Replies to post #457728 on Tornado Alley (PROG)

[sortagreen]

Steve Jobs started a small business that's now worth more than $3 trillion.

In all, 224 companies on the 2023 Fortune 500 list, or 44.8%, were founded by “New Americans,” which we define as immigrants or the children of immigrants. Of these, 103 companies were founded or cofounded by immigrants, those who were born in another country and emigrated to the United States; 121 companies were founded by the children of immigrants.

https://immigrationimpact.com/2023/08/29/immigrant-fortune-500-companies-gdp/

The Law Of Unintended Consequences: Georgia's Immigration Law Backfires
Capital Flows
Contributor
Guest commentary curated by Forbes Opinion. Avik Roy, Opinion Editor.
May 17, 2012,10:05am EDT
This article is more than 10 years old

By Benjamin Powell

To forgo a repeat of last year, when labor shortages triggered an estimated $140 million in agricultural losses, as crops rotted in the fields, officials in Georgia are now dispatching prisoners to the state’s farms to help harvest fruit and vegetables.

The labor shortages, which also have affected the hotel and restaurant industries, are a consequence of Georgia’s immigration enforcement law, HB 87, which was passed last year. As State Rep. Matt Ramsey, one of the bill’s authors, said at the time, “Our goal is … to eliminate incentives for illegal aliens to cross into our state.”

Now he and others are learning: Be careful what you wish for, because you may get more than you bargained for.

Georgia’s law, similar to those in Alabama, Arizona and a few other states, gives police the authority to demand immigration documentation from suspects when they detain them for other possible violations. The law also makes it more difficult for businesses to hire workers and creates harsher punishments for those who employ or harbor illegal immigrants.

The Pew Hispanic Center estimated that some 425,000 illegal immigrants lived in Georgia when the legislation was passed – seventh highest in the nation. Those numbers are now down, as hoped for, but the state’s economy is paying a heavy price.

The dirty secret that everybody knew was that most of the state’s agricultural workers were immigrants, many of them illegal. Some lived in the state; others migrated with the harvest from southern Florida up to New York and back. Some of the former have moved away, while many of the latter are bypassing Georgia. Without them, according to a University of Georgia study, farmers were about 40 percent short of the number of workers they needed to harvest last year’s crop.

Despite high unemployment in the state, most Georgians don’t want such back-breaking jobs, nor do they have the necessary skills. According to Dick Minor, president of the Georgia Fruit and Vegetable Grower’s Association, immigrants “are pretty much professional harvesters” with many specializing in particular crops.

Workers are paid by volume, with skilled workers typically earning $15 to $20 an hour. Unskilled workers earn much less, which is why most locals don’t want the jobs.

Georgia’s experience is consistent with economic research on immigration. Although many Americans believe immigrants “steal” our jobs and push down our wages, economists find little evidence of that.

Since 1950 the U.S. labor force has roughly doubled in size, but there has been no long-run increase in unemployment. Most economic studies also find little evidence that increased immigration depresses the wages of U.S. workers. At worst, it might push down the wages of high school dropouts, but even there the effect is small.

Simple supply and demand analysis would seem to indicate if you increase the supply of labor, wages will decline. But immigrants don’t simply increase the supply of labor. They supply skills that most Americans don’t have. As such, they don’t replace American workers so much as free them up to do other, typically more-skilled, things. This symbiotic relationship benefits immigrants and native-born alike.

Georgia’s immigration law has had precisely the effect the economic studies could have predicted. Farmers are having a hard time finding workers with the right skills to harvest their crops. As a result, Minor says, “A lot of the smaller growers have elected not to plant as many crops or to plant any crops.” These reductions cascade through the state economy and everybody loses.

Georgia’s immigration law wasn’t motivated solely by economic concerns, of course. Many Georgians also had concerns about the high cost of providing public services to illegal residents: schooling, medical care, law enforcement and other publicly funded services.

But there are better ways to handle such problems than by chasing away needed workers.

Georgia’s immigration law is a blunt instrument that is doing unnecessary harm to immigrants and native Georgians alike, making everyone poorer. Both Georgia, and any other state that’s considering a similar law, should reconsider.

Benjamin Powell is an associate professor of economics at Suffolk University in Boston and a senior fellow with the Independent Institute, Oakland, CA .

https://www.forbes.com/sites/realspin/2012/05/17/the-law-of-unintended-consequences-georgias-immigration-law-backfires/?sh=765261f8492a

[blackhawks]

Because you don't accept the data on the subject, I've posted plenty, you dismiss the data because if conflicts with your beliefs on just about any subject where there are data and facts. You 'claim no one tracks' despite evidence to the contrary.

because no one tracks it then it does no exist in anyone’s mind. Does not mean it does not occur. It’s missing in the calculation being allowed to stand as some fact

[fuagf]

livefree_ordie, See old one to - conix, 4 myths about how immigrants affect the U.S. economy

"And your answer is to open the borders and encourage more people to come into the country regardless of our ability to pay for all the costs associated.
OK."

Making Sen$e Nov 2, 2018 6:48 PM EST

With all links.

President Donald Trump has been stoking fears about immigrants in the days leading up to the midterm elections. He’s tweeted anti-immigrant ads and threatened to revoke birthright citizenship, something lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have said would be unconstitutional, as he campaigns to drive up Republican turnout.

In a Thursday speech, Trump, a vocal critic of illegal immigration long before he reached the White House, claimed it costs the U.S. billions of dollars each year .. https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/watch-live-trump-expected-to-make-announcement-on-immigration-and-border-security .

“Illegal immigration hurts Americans workers, burdens American taxpayers and undermines public safety, and places enormous strains on local schools, hospitals and communities in general, taking precious resources away from the poorest Americans who need them most,” Trump said.

"Immigration has an overall positive impact on the long-run economic growth in the U.S.

While Trump’s rhetoric has lately focused on unauthorized immigrants, his policies have targeted legal immigration as well. Under his administration, refugee admissions in 2017 dropped to their lowest since at least 2002. Trump signed an executive order tightening restrictions on HB1 visas for skilled immigrants. He has pushed for a merit-based immigration system, and his administration has proposed cutting public benefits to legal immigrants.

Trump’s characterization of immigrants, as people who drain public resources, however, is not backed by the data. Unauthorized immigrants aren’t usually eligible for federal benefits, for instance, and multiple studies have found that immigrants help the economy grow.

READ MORE: Trump retweets false claim on immigrant aid
https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/ap-fact-check-trump-retweets-false-claim-on-immigrant-aid

Here are some of the most widespread myths about how immigrants affect the U.S. economy, and the research that refutes them.

Myth #1: Immigrants take more from the U.S. government than they contribute

Fact: Immigrants contribute more in tax revenue than they take in government benefits

A 2017 report .. https://www.nap.edu/catalog/23550/the-economic-and-fiscal-consequences-of-immigration .. from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine found immigration “has an overall positive impact on the long-run economic growth in the U.S.”

How that breaks down is important.

First-generation immigrants cost the government more than native-born Americans, according to the report — about $1,600 per person annually. But second generation immigrants are “among the strongest fiscal and economic contributors in the U.S.,” the report found. They contribute about $1,700 per person per year. All other native-born Americans, including third generation immigrants, contribute $1,300 per year on average.


After being detained and released by law enforcement, undocumented immigrants from Central America wait for assistance in a Catholic Charities relief center in McAllen, Texas. Photo by Loren Elliott/Reuters.

It is difficult to determine the exact cost or contribution of unauthorized immigrants because they are harder to survey, but the study suggests they likely have a more positive effect than their legal counterparts because they are, on average, younger and do not qualify for public benefits.

It’s also important to note that less-educated immigrants tend to work more than people with the same level of education born in the U.S. About half of all U.S.-born Americans with no high school diploma work, compared to about 70 percent of immigrants with the same education level, Giovanni Peri, an economics professor at the University of California, Davis, said in a recent interview with PBS NewsHour.

WATCH:Proposed immigration policy penalizes legal residents for use of public benefits
https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/proposed-immigration-policy-penalizes-legal-residents-for-use-of-public-benefits#transcript

In general, more people working means more taxes — and that’s true overall with undocumented immigrants as well. Undocumented immigrants pay an estimated $11.6 billion a year in taxes, according to the Institute on Taxation & Economic Policy.

"Undocumented immigrants pay an estimated $11.6 billion a year in taxes.

More - https://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=153031563

To you, today live...
Have told you before you obviously care, but seriously, put your ramblings to a search engine.
Better still put a focused question, like fact check, are refugees a drain on the welfare system.

Ever heard of meta-cognitive thinking ..
https://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=83624441 ???

[sortagreen]

Let them work. Problem solved.