The uncertainty over a broken immigration system will persist, further frustrating U.S. businesses and taking a toll on the economy. Photographer: Jewel Samad/AFP/Getty Images
"Conservative Republicans think the immigration issue has turned to their benefit, removing even the slim prospects for any action this year. If they're right, it's only for the short term. Vocal Republicans blame the Barack Obama administration for creating a mini-crisis with the recent surge of children who have come across the southwestern border from Central America. It's the latest rationale of a determined bloc of House Republicans for killing a Senate-passed immigration reform bill -- led by Republican John McCain and Democrat Chuck Schumer -- which provided a lengthy pathway to citizenship for most undocumented immigrants. The longer-term situation is unchanged, and will only get worse. The uncertainty over a broken immigration system will persist, further frustrating U.S. businesses and taking a toll on the economy. Politically, this probably will strengthen the Democrats' hold on the fast-growing Hispanic and Asian-American populations. The last time Washington failed to act on immigration reform, in 2007, Democrats, including then Senator Obama, as well as Republicans, helped sabotage a measure advocated by President George W. Bush and Senators McCain and Edward M. Kennedy. This time, the opponents are Republicans. There are about 250 votes in the House to pass the Senate bill now, but most of those are Democrats, and Speaker John Boehner won't consider a measure opposed by the majority of his caucus.For much of the year, Republicans, trying to escape blame for scuttling a measure, have said passage would be impossible because of the Obama administration's lax border policies. In fact, the budget for border security has increased more than 50 percent the past five years and there are almost 4,000 more agents. These critics got new ammunition this year when a surge of unaccompanied kids, mainly from Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala, began coming over illegally. Republicans attributed the influx to Obama's decision two years ago to provide work permits to the so-called Dreamers: immigrants who had come as children with their families before 2012 and had been living in the U.S. for at least five years, were enrolled in school and hadn't had any criminal violations. Representative Darrell Issa, a California Republican, said that policy created 'a real magnet' for the latest surge of children, who thought they would be able to get citizenship if they made it across the border. The Dreamers measure doesn't affect citizenship. Other facts undercut Issa's case. The vast majority of these kids are from those three Central American countries where the murder rates are among the five highest in the world. It may be a human crisis when 90,000 of these kids try to get to the U.S. in 2014, but that number represents only a little more than 10 percent of the illegal crossings a decade ago." (Al Hunt/Bloomberg Views)
"The buyer, an Italian, was in town for a week, with a million or so dollars to spend. We met one Sunday morning at 20 Pine, a Financial District condo building. She wore a red scarf, jangly jewelry, and a pair of lime-green sunglasses perched atop her curly hair, and she told me she would prefer to remain anonymous. Working through a shell company, she was looking to anchor some of her wealth in an advantageous port: New York City. The building’s lobby, designed in leathery tones by Armani, swirled with polylingual property talk. As the Italian and I waited for her broker, an Asian man sitting on a couch next to us asked, 'You see the apartment?' But he didn’t wait for an answer, leaping up to join a handful of women speaking a foreign language heading toward the elevators.After a few minutes, a fashionably stubbled young man swung through 20 Pine’s revolving door: Santo Rosabianca, a broker with Wire International Realty. The firm, run by Rosabianca’s brother Luigi, an attorney, specializes in catering to overseas investors. A first-generation American, Santo greeted the buyer with kisses and briefed her in Italian. She was searching for a property that would generate substantial rental income. 'Wall Street is not my favorite place,' she told me. 'But he says it is very good for rent.' Like several other buildings she was being shown, 20 Pine was developed at the height of the real-estate bubble. After the crash of 2008, it became an emblematic disaster, with the developers selling units in bulk at desperation prices, until opportunistic foreigners swooped in with cash offers. The salvage deals are long gone, but 20 Pine retains its international appeal. The one-bedroom the Italian was looking at, on the 27th floor, had a view of the Woolworth Building, sleek finishes, a bachelor-size kitchen, and access to an exclusive terrace reserved for upper-floor residents. It was first purchased by an investment banker in early 2008 for $1.3 million, was resold in 2011 for $850,000, and was now back on the market for close to its prerecession price. Rosabianca told the Italian it would rent for more than $4,000 a month, enough to assure a healthy cash flow while its value appreciated. 'There’s really no safer way to get that kind of return,' he said, 'than in New York City real estate.'" (NYMag)
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"I’ve known many people who in their lifetimes have had close relationships with Presidents both political and social from Herbert Hoover on. Senator Hillary Clinton’s running for President reminded me of my own history of physical proximity to Presidential candidates over the years, although I personally have never known a sitting President. Nevertheless, like a lot of Americans I remain at least slightly in awe of the Man in the Office whoever he (or she) may be.The first time I ever saw a Presidential candidate up close was John F. Kennedy (a foot away) in Lewiston, Maine in October 1960. He was making a quick tour of New England (on his campaign plane, 'The Caroline' — I think it was a CV-240 — which belonged to his father. A bunch of us had driven down from Colby College in Waterville on that cold October night to catch a view. He was originally expected about 9 p.m., but arrived well after midnight. The long delay of his arrival only increased the excitement and anticipation.I was thisfar from him as he passed through the crowd clamoring to get a look at him. He looked repulsed and terrified by the almost crushing mass of humanity as it was cleared so that he could make his way to the platform for a speech. That was my first glimpse into the rigors of Presidential campaigning for any candidate.I never saw Richard Nixon, in or out of office. I’ve known quite a few people who knew him at different times, before and after he occupied the White House. Although he left office in disgrace, he is recalled by nearly everyone (both Republican and Democrat, liberal and conservative) with a certain amount of affection, and as a paradoxically sympathetic character. I can understand that having witnessed (along with hundreds of millions) his farewell words, especially when he mentioned his mother Hannah Nixon. 'No one ever wrote a book about my mother…' he said, his eyes welling up. (Someone had just published a biography of Rose Kennedy.) 'My mother was a saint,' he stated in bittersweet memory, tears brimming, hands grasping tightly the sides of the podium. I thought to myself, there’s the story -- just like many of the rest of us. Mother. Many of us watching cried right along with Mr. Nixon." (NYSD)
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