"The simple fact is that highly skilled foreign-born workers make enormous contributions to our economy [...] The US will find it far more difficult to maintain its competitive edge over the next 50 years if it excludes those who are able and willing to help us compete. Other nations are benefiting from our misguided policies."
Bill Gates,
Testimony before the Committee on Science and Technology, US House of Representatives,
March 12, 2008.
by Daniel Griswold
The Dallas Morning News, April 27, 2008
Among its many virtues, America is a nation where laws are generally reasonable, respected and impartially enforced. A glaring exception is immigration.
Today an estimated 12 million people live in the U.S. without authorization, 1.6 million in Texas alone, and that number grows every year. Many Americans understandably want the rule of law restored to a system where law-breaking has become the norm.
The fundamental choice before us is whether we redouble our efforts to enforce existing immigration law, whatever the cost, or whether we change the law to match the reality of a dynamic society and labor market. [more]
April 15, 2008
Race to the Bottom? The Presidential Candidates’ Positions on Trade
by Sallie James
In a new Trade Briefing Paper, the Cato Institute's Sallie James examines the voting records and campaign pledges of the presidential candidates and finds that John McCain’s policies on free trade would be most beneficial to the U.S. economy. Based on campaign rhetoric and trade voting records, “voters could expect a President McCain who promotes freer trade and cuts in market-distorting subsides, and a president Clinton or a President Obama who views free trade between voluntary actors as something to be restrained,” writes James. [more]
March 31, 2008
Worried about a Recession? Don’t Blame Free Trade
by Daniel Griswold
Contrary to political rhetoric, free trade does not cause economic downturns, but in fact it has helped ensure that recessions are “mercifully shorter, shallower, and less frequent” than in past decades, according to a Free Trade Bulletin released by the Cato Institute. [more]
March 14, 2008
No Need to Panic about Foreign Sovereign Investment
by Daniel Ikenson
"Sovereign Wealth Fund" investment, like all foreign investment, benefits the U.S. economy in myriad ways. Accordingly, it should be treated like all foreign investment: welcomed, but also subject to laws and regulations that could block proposed deals that are found to pose risks to U.S. national security, finds a new Cato Institute report. [more]
Higher Food Prices: Part 2, featuring Sallie James, 04/28/2008 (MP3 
)
POTUS Hopefuls Differ on Trade, featuring Sallie James, 04/16/2008 (MP3 )
April 27, 2008
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, WI -- "There were a lot of great ideas on the reform side." But in the end, reformers could not compete with farmers who wanted to keep the current system in place. The farm subsidy lobby is absolutely up there with pharmaceuticals and the oil industry as far as how powerful they are."
April 24, 2008 Marketplace, CA -- There's more to the farm bill than subsidies.
April 21, 2008 Investor's Business Daily -- A shrinking, battered middle class forced to take low-paying McJobs is a myth. Bureau of Labor Statistics numbers show that "the country's lost a net 3.3 million manufacturing jobs in the past decade — but it's added a net 11.6 million jobs in service and other sectors where average wages are higher than in manufacturing."
Immigration law should reflect our dynamic labor market
America will be poorer as Obama pursues the wealthier
When employment lines cross borders
Dems betray our ally Colombia
A Promising Farm Bill Development
by Sallie James
May 8, 2008
No Way to Treat the Customers
by Daniel Ikenson
May 6, 2008
Ag Committee Chair Demands Higher Food Prices
by Daniel Griswold
May 5, 2008
AZ-Verify
by Jim Harper
May 1, 2008
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