WSJ: Immigrants Are Making 'The Great U-Turn'
By Susie Madrak Saturday Jun 06, 2009 1:00pm
Imagine Lou Dobbs's head exploding when he hears this. But seriously, this will have profound effects on our economy:
Emigration from Mexico to the U.S. dropped 13% in the first quarter of this year compared to the same period last year, with more Mexicans leaving the U.S. than coming in. Indonesian authorities expect 60,000 or more citizens to be sent home from Malaysia, South Korea and other wealthy neighbors this year, as immigrant workers lose their jobs. Tens of thousands of Indians are washing their hands of Dubai as jobs there dry up and work permits expire. And in the U.K., the number of registered workers coming from new European Union member nations like Poland and the Czech Republic dropped 55% in the first quarter of 2009 compared to the same quarter a year earlier.
A growing number of migrants are returning home to places as diverse as Nepal and Tajikistan, while many are deciding not to emigrate to begin with, says Dilip Ratha, an economist and migration expert at the World Bank in Washington, D.C., citing reports from ministries and embassies. Mr. Ratha calls this reverse migration "very new" and "unprecedented."
Such migratory shifts could have profound consequences for developed nations, especially in places where domestic populations aren't growing fast enough to fill jobs or pay for social needs. High-skill immigrants are an important source of tax revenue in some cities, and their kids fill the classrooms of universities and private schools. In the developing world, remittances sent home by migrant workers are also slowing, meaning less income -- and potentially, less growth.
Some analysts question whether the latest migration reversal will outlast the current recession, or turn out to be as big as migration experts predict. Many immigrants have worked hard to establish themselves in their adopted countries and will be unwilling to leave, even if jobs disappear. Others say the trend could be more long-lasting, especially if returning workers help give developing economies a boost or if rich-world economies take many years to recover.
Workers like Mr. González are going home voluntarily, betting that for all the problems back home, their native countries offer better options than the U.S. and Europe. Many developed economies are contracting, but some developing-world countries including China and India are still growing.
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Economies may be growing in China and India, but their fresh water supplies are shrinking.
People don't consider such things. They think about jobs. The US Southwest is also just about out of water, but it's teeming with people.
They're all bleeding to death and they simply don't care. Market share growth is all that matters.
Or just get old, you'd better have a lot of money.
Because if you don't, you'll die here destitute.
It's either that, or drag your family down with you. Or, return to your country of origin.
Nowadays, sometimes it's better to go home. Depending on the country.
I know a lot of senior Brits are going back because their meds and healthcare are damn near free. Plus other benefits.
And sick and destitute and this IS my country of origin. I have nowhere to return to. And no, that's not a whine... I take care of me... but simply an example of something that a lot of middle class folks seem to forget. Poor people are royally screwed, whether they be poor immigrants or poor natives. The nobility makes no distinctions.
People need to quite creating all these little categories and trying to pigeonhole people and just get it through their heads that if you aren't part of the entitled five percent, it doesn't matter whether your an immigrant or one of our own working poor... you're a target for the right wing.
The haves beating up on the have nots in order to get more than their fair share... been going on since man first learned to walk upright and it will go on until the 95 percent... the have nots... realize that they're all in the same boat regardless of color, ethnicity, age, sex, or any of the other things this country claims not to discriminate on the basis of.
Why do you think the people in power go to such lengths to roil the waters and keep us all hating each other or at least squabbling amongst themselves?
In a way, the ones that can leave are lucky.
The way this country takes care of it's seniors is appalling.
The way this country takes care of it's people in general is appalling. I know, someday, I'll be in a world of hurt when I get old. And I know I'll die alone. That's ok. I've accepted it.
But, all of these other people deserve better. No matter what country they come from or if they are born here. This is America.
I wonder, How would Captain America or Superman feel about the state of this country?
I'm not saying that in jest.
Those two were role models for truth, justice and the American way.
sigh.
z
that's a big IF.
Thassa what I got.
WGAF. The guy is a hater.
Well, at least he puts on a good act. If all of the non-resident aliens return home who's Dobby going to get to tend his lawn, clean his toilets and wash his cars? You know that he's not going to dirty his lily-white hands and do it himself. That's way beneath him.
who's he going to have to rant about? This guy has built a career on complaining about illegal aliens. He'd be nobody without them and he needs them here.
Who is going to take care of his daughters' expensive show horses?
Earning less than I did in Canada, my lifestyle is much better in Korea. Plus I got off the ferris wheel, my stress levels got cut to about 1/4, and I travel Asia all the time. I'm free and alive!
North America isn't the mecca it once was.
Sounds a little Muslim to me.
so it could be a leading producer of automobiles for pet rodents
who like lame hip hop music?
It might be, but I'm not aware. They do a lot of crazy things here. It's another world.
You mean like this???:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ac0vin9yPt0&fe...
PS Is it the Koreans that like lame hip hop music, or the rodents? Commas. Just funning ya.
If, by revolutionized, you mean supported a string of military dictators, who denied any rights and tortured people, so they could use taxpayer money to build several privately-owned mega-conglomerates, that still dictate politics here with the power of money and backroom deals, and a strong alliance with the US capitalism/government, then, yes.
Isn't that an admission that Wall Street is driving our economy into the ground
When illegals have to cross the border into Mexico, to send money home to their families here?
I have seen evidence of this reverse immigration in Jamaica, where I was born. I guess many feel that it is better to live in one's own country when going through some economic hardship or being able to find better opportunities back home. This will be music to Lou Dobbs' ears on Monday.
landscapers and maids now?
Neither do the angry base of the Republican party, which is one reason they are angry.
I dunno, I can picture billo really and patty buchanan dressing like:
http://www.metricthunder.com/news/wp-content/...
Great picture! In contrast, the photo of Dobbs at the top is creeping me out ...
Lou is kinda scary ...
She's dusting a stiffy.
could it be that we may need to adapt with our own human resources. there's conversation here
regarding 'high skill' and low skill. certainly the low skill out number the high skill. we may need to adapt.
it seems to me we have plenty of people unemployed and more to come. some NOT all of immigration/undocumented workers represent lower wages. i understand the angle of lack of regional population but i also watch lawmakers reduce education budgets cutting our human resource potential.
much of this is to avoid taxation and cut wages. i also understand the symbiotic relationships we develop abroad but i still believe this is to reduce wages/benefits and open doors to OUTsourcing. the race card
is used most of the time to muddy the waters for corporations/financial elites. i would be very interested in seeing a cost shift analysis taxes paid for services used(schools,healthCare and prisons). people making 6-7-8-9 bucks an hour generally don't have health insurance the tax payer subsidizes.
Isn't this the answer to your stop out-sourching cries. Hey with people going back to their home countries we can employ more of our own people. I think I am getting the hang of thinking liberally.
you make a flawed assumption
this will probably lead to more corporate out-sourcing. which should please you.
Who cleans Dobbs' house, maintains his yard, cooks his meals, washes his cars, picks up his garbage... and on and on.
And who would do it if there were no immigrants to do it, or better yet, if no immigrants... knowing his hatred for them... would work for his scaly ass?
Professional haters and race baiters just don't have any sense of perspective, do they?
Probably his wife's extended family.
!
That Dobbs had to scratch his own hemarrhoids due to lack of hired help.
he yelled her eyes shut.
Good one, m_k!
i do all the time
but, i don't think dobbs was really passionate about this (despite all appearances). it was just his current cash-hose to suck on. he is good at tapping into festering wounds and sucking out the rancid pus, but only to satiate his own ego. he used to use his platform to defend ceo compensation, but found that xenophobia was better for ratings, in his guise as faux-populist.
unfortunately for mexican immigrants this was just dobbs' latest hobby
That screencap is hilarious. Scary, but hilarious.
Dobbs will probably not mention it at all. It is in conflict with his hate speech.
if you want to get rid of illeagal immigration stop the damn employers from hiring them. It's that damn simple. Problem is our government isn't interested in doing the right thing.
Lou Dobbs hates facts and reality. He is fraudulent and slanderous.
But Lou Dobbs is smug, and that's all that matters to him.
Lou Dobb's attitude is an illness.
otherwise) haters a bit of advice, here it is:
"Careful what you wish
Careful what you say
Careful what you wish
You may regret it
Careful what you wish
You just might get it"
I am betting that everyone who's ever said "Go back to ____________!" to an immigrant will be a in a world of hurt, because those figures aren't good. The bad part is so will the rest of us.
It's all part a a bigger parcel. Look at what this man has become [see picture above].
Stifle, dingbat!
No shit.
Stifle ye self! Dingbat!
And yoo. Meathead, c'meea.
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