On the positive side, it looks like she'll probably drop foal while the kids are home for spring break, including my son Calvin who spends vacations with us. Our doctor's out of town for a few days, so he's waiting to induce until next week (unless little Mona develops her own sense of timing). So we're not merely in the home stretch but actively straining against the ribbon.
Meanwhile, while everybody else is slapping around the pending immigration bnill, take a look at this. I've been a lone voice crying for more immigration, not less, and it's kind of nice to see my attitude echoed by somebody else.
Immigration is not the pox neo-Know Nothings make it out to be. Begin with the astounding influx of illegal immigrants, the vast majority of whom hail from Mexico. While the population includes an eye-popping number of crooks, drug-dealers and would-be welfare sponges, it also provides a helpful prop for sustaining American economic growth and cultural dynamism.
Princeton University sociologist Douglas S. Massey reports that 62 percent of illegal immigrants pay income taxes (via withholding) and 66 percent contribute to Social Security. Forbes magazine notes that Mexican illegals aren't clogging up the social-services system: only 5 percent receive food stamps or unemployment assistance; 10 percent send kids to public schools.
On the work front, Hispanic unemployment has tumbled to 5.5 percent, only slightly above the national average of 4.7 percent and considerably lower than the black unemployment rate of 9.3 percent. Economist Larry Kudlow praises Hispanic entrepreneurship: "According to 2002 Census Bureau data, Hispanics are opening businesses at a rate three times faster than the national average. In addition, there were almost 1.6 million Hispanic-owned businesses generating $222 billion in revenue in 2002."
Think of that next time you hear somebody bellyaching about the brown tide at the border.
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