Imigration! Why Not let Americans Do It!

[liberty]

I'd like to hear from older readers of this thread who recall what Canada/U.S. immigration policy was like prior to the 1970's. It seems to me that it was relatively simple to just pack up and move across the border if you wanted to.

I suspect that the increasingly generous welfare state is what padlocked the border, as politicians were scared that people would flock to whatever locality had the biggest welfare payments. I've got a simple solution to that problem. Then we could just open the borders and let people move to wherever they wanted.

[Daylate]

Was reading an article a few weeks ago that said Americans are not willing to relocate within their own country yet. So the social system is still keeping them at home. The article stated that 10% of North Carolina could move to North Dakota tomorrow and they would have a job if they actually needed to feed themselves and their family.

[newguy]

If you have been in the Wiliston area
lately it looks like alot of Americans
have relocated there. Temporary housing
everywhere you look. Used to be alot of US
farmers owning land and farming in south
Sask.Not so much any more.

[liberty]

Daylate brings up an interesting point. One of the consequences of the modern welfare state is that unemployment benefits have the effect of keeping people resident in areas with very high unemployment as opposed to giving them an incentive to move to areas with a labour shortage. As long as these backwards incentives continue, economic recovery will remain a distant dream.

[Burbert]

Everyone should wanna leave home, ta turn
a buck. Home is boring, snoring etc. It
isn't where the heart is, cousin wes
should all be greed driven, fer instance
why not go to the philipinnes and look
after old folks there, ya could turn big
bucks I bet, eh????? Heil Harper, F Ritz

[ColevilleH2S]

Hey Burbs, why did your ancestors move
to western Canada. Surely they weren't
the "greedy" moving type? Ya know, the
kind that dreams of a better life, and
does something about it.

[checking]

Half the solution would never cross the 49th.

Immigration - well, the cross the border without permission type - is a bad word for US republicans on their home turf. Could you imagine the soul searching it would take for Republicans to consider working in Canada even if they came legally? A republican and an immigrant just does not roll off the tongue together, which is a surprise since were they not church conditioned to invite a stranger into their homes.

[greybeard]

Daylate touches on it but also part of the problem in the US is that in the old heartland of industry many own thier homes and and don't want to leave them to venture off and start over in a booming area where prices are much higher.
Those are the areas that were hit hardest by sub-prime.
Much the same problem as living out on the rez. Why move when you have no payments were you are?
A society in decline?