Just how bad is the economy doing?
Well, according to Reuters, it's so bad out there that illegal aliens are heading back to Mexico.
Almost sounds like a joke the late night hosts would make during their monologues, doesn't it?
As a result, when I first saw this last evening (thanks to whoever sent it to me with apologies for not being able to identify who it was!), I thought it had to be a satire.
However, this morning, the link still works, and it is indeed a Reuters piece posted at Yahoo Sunday (hysterical emphasis added throughout):
Mexican illegal immigrant Lindi sat down with her husband Marco Antonio in the weeks before Christmas to decide when to go back to Mexico.
She has spent three years working as a hairdresser in and around Phoenix, but now she figures it is time to go back to her hometown of Aguascalientes in central Mexico.
"The situation has got so tough that there don't seem to be many options left for us," Lindi, who asked for her last name not to be used, told Reuters.
The couple are among a growing number of illegal immigrants across the United States who are starting to pack their bags and move on as a crackdown on undocumented immigrants widens and the U.S. economy slows, turning a traditional Christmas trek home into a one-way trip.
Checking that link about now to make sure I didn't slip in the bit about the economy slowing? I understand. I've checked it thrice.
But that was the beginning of the hysterics:
The toughening environment has been coupled with a turndown in the U.S. economy, which has tipped the balance toward self deportation for many illegal immigrants left struggling to find work.
What turndown in the U.S. economy? According to the Department of Labor's enterprise survey, employers have added 400,000 jobs since July, and 1.1 million so far this year.
Furthermore, the broader household survey identified an astounding 1 million gain in workers since August.
With that in mind, what jobs are these illegal aliens seeking that are in such short supply? Without appearing insensitive, are these folks all in the lending or banking industries?
But there was more:
Other returning immigrants cite a slowdown in the U.S. economy as a factor, and the falling value of the U.S. dollar against other currencies, which has eaten into the value of remittances sent to support families at home.
I'm sorry for not warning people to put down their coffee cups before that last quote. However, since I ruined my laptop when I saw this inanity, why shouldn't you?
That said, let's take a moment to imagine how many illegal immigrants in this nation are actually concerned about the value of the U.S. dollar. Maybe more important, unlike most currencies, the peso is actually DOWN in value this year, and has largely been declining since 2002:
Despite the stupidity of this Reuters piece, the peso ended 2006 worth 9.24 cents. The March contract which trades on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange closed last Friday at 9.18 cents.
Maybe more important, the peso was worth almost 9.6 cents in early 2006, and 11 cents in 2002. So, for the most part, in the last five years, illegal immigrants sending money back to Mexico were benefiting from exchange rates NOT being penalized as this Reuters piece suggested.
Aren't facts a terrible thing?
