From the Los Angeles Times: "Continuing to court the burgeoning market of Latino immigrants, Bank of America said today it is test-marketing credit cards for Spanish-speaking customers who may not have Social Security numbers."***
Remember, just because you don't like something that doesn't mean it doesn't exist. And that doesn't mean you can't make money off it, either (see posts on Nasty Pig). Folks, illegal immigration isn't going to stop. So if people are going to risk life and limb to get here we should find a way to get these people up and functioning sooner rather than later. If an illegal immigrant wants to embrace the lofty American principle of senseless consumerism then it's high time our financial institutions started making a profit off of it.
17 comments:
It's interesting you bitch about so-called "war profiteers" (about which you still won't answer my questions), but you have no problem with profiting off of poor immigrants. How does that work?
Further, given that illegal immigration won't stop, should we get rid of immigration laws? How about rape? Is that ending anytime soon? Pedophilia? Homocide? etc.
Hey, I know! Pedophilia isn't going to end anytime soon, so Mark Foley should get his job back. Like it?
GcL -
This post is such a tangled web of amorality its difficult to even have an opinion, save TGC's which is dead-on. I don't always agree with him, but the way to deal with anything or anyone "illegal" isn't to remove the laws, it's to deal with the people breaking them.
And what to say to those who come here LEGALLY? Any idea what other countries make people go through to become citizens. Oh yah, there isn't a single country in the world with anywhere's near our immigration rate. And if there were, you can be sure there'd be no reiciprocity provided on lax immigration laws.
I am going to make a bet. If ever an illegal immigrant, from this time forward, commits a crime, or if in any way our lax immmigration laws are responsible for an illegal alient's role in a terrorist plot (God forbid), GCL will be first in line telling us what a bunch of incompetents those in the Bush administration are. I have a hunch attacking the administration blindly for everything is far more the point of many of the posts here than actually identifying the truth and taking a reasonable, fair position on any one issue.
Just a hunch.
Once again, can you name even one person who is anti-immigrant?
Oh and would you require that Mexico relax their immigration laws? If we're anti-immigrant, we ain't got nothing on them.
Why must liberals confuse immigration with illegal immigration all the time?
There are two issues here: control of immigration and questioning the ethics of the BofA's program for credit cards for persons without Social Security numbers (an interesting example of the use of language to give cover? The only people who don't have SSNs are people who aren't following the law--even my one-year-old nephew has a number, but I doubt BofA uses the phrase "illegal immigrant" anywhere in its proposal or its publicity. Does the tactic sound familiar?).
While the draconian measures of "ship 'em all back" seems logical (after all, they're breaking the law!), in practice it is, at this time, undoable. The social upheaval here in Southern California, alone, mitigates against the suggestion.
President Bush and the Congress might be able to work something out, but it will be very difficult and will call for civility in the discussions and negotiations.
The ethics of BofA don't strike me as being too defensible. While not disagreeing with the concept of making money off of a need, this particular response to this particular need seems very much akin to exploitation of those less equipped to defend themselves against exploitation.
Don't get me wrong. Amnesty sounds good, but it would encourage others, reward those who broke the law and more importantly, we'd be giving the finger to those trying hard to go the legal route.
What would you think, David, if you were trying to make sure you were doing it right and some asshole who swam across the river got citizenship ahead of you?
If you have the money to go about things the legal route you're probably not going to compete for the same job as the person who you so arrogantly dismiss as just "swimming across the border."
Here's how I see the illegal immigration debate: It's against the law anywhere to drive through a red light. However, in many countries, it's risking your life to stop at a red light in the middle of the night bc you can get robbed or kidnapped, so you have to drive through.
Same thing with the immigration debate. Technically they're breaking the law but there's no criminal intent there.
These people cannot live on the paltry earnings they get in their homelands so they come here to make a paltry living by most people's standards.
Bottom line: there are bigger fish to fry. ALL of the 9-11 hijackers came into this country the legal way and had enough money to take flying lessons and live rather well here. Let's stop picking on "wetbacks" and start focusing on the real criminals in this country who are using our system to kill us.
as the person who you so arrogantly dismiss as just "swimming across the border."
I didn't "dismiss" anyone nor did I do it "arrogantly". You have me confused with a liberal. Not only that, but my point remains valid no matter how they got here. Somebody needs a panty-ectomy.
Technically they're breaking the law but there's no criminal intent there.
Oh so it's ok to violate the law as long as there's no criminal intent. I see where you're coming from. One wonders why the hell we have laws then.
ALL of the 9-11 hijackers came into this country the legal way and had enough money to take flying lessons and live rather well here.
You're right. We should ignore the ones who waltz freely across our borders because we might hurt the feelings of the Mexicans. FUCK THAT! Get over your guilt and get over yourself. You might enjoy another ass-pounding from the islamo-fascists, but the rest of us wouldn't.
I can understand how libs need to get more voters since their aborting themselves into oblivion, but this ain't the way to do it.
Further,
ALL of the 9-11 hijackers came into this country the legal way and had enough money to take flying lessons and live rather well here.
And you'd be a damn fool to think that they'd do it the same way again.
Interesting exchanges. Hamlet's gravedigger returns. Good. That keeps the Hamlets of the world alert.
Wait a sec...
"Bank of America: Intrepid or Bold?"
What?
That took a while. :-)
It's easy to overlook the titles. I went nuts trying to find "evil" in the postings about the Cheneys...and there it was, all the time, in the title.
Bold and intrepid are synonyms. But who's counting?
Agape.
As for the title of this post, the context of the word Intrepid connotes taking risk or leaping into the unknown. For instance, an intrepid traveler would go to Tehran versus Miami. The word bold connotes ballsyness. So, is bank of America intrepid for trying out a new credit card model or are they ballsy for jumping into the immigration debacle?
Good argument.
Teeeensy quibble: the "or" implies a choice between two or more items.
Perhaps the title would've been stronger with either "and" without the question mark, or perhaps no conjunction at all, but with a question mark after each word. Intrepid? Bold?
35 years as an English teacher takes its toll.
Thanks, Gene -- your suggestion about using question marks is right on....am nervous to have an English teacher reading this now!
Don't be. Very few paid attention to me during my teaching years. I'm accustomed to being ignored. :-)
Probably too late for this meme, but today's L.A. Times has a page one article about Colorado's problems resulting from ""the nation's toughese laws against illegal immigration."
Basically, a proposal is offered to have minimum risk convicts pick the crops.
However, "...farmers expect to pay more for the inmate labor...than for their traditional workers."
Anyway. The ramifications of tightening immigration laws are not clear.
Here's the link:
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-inmates1mar01,0,7469220.story?coll=la-home-headlines
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