5 ms·

Name one country with better-than-average standard of living that has opened its borders and thrived. There will always be a wall around something nice — either

by paggle 7y ago

Name one country with better-than-average standard of living that has opened its borders and thrived. There will always be a wall around something nice — either around your house, or your neighborhood, or your country.

drewrv 7y ago
The United States itself had "open borders" for a long period of time. There was mass immigration from Ireland, Italy, and many other places and it worked out quite well for us. Even today, we have "open borders" within the US. People are free to move from from poor (or poorly run) communities to places with more opportunities and it's a win-win. Similarly Europe has 26 countries in the Shengen area. Some of the countries have a "better-than-average standard of living" and they're doing just fine.
- ThePawnBreak 7y ago
  > The United States itself had "open borders" for a long period of time. There was mass immigration from Ireland, Italy, and many other places and it worked out quite well for us. There was no welfare state back then, and the economic situation was vastly different. Also saying it went "quite well" looks over all of the ethnic tension that took decades to fix. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irish_Americans#Discrimination https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irish_Americans#Discrimination > Similarly Europe has 26 countries in the Shengen area. Some of the countries have a "better-than-average standard of living" and they're doing just fine. Heard about Brexit? The Romanians are coming: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yb1AkaKJL08 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yb1AkaKJL08
  - stordoff 7y ago
    > Heard about Brexit? The UK was never in the Schengen Area to begin with.
    - ThePawnBreak 7y ago
      Do you live in Europe? Schengen is only about passport control at the border, but any EU citizen had the right to work in the UK, no visa required. Eastern European workers lowering wages and quality of work for most British tradesmen and low skilled workers is probably the main reason for Brexit.
- paggle 7y ago
  At a time when there was infinite demand for unskilled labor and when relative standard of living was much lower.
tensor 7y ago
Canada takes in a large number of immigrants and thrives for it. Based https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_net_migration_rate https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_net_migra..., we take in double what the US does.
- paggle 7y ago
  LOL! Canada does not have even close to open borders. They have refugees and they have merit immigration which has been decried as racist in the US. Merit immigration needs a better ambassador than Trump. Perhaps Bernie Sanders.
- barry-cotter 7y ago
  This is completely unresponsive to the comment you’re replying to. Canada is extremely far from having open borders, controls temporary and permanent immigration vigorously and doesn’t border any poor countries anywhere with substance populations.

by paggle 7y ago

drewrv 7y ago

The United States itself had "open borders" for a long period of time. There was mass immigration from Ireland, Italy, and many other places and it worked out quite well for us. Even today, we have "open borders" within the US. People are free to move from from poor (or poorly run) communities to places with more opportunities and it's a win-win. Similarly Europe has 26 countries in the Shengen area. Some of the countries have a "better-than-average standard of living" and they're doing just fine.

ThePawnBreak 7y ago
> The United States itself had "open borders" for a long period of time. There was mass immigration from Ireland, Italy, and many other places and it worked out quite well for us. There was no welfare state back then, and the economic situation was vastly different. Also saying it went "quite well" looks over all of the ethnic tension that took decades to fix. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irish_Americans#Discrimination https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irish_Americans#Discrimination > Similarly Europe has 26 countries in the Shengen area. Some of the countries have a "better-than-average standard of living" and they're doing just fine. Heard about Brexit? The Romanians are coming: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yb1AkaKJL08 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yb1AkaKJL08
- stordoff 7y ago
  > Heard about Brexit? The UK was never in the Schengen Area to begin with.
  - ThePawnBreak 7y ago
    Do you live in Europe? Schengen is only about passport control at the border, but any EU citizen had the right to work in the UK, no visa required. Eastern European workers lowering wages and quality of work for most British tradesmen and low skilled workers is probably the main reason for Brexit.
paggle 7y ago
At a time when there was infinite demand for unskilled labor and when relative standard of living was much lower.

tensor 7y ago

Canada takes in a large number of immigrants and thrives for it. Based https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_net_migration_rate https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_net_migra..., we take in double what the US does.

paggle 7y ago
LOL! Canada does not have even close to open borders. They have refugees and they have merit immigration which has been decried as racist in the US. Merit immigration needs a better ambassador than Trump. Perhaps Bernie Sanders.
barry-cotter 7y ago
This is completely unresponsive to the comment you’re replying to. Canada is extremely far from having open borders, controls temporary and permanent immigration vigorously and doesn’t border any poor countries anywhere with substance populations.