Ooops: Britain opens its doors to 3.5 million visitors from eastern Europe

[DodgyAgent]

I have no objection at all to economic migration and I think anyone that brings wealth or potential wealth to a country should be welcomed. However, that is not what is happening in this country. We are a small island and we do not have the resources to support the indiginous population. We also do not have the infrastructure to support a rapid growth in the population. Immigrant workers are driving down the average wages in the country as they are prepared to live in conditions that we would not tolerate - this is commendable. However, we are supporting any number of immigrants/asylum seekers who are not prepared to work but are entitled to financial support from the state, probably far in excess of the minimum wage that some immigrants are prepared to accept. As a nation we are not encouraged to create wealth - it is seen as something to be ashamed of - until this attitude changes and restrictions on free trade throughout the world are lifted we will have very little of 'little England' to defend

Galty you are rambling; the markets will correct population inbalances by making the UK too expensive for further expansion. Go and buy yourself a nice cheap Villa in Bulgaria..you know it makes sense

[milanbenes]

DA,

I have been saying just that for years

as soon as the Eastern countries join/ed the EU there will be a correction, wages in Western europe will stagnate or fall and in the East they will rise

and now we are seeing it,

still, don't tell anyone until I've made me fortune by which time it will be too late for them to enter the markets and make any progress

Milan.

[NoddY]

...
The point you made about transient communities is a good one. Bear in mind that most people want to settle somewhere and that they are only "transient" either through extreme hardship or because they dont have families or jobs close to where they wish to settle....

My point is that globalisation means migration is an ongoing process, not a one-off event. There is no such thing as 'settled'. If capital can move from one place to another in an instant then so must you.

Learn Polish, spend a few years there. Fine. Labour costs go up. Learn Slovak, spend a few years there. Fine. Labour costs go up. Learn Armenian, move there there. Fine. Labour costs go up.

Even if you dismiss the social conseqences of transiency, then consider the environmental ones.

As for forcing people into labour, you are forgetting there is more than one way to skin a cat. Artisans can create assets from scratch, without having to sell their labour first to convert money into assets. What place for them in your tidy world of full 'employment'? You'll have them out shelf stacking at Tesco for national minimum wage - what a waste.

[NoddY]

Then we have to educate people and run an economy of exceptional efficiency and remove the soft underbelly of welfare....

Who'll do the educating?. The local Czech supply teacher who can't be bothered learning the childrens' names because she's just 'passing through'?

[Joe Black]

again it should be the govts job to guard against monopolies and against political interference.

Entirely true, but if other countries have restrictions on us which we don't place on them, or their gov't has a say in how we can do things in their country, then likewise it's our gov't job to provide protection against the business practices they're attempting to impose.

I'm a great believer in free-markets/free-trade etc, even used to watch ol' Milton Friedman every week when I was a kid, but I believe in bi-lateral free-trade, not uni-lateral ones.

[milanbenes]

what makes me laugh you bunch of numb skulls is that when it comes to interest rates you want Britain to choose its own and NOT join the Euro zone as the other Euro countries and what they do,

but when it comes to jobs, you want Britain to do what the other Euro countries have done

make yer minds up folks

Milan.

[Francko]

DA,

I have been saying just that for years

as soon as the Eastern countries join/ed the EU there will be a correction, wages in Western europe will stagnate or fall and in the East they will rise

WOW

You are such a prophet, Milan. You are definetely the first to come up with this.

[milanbenes]

thanks Francko,


Milan.

[threaded]

That was harsh...

[hyperD]

nice stats Francko, where did you find those ?

Milan.

Did you mean me, Beans? In which case it was from the governments own tefal heads with the slide rules: ONS

www.statistics.gov.uk

as soon as the Eastern countries join/ed the EU there will be a correction, wages in Western europe will stagnate or fall and in the East they will rise

I am learning Hungarian for that very reason, but the time I would have got to speaking it without sounding like a gumby, I would have missed the market by several decades...