The article contains links and mentions the effect of amnesty (immigration reform) on both high skill and low skill jobs.

August 6, 2013
Amnesty Driven by Voodoo Economics
By Jonathon Moseley

Voices calling for amnesty do not really understand economics or free enterprise. They offer garbled misconceptions -- with graphs. But they would be kicked out of the economics courses I took in business school. The pro-amnesty camp argues from "voodoo economics."

Amnesty will grow the economy, they argue. Well, if there are more people, technically the economy will be bigger. But each person may be poorer. A growing economy is only 'better' if the economy grows faster than the population increases. Otherwise, each individual is worse off among a larger crowd.
. . . .
Amnesty promoters insist that trespassers won't get a green card until the borders are secure. But, who cares? RPI status does everything a green card does except it just isn't green. 'Registered Provisional Immigrant' status will be granted 6 months after Obama signs a bill. Some are calling RPI status the new 'blue card' -- blue for States that vote Democrat.
. . . .
But businesses need more high-skilled, high-tech immigrants, we are told. Employers need more Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) workers.

Wrong. In fact, American colleges and universities are graduating twice as many STEM graduates as there are STEM jobs in the USA. This is the report of Steve Camarota of the Center for Immigration Studies. We have U.S. high-tech graduates who can't find work.

The solution to getting high-skilled workers is to reform our schools and universities. It is education that needs reform, not immigration. But data -- rather than anecdotes -- show that we already have too many unemployed high-skilled workers. (Perhaps we need to import better human resources directors to recruit more effectively and fill vacancies.)
. . . .
"Specialization" or "comparative advantage" is the last desperate attempt of amnesty supporters to patch together an argument with bubble gum and twist-ties. "Comparative advantage" is a truth, but it simply does not apply to the hair-brained scheme of amnesty. This is the biggest error.
. . . .
The biggest error is that high-value jobs are relatively scarce. An unlimited supply of high-value jobs is the false assumption of utopian amnesty defenders.
. . . .
Yet the lemmings are stampeding. Cartoonish economic myths motivate Republican insiders to rush toward the cliff of amnesty for illegal aliens. GOP leaders feel the instinctive, genetic itch to leap irresistibly into the abyss, to their own political destruction. When the business lobbyists' arguments just don't ring true and violate common sense... they are probably snake oil."

http://www.americanthinker.com/2013/08/a..._economics.html

Note:
Ricardo himself admits that 'comparative advantage' does not work if workers and capital move freely across borders.

The blue line = real GDP created using a measure of inflation that represents the cost of a set standard of living, not the cost of a declining one. This is what will be shared among a larger population if 'immigration reform' passes. :



ATG

I don't get this. Voodoo Economics is the derogatory term Progressive Bush 1 used to slam Reagan's Supply Side Economic programs. I don't see where Supply Side is covered in this article. Did I misread this?

Quote: Frank Cannon wrote in post #2

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I don't get this. Voodoo Economics is the derogatory term Progressive Bush 1 used to slam Reagan's Supply Side Economic programs. I don't see where Supply Side is covered in this article. Did I misread this?

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