ObamaCare and Immigration Reform

by Jason L. Riley
The Wallstreet Journal, March 29, 2010

Now that Congress has passed ObamaCare, some are pressing the White House to turn to immigration reform. Only hours before House Democrats voted on March 21 for a federal takeover of the U.S. health-care system, thousands of demonstrators led by liberal activists gathered on the National Mall to demand more open immigration policies and "Legalization Now!" for undocumented aliens.

But a larger welfare state is not conducive to comprehensive immigration reform. If foreigners start coming for handouts instead of economic opportunity, tighter restrictions will be justified.

American liberals have advocated the creation of a European-style welfare state since at least the 1960s. Yet according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, Europe still spends twice as much as the U.S. on social programs—20% of gross domestic product versus 10%—and assistance aimed at the poor and the unemployed is especially generous. Also more generous, in the main, are European public pensions—wealth-redistribution mechanisms that effectively take from the affluent young and give to the old.

The U.S.-Europe welfare disparity to a large extent reflects different attitudes and preferences. Europeans tend to view the poor as hard-luck cases who aren't personally responsible for their situation, while Americans perceive welfare recipients as shiftless cheats. A 2005 World Values Survey found that 71% of Americans see poverty as a condition that can be overcome by dint of hard work, while only 40% of Europeans share that viewpoint.

As voters came to understand ObamaCare for what it is—another enormous, underfunded entitlement program that will expand the welfare state and increase dependency on government—it's no wonder that they turned against the bill. (A CNN poll on the day of the climactic House vote found that 59% of respondents opposed the legislation, versus 39% who favored it.)

And as taxes rise to subsidize higher health-care premiums, the program's unpopularity is likely to grow. The White House and Democrats in Congress don't seem to care what the polls show, but attitudes toward ObamaCare could bode ill for passing any immigration reform that includes legalizing the undocumented or lifting immigrant quotas to reduce pressure on the border.

Belief in social mobility has informed welfare and immigration policy from colonial times. In 1645 the Massachusetts Bay colony was already barring paupers. And in 1882, when Congress finally passed the country's first major piece of immigration legislation, it specifically prohibited entry to "any person unable to take care of himself or herself without becoming a public charge."

A problem that immigration reformers face is the public perception—fed by restrictionists and exacerbated during economic downturns—that the U.S. welfare state is already a magnet for poor immigrants in search of government assistance. It's true that the U.S. attracts poor people, but it's also true that they come here to work, not to go on the dole. We know this because the data consistently show that foreign nationals in the U.S. are more likely than natives to be employed and less likely than low-income natives to be receiving public benefits.

During the recent health-care debate, uninsured illegals were scapegoated for crowded emergency rooms and rising costs. In fact, the uninsured use the ER in rough proportion to their percentage of the population. It's a myth that undocumented immigrants are driving U.S. heath-care costs.

Even Harvard economist George Borjas, a prominent immigration restrictionist, concedes that the welfare magnet argument for sealing the border can't withstand scrutiny. "[T]here exists the possibility that welfare attracts persons who otherwise would not have migrated to the United States," he writes in "Heaven's Door," his influential book on immigration policy. "Although this is the magnetic effect that comes up most often in the immigration debate, it is also the one for which there is no empirical support."

While there's no evidence that immigrants come here for public assistance, that could change as the U.S. welfare state grows. And one consequence could be less-welcoming immigration policies. The European experience is instructive.

In countries such as France, Italy and the Netherlands, excessively generous public benefits have lured poor migrants who tend to be heavy users of welfare and less likely than natives to join the work force. Milton Friedman famously remarked, "you can't have free immigration and a welfare state." There is a tipping point, even if the U.S. has yet to reach it.

Due to the growth of existing entitlement programs to accommodate retiring baby boomers, the U.S. welfare state was destined to expand even before ObamaCare's excesses. And large-scale immigration reform this year was always a long shot with unemployment pushing 10% and midterm elections in November. But left-wing immigrant advocates should be mindful that the two issues aren't unrelated.

Immigrants to the U.S. historically have been significant contributors to the growth and vitality of our labor force because the vast majority come for the right reasons. Don't change the incentives.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704094104575143661044721230.html

Cuba's Major-League Cachet- Dominican players have risen in U.S. baseball, but Cubans still hold sway

Given my recent trip in 2006 to Havana, Cuba with USA Baseball for the Olympic Qualifying Games this article was of great interest to me. The Cuban and USA baseball teams have always had a strong rivalry, often playing each other in final rounds of Tournaments, most recently the 2009 International Baseball Federation's World Cup in Europe. I had the honor, as team physician for the USA baseball team, to watch these two rivals play for the tournament win. Team USA won in this case but as always, Cuba was a tough competitor.

Anyone interested in the future of Dominicans in Major League Baseball might cast a worried look at one of the most talked-about prospects for the 2010 season, a young left-handed Cuban pitcher named Aroldis Chapman. Left-handers are always in demand, and Mr. Chapman has thrown his fastball at a burning 100 miles per hour. Anything he throws faster than 95 seems virtually unhittable. But he rarely throws that fast and is usually at about 90. He has a pretty good slider and a very slow curve. In other words, he has not mastered many pitches for a starting pitcher. He also has control problems, and some days has trouble finding the strike zone. He also has back spasms, was sent down to the minors before the season even opened and began the season on a Triple-A team.


So why is everyone in baseball talking about him? Why were half the ball clubs in the major leagues interested in him, and why did the Cincinnati Reds pay $30 million for him? The answer, at least in part, is because he is Cuban—so not only does he come from a fabled baseball tradition, but he is also a defector, which is a popular political story.


The history of Cuban baseball is almost as long as the history of baseball itself. And despite a half-century embargo—or maybe because of it—Cuba still has a cachet that no other country can match in the American major leagues. That includes the Dominican Republic, which has produced the largest group of foreigners in major league baseball, at more than 470 players.

The Dominicans have John F. Kennedy and Fidel Castro to thank for their place in the major leagues. The first American baseball games probably took place in the 1830s. Cubans have been playing on their island since at least 1866, and are the only foreigners who have consistently played in American major league baseball since the 1870s. They played winters in Cuba and summers in the U.S. The first Cuban player, and the first Latino, in the major leagues was Esteban Bellán, who played third base. From a wealthy Havana family, he learned baseball while studying at Fordham University in New York and later became one of the organizers of the sport in Cuba.

Dominicans have been playing baseball since the 1880s, after it was imported by American and Cuban sugar executives. By the late 1890s, when Dominicans had reached a level where they might play in the U.S., the major leagues—as well as the minor—had adopted an unofficial policy of not letting blacks play. This limited Cuban participation, though a few lighter-skinned athletes "passed." A number of white Cubans had distinguished major league careers, such as Dolf Luque, called "the pride of Havana," a right-handed pitcher with an incredible 21-year run in the majors.

But only 15% of Dominicans are white and most of those belong to a wealthy upper class that rarely turns to professional athletic careers. While Dominican baseball became some of the best in the world, it was confined to playing in Latin America.

All that changed in 1947 when Jackie Robinson joined the Brooklyn Dodgers and the Cleveland Indians signed Larry Doby. Once black players were in the majors the search was on for more black talent. As of 1948 there had already been 32 Cuban major leaguers, so Cuba was a logical place to look. In 1949 Minnie Miñoso, the speedy outfielder nicknamed "the black comet," moved from the Negro League to the Cleveland Indians, and became the first black Latino player in the major leagues.

The first Dominican to play in the majors was Osvaldo Virgil, who made his debut in 1956 and was known to baseball as Ozzie Virgil. He had been discovered not in the Dominican Republic but in the Bronx by the great Cuban scout, Alex Pompez, who had found Mr. Miñoso and many other Cuban stars.

The next Dominican was Felipe Alou, a power hitter who played both infield and outfield. He dreamed of becoming a doctor but dropped out of medical school in 1958 because he desperately needed the $200 the Giants offered him. He went by Rojas Alou, Felipe Rojas Alou or Felipe Rojas, but the scout that recruited him did not understand and called him Alou. All the Rojas boys—Felipe, his brothers Matty and Jesus, and his son, Moisés, all major leaguers— changed their last names to Alou rather than contradict the Americans. In 1992 Felipe Alou became manager of the Montreal Expos, one of the first Latino managers in major league baseball.

There was a steady trickle of Dominicans into the majors in the 1950s and early '60s, including pitcher Juan Marichal, to date the only Dominican in the Hall of Fame. Dominicans probably would have remained a trickle if Kennedy and Castro had gotten along better. But then Eisenhower banned the import of Cuban sugar and the Soviets stepped in to buy it. From 1962 to 1963, Kennedy, angry about the Soviet Union's increasing role in Cuba, laid down embargo measures cutting off economic relations between the two countries.

By the time of the embargo, 96 Cubans and only 12 Dominicans had played major league baseball. It was no longer possible for a Cuban to work in the U.S. and return to Cuba. No longer could a baseball player play in the Cuban leagues in the winter and the major leagues in the summer.

Now, for a Cuban to play in the U.S. he had to defect, denounce his country, desert his family and neighbors and never return. Few Cubans were willing to do this. Even today, with the tantalizing possibility of earning millions in the major leagues, few Cuban players have been willing to defect as Aroldis Chapman did in July 2009 while playing for the Cuban national team in the Netherlands.

The 60 Cubans who have come to play in the major leagues since the embargo represent a fraction of the Cuban players with major league talent. Those who have come have had to face a major adjustment. In the Cuban leagues a player spends his entire career on his hometown team. The fans are his family and friends. When the team plays an away game, the local fans climb into the beds of trucks and take the bumpy ride across the island to the game.

The Cubans disappeared from the major leagues just as the demand for players—including foreign players—was greater than ever. Beginning in 1961, as baseball switched from rail transportation to planes, the leagues expanded. In the 1970s the free agent, a player who could turn to the highest bidder, was created along with a restrictive system of drafting players. Foreign players are not included in the draft and so teams are allowed to sign as many foreigners as they are willing to pay for.

All of this would have sent top scouts—many of them Cuban, such as Rafael Avila for the Dodgers—to Cuba. Instead they went to the Dominican Republic. And Dominicans became top scouts as well. In the 1970s and '80s intense scouting operations in the Dominican Republic grew into large training academies, and soon major league clubs were maintaining an extensive presence in the Dominican Republic.

Today, more than 400 Dominican teenagers sign with the major league system every year, and Major League Baseball is handing out more than $40 million annually in signing bonuses in the Dominican Republic. Major League Baseball says that it generates $76 million in business annually in the Dominican Republic, and that its teams spend $14.7 million on academies that directly and indirectly provide 2,100 jobs in the country.

But baseball is hungry for top players and the major leagues have created an organization called Major League Baseball International, which hunts the world for players. So far programs in many places, such as Germany and Great Britain, have not yielded much. They have had greater success in Japan, Taiwan, and Korea—where baseball has been played for almost as long as in the Dominican Republic—as well as a number of Latin American countries. Currently there is great excitement about Nicaragua.

The entire international equation could be changed once again by Cuba. It seems a matter of time until the U.S. embargo ends and Cuban players, like Dominicans, will be able to spend part of the year at home and part in the major leagues.

Despite little contact with the major leagues these past 50 years, Cuba has maintained extremely high standards of baseball, producing some of the best players and some of the best teams in the world. Major League Baseball seems certain to welcome them. It remains uncertain where the Dominican Republic would be without a Cuban embargo.

By MARK KURLANSKY
The Wall Street Journal, April 10, 2010
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303720604575170171909416204.html?KEYWORDS=cuba+baseball

Lacrosse Growing in the Valley, State of Arizona

His hands couldn't quite grasp the stick. The ball coming toward him wasn't quite as big as his eyes.

Kyle Klein was like any kid in his neighborhood. He grew up playing in a field with a stick in his hands trying to annihilate a ball being thrown toward him.

Now 21, not much is different for Klein. He's still  playing in a field with a stick and a ball. But this time, the stick feels like an extension of his hands, and the ball is more like a friend.

Klein is a key player for one of the top NCAA Division I lacrosse programs in the country.

"I was playing baseball most of my life; when I first started playing lacrosse, I had no idea how to play the game," said Klein, a Scottsdale Desert Mountain graduate who is a junior defender at Robert Morris University in Pittsburgh. (His twin brother Konner plays lacrosse for Grand Canyon University's club team.) "But as soon as I had a (lacrosse) stick and a ball in my hands, I fell in love with it."

Klein is a product of the Arizona Lacrosse Foundation leagues, which is helping shepherd what some believe is the fastest-growing sport in the West at the youth, high school and college level.

Though college lacrosse in Arizona can trace its roots to 1960 when Arizona formed its club team, lacrosse is primarily considered an East Coast sport.

Arizona State club lacrosse coach Chris Malone, who also is the director of the elite youth lacrosse program Arizona Burn, said he has seen the growth.

"When I first got here (in September 2007), there were 75 kids in my youth program. Now there are 225," said Malone, who was an All-American at Maryland. "In my first season at ASU we averaged about 300-400 fans in the stands. This season we he had 5,050 in our first game, and we sold out our second game with 1,300 people. It's an attractive sport. Kids like it, and those who are playing are introducing the sport to their friends."

Nick Cavanez, a senior captain for the Scottsdale Chaparral club lacrosse team, began playing the game in the fifth grade.

"When I first got into high school there were 40 guys on the team; now there are at least 60," he said. "At (Phoenix Brophy Prep), they had 100 people come out for their team. It's definitely growing really fast."

There are 25 high school boys clubs in the Valley and 15 high school teams in the Arizona Girls Lacrosse Association.

The number of elite players from Arizona has grown as well. In 2004, Scott Hochstadt founded the Starz Lacrosse Organization, which is the largest elite club lacrosse organization in the country. The Burn are a member of the organization.

"The talent there (in Arizona) is stronger than any other area, believe it or not," Hochstadt said.

Along with Klein, there are a handful of players playing Division I lacrosse on the East Coast. Hunter Rodgers, a sophomore midfielder, and Pierce Bassett, a freshman goalie, are believed to be the first Arizona products to play for Johns Hopkins, which has won nine Division I titles and is considered the premier program in the nation.

Malone said his goal is to increase the number of elite players who are athletically and academically equipped to earn scholarships from big-time college programs every year.

Klein said it's only a matter of time.

"Kids are starting to play the sport when they're a lot younger now," Klein said. "By the time they get into high school, the sport will there will be bigger, and Arizona will be a hotbed for lacrosse."

 

by Odeen Domingo - Mar. 20, 2010 04:42 PM

The Arizona Republic
http://www.azcentral.com/sports/preps/articles/2010/03/20/20100320arizona-lacrosse-growing.html