skills-based—visas. And an estimatedrnhalf-million more enter without comingrnto the attention of the Immigration andrnNaturalization Service (INS) but intendingrnto stay.rnThe population of the United States isrngrowing by 58,000 people a week. Nearlyrnhalf of that growth is immigration;rnsome additional portion is due to childrenrnborn to immigrants, who have significantlyrnmore children per woman thanrnnative-born Americans. The immediaternimpact of this on the labor force is significant,rnand down the road the numbersrnare immense. In the next 60 years thernAmerican population is set to grow 50rnpercent by Census Bureau projectionsrnand nearly 100 percent if one extrapolatesrnour present growth rate.rnNow, how does immigration relaternto unemployment? The INS issues workrnauthorization papers, either as “temporaryrnwork permits”—many of these tornpeople who arrive in the United Statesrnwithout documentation of any kind—orrnas “green cards,” which are issued tornrefugees and legal immigrants. In thernfirst six months of 1992,439,000 temporaryrnwork permits and 390,000 greenrncards were issued. Even if only 75 percentrnof all holders of green cards enteredrnthe labor market immediately, we stillrnget 659,000 newly authorized foreignrnworkers competing for the total numberrnof new jobs. This very nearly matchesrnthe number of new jobs (864,000) thatrnwere created nationwide within the samernperiod.rnIn all of 1992, the economy createdrnwell short of 2 million net new jobs whilernthe potential labor force grew by nearly 1rnmillion net new American workers, bvrn1.3 million legal immigrants, refugees,rnand asvlees who received work authorizationrnpapers from the INS, and byrnapproximately one-half million illegalrnforeign workers. Clearly, workers exceedrnjobs. Without immigration of any kind,rnthe job market could come into balancernby reabsorbing the unemployed, reengagingrnthe “discouraged” worker, and inducingrncertain of the more productivernolder workers to postpone retirement.rnBut under present conditions, I needrnhardly say, native-born Americans, especiallyrnthose just coming into the jobrnmarket and particularly the least skilled,rnare having a tough time. An economicrnslowdown is hard enough to overcome,rnbut our continuously and rapidly growingrnlabor force, driven by the highest levelsrnof immigration this country has everrnseen, is putting paid to any prospect thatrnthe majority of the young or their childrenrnwill enjoy the American dream.rnNo administration or government program,rnand no foreseeable private investmentrnof the quantity needed, can expectrnto overcome unemployment in thernface of 1.5 million immigrants every year.rnIf the administration and Congress wantrnto improve employment prospects forrnAmericans, let them establish policy thatrnlimits immigration, from all sourcesrncombined, to under 200,000 a year. Thisrnlevel would about equal the annual voluntaryrnflow out of America. Only thenrncan unemployment cease to burden jobseekersrnand taxpayers alike, the consumerrnmarket regain strength, and joy returnrnto the land.rnVirginia D. Abernethy is thernauthor of Population Politics: ThernChoices That Shape Our Future,rnthe editor of the bimonthly journalrnPopulation and Environment,rnand a professor of psychiatryrn(anthropology) at the VanderbiltrnMedical School.rnThe Trickle-FreernEconomics ofrnRobert Reichrnby Ralph R.ReihndrnRobert Reich explains in “Clintonomicsrn101” in the fiew Republicrnthat “every factor of production otherrnthan people and infrastructure is movingrnwith ever greater ease across nationalrnboundaries.” True, our airports and sewersrndon’t usually pick up and leave therncountry, and not many Americans arernheading for Ethiopia or Chile to strike itrnrich. More importantly, says Reich, andrnlucky for us, it’s those very things that arernstuck here—people and infrastructure—rnthat are the keys to our prosperity:rn”Upon these two assets, the future standardrnof living of a nation’s peoplernuniquely depends.”rnThe problem, according to Clintonomics,rnis that the greed and tax cutsrnof the Republicans have left us kneedeeprnin potholes and urban guerrillas.rn”Starved of tax revenues and confrontedrnwith a growing budget deficit,” Reichrnargues, “the federal government has reducedrnsupport for child health, education,rntraining and infrastructure by arnthird.” Reich is getting so good at cookingrnthe numbers that he should wear arnchef’s hat. A federal government thatrneats up one-fourth of the total income ofrnthe world’s largest economy is hardly inrndanger of starving, and federal spendingrnis up, not down, on children’s programsrnand infrastructure.rnChildhood immunization and infantrnmortality funding jumped 45 percent inrnreal dollars between 1989 and 1993,rnfrom $6.7 billion to $9.7 billion. HeadrnStart spending doubled from $1.4 torn$2.8 billion in 1990 dollars in the samernperiod, and expenditures at the Departmentrnof Education increased by $7 billionrnto $31.4 billion. At the same time,rnchild nutrition programs expanded byrn49 percent in real dollars to $9.7 billion,rnand food stamp funding grew from $14.9rnbillion to $27.1 billion, an 82 percent increase,rnMarian Wright Edelman of the Children’srnDefense Fund says it’s “a scandal”rnthat every American child isn’t fullyrnimmunized, and President Clintonrncalls for the government to buy all thernchildhood vaccines and supply them freernto all children. It’s a good idea—it’s howrnwe virtually eliminated polio threerndecades ago—and here in Pittsburgh wernalready do that. All immunizations arerncompletely free to all families in the cityrnand surrounding Allegheny County, regardlessrnof income. Still, one-fourth ofrntwo-ear-olds in the county are not fulK’rnimmunized. Here, it’s the parents, notrnthe taxpayers, who too often drop thernball, and that’s the real “scandal.” In arncountry that still has a degree of individualrnresponsibility left, every human problemrndoesn’t mean that capitalism is evilrnor that America has failed or that a newrngovernment program is needed or thatrntaxes are too low.rnAs with child health programs, Reichrnspins a tale of Republican underfundingrnwhen it comes to the infrastructure. Hernhas become a true believer in the litanvrnthat the “12 years of neglect” caused everythingrnfrom the L.A. riots to thernhunger in Somalia to the collapse of thernChicago tunnels. President Reagan gotrninstant blame from the Democrats whenrnthe Chicago River spewed 250 millionrngallons of water into the basements beneathrnthe Loop. Reverend Jesse Jacksonrnsaid, “This country is literally fallingrnapart. Without vision, the Bible says, thern48/CHRONlCLESrnrnrn