Thursday 25 March 2021

Migrant Story

 Gallup went out and did a survey....to estimate up how many non-Americans around the Caribbean and Latin America would want to pack up and move to the US.

From the 33 countries on the list (remember, this doesn't include Africa, Asia, or the Middle East)....they figure 42-million people are 'interested'.

If you included three other regions (Africa, Asia and the Middle East)?  I would take a humble guess that those three regions would add up to over 150-million.  So you add the 42 and 150 numbers up, and you come close to 192-million.

So the logical question here to ask....just using the 42-million number only....how easy would the group be assimilated into America?

Just looking at the population of South Carolina currently (5.14-million)....they'd probably bump to around 6-million.  

Using Tennessee?  Currently at 6.8-million?  With incoming, they'd come fairly close to 7.5-million.

The fact that most would only settle where real jobs are located?  So you count almost figure Montana and Utah....get almost no bump-up.  States like Texas or California?  They'd likely get seven to ten million new residents each.  

Are there even homes or jobs for a 'bump-up'?  No....if you sit and think about it....neither exist in the numbers required.

The fact that tens of thousands of Africans are viewing Twitter or Facebook daily, and seeing encouraging news of migrants from Peru making their way into Mexico, and to the border?  

The crew around Biden really don't grasp or understand the depth of this issue and how far they can turn this into a deep pit.

So, it's just something to ponder and wonder about.  When 2024 comes around....just how big a mess will migration be, and how angry will the public be at that point?

Then you come to this one problem....what if the others (the Africans for example) find a way to get a freighter seat and land somewhere in Honduras or Costa Rica?

Baltimore

 For the past month, I've been following the woes of the Baltimore city school system, and how crapped-out it's become.  So I'm going to lay out what really happened and why it's 'unsolvable'. 

After Baltimore emerged from WW II....around 1950....they were at the peak of population and economics.  As the 1960s arrived....over a ten-year period (ending at 1970), they'd lost around 4-percent of the population.  

By 1980, urban decay had started to arrive....roughly 13-to-14 percent of the city left.  At this point, from 1980....the decline of the school system started up.  Part of this is due to the population shift....neighborhoods in decline....tax revenue is a freefall....and everyone trying to do, with less.  I should mention this as well....cocaine arrived in the 1980s.

The teacher's union....whether grasping this or not....were recruiting and hiring teachers with addiction problems.  The quality slipped.

By the 1990s....the older generation teachers were aware of the discipline problems....the poorer quality teachers coming in....student behavior crapped-out, and lax standards.

In this era...you marginally educated a kid, and at the end of the year....even if he was only 70-percent ready for the 5th grade....you passed him anyway.  The next year....that same kid was passed to 6th grade....probably only 60-percent ready for the requirements.  

In twenty years, even if you recruited 4-star teachers (young and out of college)....it only takes two to three years for the teacher to realize the false atmosphere that exists.  At that point, you submit your papers, and leave (quietly).

If you look around the landscape....probably half the kids from Baltimore who are at age 15....probably have the school level of a 5th grade kid. At best....at age 18....they might be at the level of the 7th grade.  

Resolving this?  What can you do with a 16 year old kid who is four to five years behind the level he should be at?  The bulk of teachers in the city for this job?  You'd have to fire all of them and start from scratch....mandating weekly drug tests.  

My gut feeling...it's not worth resolving.  If you were a parent with a 5 year old kid....the best thing to do is leave the city....don't look back.  

New Border-Problem 'Fixer'?

 Yesterday, without a lot of words....President Biden appointed VP Harris to head the border-crisis effort. The press wanted to ask questions but were shuffled out of the situation.

Harris?  The crisis?

First, the entire crisis revolves around three key issues: (1) migrants believe the border is totally open and Biden won't shut it down to them crossing, (2) more than any point in the past fifty years, juvenile migrants are crossing....which the border patrol guys are marginally created to handle this type of situation, and (3) surrounding states of the border region don't want this issue to linger and get bigger.

Second, the resume of Harris for jobs like this?  Non-existent.  She's not a deals-person.  She's never managed a crisis of sizeable proportion.  And she does not have the means to say that the border will be upgraded and shutdown for illegal crossings.  So, other than photo opportunities, and casual chats with the government of Mexico....I don't think much of anything will occur.

Third, and this is the blunt 'truth'....Harris has about 30 days to deal with this and get the numbers down.  By May, warm weather will start up, and the current crossings will probably double.  

Footnote: I read this morning some PhD guys studied things in Central America, and they say around 42-million residents want to cross the border.  If this group number is true....Biden is probably looking at a five-star mess, and it'll burn through all of his 'must-do' lists.  The mere suggestion that you might have 1.5-million migrants arrive in California over the next 18 months....should scare a fair number of people.  Course....250k new migrant residents for Alabama might scare a few folks.