BP's Calculation

There has been a lot of finger pointing lately about the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, from BP to government regulators to Halliburton.  There is no doubt that BP was incredibly irresponsible, but they were given incentive to act that way.  The Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund that caps damages payments from BP at $75 million was a huge factor in creating the spill.  Considering that BP averages $93 million in profits each day, that liability cap makes damages a virtual non-factor in BP's safety decisions.  The number of safety precautions that BP forwent is staggering.  They decided against using a safer cement design and addressing leaks and other problems with the blowout preventer.

BP decided to use a cheaper and faster cement method that led to the spill.  The safer and more common cement method costs only $7 million more and reduced the likelihood of a disaster by 10 times.  It is pretty clear that if BP was held accountable for damages, they would be willing to spend more on safety precautions.

In another attempt to maximize profits, BP pressured workers on the rig to work faster and ignore safety problems that they noticed with the blowout preventer.

Economically, BP had incentives not to invest in safety measures.  I am confident that this disaster will lead to more regulation of the oil industry.  But, it shows that government regulation is needed so businesses are held accountable for more than their profits.

What aren't Ethnic Studies?

As you may know, Arizona put into law last week a ban on ethnic studies.  When I heard the story in the news, I thought "What are ethnic studies?"  To most people, they think of things like African-American studies, Asian-American studies, Mexican-American studies, and Native American studies.  Most people probably wouldn't identify an ordinary U.S. History class as ethnic studies, but maybe it is.

Let's make a list of what makes a class ethnic studies.  Perhaps the curriculum would include authors from that ethnic group.  Maybe it would focus more on that group's contributions to America.  These are pretty standard criteria, but feel free to comment with other ideas.  Now, if we compare most U.S. History and English classes to that list, they are also ethnic studies.  When we learned about the Constitution in seventh grade, did we focus mostly on the contributions of white Europeans?  Of course.  Were most of the books you read that year written by white authors?  Unless your experience was very different than mine, the answer is yes.

With that in mind, were you in an ethnic studies curriculum?

This seems to me like an example of white privileges numbers 6 and 7 from the Invisible Knapsack.  Ethnic studies of the racial majority is just called History.  Until all ethnic groups are integrated into the curriculum, is Arizona just choosing a different ethnic studies?

Law Abiding Undocumented Immigrants

This is going to be my last post about my junior theme topic, undocumented immigration.  Some polls have been coming out showing that most Americans agree with Arizona's new immigration law.  One of the reasons for the support is the myth that undocumented immigrants raise the crime rate.

To Arizonans who claim that they are being overrun by criminals, I ask you to look at the facts.  Decades of research have shown that undocumented immigrants commit fewer crimes than natives.  In fact, the incarcerated percentage of foreign-born people is 2.5 times less than that of natives.  But you may ask, if immigrants commit less crimes than the native population, why doesn't Arizona have a lower crime rate?

Although you would not know it by how Arizona has framed the debate, their crime rate decreased 13% from 1999 to 2006 and continues to drop faster than the national average.  This doesn't surprise social scientists at all because states almost always see their crime rate decrease as immigration increases.

If we are a nation of laws, why are natives worse at following the law than immigrants.  Simply put, immigrants have a lot more to lose by breaking a law.  Especially undocumented immigrant fear deportation if they commit even the smallest crime.

Arizona should focus on catching real criminals, natives and immigrants, instead of people whose only crime is their status.

How We Don't Enforce Immigration Law

United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) takes the least efficient action in enforcing immigration law.  Whether you believe they should catch more undocumented individuals or waste less money, immigration enforcement is a colossal failure.

Let's start with the allocation of resources.  According to the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO),  the ICE uses only 4% of their man hours on worksite enforcement and makes only 1% of apprehensions at worksites.  While it is hard to spot an undocumented worker on the street, enforcement should conduct raids on employers that recruit these workers if they want to do their job.  However, they may not want to do their job.  In Wayne A. Cornelius's book, Controlling immigration: a global perspective, he cites that unlawful employers pressure the ICE to look the other way and put more personnel at the border.

At least the border enforcement is working, right?  Actually, current border enforcement is increasing the number of undocumented people in the U.S.  The Border Patrol only covers parts of the Mexico-U.S. border.  Mostly, they focus on closing old ports of entry. Simply diverting immigrants from San Diego and El Paso to the Arizona desert.  They make it more difficult for undocumented immigrants to enter the U.S., but this turns out to be counterproductive.

While the number of undocumented immigrants entering the U.S. has remained steady for the last few decades, the number of those staying has increased because it is harder to return.  Douglas Massey, a Princeton University sociologist, says that "the undocumented population would be half what it is now."

I have to believe that the government knows how ineffective the current immigration enforcement is.  What purpose does the system actually serve?

What Does an Undocumented Immigrant Look Like?

On Friday, Arizona Governor Jan Brewer signed a bill that makes it a crime not to carry proof of legal status.  Anyone who cannot produce documentation can be fined $2,500 and sentenced to 6 months in prison.  Well, not quite anyone.  Law enforcement must have "reasonable suspicion" that someone is an illegal alien to stop them and ask for papers.  That is the problem, what does an illegal immigrant look like?

Governor Brewer has said that "We must enforce the law evenly, and without regard to skin color, accent or social status." So the question for you readers is: what should law enforcement look for? This is going to be a short post because I have absolutely no idea what police can do. The law also requires training to help officers spot undocumented immigrants. What do you think will be the content of that training?