Millions of people come to this country because America is addicted to cheap labor.
Many people would argue that the reason so many illegal immigrants come to this country is because they are poor to begin with and that our system is flawed not letting the poor people in. I think the real reason for the illegal immigration problem is a simple Economics 101 topic — Supply and Demand.…
Article comments
— go to most recent comments76 - starfish
I want to know what year/when did illegal immigration began? can someone answer me this question? thank you
77 - Beatriz
Well some of this is true but im hispanic and i know what it feels like to be discriminatd against just because of my race. and the bad thing is that in legal i was BORN HERE!!! and what you said about ignoring all the papers that come from illgal people is HORIBBLE!! you need to think about your going to make people feel when you say these things!
78 - dont worry about it...seriously
YOU americans live by the government "Deny all government services to anyone who is not in the country legally",from the article above,well aren't you greedy! immigrants come here to work and by the way not only immigrants and people in mexico do drugs that problem is global so shut the ___ up racist.EVERYONE has a mind of there own so dont judge 1 bad influence for all."please stop judging mexicans they are more honest then most white people and they work harder too. if america didnt have any immigrants they would be lost, because no american can do the jobs that immigrants can do"
THANK YOU
"Also get your facts strait illegal immigrants do pay taxis."
THANK YOU, TOO
JAY thank you you are 1 of a million who has common sense i love u man.
79 - amritpal singh
u sick freak ur an immmigrant to u know u physco path bitch wtf is wwrong with you dont hate the immigrants. Who first entered the U.S not u or ur race the Native AMericans did which u arent. Stop discriminating immigrants they just want a better life and money to buy food and shelter!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
80 - amritpal singh
u b**** ur an immmigrant to u know u ugh wtf is wwrong with you dont hate the immigrants. Who first entered the U.S not u or ur race the Native AMericans did which u arent. Stop discriminating immigrants they just want a better life and money to buy food and shelter!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
81 - Jacob
I grew up in a small New England town that had many recent immigrants. They came from Greece, Italy, Poland, Austria, France, Holland, Germany, Ireland, and other countries.
They came with different customs and languages. They also came legally.
They were intent on putting aside their former customs and languages and were intent on learning the common language and they did.
Lack of proficiency in the common language doesn’t work.
82 - daryl d
Illegal immigrants do NOT come to this country to "help out." They come here with the intention of committing crimes, marching in our streets with THEIR flags, tearing apart classrooms, and eventually tearing apart our society so they can create their own MECHA society. I'm not fooled by the crap propaganda that "illegal immigrants want to come here to make a better life and educate their kids." That's BS. 2008 will be exciting because the backlash against these CRIMINALS will continue.
83 - STM
All I know is, we don't want no more yanks comin' to Australia as immigrants, especially if they haven't learned Australian. You come over here, speaking English, taking away our jobs - well, stay over there and don't immigrate here ... this is OUR country.
And if you MUST come ... then please learn to speak the language first. There are plenty of Australian as a Second Language options available.
And learn to DRINK PROPER BEER.
84 - airely
fuck all u racists!!!!!!!
85 - pablo
u white people dont know why we are here so u should just leave us alone and mind ur own buisness!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
86 - Carl, Alex, Kim, Elizabeth and all family's
I think that all of this crap, Mexicans are the ones that help our economy leap foward now that deportation started our dreams have started to brake down, we to want to go to college and study and get our degree,now alot of mexican, african americans, asians young students that are in high school, elementary, and maybe college are leaving the country of liberty, and freedom because of this crap,I have studied from the year of 2007 the economic process has dropped a lot because a lot of Illegal immigrants that worked in the "united" "States"of america are being deported
"I too have a dream" " that all mexicans, african americans, asians europeans, and more will all live in peace" "with no racism, no discrimination that we are now getting cause we are illegal aliens,but we made what is america now" "like Ghandi, and Martin, Luther, King did, resolve things with no violence, kind negotiation to resolve this dilema" "cause I too Have dream, and it looks like that dream is coming to an end"
WE ARE AMERICANS, WE ARE AMERICA
87 - andy
I don’t think the majority of the people that opposes illegal immigration have a problem with people from Mexico or other countries. They oppose to people coming to this country when they don’t have any intention to assimilate into the American culture. It is a very natural reaction to defend your country when you notice that many of illegal aliens don’t have any intention to assimilate the culture or learn the language. I have personally witness some cases when well intentioned Anglos have tried to do everything to help some Mexicans to learn English and to know more about this country and yet they still refuse.
88 - Emiley
I think illegal immigrants should stay in USA because they are hard workers that just come to live a better life I HOPE they stay in the USA get your facts right too before you write anything. if you want to go maxico get the language straight if you go to mexico if you want illegal immigrants too get it straight here. I am sure some of you like to go to mexico but you know what if you are racist to bad cause you might as well get kicked OUT!
89 - KissMyMexicanAssAllYouRacistBastards
Stupid Idiots, why the fuck do you say that illigals come here only to take your money and your jobs if you lazy bastards won't even do them yourself, if we have to pay taxes we'll pay them, WE LATINOS do the job you fuckers won't do, because you are all lazy fuckers
90 - Les Slater
The large immigration we have experienced, including those without papers, has culturally enriched this country enormously. They have also strengthened the working class.
The government should stop harassing them and provide work documents for all that are here. No deportations.
91 - Ricky
Why don't u go to Iran U stupid beach!!!!!!!!!!
92 - Beaner 4ever
Im a Mexican and i think Illegal immigration wouldn't be a problem just because we need money its a problem because you took our states and they are the biggest states in the entire Nation. we need money but we also want our land back and if we dont get it we will continue to come llegaly or illegaly so get used to it you bastard.
93 - Les Slater
Ricky,
"Why don't u go to Iran U stupid beach!!!!!!!!!!"
Well, ...aren't you the rational one.
Les
94 - tellthetruth
After living for a while in the U.S. I learned to DESPISE mexicans of all types.They have very high arrogant sense of entitlement.They are the scam of the world.Yuk..
95 - Dr Dreadful
That's the trouble with these anti-immigrationists. They always generalize.
96 - unknown
why do you only consider mexicans as Illegal immigrants? what about canadians, europeans, and people from south america? its just not mexicans!
97 - a child of two illegal people
Illegal people come with no intentions of stealing jobs but they come to do jobs that no one else will do. Illegal people are underpaid and work in harsh conditions. If anyone is willing to do their jobs give it a shot but they probably would not last. I am for and against immigration but before you call anyone racist get your facts straight. Learn to spell too. 8 )
Once I get my facts straight, I will comment more because I have much to say on this subject.
98 - Irene Wagner
Senator John McCain needs immigrants so the US has more fresh bodies to send over to the Middle East meat grinder. It's Max Boot's idea. He's one of Senator John McCain's foreign policy advisers.
My biggest objection to Open Borders immigration isn't so much that I don't want more brown people living in my country. I don't want more brown people dying in Iraq.
99 - Dave Nalle
Irene, we don't need immigration reform to send brown folks off to war. We've had a policy of accepting Mexicans and other foreign nationals seeking citizenship into the military for years, rewarding them with citizenship for their service. No one is proposing changing that program regardless of what general course we take on immigration.
Dave
100 - Clavos
"My biggest objection to Open Borders immigration isn't so much that I don't want more brown people living in my country."
Well, of course not.
It was their country first.
101 - Alec
RE: Illegal people come with no intentions of stealing jobs but they come to do jobs that no one else will do.
It is might be more accurate to say that "they come to do jobs that no one else will do" at the wages currently paid. But even this is not enough. I know of small restaurants in Southern California that employ illegal immigrants as cooks, busboys, cashiers and receptionists because they can under-pay them and also skimp on employment and worker compensation taxes. These are hardly jobs that no one wants to do.
Illegal immigrants in the construction industry are paid very competitive wages, but still are paid less than legal workers.
RE: It was their country first.
Not even. But if you want to play "who's on first," Mexico should be returned to the Maya, Yucatecos, and other indigenous groups. No one who speaks Spanish, is a Christian, or has a European Y-chromosome could be considered as being automatically entitled to a share of the country.
102 - Dr Dreadful
And the Maya were what color? Blue?
103 - Alec
RE: And the Maya were what color? Blue?
What does color have to do with anything? If you want to play who's on first games, Spain and France should be returned to the Basques, who are the same color as, but genetically distinct from the other residents of those countries.
The Maya involved in The Caste War of Yucatán (1847â€"1901), for example, never particularly considered themselves to be Mexican.
104 - Clavos
Or any of the other nations.
BTW, "Yucatecos" were a subgroup of the Maya who spoke the Yucatec language. Today, the word refers to anyone who lives in Yucatán, indigenous Maya or European white.
Also, speaking Spanish does not mean that any given Mexican is not a pure blooded indÃgena; only a few very isolated groups don't speak Spanish these days.
The same goes for being Christian.
Is a full-blooded Cherokee who speaks English and is a also a Baptist or Catholic any less of a Cherokee?
105 - Alec
RE: Today, the word refers to anyone who lives in Yucatán, indigenous Maya or European white.
This is not what it means at all to the people I know.
RE: Also, speaking Spanish does not mean that any given Mexican is not a pure blooded indÃgena; only a few very isolated groups don't speak Spanish these days.
There is no such thing as "pure-blood."
RE: Is a full-blooded Cherokee who speaks English and is a also a Baptist or Catholic any less of a Cherokee?
To some. Of course, we also have the issue of Native Americans disenfranchising tribal members who are of European or African descent, even though they lived as Native Americans for generations.
And one of the most ridiculous things I ever came across on the web was a discussion about "full blooded" Lumbee, even though every reliable source indicates that these people are a mixture of European, African American, and Native American (uber-blonde Heather Locklear is a Lumbee, ironically enough).
So again, "who was here first" games are not especially meaningful, especially with respect to the immigration debate.
Oh yeah, I have never seen that US resident Native Americans are able to freely immigrate to Mexico, which is also particularly hard on illegal immigrants from Guatemala and other countries. Go figure.
106 - Dave Nalle
I think the idea of a 'pure blood' Cherokee is pretty much of a fictional concept too. The Cherokee practiced adoption and intermarriage with other groups so extensively and for so many years that they run the physical gamut from blond hair and blue eyes to dark skinned negroid, and they mostly have Scotts last names with histories going back 2 centuries or more. If the Cherokee tried to disenfranchise members with European blood they would cease to exist.
Dave
107 - Clavos
"This is not what it means at all to the people I know."
Be that as it may, it most definitely is what it means to the people who live in the Yucatán (and, for that matter, to the rest of the Mexicans as well). As a Mexican myself, I'm well aware of the contemporary meaning of the word.
"There is no such thing as "pure-blood."
Fine. Parse words to your heart's content, and call it what you like, but it is incontrovertible that a significant portion of the Mexican population is of exclusively indigenous origin, with no European mixed in.
Some, such as certain groups of the Tarahumaras in Northern Mexico have never even seen a Caucasian, let alone interbred with them.
108 - Clavos
"What does color have to do with anything?"
We were addressing Irene's reference to "brown people", which would include the Maya, as Doc implied.
"Mexico should be returned to the Maya..."
Only a relatively small part of Mexico is inhabited by the Maya. There are far more Maya in Guatemala, including my now-retired secretary, who returned upon retirement.
She, BTW, claims to be "pura Maya" (her words); she certainly looks Mayan, speaks a Mayan dialect, plus Spanish, English, Italian, and French. AND she's a Jehovah's Witness and a US as well as Guatemalan citizen.
So, I guess by your definition, she's not really a Maya, huh?
109 - Alec
RE: We were addressing Irene's reference to "brown people", which would include the Maya, as Doc implied.
Actually, we were addressing your ridiculous claim that "brown people" have some special claim to be able to live in the United States because "it was their country first."
RE: Only a relatively small part of Mexico is inhabited by the Maya. There are far more Maya in Guatemala, including my now-retired secretary, who returned upon retirement.
This is irrelevant to the fact that people who want to play "who was here first" games are either inconsistent or ignorant in their considerations of ethnicity and nationhood.
So, for example, by what you admit yourself, Mexico and Guatemala are artificial boundaries which separate the Maya. Shouldn't those nations be abolished and the lands returned to those indigenous peoples?
There are relatively few Native Americans in the United States, but shouldn't all of the country be transferred to them, and shouldn't they then be permitted to decide which "brown people" they will admit as immigrants?
RE: She, BTW, claims to be "pura Maya" (her words); she certainly looks Mayan, speaks a Mayan dialect, plus Spanish, English, Italian, and French. AND she's a Jehovah's Witness and a US as well as Guatemalan citizen.
I have Mexican in-laws who are from Oxaca and whose children certainly appear to have some Indian heritage. And yet their father insists that he and his family tell everyone that they are Spanish.
Relatedly, here in Southern California, there are Native American tribes (casino connected), who are busily re-defining who is a "pure" tribal member, even though their methods and decisions are capricious and largely meaningless.
Self-definition of ethnic purity is absurd.
Responding to this absurdity, this is why I think that if you want to play this game, you give priority to those people who have the least degree of cultural assimilation, and who can demonstrate that they have the least amount of non-indigenous genetic ancestry.
Similarly, shouldn't everyone in the United States who is not indigenous move back to their country of origin? And once there, shouldn't they return to whatever their earliest ancestral homeland was? And shouldn't every country in the world be returned to those who are most closely descended from that region's earliest inhabitants?
Or, should you just retire the nutty idea of "it was theirs first."
110 - rogerg
According to the dept. of state of Mexico;
75% Mestizo (mixed blood)
12% Ameroindian (indigenous, pure blood)
12% white (European)
1% Afro,Asian,other
Population is around 104,000,000 in Mexico
Illegal immigrants from Mexico in the USA= 13,000,000.(over 10%)
Think about it!
111 - Clavos
Thanks for all the education!
You're absolutely right, the North American continent no longer belongs to the indigenous peoples, and the USA certainly doesn't belong to the illegals.
Just FYI, my #100 WAS sarcastic, which, clearly, Doc understood.
Just for you, I'll label all my future sarcastic posts so you can see the point, as this is not the only thread in which you missed the humor.
And lighten up; you're much too full of yourself...
112 - Alec
RE: Just FYI, my #100 WAS sarcastic, which, clearly, Doc understood.
Most people would simply attempt to clarify the point. Even professional wits.
RE: And lighten up; you're much too full of yourself...
From what I have observed, most of the posters here are full of themselves. Including you. Nor is there anything particularly wrong with it.
113 - Brad
Well I read almost the entire comment posting and while some comments were accurate, many weren't. Some illegal aliens do pay SS and income taxes. Usually by using someone else's SS number. The IRS also gives people special id numbers to pay taxes. All illegals pay sales taxes. The problem is that as with most low wage earners, illegals take more out of the system then they contribute. Now take for instance public schooling. American families live one single family to a home, that is the law in most areas. Many times illegals live 3 or more families to a single home. That single home is being taxed (property tax) as if a single family lived there. Thus you have the funds for a single family's children going to the school, with 3 family's worth of children actually attending. Now factor in the English as a second language instruction and the school budget deficit climbs.
Illegals raise the cost of health care and other social services by the same means. They do not pay enough into the system.
Bear Stearns did a research paper in 2005 where they determined the illegal alien population in this country was 20 million or more. The underground cash economy was close to one trillion dollars. The remittances to Mexico is over 20 billion dollars and the second largest revenue stream in Mexico behind oil sales. How is this all possible? They pay few if any taxes as a whole.
Illegals doing the jobs Americans won't do is a catchy phrase that illegal alien supporters, cheap labor advocates and open border ethnocentrists love. That tired worn phrase has been disproved many times over. Americans have always done hard and dirty jobs. They just won't do them for less then a living wage. They won't live in poverty so their employer can get richer. Anyone see the TV show Dirty Jobs?
Not to be forgotten, there is always the "race" card. Why do people normally think of Mexicans when the term illegal alien comes up? That is because over 50% of the illegals in this country are Mexican. Another 25% are from South and Central America. The masses of people are not coming from Canada, Asia or Europe. Besides Hispanic is not a race, neither is Mexican, although there are people that would like them to be so.
Become informed
114 - Jordan Richardson
Damn those low wage earners! While you Americans are at it, you can boot the disabled people, too, and don't forget the elderly. Anyone who can't produce it out, damn it!
To Brad:
Many LEGAL families, take for instance those of the East Indian culture, live multiple families to one home. Asian families do this too. Up in Canada, it's actually normal to see multiple families in one home. Do you propose that Americans simply do not allow multiple families in one home to curb this tax problem? You cannot simply apply one law to illegal immigrants, can you? And wouldn't fixing the system be more important than crucifying one of the many groups responsible for the issues?
"Illegals raise the cost of health care and other social services by the same means. They do not pay enough into the system."
So do disabled people and those on welfare. Most illegals do not use American health care, actually, and they rarely use any social services.
Now, you mention the Bear Stearns study. I happened to have read that and one of the most interesting things that study pointed out was the lineup of companies, big and small, with a HUGE desire to work with illegal immigrants. Car companies want to use the matrÃcula consular card, which is an identification card used by many illegal immigrants, to help put an illegal immigrant middle class family in a fine new automobile. Big companies surely aren't complaining and they likely pay less taxes than the illegal immigrants do!
Wells Fargo branches in Mexican neighbourhoods are making money hand over fist by working with illegal immigrants. Other companies, like cell phone companies, also accept the matrÃcula consular cards and work with illegal immigrants openly without taxation. It's like a pipe dream for these companies, really.
So yes, we can say that illegal immigrants put a potentially downward turn on wages in the United States and we can say that they put new demands on schools and other public services. With all of this bad news, it's not hard to treat it like a bit of an invasion. The insanity ensuing from it, while it may seem a little bit funny from way up here in Canada, is actually quite interesting.
But with big consumer companies utilizing illegal immigrants for their own personal growth and ballooning their own overhead as the result of enhanced sales with illegal immigrants, you won't see many corporations complaining (as usual.) Banks, insurers, and other companies are now deciding that the population of millions upon millions of illegals is simply too much to ignore. With the matrÃcula consular card, illegals are doing business all over the place and companies are lapping it up.
Blue Cross health insurance sells to matrÃcula consular and Wells Fargo, at last examination, had over half a million matrÃcula consular-based accounts.
I think it's simply more accurate to look at the combination of things putting a strain on the system and attempt to work within those items. Pointing the finger at one group and claiming to be just is erroneous. Illegal immigration is very clearly a problem, but it's far from the only problem and I'd argue that unregulated spending, unbalanced corporate taxation, the glass ceiling, and various other socio-political issues stand as being far more detrimental on the system than the issue of illegal immigration.
115 - Clavos
"Most people would simply attempt to clarify the point. Even professional wits."
I prefer not to patronize the audience.
"From what I have observed, most of the posters here are full of themselves. Including you. Nor is there anything particularly wrong with it."
There is when it results in your missing the point.
116 - Alec
Clavos - RE: I prefer not to patronize the audience.
If you were a better writer, better informed, and not so insistent about being pointlessly combative, you might begin to understand how wrongheaded your comment here is.
Brad, Jordan Richardson -
I enjoyed reading both your posts. I think that they both speak to the complexity of the issue of illegal immigration.
By the way, here in Southern California, there are examples to be found of American citizens sharing apartments because they cannot handle the high rents by themselves, and cannot afford to buy homes. In some cases, the building managers turn a blind eye to this because otherwise the units would not be rented at all.
But I take your point on the cultural aspects of this as well.
RE: Most illegals do not use American health care, actually, and they rarely use any social services.
I am not certain that this is true, but the point is that those illegal immigrants who DO use the system not only put a strain on it, but also displace citizens and legal residents who must compete for these resources.
There have been recent news stories about Los Angeles County officials floating a plan to close county health clinics. A recent news story noted, "The county clinics and comprehensive health centers get about 400,000 primary visits a year, nearly two-thirds from uninsured patients."
Coverage on this issue can be found here, here and here.
By the way, this dilemma is not just a matter of illegal immigrants over-burdening the system. A bad economy, government budget deficits and a decline in middle class wages makes it harder to sustain the system for anyone's benefit.
[Alec, for everyone's convenience I've turned your references into properly formatted links. It would be helpful if you could also do this in future. If you're not sure how to code HTML links, let us know and we'll point you to a tutorial. (I would link to it here, but we're limited to three links per comment!)
Thanks,
Dr Dreadful
Assistant Comments Editor]
117 - Jordan Richardson
A few interesting things to note.
Illegal immigration's impact on the health care system is no more significant than the impact of the elderly, those with limited income, those on Medicaid, and those with disabilities. At last count, a RAND study demonstrated that about 78% of illegal immigrants have no health care coverage. Of course, these studies are always a little wonky because it's nearly impossible to survey and document all illegal immigrants. I always cringe a little bit when I hear someone using HARD FACTS about illegal immigration seeing as how there's no concrete tracking system, etc. It's with obvious hesitance that I use statistics in my own posts, but sometimes they can be illuminating.
That same RAND study estimated that the cost on the "system" to provide health care to illegal immigrants was around $1.1 billion annually. Immigrants pay a little less than half of that out of pocket, annually. The study also discovered that illegal immigrants tend to visit the hospitals and medical facilities "significantly less" than average legal citizens. This occurs because illegal immigrants tend to be younger and healthier individuals. Older and sicker individuals are less likely to go through the grueling process of crossing the border, etc.
A few qualifiers from the RAND study: children and seniors were not looked at, researchers inflated the cost of services by around 25% to make up for additional costs, researchers found that 22% of workers had insurance which accounted for $362 million of that price tag, 40% of male illegal immigrants had never even had a medical checkup, 23% had never even seen physicians. Among legal citizens, the RAND study found that 21% of male citizens hadn't had a checkup and 10% of male citizens had never seen a physician. The cost on health care is questionable.
The RAND study can be "Googled" for full examination.
I'd like to highlight Alec's last statement in his post and agree with him entirely, by the way. There are multiple issues here and no easy solutions, but there are certain courses of action that can be taken to ensure that the economic strain of illegal immigration can be curbed with a compassionate plan for all human beings.
118 - Clavos
"If you were a better writer..."
Your failure to understand my meaning reflects more on you than on my writing. Others don't have any trouble understanding what I write.
As for being better informed: you can disagree with my stance on illegal immigration, and that's certainly your right. As a Mexican living in the USA, I KNOW I'm at least as well informed on the issue as you, however, I do have a completely opposite viewpoint to yours.
An opinion is not wrong because you disagree with it, Alec.
BTW, California WAS ours. It was taken from us by force and connivance; but as you look around you, you've probably noticed we're gradually taking it back. Ask Mr. Villaraigosa about that.
One more generation should do it.
119 - Dr Dreadful
By the way, here in Southern California, there are examples to be found of American citizens sharing apartments because they cannot handle the high rents by themselves, and cannot afford to buy homes. In some cases, the building managers turn a blind eye to this because otherwise the units would not be rented at all.
If all this is true, then the glaringly obvious question arises as to why the rents are so damn high in the first place.
120 - Clavos
Doc,
The most likely answer is that the demand is outstripping the supply.
What's CA's net inmigration (not immigration) rate for the past few years? I suspect it's high; not only because of immigration, but also from folks moving from other states.
121 - Dr Dreadful
Yeah, but if demand is outstripping supply to that degree, why are the apartments not able to be rented except as shares?
122 - alessandro
Victor, you're lucky! You would have more likely been in technology, industry or manufacturing had you stayed in Northern Italy.
123 - Irene Wagner
Clavos in #100 This sounds cliche, but not only are some of my friends brown people, I have a beloved niece who is also a little brown person. As to California going back to Hispanics in a generation or so, I say que sera sera and what's fair is fair, and I know I should be learning Spanish, if only to be polite.
The idea I was trying to express, inadequately, in comment #98 is: the poorest and most vulnerable of the Mexican immigrants are getting a raw deal. Conditions in Mexico are so bad that they are willing to make a possibly fatal border crossing. Healthcare facilities that treat them in border communities are becoming overwhelmed. Their employers know they can pay them dirt, and so they do. What redress do they have when they're so poor and desperate?
And to top it all off, our neoconservative leaders with their expansionist foreign policy pretend to be their champions by offering them amnesty. Max Boot, arguably* neoconservative foreign policy adviser to the arguably* neoconservative Senator John McCain states clearly in the article he wrote (linked to in #98) that the motivation for the, arguably*, NEW era in immigration is: to keep on waging wars, exciting and new, without having to re-instituting the draft.
Max Boot sez: "Now is the time to consider a new chapter in the annals of American immigration. By inviting foreigners to join the U.S. armed forces in exchange for a promise of citizenship after a four-year tour of duty...[w]e could provide a new path toward assimilation for undocumented immigrants who are already here but lack the prerequisite for enlistmentâ€"a green card. And we could solve the No. 1 problem facing the Army and Marine Corps: the fact that these services need to grow to meet current commitments yet cannot easily do so (absent a draft) given the current recruiting environment."
* I am convinced, even if Dave Nalle isn't.
124 - Clavos
Doc,
"Yeah, but if demand is outstripping supply to that degree, why are the apartments not able to be rented except as shares?"
Because, as was pointed out, rents are too high for singles (or single families) to afford, so groups of people share.
125 - Dr Dreadful
I hear you, Clav. There are obviously a lot of socioeconomic factors in that part of the country - not least its proximity to Mexico - that contribute to the high demand.
I live in an area of California that has very low housing prices - both sale and rental - although they have been rising as folks from the Bay Area cotton onto the fact that they can sell their astronomically-priced houses, make a huge profit buying property in the Central Valley and commute.
I used to work with families who were moving around the country and wanted to take their Section 8 assistance with them. I'd get workers from other housing authorities in places like Mississippi and Nebraska calling me to find out what our fair market rents were, and being shocked to the core that the numbers I was giving them were lower than theirs. California's reputation goes before it!
On the flip side of the coin, my sister-in-law and her husband live in San Diego and rent a one-bedroom apartment in Pacific Beach for about $1500. They love it down there but even though they both have good jobs there is no way - none at all - that they will ever be able to afford to buy a house. So, depressingly, when they're ready to start a family they'll probably have to move back to Fresno, or (fate worse than death!) to Bakersfield, where he's from.
Wonder if the situation is similar in South Florida - what with the immigration pressure from the Caribbean and South America?