McCain Supports Bush's Plans for Social Security

Bush's proposal to privatize Social Security is back. McCain told the Wall Street Journal that he favors Bubble-Boy's approach to "fixing" Social Security. This approach calls for privatizing Social Security and was so unpopular with the public that the Republican-controlled Congress wouldn't even have the legislation introduced.

This is from the Wall Street Journal article:

On Social Security, the Arizona senator says he still backs a system of private retirement accounts that President Bush pushed unsuccessfully, and disowned details of a Social Security proposal on his campaign Web site.

He also came out in favor of extending BB's reckless tax cuts to the rich and lowering the corporate tax rate. This means, of course, that the United States would face even more deficit spending. This is also from the WSJ article:

Behind the scenes, his campaign is searching for ways to pay for Sen. McCain's tax proposals. In addition to extending the Bush tax cuts, the 71-year-old candidate would slash the corporate income-tax rate from 35% to 25% at a cost to the Treasury of $100 billion a year, estimates Mr. Holtz-Eakin.

In all, his tax-cutting proposals could cost about $400 billion a year, according to estimates of the impact of different tax cuts by CBO and the McCain campaign. The cost will make it difficult for him to achieve his goal of balancing the budget by the end of his first term.

So let's see what the McCain record is:

1. Doesn't care if the U.S. is in Iraq for a 100 years;

2. Makes jokes about bombing Iran;

3. Has flip-flopped on Bubble-Boy's tax cuts, being against them in 2001 and now for them in 2008;

4. Wants to privatize Social Security; and

5. Wants to cut taxes for corporations.

N.Y. Times Story: Illegal Immigrants Taking 20% of Construction Jobs

The New York Times ran a story in the April 17, 2007 edition in the Business section about how the housing slowdown in America is impacting illegal immigrants in America. the interesting statistic in this story is that illegal immigrants are taking up to 20% of all construction jobs, including jobs that pay $25.00 to $35.00 an hour. This is a far cry from how Bush and other Republicans portray illegal immigrants. The refrain from the Republicans and Bush is that illegal immigrants are taking jobs that no one else will do such as farm labor. As this story makes clear, however, illegal immigrants are taking jobs that Americans would do if they knew about the jobs or had an opportunity to apply for them.

The reason why employers hire illegal immigrants is that it is cheaper to hire them. They won't apply for benefits like unemployment insurance or workers' compensation. They don't complain about being subjected to unlawful working conditions. Because they are often paid "off the books" their compensation doesn't show up for tax purposes. This means that employers don't have to pay for Social Security or Medicare benefits. For the employer, they are a great deal. For the rest of America, however, employing illegal immigrants isn't such a great deal. In fact, its a lousy deal. ________________________________________________________________
Click on the link in the title to read the New York Times article.