Doubling down on stupid fiscal policies

California: The Broke State

(NaturalNews) Regarding the debate over reform of U.S. immigration laws – a debate that has never been settled amid reforms that have never been adopted – Nobel Prize-winning economist Milton Friedman, in response to an editorial advocating "open borders" in, admonished the paper's position in the context as it pertains to the existence of general federal entitlement programs: "It's just obvious you can't have free immigration and a welfare state."But nearly a decade after this debate really started raging, there are too many advocates holding elected offices all around the country who have completely discounted Friedman's astute observation. In fact, they have not only discounted it, they have continually doubled down on policies that exacerbate the very problem he pointed out, and always to the detriment of the beleaguered taxpayer.Nowhere is this truer than in the state of California, home to the country's largest illegal immigrant population. While much of the state's revenue comes from its massive agricultural industry – and migrant workers are most often employed at California's farms – they are also provided a plethora of social welfare benefits that the state's taxpayers (and federal taxpayers), are forced to subsidize.What's more, the amount being paid out to illegal aliens is about to explode. As reported by"Over half of all illegal immigrants in California earn incomes so low that they would be eligible for the state Medicaid system Medi-Cal , a new study has found, just as California is about to extend the health insurance to children in the country illegally."According to the non-partisan Public Policy Institute of California, if the California legislature, which is dominated by Democrats, and its Democratic governor, Jerry Brown, decide to extend the program to include every illegal alien, then more than half – 51 percent – would qualify for benefits. Further, the policy institute's study estimates that there are some 2.6 million illegals living in the deep blue state, meaning nearly 1.4 million would qualify for Medi-Cal benefits.Already critics of the state's lax immigration enforcement and sanctuary cities policies are citing the institute's report as just another way California lawmakers are guilty of "self-inflicted costs" in a state that has a long history of being broke."This is a consequence of policies California has implemented over many years that have induced a lot of people to settle in California who will rely heavily on government services," Ira Mehlman, a spokesman for the Federation for American Immigration Reform, said in a statement toAs noted by Robert Rector, a senior research fellow at the Heritage Foundation, upping enrollment in a taxpayer-funded benefits program is essentially redistribution of wealth:"The transfer state redistributes funds from those with high-skill and high-income levels to those with lower skill levels. Low-skill immigrants become natural recipients in this process. On average, low-skill immigrant families receive $30,160 per year in government benefits and services while paying $10,573 in taxes, creating a net fiscal deficit of $19,587 that has to be paid by higher-income taxpayers."California is still struggling with budget issues. According to the Contra Costa Bee newspaper , the state has recently improved its monetary position, mostly through heavy tax increases. In fact, the paper reported, citing, in 1950 just 10 percent of the state's entire fiscal take came from income taxes, but by 2014 that figure had risen by a staggering amount – to 64 percent.Moreover, some estimates have the state owing between 500 million and nearly $1 trillion in unfunded liabilities, and a couple billion dollars in pensions promised to state workers who retire. There is no way the state can afford that.So what does its Democrat majority do? Doubles down on the stupidity by offering yet another generous taxpayer-supported benefit, this time to individuals who don't even have a legal right to be in the country, much less a right to benefits paid for by citizens.Friedman was right: You can't have a generous welfare state and unlimited illegal immigration because you will wind up with a never-ending stream of them, and all with hands outstretched.