Follow up to Politics Schmolitics

Fellow blogger Mia Delarosa brings up a good point on the war on drugs. She highlights the fact that people will always posses the want for drugs and that the "war" on it is more costly than helpful. I think she can go a step further and say that even if everything were legalized, not much would change. Or at least, not much should change. If, as a country, we are properly educating youth about drugs and their effects and what is acceptable use and what is not, then the illegality is no longer a factor and people can make decisions based on their own morals. The illegality of a substance only changes what happens after the person does it, not so much whether they will do it or not. In my opinion, we should focus more attention/money towards educating about drugs than we are enforcing the laws against drugs. You know, go after the root of the problem, not the effects of the problem.

The bright side of the recession

Despite the hordes that lost jobs and the harsh economic downturn of the Great Recession, there is a morbidly positive side to it as well. The brighter side of the turmoil of the past couple years is seen best by the workers who managed to hold on to their jobs and paychecks. That is, because of the relatively stagnant pool of unemployed workers, those who are employed have seen an increase in the spending power of the dollar. The slow down of the recession over the past few months has helped to fend off the stage where it is safe to re-hire workers. As a result, the people who are without jobs are the same people who were without jobs half a year ago, which is much different than previous economic downturns (almost 45 percent of today's unemployed workers have been without a job for at least 27 weeks). Coupled with the fact that inflation has fallen to nearly zero, the purchasing power of everyone who has a job has increased relatively.

Even more so, the wages of currently employed workers have increased more than usual. Employers seem to be willing to increase wages but unwilling to re-employ workers. In the past slumps of the 70's, 80's and even 90's, wages were decreased anywhere from 6 to 2 percent. However, since the end of 2007 hourly wages have increased 5 percent.

The positive side seen by employed workers is only possible because of the extremely stagnant pool of unemployed workers. Furthermore, those with jobs have seen a greater percentage of hourly wage increase than during any other economic downturn in the past.

In response to US GOV Today's post

In response to US GOV Today's post, Get Out of My Yard:

There is indeed a lot of criticism surrounding this piece of Arizona legislature. I can see how it could be perceived as racist because of the nature of requesting citizenship proof. However, if you read the bill, it simply says that officers can request citizenship status when it is practical for the situation. The bill says nothing about skin color.

You also state, "I feel that if someone cannot understand a single word of the English language they should not be hired period." Well, coming from my experience with LEGAL Latinos that speak only Spanish, barring someone from employment because they can't speak English is ridiculous. In the restaurant I work at, many of the cooks speak only broken English (at best) and are a very valuable asset to the business. Many of them support their (also legal) families with the money they earn at the restaurant, cooking and cleaning things that no one else has the work ethic to do. And they do it well. So I encourage you to re-think your statement about language being a prerequisite to work.

I also have to disagree with what you say about illegals not reaping the benefits of legal citizens. Sure, they may not be using the same government aid programs that other citizens are, but living in America for most illegals means experiencing safety from drug wars, superior education, and better work compensation.