December 04, 2005

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A Hispanic Reader Tells Joe Guzzardi Italians are the "Worst"

From:  Anonymous

Re: Steve Sailer's Column: "The Sailer [Immigrant Buyout] Scheme: Well—Why Not?"

Your European Muslim immigrant buyout idea got me wondering if something related could be done for U.S. "guest workers"

Require guest workers to escrow one third of their wages in an interest bearing account controlled by the government. The money would be disbursed to the immigrant gradually (over several years) at the US consulate in his home country after he has returned when his visa expires.

If the immigrant is found to have illegally stayed in the US or does not show up for one of his regular disbursements (in which case he is presumed to have illegally re-entered the US) then all remaining funds in the account default to the US government.

I strongly suspect that proponents of guest worker programs will oppose such a proposal, but I think it will be interesting to see why they do so.

I think supporters of these immigrants will suggest that it is impossible for immigrants to live on "only" 2/3 of their normal wages. Of course, these same supporters when promoting guest worker programs claim that the workers will work hard and save lots of money to take home.

Another likely objection is that the home countries are so miserable  that the immigrants cannot possibly be expected to return to them. But that similarly undermines the "guest" nature of these programs.

Obviously the details about the amount of money escrowed, the time period and frequency of payouts, and other details could be adjusted. Personally I would be willing to return all or part of the social security contributions of guest workers if need be.