First, I agree with those who feel Mr. Zakaria’s response has the whiff of elitism to it. An IBM professional can’t go to work if the lawn isn’t mowed; or the house is dirty? Microsoft computer geeks can’t function at their jobs if there isn’t a hot meal waiting for them when they get home? Please. In the world outside the elite bubble Mr Zakaria inhabits, there are a lot of households, (dare I say the majority?), that get by, and have always gotten by, w/o a maid, gardener and au pair.
Second, I haven’t seen (I apologize if I missed it) mention of the fact that the reason the leadership in this country has been able to largely ignore the illegal immigrant issue, is because in a wealthy, growing economy, the availability of a cheap labor force is a plus. Far easier to ignore the growing issue of illegal immigration during times when their labor is in demand- i.e. large segments of the population are rich enough to afford maids, gardeners and au pairs- that to actually set to work creating a more sensible immigration policy that would legally allow more low-skilled workers be available when demanded by a growing economy. Facing the issue would mean politicians would risk clashing with unions and other labor groups who would (correctly) see this cheap labor pool as a threat to their wages.
It is true our economy would stagnate during boom times w/o the existence of a labor force to do the low-skilled jobs we won’t do because we can make more money doing something else. The real problems associated with large populations of low-wage subsistence level people, whether legal or illegal, immigrant or not, will become apparent if our economy tanks, wages drop, and Mr. IBM can no longer afford the luxury of a lawn guy and and goes back to cutting his own lawn.
In a classic supply/demand model the decrease in demand for cheap labor should cause the supply to dry up, meaning less immigrants will be tempted to enter illegally, the unemployed illegals would go back home, and the problem would solve itself. However in the real world, people who risked life and limb to get here illegally, and who have subsequently had children here, are not going to pack up and leave if the economy goes south and they can no longer find work. Many will stay, and many more will still come illegally, if the economy in our country is still better than in their home country, and entering illegally is a viable option.
If our so-called leaders don’t seriously prepare for this scenario, and face the reality of the strain that a continuing influx of low-skilled poor people will put on a slow or contracting economy, they will be forced to deal with it when it has already become a crisis, and some inner cities really do start to resemble the third world scenario alluded to in the title of the piece.
