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The argument about increasing rents is one I've heard quite a few times however correlation and causation are not entirely clear (this blog goes into more detai

by jcfrei 14y ago

The argument about increasing rents is one I've heard quite a few times however correlation and causation are not entirely clear (this blog goes into more detail: http://politblog.tagesanzeiger.ch/blog/index.php/tag/miete/?lang=de http://politblog.tagesanzeiger.ch/blog/index.php/tag/miete/?... (in german)). on top of that the available land for building would be more than sufficient for 8 mil. and more people. take a look at singapore, which is half the size of the canton of zurich but has three times more inhabitants (5.3 mil.). needless to say we would need to revise a lot of the very restrictive building codes here. Anyway, the whole discussion about immigration really becomes absurd when you consider that most immigrants are not unskilled, minimum wage workers, but mostly highly skilled professionals. in some areas our economy is in desperate need of those professionals - for example in the health care sector - and dismissing those professionals would be the really foolish thing to do.

waps 14y ago
That only makes sense unless you take into account how people are living in Singapore. 5 people to an apartment is not an exception there. Couples that don't have the money and have to share the SAME ROOM with other people is not rare. Just imagine building a future with someone you care about, or having a child, or just even finding someone at all in that environment. I for one would consider it a very positive trait of a city to NOT be like Singapore. I do not want to live like that, and when prices hit a certain level you have no choice left. "most immigrants are not unskilled, minimum wage workers" - I can only respond with "visit Brussels". They have a very positive trait - they're much more likely to start a business (though almost always either an eatery or a food store). Enough is enough though. After a certain amount of stores - everything just starts to fail, and everyone moves to welfare. And yes, a small amount of immigrants is definitely enriching. The way it is happening in Brussels it brings zero diversity (there's only 99% morrocan, 99% turkish, 99% dutch 99% french quarters with zero interaction between them - aside from crime. Kids go to separate schools, and in the few cases they do go to similar schools - they still don't interact - everyone knows why but it's politically incorrect - it's violence-enforced racism by a particular non-white religious group, although ethnicity also plays). The way it is now, immigration in Brussels is nothing but a massive drag on a city that just can't take it. I heard about one study claiming that the average economic benefit for the EU of one immigrant is about MINUS 10k euros per year. I think that's probably pretty accurate.

by jcfrei 14y ago

waps 14y ago

That only makes sense unless you take into account how people are living in Singapore. 5 people to an apartment is not an exception there. Couples that don't have the money and have to share the SAME ROOM with other people is not rare. Just imagine building a future with someone you care about, or having a child, or just even finding someone at all in that environment. I for one would consider it a very positive trait of a city to NOT be like Singapore. I do not want to live like that, and when prices hit a certain level you have no choice left. "most immigrants are not unskilled, minimum wage workers" - I can only respond with "visit Brussels". They have a very positive trait - they're much more likely to start a business (though almost always either an eatery or a food store). Enough is enough though. After a certain amount of stores - everything just starts to fail, and everyone moves to welfare. And yes, a small amount of immigrants is definitely enriching. The way it is happening in Brussels it brings zero diversity (there's only 99% morrocan, 99% turkish, 99% dutch 99% french quarters with zero interaction between them - aside from crime. Kids go to separate schools, and in the few cases they do go to similar schools - they still don't interact - everyone knows why but it's politically incorrect - it's violence-enforced racism by a particular non-white religious group, although ethnicity also plays). The way it is now, immigration in Brussels is nothing but a massive drag on a city that just can't take it. I heard about one study claiming that the average economic benefit for the EU of one immigrant is about MINUS 10k euros per year. I think that's probably pretty accurate.