My Comment on Robert Reich's SF Chronicle Piece: I Guess It Was Rejected

I sent this comment off to SFGate. I have heard nothing back; so I guess I have to self publish. Here it is:

Robert Reich in his “Poor bear brunt of GOP’s morally bankrupt plans” provides a laundry list of government programs for the poor that republicans are itching to cut. Clearly, the democrats are the party of the poor, the republicans of the rich. Reich neglects democrat programs that damage the poor in the market place. Obama’s limited drilling and European-style gas prices hit  poor families hardest. They spend more than $1,300 at the gas pump. (If the price dropped to pre-Obama levels, the poor would be $500 richer).  The children of the poor, denied access to decent schools by democrat (and teacher union) opposition to vouchers, earn, on average, $20,000 less per year, according to government statistics. Democrat support of open borders has flooded our labor force with some ten million undocumented workers who push down the wages of the fifteen  million high school drop outs in the labor force. Economists agree the effect on unskilled wages is negative but disagree on its size. Reich’s programs of welfare dependency are no substitute for giving the poor a chance to escape poverty. Until the democrats support school vouchers for the poor, they cannot claim to be the party of the poor.

The Polish Plumber Who Never Came: A Lesson for us (Berlin Journal #4)

Germany and Austria delayed free immigration from the Eastern European Union states for six years. Other EU countries began the free movement of labor from countries like Poland, Czech Republic and Hungary much earlier. German and Austrian labor unions particularly feared being flooded with cheap Polish plumbers and other craftspersons.

The six years are up, and there are few Polish plumbers in sight in Germany.  Even though Germany is undergoing a shortage of skilled labor, German firms have little success in recruiting in Poland and Hungary. Polish and Hungarian workers have concluded their own economies are more dynamic and offer them more promising careers. In Germany and Austria, they do not earn well, and their living conditions are better at home. Polish workers in particular are reluctant to leave an economy that is growing rapidly.

Poland and Germany show how easily our  illegal immigration problem could be solved by dynamic growth south of the border. If Mexico, El Salvador, and Columbia could match Poland’s growth, their citizens would stay put to take advantage of more rewarding careers at home.