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Earlier quoted context omitted.
About 60 million Americans receive some federal assistance. A slightly larger number get healthcare from Medicaid. The assistance is not a large amount per month, but it is there.
Medicaid covers around 80 million people, at roughly $7,000 a year per recipient, which is double what the UK spends per patient. https://www.kff.org/medicaid/state-indicator/distribution-of...
https://www.kff.org/medicaid/state-indicator/medicaid-spendi...
Much of the spending is on the elderly and disabled (which both group tend to have above average medical needs).
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I am for immigration, it's just the pseudo indentured servitude that is H1B that I have a problem with. As to factory outsourcing, I think it's overall a net gain for humanity. Long term there is a finite number of countries and barring societal collapse eventually they will all end up 'developed'. It simply exposes other problems in the US like our horrible social safety net and endemic corruption. So, a small ~2-5%…
I agree. I know a number of H1B who would like to start their own companies, but obviously can't because of the visa requirements. The system is almost designed intentionally to allow the abuse of workers.
So what do Switzerland, Germany and Iceland better than the rest of the developed nations?
They haven't had decades of sustained mass immigration of low-skilled workers.
Why in the face of globalization (and now increased automation) the U.S. continues to have an effectively open-door policy to low-skill workers makes no sense at all.
As a U.S. citizen, I'd like to see a return to the temporary moratorium that existed until the mid 1960s (say 10 to 15 years) on most immigration beyond high-skill (however that is defined) and an end to "chain migration" in which entire families are allowed to immigrate regardless of most other factors.
This video from Anaheim (California) is reminiscent of travelling around Dehli (from 39' in - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KF7hWzqdPDk ). The level/amount of poverty in this video is shocking.
It certainly looks bad to our eyes. But, beggars in Dehli would probably love to live in that sort of tent city, and have access to all the benefits available to the poor in the US.
I think in a few years, American will write off all debt. Quantitative Amnesia.
So what do Switzerland, Germany and Iceland better than the rest of the developed nations?
They haven't had decades of sustained mass immigration of low-skilled workers.
This is the other side of globalization. Globalization is super nice when you're secure in your job, "hey everything is getting cheaper!" but when your job is the one in the crosshairs what you're feeling is a pressure that is pushing the living standard of the third world and yours together. That's why I find it so annoying that this board is usually against abundant H1B's but for factory outsourcing. It's completel…
The writing has been in the wall for anyone to see for decades in most of these industries. An American factory shuttering is a disappointment, but I doubt it's a surprise to anyone, including it's workers. We can make some long term sacrifices to slow the process, but to what end?
How slow is slow enough?
I'll go out on a limb and suggest that the U.S. immigration policy (or lack thereof) bears a signification part of the blame here. Why in the face of globalization (and now increased automation) the U.S. continues to have an effectively open-door policy to low-skill workers makes no sense at all. As a U.S. citizen, I'd like to see a return to the temporary moratorium that existed until the mid 1960s (say 10 to 15 yea…
> Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
> The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
> Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me
I think it would be hypocritical at best, given America's history and current position to take such a stance. Surely the right thing to do is not to be scared of the immigration bogeyman and take some concrete steps towards the future, rather than closing the door and pretending things will get better by itself. It won't.
If you want to comfort yourself in a nice blanket of blame, go ahead and blame the immigrants rather than the people in power who have actually caused this.