The Kings are gone...now the work starts...again! "Con-sensus" here we come!

A heavy week. More bad news on the economy. (as if we didn't know...).

And the scary thing is that it took over a year for the "authorities" - Government, Economists, etc. - to declare a recession, officially, while the 'house was burning up' in plain sight of all to see. Yes, when the house had three bedrooms burnt all the way down to half the wall's height, half the kitchen gone, and the garage door fell off from the overheated spring, then the authorities had had the sufficient evidence to declare it - timidly at first - that we were in the middle of the "r".

Even the VP and the Prez (?) tried to shuffle it under the rug after the word was out!

But that is not the problem. The problem is that it took all that time for the 'con-sensus' to be in. For the recognition that 'we were in deep doo-doo'! So that, whenever we get to the recovery stage - and I hope that comes sooner than what it feels like it is going to take - the group consciousness will take a longer time to admit to itself that 'we are ok', that the situation has 'come back', that the good times are back, and thus, it will prolong the 'recovery' situation further. We will be in 'better times', but without the 'recognition of it', it will feel as if we are still in trouble.

So, let's hold on for 2009 and what it might bring.

And then, I came across a report by the Council on Foreign Relations, "The Economic Logic of Illegal Immigration". The report is by Professor Gordon H. Hanson, the Director of the Center on Pacific Economies and Professor of Economics at the University of California, San Diego. In the Foreword, Richard N. Haas, President of the Council on Foreign Relations, writes that as Prof. Hanson "approaches immigration thru the lens of economics. The results are surprising".

Wow! That sounds interesting...hopeful, maybe.

He adds: "...stemming illegal immigration would likely lead to a net drain on the US Economy...". Let's read more...!

..."Hanson makes the case that unless policymakers design a system of legal immigration that reflects the economic advantages of illegal labor, such programs will not significantly reduce illegal immigration."!!!

So two things: one, we better read this report, in full, and understand the logic which will "challenge much of the wisdom (conventional and otherwise) on the economics behind a critical and controversial issue", as Mr. Haas writes. Understanding it, in these times of economic malady, will be key to wisely continuing support of the immigration themes (we just can not deport 12 million souls, nor have them oppressed underground without suffering the social, economic, civil, criminal, political, etc., etc., consequences of that repression in our society). We need to adapt to the times, and possibly change 'our tune' to embrace the present day and its realities.

Also, maybe, and this is the second point, maybe, just maybe, could it be possible that a larger solution be shining thru the subject of immigration? Will there be strategic possibilities to the nations' economic malaise, by embracing - fully - the phenomenon of 12 million undocumented, but real, live, vibrant, willing-and-able (to work and live productively) - visitors from other lands? Is this an opportunity to think out of the box and 'convert the desert into farmland', without 'going to (another) war over it'?

It 'hit' me. Con - sensus. Not the 'sense' by the 'cons' (as in Neo-cons...aghhhh!), or the "against sense" (con - sense). No. Not the "sense" by a "con-artist". But ...the opposite of all of these: "with - sense". Consense! With meaning. With purpose. With life! 12 million, and their relatives, and their circles of influence - out of 300 million - is a real big chunk of people. Of ideas. Of energy! Let's enlist them - wisely - in pulling with us for a "consensus" celebration. Time is 'a wastin'...!

Thanks Prof. Hanson for the 'hint', and thanks to www.cfr.org for the jpg and their work. Neat!