Join The Trading Room

U.S. Would Sell Visas to Prop Up Real Estate

By Rick Ackerman Posted on October 27, 2011, 8:08 am EDT Last Updated October 27, 2011, 1:10 pm EDT

[John Skerencak, known to denizens of the Rick’s Picks forum as John Jay, is outraged by a Senate bill that would effectively sell visas to foreigners willing to buy expensive homes in the U.S.  The story, reported recently in the L.A. times, is linked below, and you’ll see in the comments it provoked that he is not the only one who thinks this deal stinks.  RA]

Selling U.S. visas to prop up the real estate market? You’ve got to hand it to the banking and real estate lobbies, they never give up.  They always have a new scheme in the works. Here’s the story, from the October 20 edition of the Los Angeles Times: “American consumers and the federal government haven’t been able to bail out the sinking U.S. real estate market. Now wealthy Chinese, Canadians and other foreign buyers could get their chance. Two U.S. senators have introduced a bill that would allow foreigners who spend at least $500,000 on residential property to obtain visas allowing them to live in the United States.” And there you have it. You can read the article for further details, but the bottom line is that it eliminates the old requirement that a foreigner invest money to create jobs in the USA to get a residence visa. As if that law were not already demeaning enough to America.

My synopsis:  You need only pay $500,000 or more in cash, and buy at least one property worth at least $250,000 to live in, and the rest of the money can be used for rental properties.  This legislation proposes a list of regulations that are unenforceable and will never be checked in any case. Think about SEC enforcement of securities regulations: Showcase the law, but don’t enforce it once it has been enacted. You can be sure this will be gamed with money laundering, false tax returns and who-knows-what-else.  Kickbacks anyone?

Cause, or Effect?

Sens. Schumer (D-NY) and Lee (R-Utah) introduced the legislation. Schumer thinks “the extra supply of homes is what is dragging the economy down.” Funny, I thought it was three decades of off-shoring jobs and opening our borders wide that have been dragging the economy down.  I also thought the real estate mess was created by a collusion of big banks and government. And there’s also the not insignificant problem of our Government being $15 trillion in debt. And ZIRP. Perhaps the Senators are confusing cause and effect as far as the extra supply of homes “dragging down” the economy?

As for me, I believe this proposal is just another distraction from the housing fraud and that schemes like the Schumer-Lee bill will continue to make headlines until the statute of limitations run out on the guilty.  Moreover, it bodes ill for the average American trying to buy a house at a time when wages are stagnant.  To borrow from Plutarch, Congress has “failed to observe that they had made their whole country a thing for sale, and had put themselves in a position where they had to be the slaves of the worst sort of people in order to become the masters of the better.”

But don’t let me influence you.  Read the article and record your thoughts in the Rick’s Picks forum. And, especially, read the comments posted on the L.A. Times website. Joe Sixpack doesn’t seem to think much of it.   However, as was the case with TARP, the D.C. crowd is not concerned about what the public wants.  We should be used to this attitude by now. If you don’t have time to read the article and comments, take this shortcut: First, ask yourself how many pieces of legislation have come out of Washington in the last ten years that benefited you.  Second, ask yourself how many investment bankers have been indicted for their role in the mortgage-back securities scandal. Now, add those two numbers together. Get the picture?

***

(If you’d like to have Rick’s Picks commentary delivered free each day to your e-mail box, click here.)

  • Paring November 12, 2011, 3:28 am

    You don’t get US Citizenship, as opposed to in Canada, and you pay on your worlwide income to the Fed. People will still be thinking before they act, espeically the Chinees. What about the expensive healthcare the US has. If you stay for a few days in a US hospital, you’ll pay through the nose, without any healthcare.

  • Tommy October 28, 2011, 1:43 pm

    Mava

    It’s not that we as Americans are against immigration completely. It’s when you have an overwhelming majority of ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS coming from the same country at the same time. Back in the 80’s Castro opened up his jails and allowed all his criminals to come to America. Which was the basis of the TV show Miami Vice of the same era and the cocaine wars.

    People from far-away countries don’t have the same ability to relocate here because of distance/ lack of visas. Not much problem with illegals from Africa,Asia or Europe here is there? Just doesn’t seem fair does it.

    We should allow a quota from every country each year, in order to keep some sort of balance in this country. It’s been reported that hispanic/latins are the largest ethnic group in this country now. ???

    Now in the past twenty years we have the same problem with Mexican/Guatemalan immigration. Living in Florida we are overrun with them to the point of road signs ,stores, press 1 for English,etc. all being bi-lingual. What ever happened to learning the language of your new country. They undermine the job market by working for less than minimum wage.

    Don’t say they only take jobs that Americans don’t want anyway either. Because that just isn’t true, construction jobs are filled by a majority of Mexicans and Guatemalans today. They should fine anyone caught hiring an illegal FROM ANY COUNTRY something like $10,000 per man. That would solve the problem right there, no work, they would go back home.

  • ful_karboy October 28, 2011, 7:22 am

    “However, for the wealthy and the corporations, it has never been better indeed. They are still very safe, and either de facto or de jure exempt from most laws that apply to you and I. ‘

    So’s the Justice Dept and the BATF for their selling guns to Mexican drug cartels. However businesses go bankrupt, banks fail and membership in the top 1% is constantly changing. A few decades after arriving here some folks have gone from the bottom 20% to the top 20%. There’s even a case of a guy raised by a single mom that got into Harvard, got a job passing out other peoples money, then got elected POTUS.

    Where else could THAT happen ;>)

  • mava October 28, 2011, 5:34 am

    I don’t understand what is all the fuss about “incompatible”?

    Were we compatible with native indians?

    I believe this incompatibility is simply hidden feelings of racism. Americans have a very good proverb: “Tall fences make for good neighbors”. This doesn’t mean national border fences, but the fences of private property rights. You can not expect to be happy with neighbors if you choose to live too close to them. If you somewhat intolerant (as I am, to loud noise, and excessive activity) – just get bigger land piece, not taller overpriced house of drywall and 2×4, which you could later erect yourself.

    I believe all the points of friction with people from different background arise from living too close, and on a political scale from the fact that we have democracy, which by design does not support property rights, meaning people are always going to have a vote on your rights.

    If we stayed with republic, this would be different. Because anything that has to do with private property (i.e. smoking, health, seatbelt, college, etc. etc.) simply can not be voted on. Jefferson said about the folly of democracy that it is foolish, because it allows people to delegate rights to things they themselves don’t have the rights to.

    Example: it can not be possible to vote on how to tax, since all direct must be apportioned. Thus incoming say, Mexicans could not vote to tax you more, or receive ANY benefits at all.

    All our dislike of foreigners stems from the fact that we have a welfare state, and not from foreigners themselves. Because we have a welfare state, then the question inevitably arises of someone receiving more or less than he is contributing. Remove socialism, and you would not care who is coming, since there is nothing they could “receive”. And, freeloaders would not come.

    Secondly, the dislike of foreigners stems from a belief that they will steal your job. When you start to question about that, the only argument the nationalists are able to show is that the (say) Mexicans don’t need to support the same level of life. But, why don’t they?

    This could be either because they make more prudent choices (be it living together or not buying so many toys) which anyone can make, or again, because there is socialist welfare.

    Arabs hate you? What kind of baseless BS is that? Watching too much propaganda? There are bad and good people in any race or nation, and in the same proportions as here. I personally know more foreigners than born here Americans, and I could not make any difference of character between them, that would prove that other nations have different distributions.

    When things get bad, some people break and get bad. When things get worse here, you will see a lot of born and raised assholes, right along with imported ones.

    Lastly, I don’t believe anyone can be “deserving” anything because he was born here. If it was his own choice and achievement, that would be OK, but I haven’t seen one single man yet, who had chosen and achieved his own birth circumstance.

  • Vishal October 28, 2011, 3:27 am

    I’m originally from India living in Canada, and Canada allows people with money to gain a citizenship.
    I would love to invest in the US housing market. Compared to Canada the housing prices are cheep. I feel for some people not comfortable with our cultures. Since I’ve moved to Canada I’ve turned into a Hockey loving Canadian!

    Cheers

  • nonplused October 27, 2011, 11:43 pm

    “No one’s life, liberty or property is safe while congress is in session.”

    They should make a law preventing any more legislation. From here on out laws should only be repealed.

  • Henry Hub October 27, 2011, 11:20 pm

    I think the selling of visas is the logical extension of the fact that U.S citizenship has become worthless. The United States is a country of corporations not individual citizens. Corporations are legally people, but with more rights. Corporation control the Congress and the White House. Unlike actual people, major corporations pay little or no tax and can never be imprisoned for crimes.

    • ful_karboy October 28, 2011, 1:45 am

      “the logical extension of the fact that U.S citizenship has become worthless.”

      Not quite, if many supposedly productive people will pay a 1/2 mil for it. It’s either that, or like Greece, face becoming as business-friendly and productive as we used to be, before job-killing Gov regs, high taxes, predatory lawyers, Unions and eco-nazis drove whole industries overseas.

      If Canadians had the “same value systems” as we do they would not have surrendered as much of their right to self-defense.

      “also thought the real estate mess was created by a collusion of big banks and government.”

      Don’t forget the sterling contributions of “community activists”, Clintonista-run fannie and freddie and …

      **The effort to reduce mortgage lending standards was led by the Department of Housing and Urban Development through the 1994 National Homeownership Strategy, published at the request of President Clinton.**

      **From the current handwringing, you’d think that the banks came up with the idea of looser underwriting standards on their own, with regulators just asleep on the job. In fact, it was the regulators who relaxed these standards–at the behest of community groups and “progressive” political forces**

      A scapegoat HAD to be found and a long-planned “spontaneous” demonstration, aided by fellow-traveler media types, focused the envy of the naive on Wall Street and “the overcompensated rich” {not including your favorite sports or hollywood stars of course ;>)

      **Moreover, Freddie purchased an ever-increasing percentage of Alt-A and sub-prime loans for each year between 2004 and 2007. It is impossible to forecast the total losses the GSEs will realize from a $1.6 trillion portfolio of junk loans, but if default rates on these loans continue at the unprecedented levels they are showing today, the number will be staggering. **

      http://spectator.org/archives/2009/02/06/the-true-origins-of-this-finan

      http://www.americanthinker.com/2009/11/clowardpiven_government.html

    • John Jay October 28, 2011, 3:28 am

      Henry Hub,
      Right on! Being a US Citizen does not mean what it used to even thirty years ago. We have the highest incarceration rate on the planet. Big Brother is watching us all. However, for the wealthy and the corporations, it has never been better indeed. They are still very safe, and either de facto or de jure exempt from most laws that apply to you and I. Congress is exempt from insider trading regulations I have read. Plenty of exemptions to Obama Care were handed out. The Gulfstream set never wait in the security line at the airport. All you can do is carve out some financial high ground for yourself and watch as the tsunami waves wash over our country. Financial, moral, and social tidal waves have been coming in more and more frequently.

  • gary leibowitz October 27, 2011, 10:19 pm

    Wow!!!!

    What a day. This on home sales plunging over 4 percent on mortgage rates at the lowest in decades. Guess we now know why the Fed is trying everything possible to prop this up.

    I have an absolute upper end SPX target of 1292. It just hit that. Is this a blowoff? Stay tuned. Wonder if Rick has anything on his radar.

    • Robert October 27, 2011, 11:05 pm

      well, it’s either a blowoff or a really high energy impulse leg… yes?

  • mava October 27, 2011, 9:29 pm

    1. US is a nation of immigrants. This in itself, denies any honest person any reason to deny anyone else who wants to come here, his right to do it. You can either acknowledge your own origin, or remain in denial and keep inventing all the excuses that supposedly do give you the right to deny others that same thing you have gotten, while none of those actually applied to your own ancestors.

    2. The deal, is very likely an accommodation to our creditors, who need this venue to exchange our debt (debt > dollars > real estate > other convenient goods or money > ship back out of US), and who are probably demanding it. As we need them to continue to buy more treasuries, the deal probably is:

    -[U.S.]-We need you to buy 100 bil more.
    -[China]-Only if we can cash out 200 bil that we already gave you.
    -[U.S.]-That would not make sense to us.
    -[China]-We can make it work.
    -[U.S.]-How?
    -[China]-Borrow from your own people.
    -[U.S.]-They have nothing to lend.
    -[China]-They can lend you their future debt. And we can make them do it.
    -[U.S.]-How?
    -[China]-Let us buy your RE, and cash it out through commodities and such. For each 2 dollars that we cash out, we loan you one dollar. That would let us to cash out a significant portion of your debt, and it will give you few more years of treasury auctions, and few more years of being in power. That will “visibly” prop your RE markets. They would collapse hard as soon as we finish, but at that time you will not be in the office. Let your people to put their earned money to compete with the bulk paper you issued us, so that the prices go up and even more fools take out loans to do it. To the amount that they will be in failure to pay, that is the amount that you will have effectively borrowed from them.
    -[U.S.]-Hmmm. Sounds exciting. Why couldn’t you do it already?
    -[China]-Because we will be robbed on the way out, so we would need you to have a special program, where your usual expatriation rules would not apply to us.
    -[U.S.]-Will do!

    • Chris T. October 27, 2011, 9:48 pm

      mava,

      if you manage to steal someones home, and keep it and make it your own, you do NOT have to let someone else steal it from you.

      Yes, if they manage to do the same, then no right to complain, would be hypocritical, but you still do not have to say: “please come take my home from me”.

      And hypocrisy is our new virtue:

      According to Peter King, Hillary Clinton and the rest of the cretinate, when Iran (supposedly) sets out to assasinate another country’s national on OUR soil its an act of war.

      But if we assassinate a foreigner in another country (Awlaki in Yemen, Osama in Pakistan), that is OK, and hurrah.
      Its also not an act of war when Mexican soldiers enter US territory to aid their local drug-lord/ human-smuggler paymasters.
      So, hyporcrisy is not criticism of us at all.

    • mava October 28, 2011, 2:00 am

      I am not complaining, just explaining. From my point of view, a creditor does have few rights.

  • Jennifer October 27, 2011, 9:28 pm

    Dear Rick

    I don’t know whether it is because I am English but I don’t have a problem with this.

    If you are UK domicile you don’t have to do much for the tax man, you could buy up anything. Look at London real estate prices!

    The key is to get as much money as possible into the place. If the legal environment is soundish it could be an avalanche!

    Key problem is prime property becomes totally unaffordable to the residents unless equally rich.

    But a visa is a visa, it is not a green card?

    Someone somewhere needs to think about adopting a UK stance/law…as I understand the US is dead exclusive to foreigners?

    This is nothing…..move on….

    Put me right!

    Jennifer

    Jennifer

  • Chris T. October 27, 2011, 7:27 pm

    Tommy:
    “…these 12 million new voters…”

    Think about it:

    every since about 2000 we have been told by the media that there are 12 million illegals in the US.
    About 5-6 years ago there was a little fight in the MSM, esp. via Lou Dobbs, that placed the number at closer to 20 million.

    But if you look up new reports, congresscritter comments, etc during the Bush years and til now, its ALWAYS 12 million.

    As if NOT A SINGLE illegal has come in since that number was first offered.
    Or did the annual additions magically cease being illegal in some other way?

    Point is: just another media deception to make it look like a small problem (oh their less than 4% of the total population).

    The 20 million from years back was most likely already an understatement, and using credible annual increase numbers, must be much closer to 30 million by now, as nothing has changed that wasn’t already the case in 1998-2002.

    How would people react to that one, 10% o the country is here illegally?
    And how many of them are used to disenfranchise you and me in voter terms, when they are enlisted to vote?

  • Chris T. October 27, 2011, 6:58 pm

    John Jay puts it well.

    But I fail to be outraged any more, because, while I hadn’t thought of this specific scheme, that these buffoons would come up with something like it is expected.
    Not surprised, not outraged, just laughing wryly.

    One could even argue that given we let just about any economic dregs into the country via our wide open southern border, at least with this proposal some money comes in.

    Its too bad they can be as callous as the Canadians (John calls it demeaning, but DC has been whoring itself out for so long now…), who actually sell their citizenship outright for $500k a person, but then actually make that a second class citizenship on closer look.

    So, if they had made it:
    buy one $250k property and pay another $250k per application, that would have been it.

    If passed, one has to wonder at how much this will actually entice people to “invest” here, as Schumer would surely call it.

    Why would foreigners actually want to come here anylonger, and place their money in a declining asset?
    If it were so attractive for the have’s to come, then they would treat that asset just as a price to pay, but that time is long gone.
    Be subject to US world-wide tax laws?
    Be treated like sh** at every transportation hub?
    And because this is also geared to the haves of the third world, be treated badly just because of one’s name?

    In fact, one almost wishes for this plan to be passed, craven though it is, so that its, rationally evaluated, failure provides more evidence of our decline and loss of those things that once made this country the envy of the world.

    So, while on principle outraged, bring it on!

  • Brad October 27, 2011, 6:14 pm

    This is very similar to what Canada did in the 1990s to get their books and housing markets back on track. If Canada is considered a sensible nation, then this policy should be considered in the same light. I am not sure it was a sensible policy in Canada as the Hong Kong influx from the 1990s has carried the Vancouver housing boom further than it should have, but in general the plan worked for Canada.

  • David Tanner October 27, 2011, 5:02 pm

    Selling America is obviously a bad idea, but I will leave the pros and cons of that argument to everyone else. I just want to look years down the road at the end result. If Canadians want to come down and move in my neighborhood, I say “come on down.” We think alike. We have the same basic culture, morality and religious beliefs. But do I want to be living beside Chinese and Arabs who, as a general rule, are NOT like we are? Do YOU want to be living between two Muslims who secretly hate Americans? Think I’ll pass on that one.

    By the way, whatever happened to the war on terrorism? Now, as long as they have at least 500k, we just invite them on in? Really? Shows that the war on terrorism was really a sham to begin with. It was a means to an end to scare Americans into laying down even more of their freedoms. The goons at the airport are not there to keep the bad guys out, they are there to keep you IN when it comes time to leave….. which appears to be getting pretty close.

    • Chris T. October 27, 2011, 7:39 pm

      David:
      “Think I’ll pass on that one.”

      I can see your frustration. But this scheme will not make much difference in the future inevitability of what you describe.

      See this well reasoned comment by Pat Buchanan on just that topic, which is really an obituary for the America we built and still, cherish:

      http://lewrockwell.com/buchanan/buchanan190.html

      Very sad in its inescapable nature.

  • mava October 27, 2011, 3:55 pm

    I’ll second what Mark Uzick said. He is exactly right.

    Besides, I would not think they are getting a deal. They must be super dim to go for it. They will ride an express train to become “US Residents”, which will forever obligate them to pay us taxes to support Obama and his children until the day they die, even though this wealthy Chinese resident had not used any welfare himself.

    So, the only way one can protest against it is for humanitarian reasons.

    • chinese-america? October 27, 2011, 4:45 pm

      alot of chinese with money still want to immigrate to usa,canada,australia. depending where they buy into, they will soon see what “99%” america is about. redzoning is illegal in most states, but i bet prime property in prime locations wont be being sold to mandarin mother tounge speakers.

      same $hit everywhere, if you got tons of money you are good. i dont have even have a few ounces but i figured out a 250,000 usd or 500,000 usd house is really no big deal, im from california. no disrespect to other states but if it aint the coasts, texas or colorado, its like the eastern coast of mainland china now, those regions are driving the nation.

      the culture and attitude and system will eventually wear out any true person looking for liberty,opportunity or “freedoms” regardless of their origin. if they dont go back, their children or grandchildren will. guess that gives at least another 20-40 years in birthrates.

      best of luck to all and better luck preparing

  • Robert Rhoades October 27, 2011, 3:52 pm

    Kind of makes you want to take shower doesn’t it?

  • gary leibowitz October 27, 2011, 3:00 pm

    A pathetic remedy to a black hole of a problem.
    The sooner they can get people to overdraw and get back into debt the better. I guess they think the good old days need to be revisited. They are also changing the restrictions that banks have for homeowner refinance. They now allow homeowners to refinance no matter how much their house has fallen in value.

    Excerpt of an articel below:

    “The Federal Housing Finance Agency said it will eliminate fees and relieve banks of certain risks as part of a plan to help homeowners refinance their mortgages. The plan expands the Home Affordable Refinance Program by allowing homeowners to refinance regardless of how much their house has fallen in value. Before today, the program was limited to borrowers whose mortgages were no greater than 125 percent of the value of their homes.”

    BTW, my streak has ended. Looks like most on this board were correct in their assumption that the stock market will inflate yet again. The 1271 – 1278 mark on the SP500 look like it will be taken out rather easily these next few days. A blowoff top scenario? Not likely but always possible.

  • Tom Paine October 27, 2011, 2:53 pm

    They really need to change the inscription on Lady Liberty. So much for “huddled masses yearning to be free”, it should now read: “Send us your doctors, engineers and highly trained, technicians and anybody with 500,000 clown bucks to plunk down on our still somewhat overvalued real estate.”

    • Cam Fitzgerald October 27, 2011, 3:01 pm

      Or it should say…..Please God, send us your Grey-Goose and Snow-bird Canadians with plenty of free cash, time to spare, a desire to spend and no need for medical services as they already have socialized Med programs back home.

      The best part is they are already retired and so they won’t demand local jobs or access to social services as they are already pensioned. By living here they will just boost the local economies without drawing off any scarce resources and they might even create employment by spending into the local economies.

      Please God, send more Octogenarian Canucks.

    • DG October 28, 2011, 7:56 am

      If the internet age (along with the welfare state) existed when the Statue of Liberty was created, it likely would have been inscribed as you suggest.

  • Tommy October 27, 2011, 1:42 pm

    By making them spend $500,000 to BUY CITIZENSHIP, they’re making sure more upper income people will come here. What about all the homes that aren’t at least 250K? Which I’m sure most of the glut of homes are.
    This stinks just like O’bs plan to give amnesty to all the current ILLEGALS in this country. Which is nothing more than a blatant ploy to BUY VOTES for the Dems, now and forever.

    Think about it. If the democratic party allows them to become a citizen of this country, which party do you think these 12 million new voters will vote for? Well it ain’t the Republicans that’s for sure.

    • John Jay October 27, 2011, 2:08 pm

      Tommy,
      Speaking of buying votes. I just read Obama is proposing a de facto, slow motion, forgiveness of a trillion dollars of Federally guaranteed Student Loan debt. You only have to pay , I believe no more than 10% of your income, towards your loan. After 20 years, whatever is left over is cancelled. It seems he can do it on his own, without the approval of Congress or any legislation. That’s a great system we have. Take out a mortgage you don’t intend to pay back. Take out a student loan you don’t intend to pay back. Take out a government loan for your energy business and declare bankruptcy. Occupy Iraq for years for a trillion dollars financed by debt, with nothing to show for it but rich MIC contractors and dead and maimed soldiers. Not to mention Wall Street.

    • Cam Fitzgerald October 27, 2011, 2:53 pm

      What? A trillion dollars in student loan forgiveness? Does anyone appreciate how inflationary such a program will be in the end as only the printing of fresh currency can achieve this impossible dream. This is honestly very worrisome and it is as half-baked an idea as was mortgage jubilees.

      Seriously, where do you think that money will come from as it is not real money to begin with? Brace yourselves….this could get really ugly and you will all be paying the real price for tax amnesties and debt forgiveness. It comes with a big fat socialized price tag.

    • Wyz October 27, 2011, 4:53 pm

      “What about all the homes that aren’t at least 250K? Which I’m sure most of the glut of homes are.”

      The ‘what’ is 250k will become the new low asking price for any property that has a chance of receiving an offer from a non-US citizen. Which in turn will reduce the number available below that price point putting upward pressure on all homes. Never mind real estate is over priced overall and not affordable generally. But it will be considered a success, at least for anyone wanting to sell and for property tax revenue based on recent sales value!

      A similar scenario has already played out in the used auto price. Between slaughtering 750k cars in the clunker program and the large number of used US vehicles that have been shipped out of the country in the last few years, the inexpensive used auto no longer exists.

      An average US citizen gets priced out of the market, and struggles to make the property tax payments at the new higher valuations.

    • Robert October 27, 2011, 11:03 pm

      “What? A trillion dollars in student loan forgiveness? Does anyone appreciate how inflationary such a program will be in the end as only the printing of fresh currency can achieve this impossible dream. This is honestly very worrisome and it is as half-baked an idea as was mortgage jubilees.

      Seriously, where do you think that money will come from as it is not real money to begin with? Brace yourselves….this could get really ugly and you will all be paying the real price for tax amnesties and debt forgiveness. It comes with a big fat socialized price tag.”

      Aw, C’mon Cam!

      Where is the money to fund SS and Medicare for the next 30 years going to come from?

      What’s another couple Trillion among friends, right?

    • Cam Fitzgerald October 28, 2011, 4:48 am

      Good point Robert. What the heel was I thinking.

  • Mark Uzick October 27, 2011, 1:34 pm

    I think that it’s an outrage that innocent people would be forced to buy into a Fed induced real estate bubble in order to exercise the most basic of human rights: The right to travel, live, work and trade freely.

    The people at which this is aimed are exactly the kind of people that America needs: Those looking for opportunity – not handouts. I’m not saying that poor immigrants are necessarily looking for handouts, just that these people, in particular, are the kind of opportunity seekers that create wealth. They should be encouraged, not forced to jump through the manipulative schemes of politicians.

    The future of liberty in America lies, to a large extent, on strict laws forbidding resident aliens from seeking state sponsored welfare and entitlements while exempting them from expenses relating to these destructive programs; making citizenship applications difficult by requiring the highest standards based on a long track record as a successful resident; and opening immigration, business, work and travel to all but known violent offenders.

    Americans haven’t shown themselves appreciative or worthy of the traditions of liberty that they’ve thrown into the trash heap of history. Without new blood, whatever remnant of America that may still exist or that may be brought back to life, is doomed.

  • martin schnell October 27, 2011, 1:31 pm

    What goes around comes around.

    For 30+ years the US has been running a trade deficit. This is akin to paying for goods with IOUs. Now those folks that sold stuff to the US have a big pile of IOUs but nothing to buy that they like from the US. What to do?

    Well those folks just might like to buy a chunk of the USA with their IOUs … and for the long term health of the US it is probably a good thing (better to have the dollars back circulating in the US than being lent to the government via Treasuries).

    Already a very large percentage of Florida sales are to Brazilians … and Canadians … and … These folks are helping to put a floor under real estate prices (because for most of then US real estate is still dirt cheap – have you tried buying a condo in Beijing lately, or Rio?).

    The ultimate solution is for the US to live within its means (stop running trade deficits – 1/2 of which are due to oil imports caused by an unwillingness of Americans to use oil carefully). Until that time, the next best idea is to sell off pieces of the country a bit at a time. You can have your cake, but you don’t get to eat it too.

    • Cam Fitzgerald October 27, 2011, 2:41 pm

      “Have you tried buying a condo in Beijing lately, or Rio?”
      ———————————
      …….or Toronto or Vancouver or Victoria or Saskatoon?…good point Martin. How can it be a bad thing that Canadians earn rights of residency when buying up surplus property thus flattening the downward curve of home prices. It all goes towards the capital account surplus anyway and that is a bonus.

    • Chris T. October 27, 2011, 7:08 pm

      “condo in Beijing lately, or Rio”

      Funny you should mention that, because those places and their prices, are just as much bubbles, as we had here, or the Japanase had way back when.

      You want cheap?
      Look up what a studio or one-bedroom costs in Berlin-Middle, best part of town (other than Grunwald)
      $125000-250000

      And while Berlin doesn’t have the name that London or Paris have, it has as much of their offerings in music, art, museums of all stripes, and is just as diverse.
      And much less fascist control, ironic that one, than in London, with its zillion cameras spying on you, not TSA goons fondling you, and so on.
      Berlin has crime, just like other western capitals/big cities, but nothing like Rio.

      Rio is terrible in that respect, its all bullet-proof limos, gated wealth blocks, just ranks in the top 10 of crime.
      As a non-Brazilian, why would you want that?
      The beauty of the Rio, as it existed say 30+ years ago is long gone.

      China? You have to enjoy being a perpetual outsider and tiniest of cultural/ethnic minority to go live in Peking.

  • JimK October 27, 2011, 1:26 pm

    We have a system where foreign nationals can acquire citizenship by enlisting, which is of course a high price to pay, but now this.

    I have long stated that the way things are going we will have all kinds of foreigners as landlords before it is all over.

    Another angle to consider here is that these people with money coming in do not come from traditions that value individual rights. They could well be part of the engine that eliminates the Second Amendment. We have to protect against that.

    • Cam Fitzgerald October 27, 2011, 2:36 pm

      Well sure they value individual rights…most of them are Canadians, Jim. Same value systems as yours.


Exit From This Page Back to Trades