4 ms·
The issue of immigration is not just about whether there is enough money, it is also about how willing people are to pay. The states with the best public welfar
by jchb 9y ago
The issue of immigration is not just about whether there is enough money, it is also about how willing people are to pay. The states with the best public welfare systems, usually considered to be those in Scandinavia, have historically had very homogenous societies. Often a strong connection is drawn between the homogeneity of a society and the willingness to pay tax ( * ).
Note that by homogeneity we do not only speak about peoples origin and looks, but perhaps more importantly about what values they hold.
If you have a constant large influx of immigrants from diverse cultures, such as the US has had throughout its history, you also have a greater difference of values.
( * )Although I grant that those that argue for this usually lean to the conservative side of the political spectrum, for example David Goodhart: https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2004/feb/24/race.eu https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2004/feb/24/race.eu)
- yequalsx 9y agoI was responding to jimmy1's post. In there jimmy1 specifically mentions cost of providing for immigrants. ... story gets changed when all of a sudden your government no longer has the means to take care of everyone. Since the per capita GDP of the U.S. is not declining so much to immigration then mentioning immigration is not relevant. It's a red herring. I can only guess as to the reason why jimmy1 made such an irrelevant point but I can't prove that my guess is correct. Thus I'll settle for just pointing out that it's a red herring and an argumentative fallacy.
- jchb 9y agoRight, jimmy1 comment about immigration breaking the Greece economy seems factually incorrect. While handling the immigration flow was pretty expensive (sources say a few percentage points of GDP) that bill has largely been footed by U.N and various donor organizations and countries. But also your argument here is flawed (U.S immigration doesn't affect U.S GDP negatively, so that should apply everywhere), because it doesn't take into account that the immigrants arriving to southern Europe and the ones coming to the U.S. are vastly different groups of people. I would assume that immigration to the U.S to a large extent consists of people wishing to work towards the "American Dream". Many of them have had to secure a job in advance to get a entry permit and so on. While the people arriving in Southern Europe are a random bunch of people, typically from economically unadvanced regions - refugees fleeing wars, economical immigrants etc.
- yequalsx 9y agoThe discussion was about the U.S. and it's lack care for it's citizens. Since immigration in the U.S. is not the cause of this then bringing up immigration is a red herring. If the discussion were about the effects of immigration in Europe then it would be relevant. I've never said, implied, insinuated, or hinted that immigration doesn't adversely effect per capita GDP in any nation since it isn't currently having such an effect in the U.S.
- jimmy1 9y ago> jimmy1 comment about immigration breaking the Greece economy seems factually incorrect. My 50+ relatives that are there right now experiencing it would say otherwise, but who knows they could all be wrong. Populism and anti-globalist sentiment is on the rise in Europe on a whole due to immigration concerns.
- yequalsx 9y agoThe downfall of the Greek economy occurred in 2008/2009. The immigration problem came later after the economy tanked. The immigration problem made things worse but the economy had already been wrecked by the time the refugees arrived.