 | VirileVagabond (32)
10/12/2006 |  Even as one who often holds himself out as one of libertarian philosophy (i.e. no big "L"), this argument is still news to me. In the modern global economy, I seriously doubt any true closed society or economy is possible. As transportation gets more efficient and related costs fall, one is no longer just competing with your neighboring worker but also with those around the world. Nevertheless, labor will still flow to capital as the latter flows to the former. The prior comment discusses how illegal labor encourages ignoring the rule of law, but not just because such labor must work in the shadows by definition but also because their home societies often tolerate such thinking. This (of course) results in the tax burden being ever shifted to legitimate business and taxpayers, resulting in even more pressure to go black market since the rewards have increased relative to the risks involved. To that end, I would say that there is some truth in this argument, but the root causes of excessive regulation, wages and taxes differ from immigration in and of itself. It's the flouting of the law that would only have a direct correlation with immigration (and then only depending on the source of same).
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 | DrEntropy (38)
05/05/2006 | Certainly, America's ability to assimilate immigrants would be increased if sensible reforms of our regulatory and tax laws were undertaken. However, the mass immigration of unskilled illegal immigrants will not improve America's legal/regulatory/tax structure. Rather, it is creating a climate of contempt for the rule of law, with a massive and growing underground economy of sweatshops and slave labor that doesn't pay taxes, decent wages or abide by regulations at all. If California is any indication of the future (it's been a pretty good guide to trends in the rest of the country over the last 100 years) mass immigration will not lead to Libertarian regulatory/tax reform, but will rather paralyze the political system, creating a 'power stand-off' where the existing system is frozen, and any attempt at reform is blocked.
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