The American Spectator : The Spectacle Blog : Re: Krikorian on Immigrants and Welfare

The Spectacle Blog

Re: Krikorian on Immigrants and Welfare

By W. James Antle, III on 7.28.08 @ 4:21PM

All he’s saying is that unskilled workers are going to tend to be poor and that poor people tend to use social services and means-tested government programs. Krikorian is both disputing the idea that immigrants come to the United States to collect welfare rather than work, and the notion that immigrants who come here to work hard don’t collect welfare. By my reading, that view isn’t incompatible with believing that free markets will do more to improve the conditions of the poor than expanding the welfare state. The main difference Krikorian would have with our Tom Bethell, well known for arguing “Immigration si, welfare no,” is as to whether the most practical way to deal with the problem of unskilled immigration and welfare is to cut off the welfare or cut off unskilled immigration.

topics:
Immigration

About the Author

W. James Antle, III, author of the new book Devouring Freedom: Can Big Government Ever Be Stopped?, is editor of the Daily Caller News Foundation and a senior editor of The American Spectator. You can follow him on Twitter @jimantle.

http://spectator.org/blog/2008/07/28/re-krikorian-on-immigrants--1

FLASHBACK TO: 1995

Pope Culture

By George Sim Johnston

A man of faith in a godless age is hitting Americans where it hurts.
Why the GOP Does Not, Like, Totally Suck

By P.J. O'Rourke

Mr. and Mrs. American Spectator Reader, let P.J. O’Rourke talk sense to your kids.
Dames at Sea

By John Corry
In the Absence of Guns

By Mark Steyn

In Britain, defending your property can get you life.
The Metaphysical Martini

By Werner J. Dannhauser
Counting the Costs of Clintonism

By Robert H. Bork

The debacle of this president’s administration is both a cause and a symptom of the decline of American values. Unless Congress impeaches him, that decline will go on unchecked. An eminent jurist surveys the damage and assesses the chances for the recovery of our culture.
Chuck McHagel

By George Neumayr

It won’t take long for conservatives to scratch this presidential wannabe off their 2008 scorecard.
The Legacy of Old John and Mother Fresh-Roasted

By Douglas Bartholomew
It’s the Best Time of the Year

By Mark Steyn

The American Christmas, like the songs that celebrate it, makes room for everybody under the rainbow. Is that why so many people seem to be hostile to it?
The Bush Crack-Up

By Brit Hume

Was the President done in by the economy, or by the politics of the economy?

Clip of the Day

H/T to National Review Online

The American Spectator

About the Author

Sign up for our Newsletter

FLASHBACK TO: 1995

Clip of the Day

Facebook Recommends