Michael Tanner of the Cato Institute told Talk Radio News Tuesday that if Conservative voters are as energized in 2010 and if Independents choose to swing to the right, then Democrats will be in trouble in the 2010 mid-term elections. (0:29)
Michael Tanner of the Cato Institute told Talk Radio News Tuesday that Virginia’s gubernatorial race and New York’s 23rd district will almost certainly be won by Republican, but that the gubernatorial race in New Jersey is much closer. (0:22)
Cato Institute Analyst Michael Tanner evaluates Robert F. McDonnell’s (R-Va.) lead in the polls for governor, saying that not only did McDonnell run a good campaign, but Virginians are more conservative on economic issues. (0:31)
Cato Institute Analyst Michael Tanner told Talk Radio News Tuesday that the Democrats are likely to win at least one of the seats up in Tuesday’s elections, although he presumes it will not be in Virginia. (0:21)
Mike Tanner, Senior Fellow at the Cato Institute in Washington, D.C., tells Talk Radio News that Republicans could win this year’s elections in Virginia, New Jersey and New York because voters are troubled by the current administration. (0:30)
Cato Institute Vice President of Defense and Foreign Policy Studies Ted Galen Carpenter says the U.S. should stop operating under the illusion that Afghanistan will someday be the “Central Asian version of Arizona.” (0:20)
Daniel Griswold, director for the Center for Trade Policy Studies at the Cato Institute, explains that the immigration policies Congress chooses to enact will have a huge economic impact on U.S. households. He also says that the difference between restricting immigration and legalizing immigration is about $250 billion. (0:31)
By Annie Berman – Talk Radio News Service
At a Capitol Hill briefing held by the Cato Institute Friday, economic experts recommended factors that should be included in immigration reform including a guest worker program, taxes on work visas, and tighter internal enforcement and border security.
Peter Dixon, an economist from Australia who holds a Ph.D. from Harvard University, argued that illegal immigrants who hold low skill, poorly paid occupations are more likely to be unreliable workers than an employee who is a citizen of the U.S.
“The main reason for their productivity being low is their wages. Economic theory suggests that people will be employed up to the point where their wage is equal to their productivity,” Dixon said. “If wages were higher than their productivity, well then they will get fired. If wages are lower than their productivity, then you want more of them…They systematically earn lower wages than legal residents.”
Dixon explained that if the U.S. imposed tighter border security and tighter internal enforcement, it would cost twice as much for an illegal immigrant to cross the border. Therefore, a reduction in the labor force of low skilled, low wage workers would cause vacancies to open up at the top of the job market.
“Border crossing is a dangerous thing to do. You’ve got to give money to smugglers, it might not be successful, you might be sent back home…We’ve built the fence higher in a way that’s equivalent to potential illegals thinking in terms of it costing them an extra $5000 [for example] for a crossing,” Dixon said.
To counteract a reduction in the number of jobs available to citizens, Dixon suggested a guest worker and legalization program wherein employers may obtain visas that are taxed. The taxes from the visas would go to the government and an incentive for employers to higher immigrants that want to work in the U.S. would be created. With a guest worker program, there is the possibility that each guest worker would bring more productivity with them, the economist added.
Dixon explained that the U.S. standard of living will go up because because there would be more productivity, but without any drain on public expenditures due to only a small rise in population. Dixon also made clear that the guest worker program would not be a “path to citizenship”. Immigrants who choose to participate in the guest worker program would simply be guests, not automatic citizens, Dixon said.
“It has to be made completely clear that this is not a path to citizenship. This is a way in which the U.S. gets a job done. It’s like trade. You are importing labor to do a particular job and then go away again. So it’s not meant to be a path to citizenship.”
Cato Institute Senior Fellow Michael Tanner calls on Congress to not rush health care reform in order to produce reform that will work. Tanner argues that gathering more information and removing some of the emotion that is involved within the debate will lead to better analysis and more effective solutions. (0:30)
By Annie Berman-Talk Radio News Service
A panel of experts at the Cato Institute said that a key step in strengthening the relationship between Pakistan and the U.S. is to convince the Pakistani people to favor the United States.
“We face a huge obstacle of not really understanding each other and definitely not trusting each other,” said Wendy Chamberlin, the former U.S. Ambassador to Pakistan and President of the Middle East Institute. “We need to help that Pakistanis put human safety and security first, this means a significant investment in local police, community police, because that is where people are protected and through local police you have the better [intelligence] for the kind of insurgencies we are facing.”
According to Chamberlin, peaceful relations between the US and Pakistan could be impeded by a number of other risks including shaky military relations, the role of religion, deadly drone attacks, and a history of miscommunication.
Mukhtar Kahn, an analyst at the Jamestown Foundation, described the Pakistani population as a strong, civil society.
“There is a strong middle class. Pakistan has a population of 170 million people, and around 60 million people are the middle class. Most of them are against the Taliban,” said Khan.
“One of the most important things is that Pakistan has a very vibrant media these days. Pakistan has more than 50 independent TV channels…[people] are debating everyday…People are participating in those debates,” Khan added.
In order to improve relations between the U.S. and Pakistan, Kahn suggested increasing public diplomacy, cultural exchange programs, and strategic communication among the Pakistani people regarding the threat of the Taliban.
