Is Illegal Immigration Hiding Inflation?

[ItsTime]

I just had a thought. Is illegal immigration hiding the real problem of inflation by providing SUPER cheap labor to keep prices appearing low or constant? Same with the massive flow of products from China and other slave labor countries.

Just a thought that I am sure has been thought before.

[muabhcirk]

No, nothing is really hiding inflation in my opinion...prices of most things, especially those things needed to live, aren't low or constant. The gov publishes make believe numbers in an attempt to hide it, but anyone that pays any attention will realize their numbers are bunk.

[nbhadja]

Idk, maybe. But illegal immigration is a horrible problem for this country, thank god RP will show no mercy to them if elected.

[MadViking10]

Of course it is.

[user]

The government is hiding inflation

[noxagol]

Well, it does disperse the amount of cash into more hands which can stem the tide of inflation a bit. A million dollars is worth more in the hands of a million people versus one hundred thousand people.

[born2drv]

Definitely. What better way to keep domestic inflation down by allowing cheap labor even if illegal?

They can't control commodities anymore... gold, oil, copper, even milk, eggs, wheat.... but they somewhat can control domestic forms of inflation in terms of wages for example, to prevent your Big Mac from costing $10.00.

Ironic isn't it? That housing, wages and things you'd WANT to inflate relative to imported goods are what's stagnate or deflating while everything else is inflating. Bad enough we get inflation, but we get bitch-slapped too with less less income and wealth.

[American]

Idk, maybe. But illegal immigration is a horrible problem for this country, thank god RP will show no mercy to them if elected.


Tell me what RP would do if elected?

you dont know, you're a troll.

[hocaltar]

I just had a thought. Is illegal immigration hiding the real problem of inflation by providing SUPER cheap labor to keep prices appearing low or constant? Same with the massive flow of products from China and other slave labor countries.

Just a thought that I am sure has been thought before.

Illegal immigration lowers everyones wages by increasing the supply of available workers. Illegal immigration causes most of us to earn less money to pay for the higher costs of inflation.

[ConstitutionGal]

I don't believe that illegals are affecting inflation all that much either way. The only thing the illegals do is help the employers make larger or more stable profiits while the rest of us foot the bills. Case in point - have any of you seen new home prices being lowered (at least, before the mortgage interest began rising) even though the construction contractors are getting to pay less for the labor? Nope. What happens is that those at the top of the food chain get to keep their profits while the rest of us pick up the tab for the healthcare, education, higher auto insurance rates, higher healthcare insurance rates, etc., etc. Some folks are getting cheap labor and higher profits while most taxpayers get to subsize those profits thanks to government mandates. This is where Dr. Paul will put the brakes to the process - by doing everything within his power to halt the taxpayer subsidized goodies process. Granted, a LOT of foks would like to the see illegals rounded up and deported, but, realisitically, this isn't going to happen. However, by removing the goodies along with the asinine birthright citizenship from their anchor babies, many will have no choice but to return home when they can no longer live here. This will ultimately help the inflation problem to some degree as it will remove some of the competition for all manner of goods from gas, to electricity to food and other necessities. It's part of the old supply and demand thing. By getting somewhere around 30 million illegals and their children out of the country, demand for a great many things will drop and, thus, prices will decrease.

After this, then Dr. Paul gets to go after the fiat money scam and the IRS scam, and the social security scam, and, and, and....

[AlexMerced]

in a free market it'd lower prices then lower wages which would then lower prices again... but miminum wage kind of ruin that.

No Welfare state = Open Borders

RP Said it himself

[mathamagician]

Inflation is a lagging indicator. The value of the dollar is a prospective indicator. Once consumers and the economy catches up with the fact that worldwide raw material is much more expensive due to the declining dollar the increased cost of everything will echo through the rest of the economy.

[dmspilot00]

Definitely. What better way to keep domestic inflation down by allowing cheap labor even if illegal?

They can't control commodities anymore... gold, oil, copper, even milk, eggs, wheat.... but they somewhat can control domestic forms of inflation in terms of wages for example, to prevent your Big Mac from costing $10.00.

Ironic isn't it? That housing, wages and things you'd WANT to inflate relative to imported goods are what's stagnate or deflating while everything else is inflating. Bad enough we get inflation, but we get bitch-slapped too with less less income and wealth.

I want to take this opportunity to correct your undestanding of inflation and deflation (and the understanding of some other posters who posted similar things). This is not how inflation and deflation work. In this example, illegal immigration increases the supply of labor, making labor more plentiful and therefore cheaper. The cheaper labor does not reduce inflation, it just hides it by offsetting the rising prices.

Inflation is an increase in the money supply without an equal increase in the goods and services that can be purchased with that money. Deflation occurs when the money supply either decreases or can't keep up with increased production. If cheap labor causes prices to fall; that's not deflation; that's just supply and demand at work.

Note that the false idea mentioned above is the basis for the government claming that the CPI (Consumer Price Index) is a measure of inflation. But price changes due to changes in supply and demand, productivity, or technology, which have nothing to do with inflation, will be reflected in the CPI also. Since productivity and technology are always improving, and consumers shift their spending habits to cheaper products, the CPI always underestimates inflation. And stay away from anybody that speaks as if the (change in) CPI is the same as inflation.

[The Good Doctor]

No, but it is inflating corporate profits.


I just had a thought. Is illegal immigration hiding the real problem of inflation by providing SUPER cheap labor to keep prices appearing low or constant? Same with the massive flow of products from China and other slave labor countries.

Just a thought that I am sure has been thought before.

[hasan]

i think the main reason illegal immigration should be frowned upon is simply because its illegal. its like cutting the line to check out early. it has its benefits to the nation no doubt about that. illegal immigrants are taken advantage of by people who pay them less. these people also work longer and harder. so the problem with illegal immigration isn't that it is bad for america it is just morally wrong and that should be a good enough reason to tackle it.

[Pete]

Just getting the dollars out of the country into willing foreigners' hands keeps domestic inflation down. This is what happened all through the '80s and '90s as the dollar became the predominant world currency.

However, those chickens will come home to roost eventually, i.e., when dollars are no longer a desirable reserve currency, foreigners will buy up U.S. assets like the dollars are on fire, and inflation will be intense. Welcome to the Weimar Republic.

[SeanEdwards]

No, nothing is really hiding inflation in my opinion...prices of most things, especially those things needed to live, aren't low or constant. The gov publishes make believe numbers in an attempt to hide it, but anyone that pays any attention will realize their numbers are bunk.

Yep.

I was in the grocery store tonight, and was admiring a nice t-bone steak. It was $15.50.

It is no so long ago that I would have paid $5.50 for the same steak. So that's like 200% price inflation, in roughly a decade. 20% per year? That sounds a lot closer to being accurate than the .8% yearly inflation fantasy promoted by the fed.

[PennCustom4RP]

No Welfare state = Open Borders

RP Said it himself

RP has not said that. He has said that the borders need to be secured by whatever means, and that the nanny state incentives should be removed and (possibly) they will not come.

Quite different than your your quotation.

[Paulitician]

Definitely. What better way to keep domestic inflation down by allowing cheap labor even if illegal?

They can't control commodities anymore... gold, oil, copper, even milk, eggs, wheat.... but they somewhat can control domestic forms of inflation in terms of wages for example, to prevent your Big Mac from costing $10.00.

Ironic isn't it? That housing, wages and things you'd WANT to inflate relative to imported goods are what's stagnate or deflating while everything else is inflating. Bad enough we get inflation, but we get bitch-slapped too with less less income and wealth.
I agree with this post... yeep.

EDIT: To clarify, I don't think illegal immigration is hiding inflation, but it's keeping it slightly lower than it would normally be.

[Paulitician]

in a free market it'd lower prices then lower wages which would then lower prices again... but miminum wage kind of ruin that.

No Welfare state = Open Borders

RP Said it himself
Not open borders. You still want to protect your country afterall. But Ron Paul has definitely said we can and should welcome even more legal immigration once things get back in order.

[USPatriot36]

I just had a thought. Is illegal immigration hiding the real problem of inflation by providing SUPER cheap labor to keep prices appearing low or constant? Same with the massive flow of products from China and other slave labor countries.

I don't think Illegal immigrants are hiding inflation except that they are helping to force down the wages in America. The cheap goods from China on the other hand certainly are hide inflation, add to that the fact that CPI numbers no longer include food or energy means that umm about the only thing they do include is cheap goods from china means that the CPI number is just a sham these days.

[CelestialRender]

Alan Greenspan says repeatedly in his book that international trade is lowering inflation. He doesn't mention illegal immigration, IIRC.

[wgadget]

Unfortunately, the devaluing of the dollar will make all the cheap junk we buy from China more expensive. So I doubt the mirage will be able to continue much longer, unless we can start getting illegals to produce cheap junk for us here.