Partnership for a New American Economy

The Economist
November 17, 2012

IN BAD economic times the temptation to bash immigration is overwhelming. “Get the stench out of Greece,” runs a slogan of Golden Dawn, an increasingly popular anti-immigrant party there. David Cameron has pledged to more than halve annual net migration into Britain by 2015. In America Republicans are wondering how much anti-immigration rhetoric contributed to Mitt Romney’s defeat in the presidential election. A change of political tune is badly needed. Evidence suggests that increased flows of people across borders could ignite global growth.

The economic case for migration is similar to that for free trade. Trade benefits countries by letting workers specialise in activities in which they are relatively more productive, raising output. And the larger market created by trade spreads the fixed costs of innovation more thinly, encouraging the development of new goods and ideas. Governments began the long march towards trade liberalisation after grasping that its upsides outweigh its costs, leaving a surplus large enough to compensate the losers.

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The Economist
November 15, 2012

The economic case for migration is similar to that for free trade. Trade benefits countries by letting workers specialise in activities in which they are relatively more productive, raising output. And the larger market created by trade spreads the fixed costs of innovation more thinly, encouraging the development of new goods and ideas. Governments began the long march towards trade liberalisation after grasping that its upsides outweigh its costs, leaving a surplus large enough to compensate the losers.

The economic case for migration is similar to that for free trade. Trade benefits countries by letting workers specialise in activities in which they are relatively more productive, raising output. And the larger market created by trade spreads the fixed costs of innovation more thinly, encouraging the development of new goods and ideas. Governments began the long march towards trade liberalisation after grasping that its upsides outweigh its costs, leaving a surplus large enough to compensate the losers.

Immigration is an afterthought, in both practice and theory. In traditional trade models wages converge across trading partners with similar technologies even without migration, a phenomenon winningly branded “factor-price equalisation”. Sadly, factor-price equalisation is a real-world rarity. As of 2000, for instance, a worker in Mexico earned a wage 40% that of a Mexican-born worker of similar education and experience working in America.

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National Journal
November 15, 2012

Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., is shaping immigration into an issue that Republicans can embrace without getting lambasted by the party base. He is doing it by moving away from discussing whether the current undocumented population should have a path to citizenship and talking instead about the future flow of immigrants into the United States. Both the message and the policy reflect a sensible, conservative viewpoint best expressed in business terms: It’s a question of supply and demand.

Rodriguez is a member of a worker-owned cooperative called Golden Steps, which provides non-medical elderly companionship services. Golden Steps is the most recent cooperative created by the Center for Family Life in Sunset Park, Brooklyn. The center has sponsored and developed six co-ops since 2006, three of which are flourishing.

“If your economy is demanding 2 million people a year to fill 2 million new jobs at a certain level, but you’re only allowing 1 million people to come in, and of those only a third are employment-based, you have a supply and demand problem,” Rubio said on Thursday at the Washington Ideas Forum sponsored by The Atlantic and the Aspen Institute.

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The Brooklyn Bureau
November 14, 2012

Since leaving Mexico to find work in the U.S. at age 16, Anai Rodriguez has had her share of lousy jobs. She's worked 12-hour night shifts in a factory pasting labels on bottles, surviving on four to six hours of sleep. She's cleaned houses where clients insisted she scrubbed floors on her hands and knees. Her most recent employment, caring for an elderly woman with Alzheimer's, has finally given her satisfaction and a certain amount of pleasure.

Rodriguez is a member of a worker-owned cooperative called Golden Steps, which provides non-medical elderly companionship services. Golden Steps is the most recent cooperative created by the Center for Family Life in Sunset Park, Brooklyn. The center has sponsored and developed six co-ops since 2006, three of which are flourishing.

The program has been so successful, it has even caught the city's attention. The Center for Family Life recently received a $147,000 grant from the New York City Council to train two community organizations in cooperative development, and it plans to continue targeting the immigrant demographic for their cooperatives.

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Reuters
November 14, 2012

Emboldened by the large turnout of Hispanic voters in last week's general election, U.S. President Barack Obama said Wednesday he plans to move quickly to address what he has called the biggest failure of his first term - comprehensive immigration reform.

"Before the election, I had given a couple of interviews where I predicted that the Latino vote was going to be strong and that that would cause some reflection on the part of Republicans about their position on immigration reform. I think we're starting to see that already," Obama said at his first press conference since winning re-election.

"And my expectation is that we get a bill introduced and we begin the process in Congress very soon after my inauguration," he added.

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Forbes
November 14, 2012

Startup companies, particularly those that receive venture capital, are major engines of growth and innovation in America. Research from the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation has shown that much of the job growth in America in recent years has come from startups. That is why a recent Department of Labor proposal that would force startup companies to choose between revealing private commercial information and hiring skilled workers is troubling.

The Department of Labor has proposed dramatically expanding the information requested when employers seek to hire skilled foreign nationals on H-1B visas. A recent National Foundation for American Policy report concluded, “Simply because they choose to hire one or more foreign nationals, privately-held companies would be compelled to release such financial information as their annual revenues and salary structure, information often closely guarded by entrepreneurs and small businesses.”

Information contained on the DOL’s labor condition application is made available to anyone on request via a public access file. That means any personal or commercial information that is typically guarded closely by companies would become available to competitors and others.

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KSL
November 14, 2012

Less than a week after the 2012 election, our national debate has shifted from one where we choose between two candidates, to one where we discuss paths forward on issues that impact our lives. For that we can all be thankful.

After such a long and grueling campaign season, we the American voters, in our infinite wisdom, decided to keep things exactly as they were: a Republican House, a Democratic Senate and President Barak Obama in the White House.

They say the definition of insanity is to keep doing the same thing over and over while expecting a different result. But I choose to believe the message sent to our elected officials was this: get something done, already.

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The Huffington Post
November 14, 2012

President Barack Obama lifted the spirits of a room full of progressive leaders on Tuesday when he pledged to tackle immigration reform early in his second term, half a dozen sources either in the room or with knowledge of the conversation told The Huffington Post.

"He said that they want to move quickly on immigration reform," one attendee said.

The president has said before that immigration reform will be a major priority after his inauguration in January. But his vow behind closed doors signaled to at least one advocate in the room that he is "dead serious" about making a push for a bill as soon as possible. Past pledges have come up short. But for those gathered at the White House, the comments sparked renewed optimism.

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The Sacramento Bee
November 13, 2012

Thanksgiving, the most uniquely American and immigrant-centered of all holidays, will be greeted this year with gratitude for refugees' contributions to communities across the nation.

"The Pilgrims and today's refugees have in common the challenge of beginning anew," said Dan Kosten, Refugee Council USA (RCUSA) Chair. "Thanksgiving reminds us that, when given a foundation to rebuild their lives, refugees have become successful entrepreneurs, engines of economic growth, and harvesters of fallow land."

The U.S. Refugee Admissions and Resettlement Program serves people from every region of the world and includes torture survivors, unaccompanied minor children, and victims of sexual and gender-based violence. Some refugees have lived in camps for decades and been deprived of basic human rights. This Thanksgiving, the people who work to welcome and employ refugees will bear witness to the work ethic and community spirit of the people who come to the United States through the program.

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Wall Street Journal
November 13, 2012

Four years ago, it was said that the incoming Obama administration aspired to the dynamic that existed in Abraham Lincoln's cabinet, where former competitors and antagonists came together to help the country through the Civil War. If Doris Kearns Goodwin's "Team of Rivals" was the historical aspiration then, the model to emulate after this election is her earlier book, "No Ordinary Time," about Franklin Roosevelt's domestic policies during the latter years of the Great Depression and into World War II.

The 1930s were a period of extreme bitterness between the business community and the Roosevelt administration. Many executives deplored the president's policies and refused to even utter his name, referring to him as "that man in the White House." In turn, the president famously declared during the 1936 re-election campaign: "I welcome their hatred."

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