"Immigrants Make It All Work" in the Schenectady Daily Gazette (Sunday, Aug 3, 2008) by Jill Bryce and Sara Foss was cheerleading for mass immigration both legal and illegal. The writers declare that there are "shortages" of nurses, seasonal laborers for Saratoga, apple pickers, scientists, engineers, biotechnologists and gas station owners.
The Schenectady Gazette's reporting on mass immigration into upstate New York is typical of American newspapers. The writers and editors are politically correct, multi-culturalists promoting diversity. Therefore, all immigration is good and they studiously ignore all the negatives.
Unfortunately, these two writers have their economics on backwards concerning "shortages." By 1929, mass immigration overwhelmed America and Congress passed restrictive legislation. From 1929 to 1965, immigration averaged about 165,000 year. In some years, there was a net outflow from the United States. During this period of low immigration and protective tariffs, the United States built a massive, wealthy middle-class society. Protective tariffs stopped cheap labor imports, while immigration restriction created a "shortage" of labor.
Wages went up and productivity improved as manufacturers substituted mechanized methods for cheap labor. Labor "shortages" are always good for working men and women. It drives up the price of labor and drives down the return on capital. Businesses moan about "shortages," not workers.
The third world has unlimited population growth, no "shortages" of labor. Going along with this is massive poverty. Mass immigration into the United States will turn this country into a third world nation. It will have a very wealthy aristocracy, an impoverished middle class and millions of semi-slave laborers.
From 1965 to the present, the United States has been destroying its working class. Free Trade and NAFTA have resulted in the closing of thousands of factories and the loss of millions of high paying manufacturing jobs. The decimated towns and cities stretching across New York State are proof. Cheap prices at Wal-Mart are useless to unemployed workers. Jobs that can be outsourced through modern telephone go to India and the Philippines.
The jobs are left are swamped by immigrants. Illegals filled the low-end, part-time and seasonal jobs. No longer can students get jobs washing dishes at summer resorts, or retired people find jobs during the afternoon in fast food restaurants. These jobs are done by illegals.
At the high end, companies recruit overseas for workers who accept lower wages.
The focus of the Gazette's cheerleading is nurses at the Albany Medical Center. They quote Greg McGarry, VP for Communication, "At any given time, we have 60 to 70 open positions (for nurses)." The Center's website lists openings for 142 nurses. This would tend to support a nurse shortage.
Mr. McGarry told this writer that there are about 1,000 nurses working for Albany Medical Center. The Gazette reports that since 2002 there have been 341 Filipino nurses and there are currently 250 on staff, or about 25% of Albany Medical Center's nursing staff.
The Albany Medical Center has taken steps to alleviate this "shortage" with their "Grown Our Own" program. The center reports that this program has graduated exactly 35 nurses to date, and celebrates the fact that 9 nurses graduated in June.
Nine nurses?!?!? If there is a critical shortage of nurses, why isn't the largest private employer in the Capitol District ramping up its educational programs? Perhaps, they would rather import cheap labor from the third world.
This writer questioned Mr. McGarry about the foreign nurses as follows:
1. What visas do the nurses have? H-1B's?
2. Did the Albany Medical Center, in compliance with federal regulations, determine through advertising and other recruitment that there were no Americans available for these positions?
3. Will the Albany Medical Center make available documentation that it complies with federal regulations?
4. Are the Filipino nurses required to receive certification or pass other exams in the United States that are required for American nurses? Do they work without such certification?
5. In 2005, a Filipino nurse in New York City was identified as having TB after being in contact with 1500 patients and most likely infected at least four infants. What medical examinations are given to the Filipino nurses working at the Albany Medical Center? Do such examinations, if given, include tests for contagious diseases such as TB?
Mr. McGarry refused to answer these questions.
Is there also a shortage of doctors at Albany Medical Center? Apparently so. Of the approximately 700 hundred doctors listed on the Albany Medical Center website, 57 can be identified as having their initial medical training in third world countries, or about 8% of the doctors.
Here is a sample of their primary medical training: University of Cairo; St George's University International, Granada, West Indies; University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, Ghana; Osmania Medical College, Pradesh, India; Assam Medical College, Assam, India; Dhaka Medical College, Dacca Bangladesh.
Why are these doctors coming to the United States? Is there a surplus of doctors in the third world? On the other hand, is it because the doctors are ready for the big paychecks in American dollars?
Albany Medical Center's website boasts that there were over 7,000 applications for its medical school. How many doctors does it have in a graduating class? It graduated 126 doctors this year!!
If there are any shortages of trained nurses and doctors in the Capitol District, it is because the Albany Medical Center refuses to increase its class sizes. It creates shortages and then makes up the shortfalls by recruitment in the third world.
As a slogan: Albany Medical Center-Bringing Third-World Health Care to the Capital District.
Paul Streitz is a native of upstate New York. He is a graduate of Hamilton College and the University of Chicago Business School. He is the author of AMERICA FIRST, Why Americans Must End Free Trade, Stop Outsourcing and Close Our Open Borders.