Damn Those Immigrants

I am an immigration sceptic.

Being the son of an immigrant, whose parents were also immigrants, this might come as a surprise. However, there it is, I question the needs for immigration. More...

I question the intention of immigration.

There are lots of positives to immigration, and there are a lot of negatives. There are economic benefits and costs. Yet, I don't think either the oft mentioned pros and cons of these things are the real reason behind the push for increasing immigration. The push against it is so strong though, because there are reasons that people feel are real, whether social or economic. Lack of housing that increases inflation, and social and cultural issues take precedence, whether real or not.

What is the real reason?

It is the same as always.

Money.

What people forget is the economy is a Ponzi scheme, where profits drove decision making. Governments drive policy to improve corporate profits, because that is how they benefit and maintain control, even if it comes at the expense of the well being of the people. Bit, corporations have to drive profits to keep investors happy, which means providing a return on investment.

To keep them happy, a company had to grow and if they expect 10% YoY growth, they would have to double profits every 7.2 years. A million this year is 2 million in 7.2, and 4 million in 14.4 years from now. To maintain that growth, it takes many factors, but at the end of the day, it needs consumer demand.

People are the consumers.

In Finland, a small country of less than 6 million, there were 35,000 more immigrants arriving in 2023 than emigrants leaving. However, there were also 13,000 more deaths than births. The ass has dropped out of the birth rate in the last 15 years especially.

This is a problem.

In reality it is not an issue, because balance will always be found. However, for a Ponzi scheme economy, it is a problem, because it reduces demand in things like housing. So instead of increasing house prices, they increasingly fall. This has lots of impacts, because buying a house is "meant to be" more than a place to live, but also an investment. If the price is going to be knowingly lower in the future than at time of purchase, it is a bad investment.

There are knock-on effects of this too, like less property taxes collected on transfer and yearly. And because less people consume less and spend less, this means less consumer taxes for the government, and less demand for the corporations with those pesky investors who expect increasing profits.

Of course, I am simplifying all of this, but with the millions of impacts that affect our current economic practices, the Ponzi falls over. Immigrants are the ones being shoehorned into the scheme to try and maintain the base of the pyramid. The problem is of course, the society and culture they are forced into is not necessarily conducive for them to survive and thrive. Of people born into that system with familial network and cultural conditioning are failing, what hope do the newly arrived have?

And often, the same immigrants have already been victims of the globalised economy in their home countries, having resources extracted by governments and corporations to boost those profits in the past. Subjected to power struggles that have led them into war, poverty, starvation. They are getting "taxed" many times by those in control, and also getting punished socially from trying to build a better life somewhere else.

Immigration causes a lot of headaches. But then, falling populations cause many headaches too, most of which we generally don't have a good understanding of, because we haven't experienced it before. Yes, there have been times where populations have reduced significantly, like through wars, but these times have led to overall growth in population after, as more unemployment approached zero, as the rebuilding happened. That is not the case now however, there is no rebuilding, there is increasing vacancy.

Even in the countries like Finland where the population is increasing, there is still too much housing in most areas, other than the major cities. Even then, it is not like it is in Australia. Housing shouldn't be a problem for a growing population like in Australia, because it is pretty easy to solve - build more houses. However, because of the global economic crush that is in place, the building economy has been thrown into disarray. Not because of lack of demand, but profiteering along the supply chain.

Investors want their ROI.

And this is the thing to remember when it comes to anything government or corporations touch - They don't give a shit about the people who are affected. They don't give a shit about the immigrants, nor a shit about the citizens. They don't care about the starving, the poor, those affected by war, famine and disease. They don't care about the environment, or about what the future holds at all.

The irony is, that the "people" keep appealing to the governments and corporations to care about these things, to give a shit, but that is not their goal. Their goal is to drive profits, that is it. Inflation and cost of living don't matter, nor does a lack of housing, or opportunity. They don't care if people are getting stabbed or raped, they don't care if people are unable to find work to feed themselves. All that matters, is the balance sheet, and the bottom line that provides them their profits.

You can blame people like me, foreigners who come in and steal your jobs and housing, but I am not the source of your suffering, but I am a victim of the same system that is, like all of us are. Your intuition might not believe it, but also remind yourself that your intuition is conditioned by your culture too, and that has been heavily influenced by the very people who control the legislation, and profit from the outcomes. Can it be trusted?

The problems we face are complicated and complex in many ways, but they aren't going to be solved by the same groups of people and systems that created them, because it is not in their best interest to do so. It is in their best interest to keep people squabbling over symptoms and side effects, but leave the cause at status quo.