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That settles that now, doesn’t it.
doogie
Member Posts: 15,072
doogie
Member Posts: 15,072
Comments
It's good to be rich in the USA. Same as it's ever been.
Friend of mine travels there for bidness, and another is now the managing partner of a global law firm with an office in Moscow (he's native Russian but educated here). Apparently the gangster oligarchy class is a very real thing there.
You can't continue to grow the bottom, and expect the top to support it. That has never worked, and it will eventually drive money out of the US, and causing the government to print even more of it. Then comes hyper-inflation, and you become Venezuela only on a much larger scale.
Where we part company is the low-skilled workers "problem". Reform the welfare state so as not to provide any government benefits (other than the most basic human needs) to the newly-arrived. Those people are finding work by and large and if they're willing to do it for less that's the American way. We spend a lot of time arguing against minimum wage laws and $22 / hr. at McDonald's, and not nearly enough time examining what labor protectionist policies would do the the American economy ... short- and long-term.
IDK when this changed, but conservatism used to mean freedom of capital deployment as well. So are we for or against low-skill workers making $22 / hr.? We seem to go back and forth on this depending on whether the worker is an immigrant or a citizen.
Funny story from a while back now...met up with a South African guy I went to grad school with at a bar in Amsterdam after not seeing him for about 5 years...sharp guy but a bit naive. He was managing a European business in Russia and telling me about living there...started describing his girlfriend and his introduction to her family. Described some crazy expensive gifts her brothers had gotten him...I asked him what the family did. He said with a straight face they imported cars and seriously believed it.
Next twenty minutes was pure comedy as I kept asking questions and I could tell that it started sinking in to him that the girl’s family was Russian mob...not a spot I’d want to be in.
I should clarify on the low skilled workers. We already have a large pool of low skilled workers in this country, and the percentage compared to high skilled workers continues to expand. How does bringing in millions of additional low skilled workers every year help solve this problem? All this does is put greater emphasis on the need of a welfare state. When this happens, the rich move their money (because they can) and the money starts to dry up. I think as a country, we need to do a better job offering more trade schools and work programs for the people already here, and fix this first, then we can look at opening up the gates, once we have a system in place.