Dear BK:
It is a good and thoughtful analysis. Makes a lot of sense.
Immigration, WITH controls, is a good thing. B'deshis in Assam too would be a
good thing, as long as it is CONTROLLED, unlike it has been.
s
On Jul 1, 2011, at 4:51 AM, bbar...@aol.com wrote:
Dear netters,
Immigration, legal or illegal is a formidable issue in the North-East. In
today’s Independent (1 July 2011), its Economic Editor reasons that legal or
illegal, immigration is a great economic good. Assam or the North East of
India do not enjoy the same economic or social conditions as Great Britain,
nevertheless certain basic problems are universal. Hope this article will
generate some wholesome ideas.
With best wishes
Bhuban
The more people come to the U K, the better it is for us all
Analysis By Sean O’Grady, Economics Editor
You may wonder what the latest population data might have to do with the
wave of public strikes over pensions yesterday. The answer is:demographics.
Not the least economic benefit of immigration is the way it rejuvenates a
nation’s population, as the young are usually the most mobile, enterprising,
flexible, able to work and determined to make a new life in another country.
They are also, by dint of their age, likely to have children, and may tend to
have larger families than the established population
While it is true that these children can put some strain on local schools and
add to the benefits bill, in the long run, like all children, the
overwhelming likelihood is that they will in due course go to work, pay taxes
and –crucially-help pay for the pensions for the rest of us. It is from their
taxes and NI contributions that the state pension, care and NHS bills and
public sector pensions will be funded. Demographics are fundamental to public
finances and economic growth. It is no accident that Greece and other
southern European nations struggling with selerotic economies and
unsupportable debt burdens have lousy demographies.
In improving the “dependency ratio”, then, immigrants automatically provide
an enormous economic boom. This is not limited to the rich and highly
skilled who the coalition favour; there are many arguments in favour of
allowing many more casual labourers, mini-cab drivers and plumbers, say, into
the country, as it reduces the cost of these services. It is too easily
forgotten that London’s thriving tourist trade would collapse if all the
illegal cleaners, hotel staff and taxi drivers were sent home.
There are economic downsides to immigration, and it is as well to face up to
them. They tend to reduce wages among those who are already poorly paid and
the cultural, political and racial tensions sometimes provoked need little
elaboration. On balance, though, immigration is a great economic good. And if
we are loading future generations with debts, then the bigger that generation
is, the easier it will be for them to deal with the burden
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