If the US didn't have illegal immigrants working in the US would China/India crush the US economy?

Question

What made America the greatest industrial power in the world in the late 19th & 20th century was abundant, cheap labor supplied by no other than legal & illegal immigrants from the Europe. The US has to have A LOT of immigrants, all the time, to keep it on top of the economic ladder & especially with new & better competition like China & India. Get rid of that cheap, abundant labor force in the US & the US will become a 2nd rate economic power which means less jobs for everyone in the US. You may win the battle of saving the English language if you kick out all the immigrants but you will lose the economic war to China/India and that is going to hurt you like nothing you've ever felt before in your life.

Answer 1

Well the are going to take us anyhow as they have slaves, we would never admit to that.

Answer 2

It is a legitimate question. I don't think the assumptions are all correct, though. First, even if immigrants are necessary to the growth of the economy, there's no reason why they need to be illegal. Legal immigrants clearly are more viable. While I don't agree with the person who said that illegal immigrants are a net drain on the economy (they really don't mostly live on welfare, and they DO end up paying more taxes than most people realize), clearly there are some negatives involved in having a large segment of the population try to live their lives under the radar. For one thing, they can't often fulfill their best and highest aspirations, because of their status. Further, living in an illegal world encourages other illegal activity, which never is a benefit to society.

The other weakness in the argument is the idea that cheap labor is the ONLY way to increase productivity, which is a patently false idea. As another writer pointed out, most productivity increases in the U.S. have resulted from innovation, rather than cheap labor. Most likely, this will be the future as well.

It is true that China, and in my opinion especially India, as well as Brazil, Nigeria and other nations, are going to play an increasingly important role in the world. But I don't think this will happen so much at the expense of the U.S., which is still fairly productive, but more likely at the expense of "old Europe" - countries like France and Germany, which have seen massive productivity drops due to their inflexible economies. However, I do agree that the U.S. is somewhat at risk as well, due to our inability to keep up with the levels of education in some other parts of the world.

Finally, I think China is still somewhat limited by its Communist past. While they gained a high level of education in technical skills, I believe they still fall behind in entrepreneurial flexibility. Not because they are unable to compete, but psychologically, the past is still with them. It will probably be a generation before they free themselves from the strictures that the centralization mindset put them in. Surely, some brilliant entrepreneurs will slip through, but most Chinese people's ambitions have been held back by the force of central power, and I don't think that will change immediately.

Answer 3

No. Illegals were just the answer so that business owners could fatten their pockets. Instead of paying someone $50/hour with pay and benefits...now they get by with $8/hour. It took a couple of hundred years before enough blacks escaped up north to start the Civil War.....so give it a few more years before enough illegals take lucrative middle class jobs to where people will start fighting amongst themselves again. I've found that people whose job isnt threatened by illegals yet support it cause they can buy cheaper goods but as soon as they get outsourced or canned then theyre even more oppossed to illegals than I am, lol. Its hard to start a new career after you've gotten fat, dumb, and happy. Most people live for today and to have the rug pulled out from under them....well some people snap worse than Rambo.

Answer 4

No. We would just have to carve our trade agreements differently. We are the biggest consumer of goods in the world, and we COULD condition free access to our consumer market on the Chinese 'unpegging' their currency from ours so it no longer artificially seemed cheap, or on protectionist measures of our own.

The same people who want the cheap labor here, would rather get the quid pro quo for opening our market to China in things that benefit them.

No matter what, mass inflow of illegal immigrants ruining our schools so we can't compete globally is not a situation we can tolerate.

Answer 5

I don't agree with you at all on this. You cannot lump illegal and legal immigrants into the same category as they are completely opposite - illegal immigrants are a net burden and drain to our economy and society, while legal immigrants are a net profit to our economy and society. We do need immigrants, but only legal, educated and highly skilled ones who, as someone else said here, already know English. We need immigrants who are going to put "into" our economy and society, not just "drain" it. Without illegal immigrants, out country would be stronger than ever! Without legal immigrants, our country will falter. We do need legal immigrants as described above.

Answer 6

You raise an interesting theory. But you assume that productivity gains are achieved primarily through having an abundant supply of cheap labor. In the US most productivity gains come via automation and computerization. The US could absorb the additional costs of higher paid vegetable pickers, nannies and meat packing workers without much loss of economic status.

Answer 7

i think they would regaurdless because now a days having a "sucessful" economy = cheap labor... or having a lot of monster organizations that take advantage of that cheap labor, but i think the second thing i just said wouldn't have a country having a good economy last long, lower prices becaue of the cheap labor can only go so long.

Answer 8

Who was the idiot that told you a stupid lie like that??? You should read and stop imagining or listening to liberals and the corporations that hired these illegals. We are what we are because we as Americans have a Nation of Law that strive to go forward in benefit to our families and country. The USA is the biggest economy of the world, we buy goods from China, if we stop buying from China, China will go back to what it was 20 years ago. So don't fool yourself..Illegals like Criminals take away,,, they don't give,, you check it out and learn.

Answer 9

Not including illegals in the equation actually has little impact on the equation. There are also jobless people who would fill those positions, if it weren't for corporate powers exploiting those with no legal status... The US economy has more failsafes than you are obviously aware of.

Answer 10

19th and 20th century had legal immigrants. Illegals are destroying America. Why do you think Mexico is encouraging their poor to come here? If they can get rid of them, their country will be better off, just as we would be without them.

Answer 11

No, according to all reports the net costs of illegals outweight the benefits.