"Mexification" of America?

[dex]

I'd like to see more of the mexicans find their way (legally preferred) to the northern parts of our country. It's way to hard to find a decent mexican restaurant with a good marguerita above the mason-dixon line.  

Where below the Mason-Dixon line do you get a good Mexican meal? I live in Atlanta and you would think that one person owns them all and have the same memu. They are inexpensive and some of them have a buffet - all you can eat!

 

[dex]

Great comments Cut-Throat. I couldn't agree more. I have noticed that many of the very poorest looking homes have "We Support Our President!!" and "I'm Proud To Be an American!!" signs in their yards. The right-wing machine knows what buttons to push; they're masters at manipulating these folks. Then their priests and pastors reinforce the right-wing political agenda and close the deal. The worse things get, the more angry these people become - angry at Mexicans, angry at welfare recipients, angry at gays, angry at our "immoral" culture, angry at "liberals", and angry at just about everyone Rush Limbaugh and Fox "news" tells them to be angry with. I don't hold out much hope that they'll ever figure out who is really screwing them. In fact, the right wing machine will probably generate even greater support for the causes of their corporate sponsors by tightening the screws even more, and blaming the liberals for the misery it creates. It's deliberate deception and it works. And our side does a miserable job of countering it.

Bush did not get strong support from the Latino community. The democrats did better. Getting more support from the Latino community is on the Republican Party's agenda. One item that may have hurt Bush was his suggestion of a "Guest Worker" type of program for foreign workers.

 

[dex]

Bush & Latino Vote
http://www.sacbee.com/content/politics/story/11642729p-12531974c.html

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A3368-2004Jul21.html

 

[dex]

I guess a lot of folks here are welcoming the demise of the American middle class. I was hoping that prosperity transferred to the middle class and that the world would become more like the U.S.

Instead, I see the U.S. Becoming a land of the few very, very rich and a lot of poor folk. Disturbing to me, but apparently not to the Capitalists.

Probably temporary though. When the poor wake up, (and discover that they're not Republicans) they'll elect another FDR to replace the Bushies. - I give it less than 20 years for another 'New Deal'.

You can blame me for what is happening to the American worker and the demise of the middle class.  But first let me say I believe that the middle class is what made America great and that unions had a part in the creation of the middle class.
Having said that; I'm to blame for the demise of the middle class because:
A. I shop for and buy the item with the best quality and price I can find (I shop at Wal-Mart for example - not union; many foeign products)
B. I didn't protest against NAFTA which allowed jobs to flee outside the USA.
C. I'm not protesting the demise of the textile tarriffs on products from China.  I know this will kill off the remaining textile jobs in the USA.  But I will have less expensive clothing.
D. I'm not protesting the expansion of medicade benefits that will make USA products more expensive to sell overseas and in the USA - pushing more jobs overseas.  Why? Because I want those benefits for my mother and myself.
E. I'm not protesting the fact that illeagle foreign national are coming to the USA to work and employeers are not following the law and requiring proper documention so that they can work here.  Why a larger labor pool reduces labor costs all around.
I could go on but you get the idea.

 

[Berkshire_Bull]

What is happening in the world today is much like what happened during the Industrial Revolution. Instead of people coming off the farms for the factories, they're leaving the factories for offices. The United States no longer has a comparative advantage in basic manufacturing. The one thing we can do better than anyone in the world, however, is grow food. Will we see a rebirth of farming with the massive population increases, as well as increasing economic prosperities in the third world? I don't know that the American middle class is dying any more than the rest of the developed world that has strong labor unions. It is important to note that prior to the Industrial Revolution, the standard of living was more or less static from generation to generation. Sure things changed, but people weren’t really any better off from them in real terms. Any increases in production were offset by increases in consumption from a higher population. An excellent read that goes in depth on the history of the world's economic activity is The Wealth and Poverty of Nations by David S. Landes. I got it after a reading a recommendation by Charlie Munger. Now will we revert back to the historic norms of the past? That remains to be seen. Maybe the last 300 years have been an economic bubble. Who knows?