demographics

From: "nu-monet v5.0" <nothing@succeeds.com>
Date: Sat, Jul 5, 2003

I had an interesting conversation with a
professional demographer the other day, and
he proposed and argued an interesting
hypothesis: if the US and Mexico had an
OPEN BORDER, besides some short term problems,
it would be of major benefit to both countries.

The short term problems would include an initial
influx of people heading north for jobs that
aren't there, where squatting is against the
law, and where there is no free land to build
shanty towns, plus a probable cut off of all
government aid to non-citizens.

Municipalities would have it the worst, having
to enforce zoning limits on the number of
people who could live in an apartment or house,
and the federal government would also have to
continue to clamp down hard on businesses that
cheat on minimum wage & safety, etc.

In the medium turn, though, the tide of people
would turn towards Mexico, with lots of US
money heading south for investment. This would
put tremendous pressure on their government to
reform and to try to normalize social standards,
such as public education, and health & welfare,
with the US.

As the "gate" between North and South America,
Mexico would also need massive transportation
infrastructure improvements to link the two,
with giant Mexico City being the capital.
Most likely an enormous highway, including
multiple high-speed rail lines north to El Paso.

Long term, Mexico would reach the point of
population stability which is automatic with
a particular relative level of prosperity. The
US would have many years worth of low skilled
then medium skilled and technical workers, both
of which are in chronic short supply.

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Original file name: demographics.txt - converted on Saturday, 25 September 2004, 02:05