This is actually a better argument than the boogeyman terrorist one on the other thread.
It's estimated to cost somewhere in the $60k range per refugee to resettle in the US. Considering most are fairly low educated, it's likely they'll need public support for some significant time, as well.
I don't think it's unreasonable to have the discussion about the significant financial cost. As I understand it, we could fund 12 refugees to resettle in other mid east nations for the cost of bringing one to the US.
Thanks for bringing facts and context to the original statement. Much appreciated.
This problem will get much worse. And by problem I mean mass exodus out of war-torn areas. Right now, obviously that's primarily the Middle East.
And, compared to most Western European nations, we take in relatively few refugees. While I admire what Germany has done, that's going overboard.
And I disagree that there aren't any jobs. The reason that there are so many illegal immigrants now is because they are typically very willing to do the jobs that American citizens just won't do. In South TX, things just wouldn't get done without them now. And the whole "build the wall" thing is comical. Because migrants from Mexico have decreased over the past several years.
The real "job stealers" are the technical workers that come over on work visas. It appears they're necessary- or the programs wouldn't exist. It seems our lack of investment in education, especially the technical arena, has come back to haunt us.
And I think folks fail to realize that productivity has gone way up- and the rest of the world has caught up to us in terms of being able to make things. And there's a whole lot more of them than there are of us. And they're willing to take much lower wages. In short, our manufacturing jobs have been replaced by service industry jobs. Which, almost by definition, are worse jobs in every conceivable way.
All the talk about bringing jobs back is silly. They're gone- and aren't going to come back unless dramatic changes are made. Remember, a corporation's highest duty is to make its shareholders and investors money. And it's simply cheaper to take your business outside the US.
Americans love cheap goods- but complain about the effects of having those cheap goods available. That's why I really really try hard to avoid shopping for anything at a place like wal-Mart. Even though I'm sure my alternatives are probably no better.
And trickle down economics proved to be a disaster. Folks that make more money keep that money- the extra money they receive from less taxes doesn't ever leave their bank accounts- or are re-invested in forms of passive income. That's not the type of thing that ends up helping the average manual labor American wage earner.
Great topic- after it's been re-framed by twenty.