Refugees everywhere

So, we have no money for Social Security cost of living increase or supporting returning/homeless veterans, but we should resettle refugees?

Nick (Not-Stig) Comstock wrote: I've never heard of Shwarama, but after looking it up I would say I would like it very much.

They are the bomb!!! When I worked in Norwood, MA, there was a little Middle Eastern grocery that made Shawarmas and OMFG. Chicken and garlic heaven/hell. They'd also put these very distinct pickles on them. Can't recommend trying them enough.

I'd like to thank everyone involved in this thread for keeping this discussion civil. I know that this edges toward politics and that can go sideways in a hurry. Nice job all.

RealMiniParker wrote: So, we have no money for Social Security cost of living increase or supporting returning/homeless veterans, but we should resettle refugees?

That's really a false choice. We do have the money to take care of Social Security and veterans. We just spend it on other things. The money spent to settle refugees is not going to take away from money spent on SS and vets.

In fact, we already resettle 70,000-90,000 refugees every year, and budget to do so. These are just 10,000 that would move us towards 2016 being an 80,000 refugee year.

Beer Baron wrote:

RealMiniParker wrote: So, we have no money for Social Security cost of living increase or supporting returning/homeless veterans, but we should resettle refugees?

That's really a false choice. We do have the money to take care of Social Security and veterans. We just spend it on other things. The money spent to settle refugees is not going to take away from money spent on SS and vets. In fact, we already resettle 70,000-90,000 refugees every year, and budget to do so. These are just 10,000 that would move us towards 2016 being an 80,000 refugee year.

SS has a regressive payout structure so the people on the lower end of the income scale get a much better ROI than those on the upper end. Fun fact – the worst income you can have from a SS ROI prospective is around 116K as that’s the point where they stop withholding. I think it’s safe to forecast that the refugees will on average be in the lower income brackets as their educational levels tend to be lower than those of Americans and what professional certifications they do have often aren’t recognized here and they’ll be coming with nearly no assets to pay for school or to start a business with and they’ll have language issues and there’ll be a certain percent of shiny happy people that won’t give them a fair chance.

I’m not saying we should or we shouldn’t let them in…I just want to point out that our current labor participation rate is only 62.4% which is well below the long term average of around 66% so we clearly don’t have a use for the additional resources. In general, these people will experience a high unemployment rate and those that do find work will tend to fill lower level jobs. I’m not making a value judgment of anyone’s worth as a human being but from a purely economic prospective, people that make less than 40K to 50K are consuming more than they produce. It’s basic math…they pay in X in various taxes and they consume X resources in the form of education, judicial services, healthcare, etc.

I sincerely understand the American tradition aspect of this “bring us your huddled masses…” but let’s be honest with ourselves and acknowledge the costs. It would be one thing if we had vast unchartered lands brimming with resources to exploit but those days have long since past. I’m afraid these people will to a large extent be fairly idle and will collectively consume significantly more than they produce.

Again, I’m not saying we shouldn’t let them in, I’m just asking that we honestly crunch the numbers to figure out what this will really mean.

Short reply…I believe that SS will adversely be affected.

10,000 people. If they were all settled in NYC, they'd be 0.117% of the population there.

If they were all enrolled at Florida State University, they'd be a minority at that university.

In reply to RX Reven':

"I’m not making a value judgment of anyone’s worth as a human being but from a purely economic prospective, people that make less than 40K to 50K are consuming more than they produce."

Yes you are. And berkeley you, because I make less than 40k/year and I work my ass off and handle my own E36 M3. I produce.

There are problems in this country. We should work as a society to find real solutions, not scapegoats.