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Immigration Reform

Title: Immigration Reform – Do we have the answer?

 

 

The immigration reform issue has been with us for some time now and we can’t seem to resolve this issue. It appears there may be a resolution passed by the Senate and waiting on the House of Representatives to adopt or reject. The resolution S 744 is pending debate and action in the House as soon as Congress returns to session. This is a bipartisan bill that has been designed to address the pertinent issues of immigration reform and provide something for everybody in its design. Immigration reform is a term used in political discussion regarding changes to current immigration policy of a country. Reform being the keyword which by definition means to change into an improved form or condition, by removing faults and abuses. There are hundreds of issues involved in this debate some of which are:

·        There are an estimated 11 million illegal immigrants in the U.S.

·        Border security poses a potential risk to officers patrolling those borders.

·        Immigrants take American jobs

·        Work visas are not strictly enforced

·        Fixing the issue will only invite an increase in illegals by 10 – 15% each year.

·        The system is currently dysfunctional in all respects.

·        Workers are exploited and discriminated against in the workplace because they have no options.

·        Since 2009 there have been 2 million aliens deported, disrupting families and separating children from parents.

·        Difficulty for agricultural workers to enter for seasonal work.

·        There have been 2 bills proposed one in 2005 and one in 2006 that never got out of committee.

·        Pathway to citizenship flawed.

·        Adverse effects on the economy

 

These are just some of the problems that have been apparent for some time and need to be addressed and reformed. This bill addresses the following issues:

1.      Fix border enforcement

2.      Interior enforcement – fix visa overstays

3.      Prevent people from working without work permits

4.      Creating a committee to regulate visas depending on changing economic times

5.      Amnesty program to legalize undocumented immigrants. Pathway to citizenship

6.      Programs to help immigrants adapt to life in the U.S.

 

The bill S744 was passed on January 28^th, 2013 in the Senate. This bill was created by a bi-partisan group of Senators. These Senators were Democrats Chuck Schumer, Dick Durbin, Bob Menendez and Michael Bennett. The Republican Senators were John McCain, Lindsey Graham, Marco Rubio and Jeff Flake.   The legislation is a product of bipartisan cooperation among lawmakers, business groups, labor unions, agricultural interests, and immigration advocates, who negotiated many compromises resulting in this structure for reform. This is a 1300 page bill and addresses the issues previously outlined and for the first time in a while has the ability to resolve immigration reform issues.

The issue of immigration reform needs to be resolved and this seems like the best chance we have at getting a bi-partisan bill that actually can make a difference in people’s lives and resolve the issues. The Congress has to do the job they have been elected to do and make people’s lives better and truly enact the real meaning of reform.

 

Related Sites:

www.newsmax.com

www.huffingtonpost.com

Wikipedia

  “What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us.”

― Ralph Waldo Emerson

 

Happy New Year

                                                               Happy New Year

Haus of Weber – Current Events – NSA Information Gathering

Haus of Weber – Current Events – NSA Information Gathering

Is your privacy being invaded?

This is a topic of discussion that has many conflicting aspects because it’s such a complicated and ironic subject. I started to research this subject and decided to first understand the meaning of privacy. When I researched the meaning of privacy I found a myriad of information and began to realize that I could write an article on the meaning of privacy alone. This was not the purpose of this article but let’s just say privacy is a complicated issue.  The Constitution of the United States does not use the word privacy but alludes to it in some of the Amendments such as the 1^st and 4^th amendments.  

The NSA is gathering vast amounts of information especially phone data in order to safeguard the American people against foreign enemies. This poses many questions as to the legitimacy and need to gather this information and its infringement on an individual’s right to privacy.  These are legitimate questions and concerns but are kind of ironic in certain respects.

We started to lose some of our privacy when we went into the Internet age and put our information out there. You could even say that the use of credit cards began the private information gathering age. It became apparent after a period of time that these companies, that were gathering our information, found many beneficial ways to use that information by developing files to track our buying patterns and also selling some of that information to other business concerns for their use. The internet and technology have grown substantially since then and with every passing year more and more of our private information is gathered and used decreasing our expectation of privacy and we do this voluntarily, in most cases. The following examples are just some of the ways our privacy is being compromised:

·        Facebook, Twitter, Hulu, Spotify are just some of the companies where you provide your private information for communication on a site with other individuals and these companies are sharing your information with each other and you provide pictures, communications, videos, private thoughts and other personal information for people to see.

·        Credit cards track your buying habits.

·        Cameras on street corners can track your movements

·        We wear medical devices that can locate our whereabouts.

·        We use GPS devices that can pinpoint your location while you try to get to your destination.

·         Cell phones with locating software and camera options that can take pictures and video of private moments.

·        Finger prints stored to provide access to your devices

·        Google Earth that can zoom in on your home.

·        Drones

·        Satellites

·        Taxation – you provide information on your salary and earnings.

According to Amitai Etzioni

The government is no longer the only or even principle threat to people’s privacy. Corporate data miners or privacy merchants stand to profit by selling massive dossiers of personal information, including purchasing decisions and internet traffic to the highest bidder. This information is also available to the government.

The other thing I think we should be more concerned about then the NSA and companies infringing our privacy is hackers who steal our information for illicit and illegal purposes. This poses more of a threat to our privacy then any aforementioned issues.

The bottom line then becomes how is the NSA using this information and how do we control it. There is a report that was submitted to President Obama that outlines the uses and possible abuses of this information gathering and provides viable solutions to control this delicate situation. You can go to Huffington Post and look up Geoffrey R. Stone’s blog and read how this report proposes to resolve this issue. It’s a good read.

What’s your opinion? We would enjoy your feedback.    CLICK HERE

Sites of interest:

Reuters

Wikipedia

thewire.com

huffingtonpost.com

 Updates from previous blogs;

The emergency unemployment compensation benefits have not been extended and many people who have collected benefits for over 26 weeks are no longer collecting benefits.  

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Personal Finance-Plan, Reduce, Maintain

Title Personal Finance – Plan, Reduce, Maintain

 

 

Personal finance should be a plan that outlines your strategy for making, spending and investing your monies. Investing will be a variable depending on your monetary situation. Paying your expenses as they arise and not having a personal finance plan most likely will leave you short of money before your next paycheck. A plan that is tracked and reviewed on a regular basis will help you avoid and protect against financial hardships. It is a good idea to form long term goals for your finances once you have established and implemented your initial plan.

Personal Finance Plan Tip 1 (Plan) – It is a good idea to get a notebook and track your income, bills and living expenses daily. The first item you will enter at the top of the page is your total income for the week, bi-weekly or monthly depending on how you earn your income. You will then list your expenses underneath your income subtracting out those items from your total income. List your income and expenses by date.  This will give you an idea of how much money you spend as opposed to the monies you take in for a period of time. If you find that your expenses exceed your income it will help you decide more systematically which expenses can be reduced or eliminated. Review your expenses on a regular basis to evaluate which ones may be reduced or eliminated. Make sure you enter any bills paid as they are paid. This is key to improving your personal finances.

Personal Finance Tip 2 (Reduce) – Review your plan periodically and you will find that you may be able to reduce expenses by eliminating non- essential costs. You may also reduce your costs by using coupons when you do your food shopping as well as other items of needed. You may want to look for cheaper plans for your cell phone, cable services and internet services to assist in reducing costs. Shopping around for gas stations that sell gas cheaper may be something to help reduce costs. When purchasing any item you should always ask yourself “ do I really need that?” If it’s not essential you may want to eliminate that expense. You may also consider eliminating eating out often, massages and fitness programs on a temporary basis to help improve your personal finances. Review your debt owed and number the least of the debt to the highest of your debt sequentially. Set up a plan to pay off the lowest debt first by paying more towards that debt while pay the minimums amounts on the others. This will help improve your personal finances steadily overtime.

Personal Finance Plan Tip 3 (Maintain)- Review your plan on a regular basis and make sure to maintain your cost saving items. This will eventually improve your personal finances. Eventually you will have more to spend on the luxuries you eliminated and will enjoy a better financial situation.

You may want to check these sites out:

www.intacct.com –free accounting software guide and know your options

www.ehow.com –personal finances

www.personalcapital.com –complete money management for the next generation investors.

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