This episode is on immigration, social security, income taxes and workers' compensation/ protections insurance. The reason we are tackling four at once, is that they are all connected and can be all be improved by changing a couple of things. By improved I mean Immigration can be done humanely and be beneficial to the US and the immigrants, Social Security insurance can be bolstered to a point where the fund that is its reserve can be made solvent and increasing each year instead of going in the rears. Income taxes can be brought down for the lower income portion of society while still increasing the amount brought in by the federal reserve and Workers compensation, unemployment and disability insurance can cover everyone and do that for a lower per person cost.
Let's start with some background and facts about immigration. We are a country of immigrants, About 10 percent of our population has always been immigrants. That hold true to today. My ancestors weren’t from here and neither were yours. Even indigenous people are immigrants; they have been here for thousands of years though. Immigration is part of how the US grew and became one of the wealthiest countries in the world. New blood, new ideas, new helping hands. Unfortunately, there has always been a group of people who resist new immigrants, just like today. There was an exception to the resistance, the indigenous people who helped the immigrants, there were also times when immigration was forced upon people.
The population of the US is shrinking, It is expected to go down by 23 million by 2055. That is a reduction of over 7 percent of the current population. One consequence of this trend is a decline in the number of individuals supporting the elderly and contributing to Social Security, which places increased responsibility on a shrinking population. A reduction of population also causes stagnation in the GDP. Population decline generally also leads to labor shortages.
The Social security fund is also shrinking and will not be able to keep it commitment in 2033. That’s right Social Security will be underfunded in 2033. It’s not as bad as it seems; currently, 95% of incoming money is spent, and only 5% comes from the fund. So we just need to find the 5%, which will become a larger percentage if we don’t act now. The current amount that the 5% comes out to is about 80 billion dollars. The money to fund that can be acquired through several sources including having immigrants help pay for it. The cost of ICE will go down if we handle immigration properly so some of that money can be funneled into the pool. The reduction in the cost of lawsuits for unlawful acts performed by the government can also be put to better use helping take care of us rather than defending us for harming others. So we can find the money, it just no administration has been looking, and some administrations have been wasting more than the 80 billion, exacerbating issues instead of solving the actual one at home.
The Social Security card is extremely easy to counterfeit; I couldn’t find an exact number of instances but there are allegations of over 25% fraudulent use. Twenty-five percent, which creates a host of other issues, finical loss, Identity theft and allowing undocumented persons to work under them, to name a few. The social security card does have special chips to prevent fraudulent use.
Workers’ Compensation is more costly when Employers are not insuring or underreporting wages. People who work under the table don’t pay taxes, Social Security Medicare or unemployment insurance. So some of the employers don’t pay workers compensation insurance on many of their workers, then if one gets injured, The employer says he just started this week. Another thing that happens is the injured worker goes to a hospital an says he did off the job and the government helps reimburses hospital for the expenses. So workers’ compensation insurance is a lot higher than it should be if there was proper reporting. We also pay more in taxes because the government has to reimburse the hospital instead of the employer who should have had insurance.
As for social security payments, if the number of people working under the table is just 15 million which is a number that is batted around a lot (my guess is it is over 50 million) and the employees make 15 dollars per hour and work 40 hours a week, that comes to over a billion dollars that the social security is not getting. If I am right and the number is 50 million that amount is 3.6 billion. Those numbers are based on 15 per hour, but many of the workers make 3 to 10 times that amount. So we could be talking about 10 to 50 billion or more. That is just the social security, there’s also unemployment and Medicare insurance and the income taxes.
As an illustration of how this works and how unfair to the rest of us let me tell you a story. I know a guy who was undocumented but had a US citizen wife. The guy got paid over 85k under the table, worked weekends making around 30 to 40k more per year. Then his wife worked under the table cleaning houses making 150 to 200 per day, so she was making over 40k per year. That’s over 150 thousand dollars a year. But on top of that the wife was also receiving SNAP and section 8 housing. Neither of them contributed to any programs, just took. The take away should be on the harm these people did, but the system that let them get away with it for years. There are at least 12 million undocumented workers getting paid under the table and the number of documented and citizens working under the table is at least that many. I think that number is way higher on both groups because I run a company and more than half of the people who apply for work, want to be paid under the table. I also know several other business owners that look at me cross eyed when I mention paying people over the table. I am not the only person noticing this Fact, Forty-nine states feel that companies are underreporting so much that they mandate workers compensation because the employers wouldn’t get it on their own
One proposal to stop undocumented immigration was building a tall wall. First of all, a wall will always be breachable unless it is over 150’ tall and a thousand feet deep. Thousands of people still get over it every month, that’s the new 30’ tall wall. It has not slowed entry of undocumented persons. But it has contributed to disabling injuries and deaths. This of course has increased the cost of providing care for the injured. People have died crossing it, which in itself is unconscionable especially when some are pregnant mothers who also loose the child but there will also be lawsuits from the families of the dead. Unfortunately, hundreds of people also get hurt while going over the wall and most of the injures are critical. The latest numbers I could find were in San Diego County, where over 400 people a year fell off the wall and received critical injuries. They had to be rushed to emergency. The average cost of surgery alone was over 400k each. 400k each. That is just to do the initial surgeries. Then we take care of them for as long as it takes to get them well and you know there is a lawyer waiting, seeking them out in the hospital. So, it is 10s of billions in just San Diego County. I used San Diego County because the information for other areas is very spotty. It`s probably 100s of billions of dollars a year. This happened because we built it higher. While writing this I can’t help but wonder why anyone in charge has not investigated a net, not just to reduce costs but the there`s the humanitarian issue? Or Is the net in the same box waiting to be opened as non-forgeable social cards? The wall cost over 11 billion and is costing hundreds of millions to maintain and cover medical and litigation costs per year and doesn’t do the job it was intended to do.
Another interesting fact is that Biden and Obama deported more migrants than Trump per year in office. That right, more every year. They did it quietly and did most had committed crimes. They also did it it for less money. The Obama administration spent about 8 billion a year and deported an average of 750 thousand a year. Trump first term spent about 30 billion a year and deported an average of 500 thousand a year. Biden spent about 12 billion a year and deported an average of 800 thousand a year. Now Trump is spending about 75 billion and deported about 600 thousand persons. On top of that there were about 1.4 million self-deportations, but the self-deportations are a one time event, the amount of persons who were scared out of the country is going to drop dramatically, even with killing people. Another thing to point out is the brutality of trump deportations, aside from being wrong, it will bring a higher number of lawsuits.
Another thing is look at all the billions that were spent. Obama 64 billion, Trump 1 - 120 bilion , Biden 48 billion and Trump 2 over 200 billion. That’s 432 billion dollars. $432 billion deporting people in 20 years. What to stop them from coming back or others taking their place. It really doesn’t sound like a great investment! Especially when we are not addressing the issue
The reason these the vast majority of people are coming here is to work, better pay and these undocumented persons are finding work. Many of them travel over 1000 miles on foot to get here and there not going to do that if there is no work for them. I am sure the migrants that are here communicate with their families and say yeah, I found a job and I am getting great money. So many of the people they communicate with say I am going there also. If nobody gave them work or they wouldn’t come. There was actually emigration during the 1930s and at recessions because of the lack of work.
Another fact is they commit far fewer crimes then the average American. It is about half of the rate of Americans. Yes that’s not good that they commit crimes, but statistics show as the immigrant population grows the crime rate falls. If we had control of who we let in we could probably lower the rate of crime. Yes there is the Medicare incident, but the federal government was warned by the state that there was fraud, and that was back in 2020, I am not saying it is right but the government needs to be more diligent. Were your forefathers criminals, was your great grandma a murder? Come on, this B. S. about them all being criminals, it is offensive. I admit that there are some that a bad. But if we have a way to control the inflow and exodus of them it will be easier to act appropriately.
Another point is that very few undocumented persons get federal aid. Once again there are several misconceptions being spread. Almost all aid is given in the form of emergency medical care and to mothers who are pregnant or with children up to 6 years old.
To come up with a solutions you need to look at the proximate cause of most of the immigration. Companies hiring undocumented workers is the main cause. They wouldn’t come here, if there were no jobs! There are several other issues that bring immigrants here, Climate change, turmoil at home and hope for a better life. But the biggest draw is jobs.
Here is my proposal, it hits at the main issue and is a win win on several other issues.
The ss card should be upgraded to the twenty-first century. It should be one of the most sophisticated chip cards around, virtually non-forgeable. Then once we have a card that is protected and not easily forged, we can issue an app and/or card readers to all Americans and businesses that need them. The collection devices will give almost Instantaneous information to the treasury and other reporting agencies. This helps business, the treasury and individuals, plan and react to the current economic conditions. Everyone can pay taxes easily and it will be harder for people to mis report income. Someone pays a pool guy, the gardener, a laborer, scan the card and the taxes are automatically taken out, social security, Medicare, unemployment and workers compensation, if applicable. All in an instant, with the swipe of a card. Employers will also use the system. Once the treasury department has this information the feds could send you a 1040 at the end of the year, so that you can adjust or okay it. Way easier and quicker tax filing. This system adds to social security fund and the national income. The proposal will take weeks of stress from the average person, not making to go back and forth on their computer trying to figure out what information goes where. It will also increase the amount of money collected by the treasury, in two ways, one the total will be more and two it will get the money far faster than it is now, which will decrease our national debt.
As for immigrants, we allow the ones who are already here to register. I suggest we do it on a phased basis, using something like the first letter of their last name, them a window where they have to show up. There will be a grace period where employers and employees have time to register. This will take time; there are millions of immigrants and Millions of people who are working under the table, which is why I propose the phased system. Hopefully it can be done in a year. Another thing I would like to see with immigrants is that the employers' portion of their social security tax, that’s the contribution made by the employer, and other taxes paid by the employer go to the appropriate funds. These monies will not be added to the immigrants' accounts; they will be used to strengthen the US. As for the immigrants it will be a tithe for being allowed into the US. These monies will bolster the funds and start reversing the borrowing that the past congresses and presidents did. We can also do better vetting of the immigrants. This tithing won't be forever; if the documented immigrants are allowed to become citizens, they will be treated like the rest of our citizens. The tithing will be on social security only, unemployment insurance and other taxes will be paid in to the proper funds, which bolsters these funds.
Part of the admission process will include the immigrants signing a contract were they agree to leave if they can’t find work, they can stay as long as they are getting unemployment insurance, which they paid into, but after that they will need to leave. The contract will spell out they cant commit crime and other things we would like out of our citizens. We could also include putting a chip in them, if we determine that is not to invasive. I think we could find way to tell who is more productive and less likely to do crime. There has to be some type of test. We should also do aptitude test and direct them at jobs they are likely to do well. If the jobs involve training we could include employer funded training, after work.
The monies they paid into social security will be put into a special social security fund and given to them if they are asked to leave. These monies will be paid out once they are off American soil. The money will also be given back if they are not allowed to become a citizen.
There will be safeguards as for reasons for deportation. We need to try to make sure we don’t let in people who`s children destroy our country and values. (we probably want to do more vetting on people from Scotland and Germany, that a poke at trump not anyone else). The immigrant flow can be controlled by the needs of the economy, and some will be asked to leave if the economy goes south and there is a shortage of jobs for them. Once again, they will have time to find a new job and be given unemployment insurance, which they paid into.
We also make it so people can sign up on the other side of the border so they know that if they come without permission they will not be allowed admittance unless they go through proper channels. We could also have an additional data base of jobs so we can let them know if there are jobs or there are no vacancies and they can apply for entry and a job at the same time.
There will also be a clause where a job must be advertised to the public and Americans will be given the first shot. People who wanted the job but were denied the job can file a petition if they feel they were not given a fair shot at the position. This will have to be limited somehow so the system is not overwhelmed or abused. But employers will need to have a way to not have to hire employees who are not productive or do not fit. These are details that will need to be addressed. I can even see paying immigrants a little less than the minimum wage after wages are brought above a living wage.
Let’s not forget other benefits of this plan. We don’t have to be a-holes to people who just want a job, just like your grandmother and your grandfather. It will bring down the cost of several insurances as it will be hard to lie about your employees, and the number of insured will rise. The way this works, especially with workers’ compensation insurance, is there are more workers reported, and charged for the amount collected for each goes down. The number of workers who are not reported right now is in the tens of millions, that is billions of dollars going into the worker comp funds an other workers protection funds. Right now some employers only report employees after they are hurt, this is crimpling to the funds. It will also help social security, Medicare and Medical, the affordable care act, education, make census easier. I am positive we will see a huge set of benefits. We will stop throwing billions away chasing people and have fines (which could be in the billions) on people who break the law which will pay for enforcement. Once again, the biggest benefit is it will add Billions to the Social Security fund.
Another benefit is, it will cut down on the enforcement at the border. I am certain that the immigrants mention how easy it is to get a job to the people back home, When they send a check for hundreds of dollars the immigrants send to help their relatives back home and the people in other countries who see this are drawn here. The amount sent to Latin America wa 161 billion dollars in one year, that number is the amount sent by wire transfer, there must be a huge amount sent by mail also. But instead, if the immigrants tell their friends and relatives, they are no more jobs, and the US is not accepting new immigrants it will have virtually the same effect as the draconian treatment they are receiving without any cost to the tax payers and no lawsuits.
Now how are we going to make sure people adhere to our new program. We hire data collectors to follow some pools guys and other service providers who can easily mis report income, then check to see if the income was reported by everyone on the route. We need to make sure everybody is towing the line (I will address the wealthy adding to there contribution in another webcast). Hire people try to get jobs under the table and fine those who offer them cash. Have companies try to pay people under the table and fine the employees who for trying to do that, but if they have a green card it deportation. The new laws can and will be enforced! Give warnings, at first to citizens but fines to companies. Big fines like 5k for the first business offence and keep doubling up from there on up for each employee and when you come back to check on the company again, if they are still not compiling the fine would keep growing from the last doubling up. Also fine homeowners and service providers if they don’t comply after the short grace period.
We need a solution that adds to the economy, adds to social security, Medicare and tax revenue while lowering insurance rates. We need solutions that stop and look at the issues and use research to find the root causes of issues. Once we have done that, only then we can find proper solutions. Hasty, ill-conceived plans don’t work and can’t work because they are not directed at the issues. They are putting out a fire with gasoline. They generally cause more damage than do good. Lets stop using sloppy outdated draconian plans and use logic and researched based plans for progress, instead of exacerbating existing issues.
Let look a cartel member. If they are not registered then if they are questioned about their source of income it might lead to more investigation and point authorities to a large source of crime.
wi Immigration affects the GDP of the US and we can spend billions to control immigration, and not very well or we can bring in billions. Social security needs to be paid by all and should be paid out to all of us who have contributed. We should all pay taxes, including immigrants. ll be less expensive if everyone is covered by it.