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Thursday, January 08, 2004 |
 Environmentalists promote fears of a nanotech "green" goo (PDF report) disaster.
1:03:13 PM 
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Important clarification on the Bush immigration proposal. The temporary guest worker program will both document current illegals and provide a mechanism for people to become a guest worker if they can get a company to hire them. These new people can come from any country if they can prove they have a job waiting for them when they get here. The second part of the proposal was an expansion and improvement of the green card program which leads to citizenship. I think that this is the key to the long-term success of the entire proposal. The green card program should grow to at least a million a year (and perhaps to over 5 m a year by the end of the decade) to provide a positive path to citizenship for those that have successfully completed the temporary guest worker program.
10:55:31 AM
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Scott Rosenberg has it right on the Republican's attack on MoveOn.org's Bush in 30 Seconds program. It was inevitable. However, I really don't think the Republicans won this battle. In the past it may have worked since it would have been difficult for the victim of the attack to make a countercase. In this case, all the Republican attack did was to provide MoveOn free publicity, more traffic on their Website, and more members.
9:54:02 AM
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Does anyone really think that the extremely innovative Bush guest worker plan will pass Congress? This would allow the US to walk out from under its twin deficits and step over looming financial chasms in short order. Nah. It is way too innovative to pass.
8:03:56 AM
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BBC. IMF (transcript of briefing) says US debts threat to world economy. The more we hear this, the more likely it is to be true. Markets are pure psychology. Here's the rub: Higher interest rates (to protect the dollar and attract skittish investors) would cause the deficit to soar since the US funds its huge national debt primarily with short term notes (we moved from longer term financing, which is more stable, to short term during Clinton's term). The increase in interest payments would overwhelm (by a wide margin) any deficit reduction attempts. Estimated budget shortfall over the next 67 years: $47 trillion (or 500% of the GDP at that time).
8:01:35 AM
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Good morning!
7:32:48 AM
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Whitehouse.gov: The President proposes that the Federal Government offer temporary worker status to undocumented men and women now employed in the United States and to those in foreign countries who have been offered employment here. The workers under temporary status must pay a one-time fee to register in the program, abide by the rules, and return home after their period of work expires. There would be an opportunity for renewal. In the future, only people outside the U.S. may join the temporary worker program, and there will be an orderly system in place to address the needs of workers and companies.
7:29:21 AM
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Freethinking. I still love the idea of the US going from a population of 290 m to well over 500 m in the next 15 years using a work-to-citizenship program. Imagine bringing 210 m of the most motivated, intelligent, and capable people in the world to the US (regardless of proximity to US borders). Our economy would boooooom (can you say double digit growth rates). The social security and budget failures would fade to oblivion as young workers outpace retired workers 15 to 1 (or more). The trade deficit would reverse! Offshoring would disappear. Real estate prices would zoom to provide monster nest eggs for current residents. It would even help the rest of the world as these people flowed back to their countries of origin with money, experience, and connections (to the US). The perception of the US globally would shift mightily in the right direction.
7:14:00 AM
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© Copyright 2004 John Robb.
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