The Democratic Disasters to Come

by Victor Davis Hanson // PJ Media 

The defunding wars are over. The accusations are fading. We are back to reality. Of course, America’s long-term prospects, at least in comparison with other countries’ futures — whether in terms of demography, military power, food-production constitutional stability, energy sources, or higher education — are bright.Photo Credit: roberthuffstutter via Flickr

But short term, we are walking over landmines that threaten to blow up the normal way of doing business, and pose far more harm for Democrats than for Republicans.

Zero Interest

The real story about the debt is that by the end of Obama’s eight years, he will have matched the borrowing of all previous presidents combined.  Yet incredibly, the present huge sum of $17 trillion in debt is serviced at the same cost that we paid over 15 years ago. Such free use of money without raging inflation is almost historically unprecedented — and it won’t last.

Indeed, we are paying today about the same amount in aggregate annual interest payments, in non-inflation-adjusted dollars no less, as in 1997 — even though the 2012 figure of $17 trillion in debt is about three times larger than it was a decade-and-a-half ago. That anomaly is possible only because today’s interest rate of about 2.2% is only a third of what it was back then. Continue reading “The Democratic Disasters to Come”

By Hook, Crook, or Comic Book

Mexico continues to encourage its citizens to migrate to the U.S., even thought it doesn’t need to.

by Victor Davis Hanson // National Review Online

There are many strange elements in the current debate over illegal immigration, but none stranger than the general failure to discuss the role of Mexico.

Are millions of Mexican citizens still trying to cross the U.S. border illegally because there is dismal economic growth and a shortage of jobs in Mexico?Border_patrol_car_patroling_on_border

Not any more. In terms of the economy, Mexico has rarely done better, and the United States rarely worse.

The Mexican unemployment rate is currently below 5 percent. North of the border, it remains stuck at over 7 percent for the 53rd consecutive month of the Obama presidency. The American gross domestic product has been growing at a rate of less than 2 percent annually. In contrast, a booming Mexico almost doubled that in 2012, with its GDP growing at a robust clip of nearly 4 percent.   Continue reading “By Hook, Crook, or Comic Book”

The Senate Immigration Bill: Another Legislative Disaster

by Bruce S. Thornton

FrontPage Magazine

The “comprehensive immigration reform” bill cooked up by the Senate has a decided Obamacare stink to it. Like that disaster, the immigration bill is rushing to solve a whole host of complex problems with a massive, muddled bill few Senators will have the time or inclination to read in its entirety, with the same plethora of unforeseen expensive consequences, all perfumed with the same dubious CBO estimates of money saved and revenue increased. Continue reading “The Senate Immigration Bill: Another Legislative Disaster”

Immigration: If the Bill Passes

Both Obama’s record and the results of past immigration “reforms” paint a bleak picture.

by Victor Davis Hanson

National Review Online

There are lots of reasons to believe that most of what is promised in the current so-called comprehensive immigration-reform bill won’t be honored if it is passed by the full Congress and signed by the president. Continue reading “Immigration: If the Bill Passes”

Illegal Immigration: Elite Illiberality

The elite charm of comprehensive immigration reform.

by Victor Davis Hanson

National Review Online

The divide over immigration reform is not primarily a Left/Right or Democratic/Republican divide; instead, it cuts, and sharply so, across class lines. Continue reading “Illegal Immigration: Elite Illiberality”

Western Cultural Suicide

We are blind to the contradictions in welcoming an immigrant but not making him one of us.

by Victor Davis Hanson

National Review Online

Multiculturalism — as opposed to the notion of a multiracial society united by a single culture — has become an abject contradiction in the modern Western world. Continue reading “Western Cultural Suicide”

The Moral Low Road in the Immigration Debate

by Victor Davis Hanson

NRO’s The Corner

Now elites are wistfully recalling the Bracero Program as a sort of model for the new “guest worker” provisions. Continue reading “The Moral Low Road in the Immigration Debate”

Illegal Immigration: Who Benefits?

Why does the well-off California suburbanite stand shoulder to shoulder with La Raza?

by Victor Davis Hanson

National Review Online

Why are over 11 million foreign nationals residing illegally in the United States? Continue reading “Illegal Immigration: Who Benefits?”

Obama’s Psychodramas

Unlike Sandy Hook and gun control, the Tsarnaev case teaches real lessons about immigration.

by Victor Davis Hanson

National Review Online

Barack Obama has a habit of trying to energize his legislative agenda by stoking the fires of emotionally charged current events — and in ways usually illogical and incoherent. Continue reading “Obama’s Psychodramas”

Illegal Immigration as ‘Slavery’?

by Victor Davis Hanson

NRO’s The Corner

Marco Rubio’s press secretary, Alex Conant, might wish to cease his demagoguery when he’s behind. Continue reading “Illegal Immigration as ‘Slavery’?”