Basic Economics

I sat there, stunned, as George W. Bush gave the nation a nutshell explanation of basic economic theory, reading his Teleprompter quite well and not stumbling as he usually does.  Still, what he was saying would have been more clearly stated to the American people via a simple "We in a HEAP o' trouble, people…"  The current mess is the result not only of the fat cats on Wall Street but of the lies told by the millions of home purchasers in their greedy desire to buy more home than they could possibly afford by agreeing to ridiculous mortgages they almost all understood at the time of purchase, but have conveniently "forgotten" in the aftermath of their greed.  Between the ambulance chasers and now the "what do you MEAN the mortgage is adjustab…

Tweaking E-Verify

With the election just weeks away, the economy reeling, and the future looking anything but bright, the rhetoric regarding employment verification has cooled a bit of late.  But one thing remains clear: E-Verify, love it or hate it, seems to be solidly established as the federal government's solution for the foreseeable future.  How E-Verify plays out reveals the very complex nature of the subject matter, and opinions are anything but what you'd expect them to be.  Take FAIR, the Federation for Immigration Reform, one of the more rabid critics of the government's immigration policies.  Given the error rates cited by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and FAIR's historical distrust of the USG, one would expect its position on E-Verify to be negative.  …

Manager Pleads Guilty Plea in Agri-Processor ICE Raid Case

The Associated Press reported on August 28 that Martin De La Rosa-Loera, a supervisor at the Agri-Processors meatpacking plant in Postville, Iowa, has pled guilty to “aiding and abetting the harboring of illegal immigrants”.  The charges stem from a massive immigration raid on the company in May of this year.  He faces a maximum of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine. WHAT THIS MEANS:  The guilty plea specfies that he – a supervisor at a plant – was violating federal law by “knowing and recklessly disregarding the fact that” workers were illegally in the country [Emphasis added.]IMHO, this plea – accepted by the defendant – establishes a new level of risk to ALL levels of corporate management, not just HR and Legal departments.  Given all of the mas…

So where have I been…?

Well, I must say that it was a bit flattering to come back to a handful of messages asking why I've been silent for the past six weeks.  The answer: I was wrapping up business in various other countries and was out of the U.S. for almost two months…but I'm back and so is the blog.We are working on updating the i9advantage E-Verify status map and you'll have it soon.  In the meantime, please remember: if you know of new municipal or state laws enacted which affect the hiring practices of employers, WRITE ME AND TELL ME!…