Looking Forward to Sen. Reid's Bonfire
Senator Harry Reid:
“I am so upset that I think the Olympic Committee should be ashamed of themselves, I think they should be embarrassed,” Reid said in response to a question at a press conference. “I think they should take all of the uniforms put them in a big pile and burn them and start all over again; even if they have to just wear nothing but a singlet that says USA on it.”
Greg Mankiw:
22 Comments:
Should the athletes also burn their Nikes made in China and Vietnam?
I agree, the uniforms should be burned. Not because they weren't made in the US, but because it's embarrassing that US athletes are dressed as if the uniforms are designed by a gay military dictator.
I am disappointed that the uniforms were not made in the U.S. BUT the U.S. Olympic team is privately funded.
Zero U.S. taxpayer dollars were payed to Chinese government controlled stitcheries.
http://www.usatoday.com/sports/olympics/beijing/2008-07-18-immigrants_N.htm
not even all our athletes were "made in the US".
many were foreign born.
once, we took pride in being a melting pot, not a walled garden.
who cares where the uniforms were made?
this is a despicable and stupid action by reid and schumer.
these athletes have been training their whole lives for this in many cases.
this is their time to go for it.
let them. stop trying to throw up distractions and score cheap political points.
worse, stop trying to tell private entities with whom they should trade.
regardless of where it is made, ralph lauren is a GREAT american brand. it's literally iconic. (though i must agree with ken that these particular uniforms are not to my taste)
reid (as ever) needs a big glass of shut the hell up.
one would hope that even for the most misguided protectionist, the issue of these clothes not being made here pales beside his trying to make the Olympics about politics instead of the athletes.
once, we took pride in being a melting pot, not a walled garden.
To risk a tangent, I'm not sure we ever took pride in being a melting pot.
The McNicholas, the Posalskis, the Smiths, Zerillis too
The Blacks, the Irish, Italians, the Germans and the Jews
They come across the water a thousand miles from home
With nothing in their bellies but the fire down below
They died building the railroads, they worked to bones and skin
They died in the fields and factories, names scattered in the wind
They died to get here a hundred years ago, they're still dying now
Their hands that built the country we're always trying to keep out
The blame lies with those who elected Senator Reid.
Vote responsibly.
jon-
nobody ever said melting was easy.
but i thing you poem could be used to make my case even more so than yours.
they came. we took them. they worked and strove and succeeded and failed, just like the rest of us.
sure, there have always been backlashes against big immigrant surges (like the irish) but nothing like we see today.
imagine trying to argue that we needed to import 30,000 chinese workers to build the high speed rail in California.
it's a far cry from :
Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses, yearning to breath free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore,
Send these, the homeless, tempest tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door.
this is the issue with big government and socialist impulses.
once you have a government handing out goodies, you see new workers as an expense, not as a source of grwoth.
you get a drawbridge mentality based on zero (at best) sum wealth redistribution as opposed to focusing on growing the pie.
america prospered by attracting the best and brightest from all over the world and inviting them to come here and chase their dreams.
we walk away from that model to our peril.
Morganovich,
"once you have a government handing out goodies, you see new workers as an expense, not as a source of grwoth."
To the contrary, Democrats see new workers as a source of growth(of the Democrat party.)They even make ridiculous arguments that handouts are a "stimulus."
paul-
perhaps, but ask them if you can bring in some workers from asia to help with build your new infrastructure project and see how they respond.
you'll get southpark type "der teek ur jobs!" calls from every side.
this notion that they are "our" jobs or that somehow jobs are a finite resource are part and parcel to the redicstributionist mindset.
if you see the world in zero sum terms, then anytime anyone gets anyhting it leaves less for you.
larry and sergei did not BUILD google and create somehting useful, they hogged a bunch of money that that could have been your slice of the pie!
how dare they! /sarc
Buddy: "I am disappointed that the uniforms were not made in the U.S."
Why? Do you personally express some form of patriotism by buying only clothes made in the U.S.? I certainly do not. Like most consumers, I purchase the goods which I believ give me the best value for the money I spend. Is there any reason why an olympic team should do otherwise?
Morganovich,
"perhaps, but ask them if you can bring in some workers from asia to help with build your new infrastructure project and see how they respond."
True, but it sounds like you're talking about skilled workers. Democrats have no interest in importing engineers or doctors. They only appear to be interested in importing Mexico's unskilled poverty.
paul-
i think it's a mistake to try and make this a team red/team blue issue.
both sides are affected by the same issues here.
when social benefits become more generous, it makes it far more expensive to allow immigration and countries lock down their citizen rolls.
it is the right that often demands this, but it is in response to issues created by policies from the left.
this is not a simple, one party issue.
to my mind, the answer is simple:
open the borders.
come on in.
let's establish an easy to get worker's visa that let's you work, own property, start a business, and pay taxes.
it does not let you vote nor give you access to social safety nets.
this cuts the gordian knot and lets us move forward.
alas, neither team red nor blue will ever support such a thing, which seems a share. it worked for most of us history.
it's odd how we keep turning our back on the very ideas that made the country succeed and treating them as though they are some radical heresy.
"Why? Do you personally express some form of patriotism by buying only clothes made in the U.S.? I certainly do not. Like most consumers, I purchase the goods which I believ give me the best value for the money I spend. Is there any reason why an olympic team should do otherwise?"
i would even take jet's point a step further.
i am more proud to get behind "america: smart enough to get a great deal on quality goods."
than "america: overpaying for small selection out of blind patriotism"
Perhaps also Harry Reid should ask the Chinese to please stop buying our Treasury debt.
Morganovich,
"it does not let you vote nor give you access to social safety nets."
That's the whole issue, right there. It will never happen as long as Democrats hew to the "Emerging Democrat Majority" strategy. Milton Friedman said, "you cannot have unrestricted immigration and a welfare state" and he was right on. I am happy to let in all the skilled workers from all over the globe(mostly) like my Colombian engineer wife into the country. And I know a bunch of them who would love to come here, but instead go to Canada because they can't get a visa to the US. We don't need any more illiterate mowers of lawns and pickers of lettuce that are a net drain on the economy.
Morganovich,
I forgot to sum up with yeah, I think immigration is a largely red/blue thing. Democrats are counting on changing demographics to give them uninterrupted, overwhelming power for at least a generation.
Morganovich-
I do see your point, but I interpret these lyrics a little different (this comes from a song off Bruce Springsteen's new album).
I read it: these people come from all over and all they want to do is work and better their lives. They made America the country it is today, but every step along the way we try to push them out.
jon-
i think the boss's observations are a bit more recent than what i was talking about.
there were always anti immigration groups, but they did not used to have control of the government.
it seems like our immigration policy is a one way ratchet that only mores tighter in lockstep with our expanding social net.
Very true Morganovich-
I must concede that point to you
morganovich: "there were always anti immigration groups, but they did not used to have control of the government."
Hasn't opposition to immigration ebbed and flowed throughout the past 100 or so years?
As I remember reading, about half a million persons were forcibly removed from the country by the U.S. military in the 1930s. I believe that national policy was referred to as the Mexican Repatriation. I've read that some were atually citizens whose only crime was inability to speak English.
The Chinese Exclusion Act, in force from 1882 through 1943, eliminated almost all immigration from China.
The National Origins Act of 1924 went further and banned immigration of Japanese and other East Asians.
Do you think Springsteen may have also been referring to these government actions?
Would we be forced to see Sen. Reid in a singlet?
jet-
alas, the boss does not confide everyhting in me.
there have certainly been ebbs and flows in us immigration, not question.
while i have not looked at it, i would be willing to wager that they tend to line up with economic cycles etc with booms being more permissive and soft periods being less so.
i suspect here may be some causal flow both ways there. bad times, lock the door. but, locking the door may also prevent new growth as well.
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