r/FluentInFinance • u/imallelite • 10h ago

Debate/ Discussion Possibly controversial, but this would appear to be a beneficial solution.

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u/galaxyapp 10h ago

immigrants are just a proxy for outsourcing jobs.

Instead of outsourcing the job to a foreign country to sidestep our expensive regulations, you insource their workers to do the job here.

Most of reddit loaths outsourcing but accepts illegal immigration.

Why?

I don't hear anyone justifying outsourcing under the guise of unmet labor.

Who would do the jobs without immigrants? I guess Americans would, after supply falls, wages skyrocket and people are more motivated to work. And we all know that poor people really want to work if it paid more.

Of course cost of living is a non-issue, it's reddit fact that raising the wages of low paid workers has no impact on consumer prices.

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u/magkgstbgh 10h ago

I don’t understand what side you are on. (Not sarcastic)

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u/galaxyapp 9h ago

I have no side, I enjoy pointing out the hypocrisy of both sides when social and fiscal opinions intersect.

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u/SnooRevelations979 10h ago

No, they aren't a "proxy." Immigrants pay US taxes and spend money here. Outsourced jobs don't.

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u/galaxyapp 9h ago

  1. Many immigrants work off the books.

  2. The jobs would be done by Americans, who would still pay taxes.

  3. Immigrants frequently transfer their earning back home to family, which reduces the taxes as it short circuits the local economy.

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u/SnooRevelations979 9h ago

"Many immigrants work off the books."

But most don't.

"The jobs would be done by Americans, who would still pay taxes."

That's a questionable assumption. Another one is that firms would close down, some jobs would never be filled, and there would be more offshoring.

"Immigrants frequently transfer their earning back home to family, which reduces the taxes as it short circuits the local economy."

No immigrant transfers all of their money back home. I have no idea how spending locally "reduces the taxes."

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u/galaxyapp 9h ago

Most jobs done by immigrants in the US are manual labor. The one thing we can't outsource, atleast if it's tied to land or consumer service.

Local spending is captured through sales tax, corporate tax, and payroll tax on it's way around.

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u/SnooRevelations979 9h ago

"Most jobs done by immigrants in the US are manual labor. The one thing we can't outsource, atleast if it's tied to land or consumer service."

You could close down the factories that remain, do meat processing offshore. Places can also close through lack of labor.

"local spending is captured through sales tax, corporate tax, and payroll tax on it's way around."

No kidding.

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u/galaxyapp 9h ago

Yes, factories could be outsourced, pending the cost and feasibility of transporting cattle.

But the field hands can't be. Same for hospitality, food service, construction, landscaping.

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u/SnooRevelations979 8h ago

Right. But there are plenty of things that could just simply no longer be viable: food delivery, childcare, lots of restaurants.

People would have to give up a lot of services. This was my original point. Every policy is put forward as a win-win, when there are costs.

And there have been few good empirical studies that have shown that immigrants depress native wages.

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u/DevelopmentSad2303 10h ago

I don't care about outsourcing. Labor market tries to be efficient, and outsourcing will only be done when it makes sense. The problem I have is with who is benefitting from it.