The devastating economic effect of mass migration

Summary: Open borders and a massive flow of low-skill immigrants create social and political stresses, but economists tell us they boost the economy. That ignores their costs.

Economists extol the boost to GDP produced by poorly educated and low-skill immigrants. That boosts corporate profits and makes America bigger. But it is quite daft as an overall measure of low-skill migrants’ economic impact. Economists seldom mention how this flow depresses per capita income (which is what citizens care about) and wages of low-skilled workers. Economists seldom mention that these migrants pay insufficient taxes to cover the government services they “consume” (these costs are increasing as illegal aliens become eligible for free medical care and college education).

Look at California, the extreme example in America of open borders at work. In fiscal year 2015, California’s state and local governments’ total spending total per capita was $10,586 vs. the national average of $8,856. Low skill migrants generate only a fraction of that in new taxes. On highways alone, per capita spending was $424 from general funds (the US average is $525). No surprise that California’s transportation system is overwhelmed, as many migrants do not produce the tax revenue to fund the construction needed for them. Data from the Tax Policy Center.

California’s illegal aliens are the extreme case showing how this works. Estimates vary, but there are roughly 2 million plus illegals in California. They generate very roughly $3 billion in State and local taxes each year. Granting them full Medi-Cal coverage, as recently proposed, would cost $3 billion per year. They generate enough in taxes to pay only for their health care, and no other services! For more about this, see Choose: open borders or the welfare State?

The public infrastructure

There is another set of costs almost never mentioned, and just as serious. More people means more spending required to maintain and expand public infrastructure. The flood of low skill migrants to California generates only a fraction of taxes required. Decades of this has helped transform California from the nation’s leader in government services (e.g., among the best schools) and infrastructure to one of the worst States. As of approx 2016, from a 24/7 Wall Street report, California ranked as having the fifth worse infrastructure in the nation.

• Roads in poor condition: 17% (5th highest).
• Deficient bridges: 6.% (19th lowest).
• Dams at high hazard risk: 53% (6th highest).
• State highway spending per driver: $269 (4th lowest).

More low-income migrants put pressure on State services and infrastructure, but insufficient tax revenue to pay for them. Taxes rise (as does debt), but never enough to cover the need for funds. Infrastructure deteriorates from overuse; conditions worsen because of inadequate capital spending. California, and especially the San Francisco region, have entered the next (and terminal) phase of this process: it increasingly looks like a Third-World society, and middle-class out-migration is accelerating (go here to see why).

The US had roughly $37 trillion in “built assets” – public and private buildings and infrastructure (per Arcadis). That is $110 thousand dollars per capita, 15th highest in the world. We have to spend several hundred billion dollars (several thousand dollars per capita) each year to maintain and replace those assets. Additional spending is needed to keep it stable in per capita terms. New low-income migrants do not generate the funds.

Conclusion

Low skill migrants boost GDP. But it is the kind of growth that can financially wreck a nation. California is demonstrating that for us, but we seem likely to ignore the lesson until too late.

Afterword – Eventually, the big quake will hit California, knocking down that mad mess and creating the worst disaster America has ever experienced. Then conditions there will get much worse, and America will face difficult choices.

This was obvious long ago

P. J. O’Rourke saw this long ago, as he explained in Parliament of Whores (1991). Affluence forces difficult choices when a society’s population grows.

“It the sad truth of local government, like the sad truth of national government, is that people are no longer an asset* Humans do not benefit the modern state. Total 1989 Blatherboro town expenditure – including the town’s share of county government and school-system costs – was $9.5 million, or about $1,860 per person.

“Almost all this money was raised through property taxes and automobile registration fees. A typical new family moving to Blatherboro, with a mom, dad and two kids (for families still come in that configuration in New Hampshire), would be buying a town-house condominium with a tax-assessed value of $100,000. The current property tax rate on that condominium is $2,860 a year. If the new family owns two late-model cars, Registration fees (which are based on the blue-book value of the automobile) would be about $340.

“Add in a few miscellaneous levies and charges, and the new family ends up contributing approximately $3,500 per annum to the Blatherboro town coffers. But that is almost $4,000 less than what the town will spend on these people. A family of four must own at least a quarter of a million dollars worth of property to carry its own weight in the Blatherboro town budget.”

The problem O’Rourke describes is manageable. But the Federal government drops dirt-poor migrants into these communities. They need more than average services and pay far less than average in taxes. The community must either decrease the services it provides or jack up taxes.

The Feds do not ask permission before putting these towns under the hammer. “Consent of the governed” is an idea from a bygone era of America.

For More Information

Ideas! For shopping ideas see my recommended books and films at Amazon.

If you liked this post, like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter. See about immigration, and especially these…

1. Essential reading: See the hidden history of immigration into America (it ruins the narrative).
2. Important: Diversity is a grand experiment. We’re the lab rats.
3. The lies about immigration keeping the borders open.
4. The smoke & fire of the new Sweden is our future.
5. Prepare for mass migrants, the greatest challenge to America.
6. The Left goes full open borders, changing America forever.
7. Choose: open borders or the welfare State?
8. William Lind explains how to defend against an invasion.
9. Our rulers make a new people for America.
10. Fast action now can solve the immigration crisis.
11. Important: See prescient warnings about immigration, which we ignored.

Three books about immigration, all well worth reading

See George Friedman’s (founder of Stratfor) prescient predictions about the American southwest in his 2009 book The Next 100 Years: A Forecast for the 21st Century. He describes where we’re going, facts too disturbing for most experts to say in public. This is a useful feature of such writing: since it is just guessing, we allow statements about the obvious that are politically or socially unacceptable (just as are, in a different way, statements by a court jester).

Europe is our future. If we act quickly, we can learn and avoid their mistakes. These two books provide clear warnings.

Reflections on the Revolution In Europe: Immigration, Islam, and the West by Christopher Caldwell (2009). See this post about it: About Europe’s historic experiment with open borders.

The Strange Death of Europe: Immigration, Identity, Islam by Douglass Murray (2017). See these posts with excerpts from the book: Martin van Creveld’s reaction to Europe’s rape epidemic. Warning of the “Strange Death of Europe”, and Strange perspectives on the challenges facing Europe.