Milton Friedman was right about many things, but the migrant crisis in the EU right now is proving that his statement ‘You cannot simultaneously have open borders and a welfare state’ is spot on.
Personally I’m in favour of open borders. No really! Recent history proves beyond doubt that immigration is a good thing when those immigrants come to work and start a new and better life for themselves and are willing to WORK for it. When that happens, everyone INCLUDING the host country is made better off!
But the mass-migration we’re seeing into the EU right now is of people who believe they are entitled to welfare. They expect to be given everything simply because they’ve arrived, and when what they’re given isn’t up to their expectations they burn things and start riots. A significant number of them simply don’t intend to ever work. This creates a huge cost burden for the host country and brings none of the benefits that migration SHOULD bring.
The same is true of a huge number of recent migrants into Australia. By some counts, as many as 90+% of Sudanese migrants are still unemployed after 5 years in the country… They live on welfare, and the odds of getting OFF welfare after 5 years are slim, just like they are for Australian ‘white trash’ perpetual welfare families.
In my view the best ‘real world’ way to allow migration and simultaneously protect the host country is to have ‘private sponsorship’ of migrants. Citizens who want to help people in poorer countries may do so by sponsoring their migrant visa, in return for THEM accepting liability for the social security of the new arrivals and taking responsibility for their transition. This also ensures that new arrivals have a network into which they can be introduced, with the social and employment benefits that this brings.
Thoughts?
