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 > > _______________________________________________ > assam mailing list > assam@assamnet.org > http://assamnet.org/mailman/listinfo/assam_assamnet.org _______________________________________________ assam mailing list assam@assamnet.org http://assamnet.org/mailman/listinfo/assam_assamnet.org
