Fed up with TSC

[yuna628 9,530]

I think you are being purposely obtuse here. There are businesses selling fried foods on every corner with a food cost of 30%, labor cost of 30%, building/insurance/utilities/fees cost of 30% and profit margin of 10% because there is a market to support that product and a labor market for those jobs and a real estate market for for the building and an insurance market etc etc etc. If people decide they do not want to eat the sub-par food then there are other options and the business will adapt or fail and be replaced. There is not enough of a market of people trying to gain residency in the United States within the current legal framework to support service centers on every street corner, but there is a market ... just look at the market of Immigration Attorneys who pay their mortgage by guiding people through the government's obstacle course. Look at this very site.

I challenge you to name one instance in which the government has run "properly" and that proper function has led to something getting done in two weeks.

Competitive marketplaces can be applied to immigration because there is a competitive marketplace ... watch the southern border on any Tuesday morning between 3 and 5 am. And yes. I am for an open-border, free-for-all policy. As I am also against all non-necessary government services that would divert unearned resources to anyone inside the United States borders. Anyone is welcome to come the US and work hard to contribute to, and benefit from, our society. I am willing to compete with anyone and everyone for my job. I have that faith in myself.

The USCIS does offer a service. That service is document review. And that document review service could easily be performed by housewives sitting in their bathrobes in front of their laptops or in a sweatshop in Mumbai for all I care. Transcribe a name and submit a database query ... next. Give me a scanner, a sharpie, 6 sheets of clear plastic, and access to Amazon's mechanical turk and I could clear 200 files per day by myself. Take $50 of the $340 filing fee and leave $290 for the rest of the process, pay $5 in turk fees and scanner depreciation per file and still clear $9K per day. Good work if you can get it. Making 2 million a year I could probably afford to open a second location ... maybe on your streetcorner.

This is the line that got me though .... "We are the ones requesting them to process our petitions under lawful provisions - they reserve the right to reject us no matter what fee we pay." Such a defeatist attitude. That makes me sad. These files represent our hopes and dreams and faith in all that is right with the world. That some beaurocrat has "the right to reject us" should make you want beaurocrats as far away from the process as possible. Stop apologizing for them.

Finally ... I was not saying that we hand over our names and addresses to the airline companies or the names of people we would want to have notified in the event of an emergency. I would never suggest such a thing. But I do suspect we will need to actually trust that the airline properly care for our physical bodies as they hurtle us through the air seven miles above sea level at 580 MPH. I know managing the physics of that is not as critical as maintaining the integrity of a g325a ... but you have to admit both are kinda important.

Right. We can keep going around in circular reasoning with ample snark and provide examples to prove our points or..

I appreciate the fact that you would like an open border policy. But that desire is one that will not happen, for any country on the planet. Just like the desire for a corporation handling the immigration process. That is something I think you'll find most persons agree with. Not that you shouldn't have your own ideas of course.

I am and always will be a realist. I'm sorry that you are saddened by that. Congress (the bureaucrats) are given the authority by the people to continue to maintain the laws, processes, and procedures when it comes to immigration. Whether it be a pencil pusher behind a desk reviewing our files or an immigration officer scowling at us and deciding whether or not they are going to give us a bad day -- they all have been given the authority to say no. A look on this forum shows so many times when it's happened. We have little recourse without extreme hardship in that regard, and while we citizens have the right to liberty and happiness, we do not have the authority to be approved speedily or be guaranteed to be approved at all. Now, chances are each and every one of us here will be approved just fine -- but the only recourse we have to get it done in a reasonable timeframe is to either sit and wait patiently or petition those same bureaucrats that you'd like to keep out, but that we have to have an uncomfortable relationship with because we put them there. I have no problem with those with legal authority given to them to maintain the immigration process, so long as that process is one that is fair and works effectively. When it does not work effectively, I'm not of the mind to throw the baby out with the bath water. I'm one that grows tired of talking-heads whining about how to fix it, or those who can't get off the couch to fix it, or those that feel it's too politically risky to want to fix it. I'd be in there, fixing it years ago. And as has been suggested for so long now by lovely people here on this forum, there are many very effective ways to fix it without resorting to extremes. That's one reason why I'm writing letters to my bureaucrats (the ones that actually do care to do something). So no, I'm not apologizing for anyone. I'm just calling it as I see the situation. It's a painful situation that we have to support each other about, but there it is.

Btw, I'm a little unusual when it comes to flying. Despite the fact it's probably statistically safe mode of travel, I'm very convinced that planes are flying death-traps of necessity no matter who is behind the controls. When I sit in my seat, I hope that there is a good one behind the controls, and that the hunk o' junk holds together. But I know that despite whatever safe measures are in place, if my plane goes down I know that it's unlikely I'll be able to tell the tale afterwards. Therefore, I come to peace with that fact, and trust in someone else other than the pilot. And strangely enough that's what I'm also doing about this whole waiting game process.

All we can do is support each other, advocate, pester our bureaucrats, and spread knowledge. I don't call that defeatist by any means. We're all on this same aircraft. ;-)

Edited January 31, 2015 by yuna628