tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4058766287077382431.post2956947804416216274..comments2024-03-23T04:01:39.348-04:00Comments on Understanding Society: Internal migrationDan Littlehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15953897221283103880noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4058766287077382431.post-44696501273060211822018-02-22T23:16:06.138-05:002018-02-22T23:16:06.138-05:00David, your comment's worth reading, but entir...David, your comment's worth reading, but entirely misses the article's subject and content (besides the world "Michigan"). This is not about international <b>im</b>migration. Just read the headline: "Internal Migration" -- no 'around the world', no 'im-' before 'migration'.<br /><br />Setting David's comment aside... it's nine years after this article, but the geographic disparities have only worsened. The implications of this article neatly explain why the swing states voted the way they did, and why the inhabitants of prosperous metropolises in the Northeast and West Coast are not prepared to properly understand the motives of the Rust Belt.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06267459101599352638noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4058766287077382431.post-84049752943539033882009-10-03T12:50:21.433-04:002009-10-03T12:50:21.433-04:00This is IRON100 (David B):
This is not to diss yo...This is IRON100 (David B):<br /><br />This is not to diss your argument but to force you to think in broader dimensions. Ultimately, migration in this economy is not the final answer. Why? Because:<br /><br />1) Unless there is structural change in our economy, many of the jobs of last 20 years will NEVER return. That is going to be particularly true in construction and manufacturing. Why would someone in Detriot think that they could take a person's job in South Carolina at BMW, when there is already full (or perhaps overfull employment). BMW just recently offered voluntary retirement to 3000 of the 5000 workers at the facility in Spartanburg County.<br />Will the next layoff be voluntary. No. Robotics do not ask for pay increases. Manufacturing labor is going to be mechanised soon enough.<br />Migrating from one area of unemployment to another area of potentially high unemployment will not work. States cannot afford the social burden of it.<br /><br />2) Industries around the world WILL MIGRATE faster than jobs will. Why? With lesser fixed plant costs, most industries can uproot and move to where the cheapest labor is. Think China and India have a lock on that? They do not. Where is the cheapest labor in the world (particularly if gov'ts liberalize control)? The continent of Africa. Industries will find ways to exploit labor there eventually (or the populations will become even more violent).<br /><br />Item 2 worries me more than 1, because our complacent leadership in this state thinks BMW and Michelin will stay here forever. Nothing could be more foolish. Other states will face similar problems, as jobs simply are not plentiful enough to capture that migration.<br /><br />As Americans, we must find a way to:<br /><br />1) Educate our population so that they have the skills to innovate new technologies.<br /><br />2) The hardest task: Change our byzantine tax policies that make use the highest tax corporate environment in the world. A national sales tax (and not the idiotic VAT that the current Congress wants to unleash on business to further make us uncompetitive). <br /><br />I still believe that we could engage in certain high tech manufacturing if costs were lowered to do business. Our government, though fiscal mismanagement, has destroyed the value of the US Dollar, so why not use that advantage to find foreign venture capital to build plants here? That would work if the punishment of high taxation were removed. Sadly, the Marxists of the Democratic party and the "Deficits don't matter" Neo-conservatives of the Republican party cannot see the forest for the trees. That is largely because they are blinded by their thirst for control and wealth and care nothing about the future of the country.<br /><br />I think our solutions are fairly simple, but we lack the will to make them a reality. Migration of work force, particularly in the age of internet and computer technology, is a fools errand. Innovation and prudent fiscal policy will bring jobs, educated, and EDUCATABLE immigrants to join the ones here who built this nation.<br /><br />We can innovate anywhere and everywhere, we need ethical leadership (something both major political parties are devoid of) and the blood sweat and tears of the American people to make it happen. Americans need to fight back the poison of its leadership and begin a new era of citizen rule. Emptying Congress of the current rabble is the first place to start.IRON100https://www.blogger.com/profile/01424071370638371025noreply@blogger.com