H1b : Immigration can save America, author says

The United States must embrace immigration with open arms or risk going the way of over-indebted empires like Britain and Rome, according to a provocative new book.

"Like England before it, America is becoming increasingly indebted to its largest global competitor, China, and is fighting a costly war with no end in sight," says Haag Sherman, co-founder of Houston-based asset management firm Salient Partners.

In "Shattering Orthodoxies" (Easton Studio Press, $27.95), Sherman argues that one solution is to allow all who want to come to the United States to do so legally. This would boost the economy through increased tax receipts and address concerns about the cost of government programs.

Every immigrant worker who arrives on U.S. shores effectively saves the country at least the $150,000 it takes to raise a child at a minimum level, Sherman says, a benefit to the country that he dubs "America's Free Lunch."

The book is an extensive treatise outlining America's principal economic and foreign policy problems, along with detailed solutions. It does so in a way that blends a conservative preference for low taxes with a liberal focus on the environment and healthcare.

"Conservatives will likely applaud my focus on free market principles, until it hits at some of their sacred cows," Sherman warns. "Liberals will embrace many themes, but may flinch at some of the recommended solutions."

THE PRICE OF WAR

Indeed, conservatives might take issue with Sherman's views on the price of gasoline: it should be much higher, he says, to reflect the true cost of America's military presence in the Middle East. He advocates a $25 per barrel tax on all imports from outside North America

 

The energy produced in the Middle East is highly subsidized by the U.S. government, because the dependability of supply is largely predicated on the continued presence of the U.S. military in the region."

By the same token, Sherman maintains that a liberal tendency to shun all things nuclear overlooks both technological improvements over the last two decades and the inability of wind and solar power to meet the all the country's energy needs. "Neither makes economic sense at the moment," he writes.

On Social Security, the U.S. retirement system, Sherman suggests some minor changes could go a long way toward averting what many say is a looming crisis.

This would entail means testing at the top of the income ladder to ensure that those who can easily afford retirement on their own are not unduly burdening the system.

The issue of immigration also features prominently in this discussion, since replenishing the pool of young workers at a time when a record number of Americans are reaching retirement age is perhaps the simplest way to fill that fiscal gap.

Sherman concludes: "By legalizing all of the illegal immigrants in the United States and having them pay payroll taxes, the U.S. would generate nearly $1 trillion or more in payroll tax revenues in the future." (Reporting by Pedro Nicolaci da Costa; Editing by Eddie Evans)