Migration helps offset serious problem of low birth rate in rich countries, Pope Francis says

Wolseley said:

The question is, when too many people from "poor" countries overwhelm the "rich" countries, does it raise the standard of living for everyone involved, or lower it?

You can certainly make a case for Latin Americans entering the United States and raising their standard of living from what they were experiencing in El Salvador, or Guatemala, or Honduras, etc.; and they're helping out North Americans by doing work that Americans are disinclined to do.

However, you can also make a case that hundreds of thousands of Goths, Alemanni, Magyars, Burgundians, Thuringians, Vandals, Lombards, Franks, Alemanni, and Gepidae entering the Western Roman Empire definitely did not raise the standard of living for the Romans, by any stretch of the imagination.

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Wolseley said:

The question is, when too many people from "poor" countries overwhelm the "rich" countries, does it raise the standard of living for everyone involved, or lower it?

You can certainly make a case for Latin Americans entering the United States and raising their standard of living from what they were experiencing in El Salvador, or Guatemala, or Honduras, etc.; and they're helping out North Americans by doing work that Americans are disinclined to do.

However, you can also make a case that hundreds of thousands of Goths, Alemanni, Magyars, Burgundians, Thuringians, Vandals, Lombards, Franks, Alemanni, and Gepidae entering the Western Roman Empire definitely did not raise the standard of living for the Romans, by any stretch of the imagination.

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Simon_Templar said:

There is no question (among sane people) that overwhelming immigration has negative impacts on culture, economics, politics, etc.

What many people DON'T seem to realize is that the other side (the Pope's point) is basically correct as well. If you don't have a sustainable birthrate, which basically no advanced urbanized nation in the world today does, it will also destroy your economy and culture.

The simple fact is that if you have a declining population, the standard of living is going to go down. There is no way to stop it. Immigration can maybe postpone it a bit, but it won't work as a long term solution.

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