Monday, October 11, 2004


Today is a holiday for New York City and State employees, but not for its daily newspapers.
 
We will save the Velella items for tomorrow, when we reach everyone on our list. This Columbus Day report is just for the Q's — the 725 of you who have asked to hear from us more frequently.


Driven by Hunger, Haunted by Fears
 
Newsday, in an investigative article by Robert Polner, ppA7, A26, "Counterfeit Identification: Driven by DMV Alert," deals with the problem faced by undocumented immigrants (formerly illegal aliens) who "fear losing their relatively low paying jobs as a result of notice requiring them to produce a valid Social Security card to get driver's licenses." This is a very serious issue which affects hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers. It does not receive the attention it should, perhaps because the people involved are largely non-white. It illustrates the difficulties of maintaining national boundaries, on one hand, and giving people a chance to improve their lives, on the other.
 
The article is accompanied by "Fraud Trade Booming," by Mr. Polner and Galia Garcia-Palafox, p7. Their lead: "The state's move to keep driver's licenses out of the hands of undocumented immigrants can be good for business. Just ask those who traffic furtively in fake IDs."
 
Reading these articles gives you a sense of the complexity of the issue of illegal immigration. You can also see the impact on local government of federal policies which the United States government does not enforce, at least once the illegals have passed through our porous border and are living in large cities.

New York State's crackdown is under fire, both in a federal court lawsuit charging that the state has no authority to enforce federal law, and from community activists seeking temporary permits for their constituents.  We cannot predict the result, as judicial decisions have become increasingly difficult to foresee.


Pink Sheets Leave Red Faces
 
This story can save you money. In today's Post, Christopher Byron, p33, warns that "Pushers of penny stocks are still loitering on the Street." His piece, titled "PINK-SHEETS BLUSTER," tells the public not to buy shares of nonexistent or shell companies that get favorable write-ups in press releases from people who are in the scheme. This is called "pump and dump," in which insiders create activity in a worthless stock and draw in the public, until they sell their holdings and the outsiders are left holding stock for which there is no market.
 
One would think the Securities and Exchange Commission would prohibit this kind of clearly fraudulent activity, but it does not. The crooks rarely even file with the SEC. Read Byron's article as a study in human gullibility, which is unavoidable, and regulatory failure, which should receive prompt correction. You may think that this is small stuff, but Byron says, "The stocks themselves — representing equity stakes in seemingly worthless shell companies — are trading at a combined market value of more than $1.3 billion on the so-called pink sheets market."