Bloomberg calls Arizona law a threat to the economy
To Mayor Michael Bloomberg,—soulless, secular, clueless liberal that he is—America is not a nation, it is the “most open and attractive marketplace in the world,” and its success as the most open marketplace in the world is threatened by the Arizona law and similar laws that other states may pass.
In yesterday’s New York Daily News Bloomberg argues that legal immigrants and legal visitors will be intimidated from coming to, shopping in, and doing business in America by the fear of being stopped by police. This supposedly super-smart man doesn’t even know that the Arizona law authorizes officers to ask people for ID only if there is already lawful contact with the person. Police cannot simply stop people on the street and ask them for ID. Furthermore, even if the law did authorize such ID checks, when a state is under a criminal invasion as Arizona is, would that be such an imposition? Most normal, patriotic people would be happy to be stopped and asked for their ID, because it would convey to them that the authorities are acting against the invasion instead of allowing it.
Notice how liberals have no problem with the useless, humiliating, and demoralizing security procedures we must go through in airports, procedures that treat us like a nation of guilty sheep, but the same liberals think that merely being asked to show your driver’s license is a Nazi-like attack on your human rights.
Is there anything liberals say that is not a lie? Seriously, is there anything?
How Arizona’s law will hurt America: Mayor Michael Bloomberg assails the new immigration statute
By Michael Bloomberg
Wednesday, April 28th 2010, 4:00 AM
A new Arizona law requiring local police officers to stop anyone they might reasonably suspect of being here illegally may produce unintended consequences that could hurt not only Arizona, but all of America.
The law is so vaguely written that it may force officers to stop people who look or dress differently—or who speak a foreign language, or English with an accent.
Already, stories are appearing about foreign travelers crossing Arizona off their vacation lists. Who wants to visit the Grand Canyon if you could end up getting hassled by the police—or arrested—if you leave your passport at the hotel? Foreign business leaders may also think twice about visiting or investing in Arizona.
While Arizona may suffer, as long as those visitors and investors still come to America, the country will be fine. In fact, we hope more of them come to New York, where we would welcome them with open arms.
But if some of them stop visiting and investing in America, and if other states follow Arizona’s lead—as some are now discussing—the economic consequences will be felt in middle-class communities across the country.
American citizens would lose jobs as businesses downsize, and governments with lower tax revenues would lay off teachers, firefighters and police officers. As a result, our country would have a harder time climbing out of the national recession.
Requiring local police to stop anyone they suspect of being here illegally may also hurt public health and safety. In New York City, we protect the confidentiality of all residents when they interact with government, because whenever someone is afraid to report a crime, for any reason, it makes all of us less safe. Whenever someone is afraid to go to the hospital to get treated for sickness or disease, it puts all of us at risk. Whenever someone is afraid to report exploitation in the workforce, it hurts all of us. [LA replies: What is Bloomberg missing here? He’s missing the point that the illegals are not supposed to be here. The point is not to make illegals comfortable, so that they will participate in our institutions. The point is to make them leave.]
Since our earliest Colonial days, people have come here from around the world—with few restrictions—to better their lives. Today, we continue to rely on people from every continent to lay the foundation for our future economic growth, both through their innovative new ideas and their manual labor. But the simple fact is that our policies are too restrictive given American companies’ demand for workers and American consumers’ demand for products and services.
Basic free market economics tells us we need more legal immigrants—immigrants who will start new businesses and help build the foundation for future economic growth. Laws that have the potential to hassle them could prove devastating to our economy.
From a practical point of view, police officers have no rational way of knowing in advance who is a citizen, or a tourist, or a business traveler, or a legal permanent resident, or a foreign student, or a temporary worker—and who is not. And this could lead immigrants who own businesses to pack up and leave and take their companies’ jobs with them. [LA replies: the only people the law would encourage to leave is illegal aliens.]
Phoenix Mayor Phil Gordon understands the harmful impact that this law could have on his city, and he is weighing a legal challenge. Certainly, a very strong case could be made that the law is unconstitutional. But Gordon also understands that the real solution lies in Washington.
We need Congress to pass comprehensive immigration reform—and fast. In the weeks and months ahead, I will do everything possible to join with Gordon and others to advance reform that strengthens our economy, secures our borders and honors our history.
What’s at stake here is nothing less than America’s international reputation as the most open and attractive marketplace in the world, and our standing as the world’s strongest economic superpower. Immigrants have always been at the heart of American culture and capitalism, and casting suspicious eyes on legal immigrants will only harm both.
Bloomberg is mayor of New York City.
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James P. writes:
“In yesterday’s New York Daily News Bloomberg argues that legal immigrants and legal visitors will be intimidated from coming to, shopping in, and doing business in America by the fear of being stopped by police.”
Oddly enough, every single foreign country that I have ever visited, shopped in, or done business in, required me to show identification before I did so. Often, after I got there, I had to show (or surrender) my passport to hotel clerks, railroad conductors, and policemen. None of these countries thought that their rules were unduly burdensome or deterred foreigners from visiting. Has Bloomberg never traveled abroad, is that why he doesn’t know this? Just try visiting Switzerland without ID and see how long it takes for the Polizei to throw you out.
Bloomberg says: “Since our earliest Colonial days, people have come here from around the world—with few restrictions—to better their lives.”
We don’t live in Colonial times any more, genius. We don’t need warm bodies to work in farms and factories. We’re a “knowledge economy” now, right? So we don’t need a massive influx of illiterate Third World peasants.
And if they want to better their lives, that’s great, natural, and understandable, but what about the people who already live here? Does it “better the lives” of the people of Arizona to accept a teeming horde of Latin American peasants?
Posted by Lawrence Auster at April 29, 2010 12:14 PM | Send