Tweet
A short book review from Thomas Sowell, but the important points are here:
Sowell's (and the authors') point here is that there is no racism holding Black people down. Those days are dead and gone. And that's a very important point. But this also dovetails into something that I've been stressing for years now: immigration is a good thing. Legal immigration that has reasonable controls on it is good for the economy. Those people who come here legally usually are quite successful economically. This book, The Triple Package, apparently drives home that point as well.
We're not doing ourselves any economic favors by saying that only X number of Germans may immigrate to the US, but only Y number of Guatemalans may come here. We are shooting ourselves in our economic foot with our existing immigration system. It needs to be completely scrapped and started anew. What we DON'T need is amnesty for the illegals who are here.
In their own words, "Although rarely mentioned in media reports, the studies said to show the demise of upward mobility in America largely exclude immigrants and their children. Indeed, the Pew Foundation study most often cited as proof of the death of upward mobility in the United States expressly cautions that its findings do not apply to 'immigrant families,' for whom 'the American dream is alive and well.'"
Some immigrant groups have risen spectacularly, even when they arrived here with very little money and sometimes with little knowledge of English. "Almost 25 percent of Nigerian households make over $100,000 a year" in America, the authors point out, compared to just 11 percent of black American households.
Other groups that have risen dramatically over the years include Mormons, immigrants from India and Iran, and refugees who fled Cuba when Fidel Castro took over there, back in 1958.
Those Cubans had to leave most of their wealth behind and, even when they had been doctors or other professionals in Cuba, they had to start out at the bottom in America, "crammed into small apartments and became dishwashers, janitors, and tomato pickers." But, by 1990, Cuban American households had middle class incomes twice as often as Anglo Americans.
Americans from India have the highest income of any ethnic group the Census keeps track of, "with Chinese, Iranian and Lebanese Americans not far behind."
Despite many who argue that black Americans cannot rise because of racist barriers, black immigrants rise. A majority of the black students at Harvard are from Africa or the Caribbean, and Nigerians "are already markedly overrepresented at Wall Street investment banks and blue-chip law firms."
Some immigrant groups have risen spectacularly, even when they arrived here with very little money and sometimes with little knowledge of English. "Almost 25 percent of Nigerian households make over $100,000 a year" in America, the authors point out, compared to just 11 percent of black American households.
Other groups that have risen dramatically over the years include Mormons, immigrants from India and Iran, and refugees who fled Cuba when Fidel Castro took over there, back in 1958.
Those Cubans had to leave most of their wealth behind and, even when they had been doctors or other professionals in Cuba, they had to start out at the bottom in America, "crammed into small apartments and became dishwashers, janitors, and tomato pickers." But, by 1990, Cuban American households had middle class incomes twice as often as Anglo Americans.
Americans from India have the highest income of any ethnic group the Census keeps track of, "with Chinese, Iranian and Lebanese Americans not far behind."
Despite many who argue that black Americans cannot rise because of racist barriers, black immigrants rise. A majority of the black students at Harvard are from Africa or the Caribbean, and Nigerians "are already markedly overrepresented at Wall Street investment banks and blue-chip law firms."
We're not doing ourselves any economic favors by saying that only X number of Germans may immigrate to the US, but only Y number of Guatemalans may come here. We are shooting ourselves in our economic foot with our existing immigration system. It needs to be completely scrapped and started anew. What we DON'T need is amnesty for the illegals who are here.
Comment