It's The Economy Stupid

There has been a very large debate recently about immigration. But immigration is not the biggest problem. Now I am not saying that it is not an issue that we need to face, all I am saying is that we must not just be single minded and only focus on one issue. This country is facing a bigger problem; it's the economy stupid. Many people have said that illegal immigrants have hurt our economy. Other people have said that the illegal immigrants have helped the economy. But no matter if you believe that the immigrants have hurt or helped the economy, it is undeniable that the economy is in a downturn.

And all immigration debate aside, we must look at how we can help the economy, not attempt to fix only one problem of our country, but one that affects everyone; we must look at how we can HELP the economy.

One way that we can help the economy is by overturning the tax cuts and increasing tax levels from there. After that, we must balance the budget. President Bush has spent BILLIONS in Iraq, an unnecessary war. And in return, our economy takes a hit. The only thing that the US has received from the Iraq war is a larger national debt and many brave men and women killed. One final step that we can take is to overturn NAFTA and discontinue CAFTA. These are real steps that we can achieve. These are not the only steps that we can take, but these are ones that we can achieve. The only problem will be the political strain it will cause. In actual action, it has no large problems.

Under the bi-partisan immigration comprise, we will have a three tiered system. For "those in the country two to five years [they]...would have to go to a point of entry, exit and file an application to return as a guest worker. Those here less than two years must leave the country, but could apply from their native country to return as a guest worker and wait in line to get a visa."[1]

That would mean that almost 1/3 of the estimated 12 million illegal immigrants would have to leave the country. That is 4 million persons who would have to leave the country. But the US government has no way to make those 4 million persons leave this country. And the government rounding up 4 million people is just not going to happen. But this is another approach that will, just like in the mid-80's, most likely end in failure.

But if we address the issue of the economy, that is something that we can fix. And we cannot only fix it, but we need to fix it. So far the approach that the President has taken on the economy has failed. We must look at other options to take to improve the economy and this country, other than just the status-quo, for the status-quo is just not working.

[1]CNN.com

(Update: CNN.com link broken)