuates this.

You say the (essentially) slave labor should only exist outside of the US ?

Tiny little efforts to restrict immigration aren't going to prevent the exploitation of workers. Especially not now, with where we are with respect to automation technologies.

I don't know what the solution is to the worker pay problem. Ever since so many unions were killed, we are kind of screwed.

But also, sometimes I get a little philosophical about it, and think that there is an evolution going on with economics as there is on so many other fronts. That is, either most people have to be poor, or we need to learn how to live in more sustainable environmentally friendly ways. Either that or we need a much lower population. Or both.

Or to put it differently, I don't think the planet could handle most of the workers in the world being able to consume, even the way the average American does now. Some (Trump lovers) say that we should just live in our bubble here in the US and live our rich lives and let the rest of the world figure out what they can do. It's sort of a "fuck you I've got mine" but on a national level. That probably isn't sustainable either. Which might be why some leaders seem to want to gradually move us towards some kind of a one world system. I'm not saying I'm for that or that I believe there are some powers that have a plan. But sometimes I do wish that were the case.