When I learned that House Majority Leader Eric Cantor had lost his Republican primary, my heart sank . . . . Link others who want comprehensive immigration reform, I worried that Mr. Cantor’s loss would be misconstrued and make Congress reluctant to tackle this urgent need. – Rupert Murdoch, wsj.com 6/18/14
Fact Check: Murdoch is a billionaire media mogul, a naturalized U.S. citizen from Australia. He is typical of the deracinated financial elites of the Western world who seem to have no loyalty to anything other than transnational profiteering. What he and his ilk mean by “immigration reform” is rewarding illegal aliens with legal status (amnesty) and hiking our already massive level of legal immigration.
In his article Murdoch concedes “the fear of some Americans have, quite naturally, of how changing populations might change our culture, communities and economic circumstances.” But don’t worry, the great man informs us, because “Immigrants enrich our culture and add to our economic prosperity.”
To support this assertion, he cites a study by The Partnership for a New American Economy, an organization founded by Murdoch’s fellow billionaire and immigration enthusiast Michael Bloomberg. The study claims that 40 percent of the Fortune 500 companies were founded by immigrants.
In reality, this study is a hodgepodge of questionable claims and analysis, as shown by David North of the Center for Immigration Studies (CIS). One of the many examples North cities is a company with five founders, only one of whom was foreign-born. Nevertheless, the study counts the company as being immigrant-founded.
In any case, the majority of immigrants are not people likely to build corporations and make technical contributions. On average, immigrants are less educated and skilled than natives, and they are more likely to be poor. This means they are often competitors in the job market with disadvantaged Americans.
Some immigrants and guest workers are skilled, but they quite often compete with Americans with similar skills. As they and less advantaged citizens suffer unemployment and wage reduction from immigration, the economic elites grow richer from the cheap labor immigration provides.
Thus when Murdoch says that immigrants contribute to “our prosperity,” his statement is true only to the extent that it refers to his own social and economic class. It certainly doesn’t apply to the prosperity of the nation and most of its citizens. As for “cultural enrichment,” one can only observe that this is an illusion billionaires like Murdoch can afford to indulge as they can afford to isolate themselves from the multicultural bedlam that mass immigration is bringing.
Murdock says his heart sank at the news of Cantor’s loss. What a great heart he has for the interests of his fellow elites, and one so small for ordinary fellow citizens