Yes, for most of my life I thought we would never get rid of the illegals for precisely this reason. They are so integrated into our economy that eliminating them would cause a huge fallout. Almost 15 million people here. And they’re dramatically over-represented in specific industries.
So for example, you mentioned food. Agriculture, especially in the SW, runs on illegal labor. Construction all over the country runs on illegal labor. The people washing dishes at restaurants, the people cleaning up offices at night, the people working at landscaping companies, etc.
All of those industries are about to experience a severe supply shock of labor. This is going to mean increased prices for food, for landscaping, for construction, etc. Not only that, the services are going to be increasingly harder to staff. It’s really hard to find an American willing to relocate to rural areas to dig holes. It’s hard to find ones that are willing to pick fruit, etc.
Not to mention the effect that 15 million less consumers eating at local restaurants, buying products from Amazon, paying rent, will have.
And the worst part of it, the part that scares me, is that I’m certain Trump and his allies know this. They are entirely aware of the potential consequences of what they are doing. It does not take an economic savant to understand this and certainly Trump has some very smart advisors around him. So they are aware and they are doing it anyway.
What does that imply? That means they are willing to nuke our economy for this (throw in tariffs too while we’re at it). And when I say nuke I mean nuke- there’s no going back after this. We’re causing permanent long-term structural damage. Why would he be willing to do this?
I fear because there’s a lot worse on the horizon. Global war will overshadow the economic fallout from these decisions and will be pointed to as the cause of the near-future economic woes. Maybe I’m jumping to conclusions here, but this is not a good omen. It’s sort of like suicidal people giving away all their money before they off themselves. It’s a red flag.
Yes, for most of my life I thought we would never get rid of the illegals for precisely this reason. They are so integrated into our economy that eliminating them would cause a huge fallout. Almost 15 million people here. And they’re dramatically over-represented in specific industries.
So for example, you mentioned food. Agriculture, especially in the SW, runs on illegal labor. Construction all over the country runs on illegal labor. The people washing dishes at restaurants, the people cleaning up offices at night, the people working at landscaping companies, etc.
All of those industries are about to experience a severe supply shock of labor. This is going to mean increased prices for food, for landscaping, for construction, etc. Not only that, the services are going to be increasingly harder to staff. It’s really hard to find an American willing to relocate to rural areas to dig holes. It’s hard to find ones that are willing to pick fruit, etc.
Not to mention the effect that 15 million less consumers eating at local restaurants, buying products from Amazon, paying rent, will have.
And the worst part of it, the part that scares me, is that I’m certain Trump and his allies know this. They are entirely aware of the potential consequences of what they are doing. It does not take an economic savant to understand this and certainly Trump has some very smart advisors around him. So they are aware and they are doing it anyway.
What does that imply? That means they are willing to nuke our economy for this (throw in tariffs too while we’re at it). And when I say nuke I mean nuke- there’s no going back after this. We’re causing permanent long-term structural damage. Why would he be willing to do this?
I fear because there’s a lot worse on the horizon. Global war will overshadow the economic fallout from these decisions and will be pointed to as the cause of the near-future economic woes. Maybe I’m jumping to conclusions here, but this is not a good omen. It’s sort of like suicidal people giving away all their money before they off themselves. It’s a red flag.
I think we’re fucked with a capital F
Wouldn’t be surprised. Never waste a crisis. Nationalize things, martial law. Who knows what power grabs trump would make.
I 100% do not expect our government to be recognizable, or functional, by the end of this. However long it lasts.