Is the U.S. falling apart or getting into civil war because of immigrant protests?
Not like in some of those places - not even CLOSE.
I can turn on the comedy channel and have jon stewart, chappelles show (black) and mind of mencia (mexican), can you do that in some of those countries? Japan? Russia? China? Where is their diversity? We love everyone here!
From Ben Shalom Bernanke (always wondered what the S stood for) - do they care so much about financing thier immigrant labor?
federalreserve.gov
As everyone attending this meeting knows well, immigrant communities in the United States have become increasingly visible as well as economically important. Unlike some earlier periods, during which political refugees made up a larger share of the inflow of migrants to the United States, most immigrants today come for economic reasons, driven by the hope of making better lives for themselves and their families.
Previous influxes were educated no? What is immigrating now is not - you will see below. We love everyone in America though - my russian friends were extremely racist against black people.
As we discuss the barriers that immigrants must overcome to achieve full integration into American society, we should keep in mind that virtually all of us here are immigrants, even if at some remove. To speak personally for a moment: All four of my grandparents were foreign-born, coming from Europe to the United States either just before or directly after the First World War--a period, incidentally, that represented a high-water mark of immigration to the United States.1 My grandfather Jonas, who came to the United States from Austria after a stint in the army of the Emperor Franz Josef, was probably the most entrepreneurial member of my family.
The latinos during the march said this was THIER continent - you and bernanke were trespassing - but I am 1/8th mexican - so get off my damn continent! ;)
My grandfather, who had the restlessness characteristic of many immigrants, owned several drugstores around New York City before finally buying a store and settling in what became my hometown of Dillon, South Carolina. My father and his brother purchased that same South Carolina store from their father with the same type of owner financing that Jonas had used in New York. I understand that they even got a good interest rate.
Got rich as a drug dealer, and I understand jews aren't supposed to charge interest to other jews - just to sucker gentiles eh?
Many immigrants to the United States send substantial shares of their earnings--sometimes half of their incomes or more--to family members in their home countries. The U.S. Department of Treasury estimates that remittances to developing countries totaled more than $90 billion last year.3 These remittances have a significant economic impact on the receiving countries. Remittance flows to developing countries typically exceed official development assistance, are similar in magnitude to foreign direct investment, and are more stable than either of these other flows.
More stable ...hmmm.
These remittances constituted about 2 percent of the gross national products (GNP) of the region in that year. In 2002, remittances from citizens working abroad accounted for nearly 30 percent of the GNP of Nicaragua, 25 percent of the GNP of Haiti, and 15 percent of the GNP of El Salvador. Mexico receives the largest absolute amount of remittances in Latin America--about $9 billion in 2002.4 Just-released figures show that total remittances to Latin American and Caribbean countries in 2003 rose about 19 percent from the total in 2002, to $38 billion (Inter-American Dialogue Task Force on Remittances, 2004).
Wow, I never realized the impact of all those wire transfer places.
Who sends remittances? In its report Billions in Motion: Latino Immigrants, Remittances, and Banking, the Pew Hispanic Center/Multilateral Investment Fund (2002) profiled a typical remitter. Of Latinos in the United States who send remittances to their home countries, 63 percent are under the age of forty, 59 percent have not completed high school, 72 percent rent their homes, 54 percent speak little or no English, and 64 percent of those who are employed are low-skilled laborers. One would not expect this group to be financially sophisticated, and that expectation is borne out by the data: The Pew Center found that 55 percent of these remitters do not have credit cards and 43 percent do not have bank accounts.
Now earlier up we were talking about the quality of immigrants - these numbers are Ok though eh?
Concern that opening a bank account may require proof of legal residence may inhibit some immigrants from doing so (in fact, many banks now accept foreign-provided documents such as the matricula consular); but lack of knowledge about the services banks offer and the fees they charge is likely an important factor as well. Indeed, the Pew Center study found that, of remitters without bank accounts, fewer than 25 percent understood that sending a remittance through a bank was even possible.
Well they aren't very educated Shalom - cut them some slack ;)
Yet another increasingly popular approach for banks is to build remittance services on the existing networks of automatic teller machines (ATMs). Orozco (2003) notes that Bank of America and Citibank have recently adopted this model. Bank of America's SafeSend program and Citibank's Money Card program issue debit cards to a person in Mexico designated by the U.S. remitter, allowing the recipient to gain access to funds transmitted from any ATM. Remitters are typically charged a flat fee for the transfer, for example, Bank of America charges $10 per transfer. Second Federal Savings in Chicago offers account holders an "amigo card," a second ATM card that can be sent to a family member in Mexico. One of the downsides of the ATM-based approach is the lack of access to these machines in rural areas. Most banks offering ATM-based services therefore also offer more traditional funds transfer services as well (Bair, 2003).
Banks still have only a small market share in remittance services, but that share seems poised to grow rapidly. Orozco (2003) notes that Wells Fargo initiated a remittances program in 1996 and released it current product, Intercuenta Express, in 2001; under this program, amounts less than $500 can be sent to Mexico for a flat fee of $10. In the first three years of its program, Wells made nearly half a million money transfers to Mexico, representing at least $100 million in revenue
Si Senore!
For instance, in 2001, the Reserve Banks introduced international ACH services for payments from the United States to Canada, and in 2003 they added service to Switzerland and the United Kingdom. The extensions of service to the latter two countries are the first steps in the development of the Reserve Banks' Transatlantic Service, which will be further enhanced to include service to Austria, Germany, and the Netherlands later this year. More important for remittances, in February 2004 the Reserve Banks expanded their international ACH services to Mexico, in cooperation with the Central Bank of Mexico. The service potentially connects any bank account holder in the United States with any bank account holder in Mexico, uses an exchange rate guaranteed to be within 1 percent of the Central Bank of Mexico's wholesale rate, and costs the banks less than $1 per transaction. Providing service to Mexico is also an important step for the U.S.-Mexican Partnership for Prosperity, an agreement designed to improve financial linkages between the two countries. These Federal Reserve initiatives will support U.S. banks' ability to serve immigrants by allowing remittances to be sent to foreign banks at low cost. Ongoing improvements in the infrastructure for sending remittances, collaborations among foreign governments, and increased competition among service providers should ensure that cost savings are passed on to consumers.
I coded banking ACH software Regli - why won't you disclose who your employers were? The future is not gold coins going back and forth over lines on a map - Shalom and I both think you are silly :) |
