OPINION
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
PUBLISHED DAILY SINCE 1912
Wednesday, June 11, 1997
eff MacNally / CHICAGO TRIBUNE
Editorial
Lowering immigration quota would hurt American economy
After years of comparative obscurity, immigration has emerged as a pivotal political issue, competing with issues like race, taxes and crime.
Worried about a possible cultural and economic conquest by foreigners, Americans want a drastic cut in the immigrant quota, from the present one million a year to one-third that figure. Revelations of welfare abuses by immigrants have not made it easier.
Many Americans, if asked to be frank, call immigrants job-snatchers or foreigners with an alien culture.
Seeking to make America less rosy than it is, the latest immigration reforms propose curtailing public services to immigrants even after they have paid the taxes for them. Pro-immigration lobbies stunned by the move have called it an unparalleled travesty of modern law.
They argue that American fears of being swamped by foreigners are baseless, considering that only nine percent of Americans are foreignborn. With 94 percent of immigrants being economically self-sufficient, reports of welfare abuses are seen as unfortunate but exaggerated.
They see themselves as a vital part of the United States workforce, the building blocks of the American economy, particularly in areas like technology and research.
American economy needs immigrants just as much as the immigrants need it
It's not about cheap labor, immigration proponents argue, it's about the right skills. It's not about easing Americans from jobs, it's being absorbed by a growing economy which needs them as much as they need it.
They fail to see how the transgressions of a few should lead to penalties for everyone. To them, the very idea of America shutting its door to immigrants hits at its very core.
It was the recession of the 90's which propelled debate over immigration. While the economy picked up, so did the debate over restricting immigration.
Even though the latest employment figures in America have reached record highs, the debate over immigration has intensified.
Nobody argues that immigration reforms do not need to be overhaul. Characterized by years of benign neglect, immigration reform bills became a joke as politicians tried to
please both sides, selling national interest for votes.
Eventually, the need to keep the public happy may lead to more restrictive policies. But instead of caving in to rhetoric and political play, it would be wiser for the government to consider facts and realities.
Any immigration reform law will fail to do justice to both sides if it does not take into account the symbiotic relationship between the sides.
Agreed, America is paradise when compared to other countries riddled by poverty and political insurgency. But America is not a charity corporation and may need immigrants just as much as they need it.
Consider this: A "Workforce 2000" report issued by the Federal Government has forecast a tremendous skills shortage in the workforce.
The July 1995 issue of PC Week said that 51 percent of IT industries, a haven for foreign-born professionals, are understaffed because of a skills' shortage.
Driven by a need for cheaper labor, American companies have started offshore development. Rather than employing immigrants in the U.S., which keeps their money in the American economy, the jobs are going to workers in other countries entirely.
PALLAVI AGARWAL FOR THE EDITORIAL BOARD
Money for $4 million KU jet could be better spent
Letter
I am dismayed by the irresponsible actions taken recently by Chancellor Hemenway and the Kansas University Endowment Association toward the purchase of a new $4 million dollar jet plane. They say, straight-faced, that this jet is necessary for the conduct of University business.
The timing of the matter bothers me. Quite simply, it is no coincidence that the Chancellor waited until Stop Day to announce this bombshell. Most students may never hear about this big-ticket purchase with the Jayhawk on the tail. At least, that is, in time to do anything to stop it.
money on himself. This is not merely an example of bureaucratic bumbling, but also a self-serving abuse of power. The Chancellor has often spoken of priorities when the students have requested funding for projects. Chancellor, I ask, where are your priorities now?
In addition, the ingenious use of
Endowment funds never ceases to amaze me. Besides building themselves a new building to replace a perfectly adequate one, the Endowment Association is now poking its beak into the skies and looking to fly. It is of little significance that state funds are not being used for this purchase. It is, in fact, this diversion of Endowment funds that adversely impacts students the most. After all, this is money that could otherwise be used for student scholarships and loans.
Is it not enough that the Chancellor already gets a car, mansion, and countless other amenities paid for by the Endowment Association? I say fix the planes the University already owns and use them. On second thought, maybe the Chancellor should just take commercial flights like the rest of us and spend the millions on a cause that is truly deserving of it.
Finally, the most goading aspect of the whole affair is the amount of hubris this action has required on the part of the Chancellor. In the face of the many other compelling needs on campus such as child care, inadequate computer access, and the antiquated bus system, the Chancellor has instead chosen to spend the
Jason Fizell Olathe senior
JEN SMITH . . . . . . . .
Covu
KANSAN STAFF
NEWS EDITORS
ANDREA ALLBRIGHT . . .
Campus
BRYAN VOLK ...
Design
ASHLEIGH ROBERTS ...
Photo
First came word of McDonald's 55 cent deal on Big Mac sandwiches. Apparently, the promotion was a complete flop.
RACHEL RUBIN ... Creative
Fifty cents for a can of pop seems right. It has been a static economic principal for most of our generation's lives. Fifty cents isn't hard to earn or hard to spend, and thus, KU Concessions took in — and I am not making this up — one million dollars last year.
CORY CORONA ...
Assistant Design
KU Concessions is trying to raise extra revenue, and their rationale is that minimum wage is up and vending machines now have to pay sales tax. But this is the wrong way to raise money on campus.
ADVERTISING MANAGERS
The way to raise money is through student fees. No one cares about student fees. We have to pay them. And an extra five or ten bucks a semester wouldn't kill anyone, especially not for something as highly used as the Unions, which operate KU Concessions.
But raising the price of pop is something students will riot over. This is a college campus, for crying out loud, and even our apathy has limits. And let's not forget which building the students normally burn down to make a point.
How to submit letters and guest columns
KATHRYN JENSEN ...
Classified
STEPHANIE DECKER ... Regional
Assistant Design
The promotion was not only a disaster but also a sham McDonald's wasn't founded in 1955. The McDonald's brothers, Maurice and Richard, opened the first
Here is where the demand for pop peaks: people will not buy as many cans at 50 cents as they will at 60 cents, and the price increase will not make up for the decrease in sales.
There has been a lot of talk about change lazily. I'm not referring to broad social revolution, but merely to those embossed metallic circles we all have in our pockets and purses.
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Well, there's a surprise. You couldn't just walk in and plunk down some change for a sandwich, you had to buy an extra value meal. Besides, the number 55 has no meaning in pop culture, it isn't even the speed limit anymore.
There has been a lot of talk about change lately.
All letter and guest columns should be submitted to the Kanen newsroom, 111 Stauffer Fint Hell. The Kanen reserves the right to edit, cut to length or reject all submissions. For any questions, call Paul Eakins at 864-4810 (opinion@kanen.com).
McDonald's restaurant in San Bernardino, Calif. in 1940. In 1948, the brothers changed their service concept to the readily prepared, fast food that we would recognize today. The Big Mac wasn't even introduced in 1955 — it came out in 1968
McDonalds,KU have wrong idea for change
Columns
People like easy amounts. Lawrence Cigar Company actually prices their merchandise to come out to an even quarter when tax is added. But two coins, unless they are quarters — a million bucks worth of pop can't be wrong — is too bothersome for people to deal with.
For the last 11 years, 50 cents has been the price of a can of pop in the University of Kansas vending machines. But now the price has been raised, not to 55 cents (the folks at KU Concessions are apparently a little brighter than the folks at McDonald's), but to 60 cents. And these aren't even airport vending machines.
Even if the year was correct, anyone who lived in 1955 would have been offended if they paid more than a dime for a hamburger.
My only hope is that the phone company, which is now extorting 35 cents for a local phone call, will go the way of the McDonald's promotion.
Someone should determine how many coins consumers can handle in one single low-cognition purchase. The Big Mac is a low-cognition purchase because if we thought about it, we wouldn't eat them to begin with. Charging amounts that can't be conjured out of two coins, preferably like coins, will yield failure.
But despite the meaninglessness of 55 cents, what McDonald's marketing folks failed to consider was that 55 cents is a difficult amount. It requires thought — something marketing people abhor — to come up with 55 cents. You've got to use at least three coins unless you have a half dollar, and if you do have a half dollar, that means you've just come from the movies and are too full on popcorn to possibly want a Big Mac.
Fifty cents, for example, is no problem for consumers.
Andy Obermueller is a Liberal senior in journalism.
Students should begin their own book co-op
Let me set up a scenario for you. Let's say that I'm going into business for myself. My plan is to sell something that people can't do without
originally, regardless of the condition.
And then, after they use it for four months, I'll buy it back from them at an average price of 10 to 30 percent of what I charged them originally.
Then, I'll turn around and sell it to someone else at 75 to 80 percent of what the first person paid for it. I'll do that several times, never lowering the cost to the consumer after the first time, but giving the people who bought it back less each time until I just won't take it back at all.
"What a rip-off",you say?
Well, yes. "Won't fly", you say? There I disagree with you. You see, this business already exists and every one of us at the University of Kansas uses it. It is the business of selling and buying textbooks.
I'm beginning to think that the bookstores in this town should give every student a tube of K-Y Jelly with their textbook purchase. This would at least give you an honest indication of what you were in for at the cash register.
It seems that it doesn't truly matter whether the store is owned by the University. The problems are built into the industry, and the choice of bookstore or college only determines the degree to which you get ripped off.
At the community college that I attended, I would get angry that I would have to pay $50 or $60 for a book and only get $20 or $30 back at the end of the semester. Here, I pay $60 or $70 for a USED book, and I am lucky if I get $6 back at the end of the semester.
I just paid $70 for a second book for a class that I withdrew from last semester, because my new teacher doesn't use the same book as the other one. And now no one will buy back the book. The $300 worth of books I bought in the fall garnered me a payback of a little over $30, and I'm left with a copy of The Feminine Mystique, which is so old that the cover price is $1.75. They charged me $5 for it and now won't buy it back. I didn't read it and still got an A in the class, and I certainly don't want to read it now. As for the $250 I paid for books last spring, I got about $10 for the ones I could sell back, but no one would buy back the two most expensive ones.
Even if they didn't come out with a new edition, leaving you high and dry, you're lucky if you get enough out of a $50 book to buy lunch at the Hawk's Nest. And yet, they turn around and sell them to the next poor schimuck for $45.
In this age of communication, there should be a website or some sort of book market so that students could buy and sell books themselves.
For example, you buy a book from one of the bookstores for $70. At the end of the semester you take it back to the bookstore to see what they're paying and they tell you $10. So, you go online to the website and you post that the book is for sale.
The next semester, another student goes to the bookstore and gets the titles and prices of the books they need for their classes. This particular book is $55 used. So they go online, see your ad, click on the little blue part which connects them to your e-mail address, and you sell the book for $35. They save $20; you get $25 more than if you'd sold it to the bookstore; and everyone's happy.
Everyone, that is, except maybe the bookstore. If this idea takes off, the bookstores may have to re-examine their pricing in order to stay in the game.
And, while we're at it, maybe we can get the University to standardize their book usage so that three people take the same class from three different teachers aren't using three different books in the same semester.
Of the following groups: faculty, university, bookstores and students, which has the least money?
V. Meredith Toenjs is a Kansas City, Kan.Junior in psychology.
Jeff MacNally / CHICAGO TRIBUNE