The administration Wednesday unveiled a proposal that would allow illegal immigrants to legalize themselves on a temporary basis, provided they could get a job. George W. Bush’s presentation of the proposal was filled with noble liberal rhetoric; it ignored the real situation in the murky world of the marginally employed.

The $500 billion per annum U.S. balance of payments deficit cannot be financed indefinitely by persuading foreigners that Wall Street is moving forever upward, nor by arm-twisting Asian central banks into buying Treasury bonds and bills. To rebalance it, the dollar will have to drop and U.S. exports will have to increase to meet imports. […]