Bush Courts Hispanics Politically, Leaves Them Behind Economically
Bush Courts Hispanics Politically, Leaves Them Behind Economically
In his SOTU address, President Bush described our economy as both “healthy, and vigorous.†Unfortunately, many Americans struggling to find well-paying jobs with good benefits haven’t experienced that health and vigor:
– Since March 2001, the economy has had the lowest job growth of any business cycle since the Great Depression.
– Weekly wages, in inflation-adjusted terms, have declined for the past three years and by Dec. 2005, they were below the level of Nov. 2001, when the economic recovery reportedly started.
– Since 2000, the number of workers receiving a pension or health insurance from his or her employer continues to decline.
This weak labor market has meant that Hispanics, who – due to lower wages and fewer benefits — typically enjoy less economic security than blacks or whites, have been unable to advance:
– Mexican-American men saw their wages decline from 2001 to 2004, while wages for white and black men rose during that same period.
– Every measure of economic security – employment, wages, health insurance and pension insurance – declined for Mexican-American women.
Progressive policy can do more to help Hispanics improve their living standards. A return to a strong labor market, as was the case in the late 1990s, and strengthening the right of workers to join a union would be steps in the right direction.
President Bush understands how important Hispanics are politically. Unfortunately, he has yet to appreciate that we need new policies to make the economy work for them.
– Christian E. Weller
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This is What’s the matter with Kansas all over again. Most Hispanics who are voting for Bush are voting against their interests.
February 2nd, 2006 at 12:28 pmOh, but Mexican-Americans don’t care about what Bush does really. They only care about what the Catholic church tells them to care about. As long as you hate gays and prohibit birth control, they’re happy.
I can say that, as an Hispanic, former Catholic.
February 2nd, 2006 at 12:31 pmdattexas:
I think that is painting with far too broad a brush. There are plenty of Hispanics who aren’t Catholic and plenty of Catholic Hispanics who didn’t vote for Bush or oppose birth control.
February 2nd, 2006 at 12:34 pmThe thing that doesn’t understand Bush is that “hispanics” is a very vague definition. A Cuban exilee, maybe will vote for him, is far more probable that he is bitter with Castro, but there are a lot of nationalities there, and not all are so far righters. Many mexicans, or colombians, or other are not so happy to vote republican. They had enough rightist dictators (Somoza, Pinochet, Videla, and many others) in their countries of origin. And many installed by the USA. Maybe they are in the USA for a somewhat better living.
February 2nd, 2006 at 12:38 pm“George W. Bush waxes nostalgic about the values of the West Texas town where he grew up, declaring that “anybody could succeed, and everybody deserved a chance” (transcript, Aug. 4). “I also remember the West Texas of the late 1950’s and early 60’s, when my family and many other Mexican-American families migrated to the region to pick cotton. “I remember the signs on the restaurant windows in Lubbock and other regional towns that warned us, “No Mexicans or dogs allowed.”
February 2nd, 2006 at 1:18 pmThat Place where the OIL people, Such as Bush and His Fine Feathered ILKs pretended to ‘Care’ About Texas.
Cheap Labor is all they Saw, and still to this day see. They See not Humans, But resources and Dollar signs.
February 2nd, 2006 at 1:22 pmUnfortunately, alot of hispanics complain but don’t bother to vote, and some are not eligible to vote. As a Cuban/American, I see Cubans in South Florida who do not vote and then complain. I have no sympathy for them.
February 2nd, 2006 at 1:37 pmBush likes President Vicente Fox of Mexico, but otherwise he just wants Mexican illegals as a cheap labor source!
February 2nd, 2006 at 1:46 pmBush has also done a good job of avoiding the illegal immagration issue. I just moved to california, and it is a huge topic down here. Part of the problem of course is the U.S. owes huge amounts of money to Mexico right now, due to Bush’s defecit. What Fox wants, Fox gets, and right now what Fox wants is unrestricted access for illegals from Mexico.
Bush is correct in stating that so much of our low paying jobs, ie agri workers, domestic workers, etc tend to be hispanic. I may get attacked for being racist, but I don’t see it as a racist comment. I have lived in agri areas of Washington state, and now California. Our cheap fruits and veggies are cheap because of this type of labor. If agri business had to pay minimum wage we would see a much higher prices in the grocery store.
Basically in order to keep a base of cheap labor bush is not doing a thing to stop illegal immagration, then again Clinton did not do much either. Also it sounds like we should worry more about the issue. Border patrol has is starting to become a dangerous job, with serious chance of being killed are wounded. There are reports of armed men, possibly Mexican army, crossing the border into the U.S. Also reports of bounties on the heads of border patrol agents.
February 2nd, 2006 at 1:46 pmHopeing our pool has a life guard, may I jump in. Bush and this radical bunch of neocon in his ownership society don’t give a shit about anyone except the top 2%. That is the top 2% own the rest of us and want to keep us in servitude, buried in debt to finance their will and war folly. No matter our race, unless you are rich, white and male you don’t count. They pander for votes just for control, use the groups to create infighting, have bankrupt and divided the country and will take all the marbles and run when we are totaly broke. Bush will go and build his library and wonder around the country collecting high fees for speeches and adoring followers will pay to see him even when he is out of office. Sadly, I have a dream, I wish tomorrow, in an obscure country, Bush would be arrested for war crimes, crimes against humanety, wildlife and the enviroment, put in jail and not allowed representation and hidden from the rest of the world for an indefinate time. What the hell has happened to our country and our party?….Blessings
February 2nd, 2006 at 1:51 pm#9 After or before the whole vigilante response of the Minuteman at Arizona border?
And well, if average american only cares about cheap prices and not support nationalization and syndication of migrants, quit bitching over illegal migrants. You’re saying to your Wal-marts and farmers “keep ‘em coming”.
February 2nd, 2006 at 1:54 pmJudd
Fair enough. But I thought I limited my post to Mexican-Americans. That’s different from Hispanics, which includes latins who are not of Mexican descent. I’m from the hood, and most Mexican-Americans are Catholic, and they are no friend of gays or birth control, regardless of whether they voted from Bush or not. Besides, more Mexican-Americans voted for Bush last election than any other time.
Mexican-Americans in Texas voted overwhelmingly for the recent anti-gay amendment to the Texas Constitution.
Perhaps not as large a brush as you might think…
February 2nd, 2006 at 1:55 pmMexican border is the least defended border in the entire world > there are no legitimate reasons for it NOT to be patroled by the US Army! There does not have to be 2000 miles of fence, just troops on the border! Any drug runners who cross the border would then be gunned down, as well as any Mexican troops who cross it!
February 2nd, 2006 at 2:08 pm#5 “George W. Bush waxes nostalgic~…”; Yeah, I remember the segregated water fountains in the Lubbock County Courthouse. The public schools in Slaton, whose population couldn’t have been more than 2000 at the time, were segregated as well. My Dad and I were denied service at a barber shop in downtown Brady because, “we don’t allow meskins in here.” I wasn’t more than 6 years old then but like other events I remember that vividly. The dragons that institutionalized such darkness called themselves Democrats as far as party affiliations went. I suppose because that was the party in power at that moment in time. These days, with Republicans as the majority in Texas, I’ve been sensing a return of the same hateful climate that pervaded my childhood. I’m sure that it never went away but ever since Bush’s 2000 coup the hate mongers around here, and across the nation as well, apparently have become emboldened. Gotta stay strong everyday…
February 2nd, 2006 at 4:15 pmThis thread died fast > lol > nobody wants to talk about illegals or the Mexican border being undefended!
February 3rd, 2006 at 12:31 amNot a troll in sight, Guess they just don’t care about immigration issues.
February 3rd, 2006 at 1:19 amI think that is painting with far too broad a brush. There are plenty of Hispanics who aren’t Catholic and plenty of Catholic Hispanics who didn’t vote for Bush or oppose birth control.
Comment by Judd
Well, we know where at least one is don’t we? I think you’ll have a pretty hard time finding enough for a ball team.
The fact is there is no room in the big Filthy Left tent for people of faith..any faith, oh except for those folks who go to those homosexual protestant churchianity clubs with the feminist high priests.
February 3rd, 2006 at 12:16 pmNot a troll in sight, Guess they just don’t care about immigration issues.
Comment by SKdeA
Close the borders, eject the illegals and stop the legal immigration of Muslims.
There, how’s that?
February 3rd, 2006 at 12:18 pmGet a clue – unemployment is at its lowest level in 4.5 years and continues to fall. There is inevitabily a lag in job creation as the US continues its long-term conversion from a manufacturing/assembly economy to a service/information economy. If you are unskilled, uneducated labor, you will face a more difficult path to economic prosperity. This proves the lesson: stay in school, don’t have kiddos when your 17, etc. etc. etc.
Anyway, isn’t time for the working class to once again live like the working class?
February 3rd, 2006 at 12:20 pmwe estimate the costs of a mass deportation effort to be at least $206 billion over five years ($41.2 billion annually), and could be as high as $230 billion or more. Spending
Click my link for more. For some of the propaganda associated with illegal immigration, see this.
Comment by TLB
One thing is for sure, it didn’t cost that much to get them here and it will not cost that much to send them home. In fact we won’t spend a dime and here’s why….
Federal law right now allows for an $11,000 dollar per day per illegal works fine to be levied against any company that hires undocumented workers. If there are no jobs and no welfare services there will be no illegal workers.
I won’t hold my breath waiting for the “Progressives” or anyone else start demanding that the existing laws be enforced.
February 3rd, 2006 at 12:28 pm#21 refers to the Center for American Progress joke study in which they tried to estimate how much it would cost to do mass deportations.
They assumed that the deportations we’re doing now represent a “best case†effort, divided that by how many were deported, and then multiplied that by the number here now.
Obviously that methodology is just a smidgen flawed.
Comment by TLB
Yes indeed. The real flaw is thinking anyone with the power to make it happen really wants to shut the border. What is desired is the free flow of goods, services, money and people from the tip of S. America to the Arcic Circle. One big happy family.
February 3rd, 2006 at 3:29 pmOne big happy family.
Comment by I-RIGHT-I — February 3, 2006 @ 3:29 pm
No, no… families are into assisting one another in times of need. What these people want is one big happy free market for them at cheap to slave labor rates.
Only they don’t seem to understand that if everyone is poor, no one will be able to buy their crap. No matter how many commericials you run on television, without affordable electricity, no one will be watching…
February 4th, 2006 at 12:31 pmWhat you say is very true, but note, that black women are economically at more of a disadvantage than Hispanic women. You mention black men and white men, but mention nothing of black women.
February 4th, 2006 at 5:16 pmWhat you say is very true, but note, that black women are economically at more of a disadvantage than Hispanic women. You mention black men and white men, but mention nothing of black women.
Comment by April
Black women have more programs than Carter has peanuts. In addition there has been a corporate push over the past 20 years to hire black women. Black women in this country are in the cat bird’s seat right now, generally speaking and compared to black men or any other minority.
February 5th, 2006 at 1:35 pmOnly they don’t seem to understand that if everyone is poor, no one will be able to buy their crap. No matter how many commericials you run on television, without affordable electricity, no one will be watching…
Comment by unbelievable
You should apply that same reasoning to the leveling of educational standards, the tax rates that all classes endure to maintain socialist programs and the violence and pornography that is pushed on Americans while traditional values are undermined and intentionally demeaned to make us all cultureless psychotic deviants. Progressives want everyone equal, that is the dream. Unfortunately all they can muster is a goal set by the lowest common denominator.
Bringing this country back after so many decades of manipulation and destruction by the Filthy Left is going to be painful. But I will feel your pain. The big grin on my face is actually understanding and compassion for my more unfortunate brothers and sisters.
February 5th, 2006 at 1:42 pmBlack women have more programs than Carter has peanuts.
Growing up in Georgia, the expression was ‘…than Carter has liver pills’.
In addition there has been a corporate push over the past 20 years to hire black women. Black women in this country are in the cat bird’s seat right now, generally speaking and compared to black men or any other minority.
Comment by I-RIGHT-I — February 5, 2006 @ 1:35 pm
The thing you are missing is the cultural biased against them that counters many of these programs.
One of the firms I worked for in Atlanta had a receptionist who was black. Turned out that she held a marketing degree from a reputable university, was inventive and competent, but working as a receptionist. She rode the train in the same direction I did after work, and so I got to know her. She was one of those kids whose mother had four children with four different fathers and had never been married. She’d been taught by the system that she was inferior. And no amount of education had changed the fact that her actions followed the path of someone who does not believe she is worthy. If you understood this part of the equation, then you might understand that the solution isn’t in giving them ‘programs’, but in eliminating the intolerance and racism from our culture.
February 5th, 2006 at 2:28 pmYou should apply that same reasoning to the leveling of educational standards, the tax rates that all classes endure to maintain socialist programs and the violence and pornography that is pushed on Americans while traditional values are undermined and intentionally demeaned to make us all cultureless psychotic deviants. Progressives want everyone equal, that is the dream. Unfortunately all they can muster is a goal set by the lowest common denominator.
Didn’t you go to church today to learn about hemping those less fortunate? Or do you belong to one of those cultist sects that only reads the parts about fire and brimstone and smiting everyone else?
Just because you want me to compare apples to oranges doesn’t mean that I can. Not unless I use some of your magical illogic…
I picked up a new book today called “A Culture of Fear”. You inspired me to get it. I figure that the amount of fear you possess is so intense, it would be interesting to know what in the world all you wingnuts are so afraid of.
I used to live my life in fear of everything too. Not sure why. But, really, there’s not too much that scares me anymore. I started talking to the people I was supposed to be afraid of – and they’re just normal people. But if I fear anything, it’s mostly the incompetence of G.W. and his war-mongering posse – and what they will do next. But not much in daily life to fear.
Bringing this country back after so many decades of manipulation and destruction by the Filthy Left is going to be painful. But I will feel your pain. The big grin on my face is actually understanding and compassion for my more unfortunate brothers and sisters.
Comment by I-RIGHT-I — February 5, 2006 @ 1:42 pm
You do know that this country has been under conservative control since 1980, right? The Democrats are not liberals. They are moderate conservatives. The Republicans are radical conservatives.
Clinton was no liberal. Sure he may have espoused liberal views, but as President, he gave tax cuts to the rich, helped destroy the environment, signed NAFTA, and blew up other countries when afraid too. That’s not a liberal.
If anyone is trying to make us all psychotic deviants, it’s the extremists onyour side of the fence – not mine. What we liberals want is a live and let live policy. Something else that I’m sure that you fear.
February 5th, 2006 at 2:43 pm“I have no mercy or compassion in me for a society that will crush people, and then penalize them for not being able to stand up under the weight.”
–Malcolm X
February 5th, 2006 at 3:12 pmWhat the hell is a hispanic anyway? A foolish remark made by ex predisent Jimmy dumbass Carter?
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