[Conor Friedersdorf]
The eminent proprietress of this blog is returning tomorrow, but for those of you who can't stand the wait here's a quick dose of Megan, talking about her support for high levels of immigration, opining on stagnating wages and musing on her Irish heritage.
I'm quite curious about how today's Latino immigrants will feel about immigration once they've been around as long as the Irish. Though perhaps we'll all be thinking whatever our robot overlords tell us by then.
I don't know that guy Matthew, but after watching is complete disinterested repsonses to her was awesome. I love it! It's like watching any guy having a conversation over dinner with the same girl after they've been together for awhile. He's just agreeing and filling in gaps here and there while she rambles on.
The brief 1min clip may emphasize that point, but I think nearly every guys knows this is pretty similar to a lot of their conversations in the car, on the phone, etc.
I'm pretty sure Matt is actually looking over at his computer monitor to make sure that the conversation is recording properly, that they're spending the right amount of time on the topic, etc.
I'm pretty sure Matt is actually looking over at his computer monitor to make sure that the conversation is recording properly, that they're spending the right amount of time on the topic, etc.
Yep, that's what I'd say too :)
I prefer my theory of the disinterested guy nodding and yessing along during a conversation. He even kicks back and takes a swig! He's my hero of the day.
Some points:
1) Who is Megan? (One forgets things when people suddenly run off to the beach for a week)
2) Her voice is very deep and her eybrows are furry. But in a good way.
Okay, getting to the immorality of people and their viewpoints on immigration, let's not lose sight that we are talking about 1) illegal immigration and 2) this country is not the same at when Megan's Irish ancestors arrived (legally).
I don't think anyone really has a problem with a set of legal requirements and standards as far as people coming to the country. You just cannot have masses of illegals coming in; it affects things.
Perhaps one has to be in Arizona or California to see the differences.
And of course people imply that wages are not particularly hurting people (so therefore they should be more open since the influx is not forcing wages down). "They don't realize that compensation has risen from factors like, say, healthcare," say people like Megan with words I put in their mouth.
But let's be real here. The single factor that gives a person a happy day to day life--lets them go for beers with friends, see a ballgame with the family, put the daughter in ballet, get a second car-- is cash compensation. I can have the best, most expensive (in covered procedure) health care policy in the world and that adds not one benefit to my day to life, assuming I am not unusually unhealthy or tapping every crevice and cranny of the policy). It's the same with most other non-cash compensation that is rolled into company expenses.
And yet policy analysts and economists (from the comfort of well compensated jobs) will parse the numbers and say, "Well overall compensation has grown blah blah blah".
It's cash in the paycheck that is the relevant issue for everyday people. That's what keeps us in the home, helps us by the family stuff. And in that sense, wages are not really moving upwards
So Aunt O'McCardle coming to the US in 1850 or 1922 is really irrelevant to whether Mexicans should be allowed to flood across the boarder without some sort of legalization process. Different times, different cicumstances, different effects.
It's like saying Matt is as cute as Megan by virtue of them both having the same pair hipster glasses on, while discounting factors like voice, sex, boobs, beards, furry eyebrows, nice hair, etc.
The fact that any number of industries (construction, packing plants, child care) can make the argument that without illegals they will suffer, points to the great travesty of our current system. Certain businesses thus are allowed to prosper on models that include breaking the law, when in fact, they should be compelled by the true market to pay market wages or cease their business.
No libertarian should approve of the artificial prop/pricing system that is illegal immigration.
***
Oh yea, and Mathew was not ignoring Megan as much as he was online im'ing people to get his weekend plans all set up. Multi-tasking.
"I'm quite curious about how today's Latino immigrants will feel about immigration once they've been around as long as the Irish."
That statement is ignorant and nonsensical on so many levels that I scarcely know where to start. Is that the effect you intended?
So did McArdle bang Yglesias or Ackerman after the last clam bake on the beach?
I'm an big fan of The Atlantic Hills, but I hate summer cliff hangers.
MoeLarryAndJesus
That statement is ignorant and nonsensical on so many levels that I scarcely know where to start. Is that the effect you intended?
Is it? Really?
I find people who dismiss statements out of hand without any kind of proof, usually have no idea of what they are talking about. How about proving me wrong on this one. Or, more likely, proving me right.
At this point in time, I think The Atlantic needs to clean house. Their bloggers are either laughed at (Sully), repeatedly show that they know little about the topics they discuss (Megan, MattY, Ross), or show that they're more interested in covering up a big story than covering it (Ambinder).
In the case of Megan, she just recently revealed that she wasn't familiar with the phrase "comprehensive immigration reform", a phrase that - in quotes - has almost 700,000 hits, was used in the name of legislation, and has been uttered by every hack politician from coast to coast over and over and over again.
She's not familiar with such a common phrase, and she wants to tell us how to set our policy on the wider issue?
If anyone wants to know what's really going on with this issue, I've got thousands of posts in my archives, and most of it Megan would have no clue about.
She once tried to discuss a page I wrote and then got her head handed to her. If she'd like to be shown wanting again, she can try with this question.