Neal Asbury opened his nationally syndicated “Neal Asbury’s Made in America” show on Radio America (now on 44 stations) by warning that entitlements and other government benefits that were once created to provide a temporary hand to help people get back on their feet, have instead become the ultimate destination for millions of Americans. Americans, especially unskilled immigrants, have learned to “game” the system so they never have to look for real jobs again.
Co-host Dr. Rich Roffman characterized this trend as “entitlement tourism.”
“It’s like ecotourism where people visit a foreign land for a unique experience, but in the case of entitlement tourism, they check into the U,S. but never check out,” proposed Dr. Roffman. “It could also be called Hotel California syndrome,” Roffman went on to say.
Joining the show as a first time guest was Hans Bader, from the Competitive Enterprise Institute, who bylined an article entitled “The Myth of Welfare Reform,” where he noted that, “The federal government spends more money each year on cash payments for disabled former workers than it spends on food stamps and welfare combined.”
“Many people who used to be on welfare have since gone onto Social Security Disability. That benefits states by shifting their welfare costs to the federal government. Moreover, people who were never on welfare in the past are now going onto Social Security Disability in droves, which makes the Obama administration happy, since it helps mask persistently high unemployment by reclassifying unemployed people as ‘disabled’ instead,” revealed Bader.
Bader added that there are 30 million people on food stamps, many collecting benefits fraudulently. Yet, most states aren’t rushing to control fraud since the payouts come from the federal government and it actually saves the state money.
“For the past two decades, disability spending has increased at a 5.6 percent annual rate, compared with 2.2 percent for the rest of Social Security,” concluded Bader.
Neal returned to the topic of government entitlements and immigration, proposing that the solution isn’t to stop immigration, but to encourage skilled immigrants to come to this country and stay and contribute. He noted that some of the finest minds and innovators in this country’s history were not born here (names like Carnegie, Einstein, and Pulitzer) and countless others immigrated legally and contributed to our economy in significant and profound ways.
In fact, more than 40 percent of the Fortune 500 companies were founded by immigrants or their children. Eighteen percent (or 90) of the 500 companies had immigrant founders.
“A real indication of our failed immigration policy to attract talented foreign workers is that only 13 percent of green cards issued in 2012 were for economic reasons, while two-thirds were for family reunions. That means that 11 million uneducated and unskilled immigrants are swelling the ranks of the unskilled and uneducated immigrant population by helping their unskilled and uneducated relatives to come to the U.S. and live off entitlements,” suggested Neal.
Dr. Roffman agreed, wondering how the U.S. can continue to pay for these entitlements.
“And yet, we are spending $20 million in Mexico to encourage citizens to come to the U.S. and enjoy American government benefits,” added Dr. Roffman.
Joining the show as a first time guest was Rachel Bade, writing for Politico, who noted that corporations aren’t embracing the opportunity to change the corporate tax rate from 35 percent because “many companies can shave 10 to 15 percentage points, or more, off that number by taking advantage of special provisions in the (tax) code.”
Neal wondered why small businesses like his continue to get hammered on their tax rates while large corporations can take write offs that save them billions of dollars. “It’s a legitimate concern, but for corporate tax reform to have any chance at succeeding, it will need the strong support of the business community, and the more companies rebel, the more its prospects dim,” concluded Bade.
The final guest on Made in America was first time guest Horace Cooper from the National Center for Public Policy Research, who reacted to BET’s Bob Johnson’s remarks that if the unemployment rate for white Americans was as high as it is for the Black community (projected at 15 percent), nobody would tolerate it.
“Black Americans voted for Obama even though they were suffering under his policies. There was a feeling that Democrats would take care of them even though the lowest unemployment rate for blacks was 7 percent under George Bush, the lowest in years,” suggested Cooper.
Cooper added that people who think that there is some kind of racist conspiracy by corporate America against blacks need only look at the growth in American corporations that have promoted diversity.
Dr. Roffman attributed this mentality to media bias that stubbornly refuses to tell the truth about America’s jobs policies while also vilifying conservative black business leaders.
“There has been a systemic policy to kill jobs, which impacts those least able to withstand this policy and suffer the most,” said Cooper.
Dr. Roffman and Neal continued their ongoing segment on government waste and cronyism, and highlighted how cronyism is impacting job creation.
“We have millions of people being pushed into unskilled fast food jobs which were intended as a starting point for teenagers. Now they are being held by adults that can’t find other work. These are not the kinds of jobs that American workers should aspire to,” said Neal.
On a related topic, Dr. Roffman reminded listeners that Obamacare has helped kill millions of jobs because of its inherent cost to businesses.
“But like every initiative from the Obama administration, administration supporters benefit. In this case, tens of thousands of workers are being hired to help people navigate through their Obamacare applications. And who are these workers? They come from unions and organizations like ACORN that have directly supported the President and can sign up voters at the same time. Yep, that’s cronyism in action,” concluded Dr. Roffman.
Each week Neal Asbury’s Made in America provides Neal’s insights into the week’s top news stories and their impact on the worlds of entrepreneurship, small business ownership and the overall economy. Neal’s analysis, together with co-host Dr. Richard Roffman, a veteran 30-year publisher with extensive domestic and international experience, takes a non-biased approach based on real life experience in business as an American manufacturer and exporter. Made in America airs nationally each Saturday from 7-8:00 PM on Radio America. Link to Made in America at http://www.nealasburysmadeinamerica.com.
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