Courtesy of Mish.
Recently I received a link from a friend that puts the immigration debate into perspective. The video is from 2010 but seems timeless. I had not seen it before.
Link if video does not play: Immigration, World, Poverty, Gumballs
I like the “gumball” analogy. However, I have never heard anyone say “US immigration is the key to solving world poverty“. So right off the bat I am wondering if Roy Beck is attacking a straw man that does not exist.
Then again, I have heard people say that we need immigration and a higher birthrate to grow the economy. We don’t.
Beck helps put a bit of perspective on things. But he fails to discuss why we have masses of illegal immigrants.
The problem is not immigration, per se. The problem is the “free lunch society” of Medicaid, disability, schools, foods stamps, etc., etc., that makes it desirable for masses of people to want to come to the US for handouts.
Beck does point out that some of the best and brightest want to come here. OK. But, isn’t that a good thing for us?
Yet, if it’s good for us, then it must be bad for someone else (something that Beck clearly implies). Mathematically it is impossible for every country to have net “good” immigration.
And here we are, with no coherent immigration policy to protect US taxpayers from “gumball math”. Every state seems to have its own policies, with California being particularly lax.
Mike “Mish” Shedlock
http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com
