- Economy:
Anyone who has taken Econ101 knows that prices are a function of supply and demand.
In 2020-22 supply was down because of supply disruptions during COVID-19.
Demand was up because the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act) which provided Economic Impact Payments.
Maybe Biden did too much, but allowing people helping people affected by job loss and other things due to a global pandemic helped a lot of people.
Inflation did come down in 2023-2024, and was lower than the rest of the industrial world, but prices stayed high, a consequence of factors that couldn't be controlled by government.
I've heard one bogus conservative argument that tries to tie the immigration issue with the economy issue is: Undocumented immigrants are competing for houses are causing the increased housing prices. This is plainly BS, but I did the math just to show it. It contains some facts that could be useful in looking at the housing issue.
Much less than 2% of potential home bidders would be immigrants.
There are 12 million undocumented immigrants. Less than 10% have the means to buy a home even at pre-inflation prices and they frequently share 1 house, so thats about half a million homes immigrants might bid on.
As of 2023, there are approximately 44.5 million renter-occupied housing units in the United States, which is 34% of all U.S. household. This is a rise of around 10.3% in the last 10 years;
The vast majority (86%) of current renters in the United States say they would like to buy a home, so that is 39 million homes. But less than 60% could afford a home even at pre-inflation prices. So thats less than 25 million holmes.
That says immigrants would be less than 2% of home bidders.
A lack of immigrant labor is one factor contributing to the rise in home prices.
- Immigration:
Crime:
An NIJ-funded study examining data from the Texas Department of Public Safety estimated the rate at which undocumented immigrants are arrested for committing crimes. The study found that undocumented immigrants are arrested at less than half the rate of native-born U.S. citizens for violent and drug crimes and a quarter the rate of native-born citizens for property crimes.
There are other studies with similar results.
My personal experience with immigrants using them for yard work and on our family farm where immigrants were good people and productive workers.
Drug Trade - 90% of fentanyl is smuggled by US citizens not illegal aliens.
Jobs:
Illegal aliens are not taking jobs from citizens.
There are 9 million unfilled job openings in the US.
Most Americans are not interested in taking low wage jobs.
See President Reagan's Fairwell Address.
Where he says "If we ever closed the door to new Americans, our leadership in the world would soon be lost."
- Abortion:
For 50 years I was active in conservative protestant church.
LGBQ was always the main social issue, not abortion.
Abortion seems to be more of a political issue than a religious issue.
What the Bible says about abortion:
The only mention of the beginning of life in the Bible is in the Old Testament (based primarily the 24 books of the Hebrew Bible or Tanakh).
The Bible doesn't discuss abortion nor does it say a fetus is a human.
The clearest passage on life is Genesis 2:7,
"Then the Lord God formed a man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being."
It was the Pope that said life begins at conception.
The anti abortion argument uses Jeremiah 1:5 "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you,
before you were born I set you apart".
There is evidence the abortion had a major effect on lowering the crime rate which had been rising for 30 years and started to decline in the 90's, 17 years after Roe vs Wade.
See Abortion
- Democracy:
See Will Trump move us from a Democratic country to an Autocratic country
- Experience:
Some people say Harris does not have enough experience.
Actually Harris's experience is more than Obama's experience.
Obama was rated the 7th best president in our history by the Presidental Greatness Project.
Trump was rated 45 (last).
Job | Obama | Harris |
US Senate | 4 years | 8 years |
State | Ill Senate 6 yrs | CA Attorney General 6 years |