Modern Problems

As I was driving to work I heard an interview with the German ambassador to the United States. One of the issues that was broached made me prick up my ears. He was pushing for the U. S. to pitch in on providing financial support for Europe’s migrants. My reaction: not on your flameless cooker. No way, no how. The only way I would agree to such a thing is if the Europeans started contributing to the support of our Mexican and Central American migrants and on that they’re in arrears.

Europe is in the fix that it’s in because a) it’s the natural destination for Middle Eastern and African migrants; b) like a bull in a china shop Germany has lumbered into an open migration model; and c) the EU’s Schengen policy has resulted in the burden falling on Germany and Sweden.

Those are their problems. They can fix them any time they care to. They just don’t wanna.

Welcome to the 21st century. Mass migration without assimilation. Both the cost of migration and the cost of not assimilating have fallen. What else do you expect?

11 comments… add one
  • michael reynolds Link

    I agree. If we were talking about helping to set up safe zones for refugees? Sure. But this particular stupid is on Ms. Merkel, and she can pay the bills.

  • jan Link

    This is always how it is with America and the rest of the world. They want our money, but otherwise they will disparage our values, concerns and even our presence within their borders. It sometimes reminds me of many parent/children teenage relationships.

  • steve Link

    Now, now. We, at least some of us, have made a career out of poking fun at the Europeans. Freedom fries anyone? (That was so parental of us.) They are certainly entitled to poke back. That said, they are not entitled to our money to pay for their problems.

    Steve

  • PD Shaw Link

    If Europe was facing a situation similar to that at the end of WWII, which inspired the U.S. to temporarily lift its quotas, then I think the U.S. should do so here as well. Then, a number of governments had been toppled, ethnic recriminations followed the war’s end, and there was the widespread threat of Communist revolution that sought to take advantage of the instability. Also, the Europeans were unable (read unwilling) to deal with the ethnic-German refugees.

    Europe will stand. The last I looked, about half of the migrants or refugees did not qualify for protection under the common U.N. treaty, but were being given amnesty under both broader commitments made by the EU and by individual nation’s laws.

  • michael reynolds Link

    PD:

    Laws and treaties are irrelevant in this situation. Merkel’s popularity is dropping like a rock, the EU is splitting north-south and east-west, and Britain may be on its way out. Barbed wire is going up in the Balkans, the Poles are openly refusing to play along, and everyone is demanding that Greece – poor, bankrupt Greece – and increasingly Islamist and anti-western Turkey somehow cope with stopping the flow.

    The current situation is not manageable. European countries will simply not allow this to continue, the political consequences could be ruinous for mainstream parties, and not-coincidentally, damaging to existing Muslim populations already in Europe. Germany may well have destroyed Europe for a third time, this time out of kindness.

  • PD:

    There are three major differences between now and the time at the end of WWII.

    1. 20% of the U. S. population wasn’t immigrants as is the case now. We’ve already reached our historic high water mark.

    2. The marginal product of labor was increasing. That meant we could use more workers.

    3. The European immigrants weren’t blowing things up or shooting up parties with high capacity modern weaponry.

  • everyone is demanding that Greece – poor, bankrupt Greece – and increasingly Islamist and anti-western Turkey somehow cope with stopping the flow.

    The Greeks have responded with characteristic courage and generosity. I’ve already made my proposal on this: the EU should start paying the Turks to keep refugees.

    Germany may well have destroyed Europe for a third time, this time out of kindness.

    You’re giving them too much credit. Myopically, their elites saw Middle Eastern immigrants as a solution to their problems with an aging population.

  • ... Link

    Schuler, most of our elites are demanding we import more & more people, so that 20% high-water is nothing more than an historical curiosity. And by the time enough of the natives (meaning “white people”, as Blacks will always vote Democratic Party no matter what) get angry enough to demand a stop, it will be too late as we’ll be at 30% immigrants – and their children.

    There’s nothing except the inconvenience of an ocean to keep DC’s rulers from importing tens of millions from MENA & attached regions.

  • ... Link

    Here’s a prediction: if a Dem wins the election this year, next year they will start seizing cruise liners to bring over Syrian followers of the religion of peace by thousands at a time. All in the name of humanitarianism, of course.

  • steve Link

    Agree with Dave. This was not kindness on the part of Germany. The Germans really want cheap labor. They are willing to go to extremes to get it. At the risk of a Godwin, they were so afraid of communism and having to pay workers that they were willing to support a pretty awful alternative.

    Steve

  • The Germans really want cheap labor.

    Whether it’s the Germans or a narrow sliver of German elites remains to be seen. Lots of ethnic Germans are drastically underemployed—they’ve got this odd system of micro-jobs which makes the unemployment statistics look low but aren’t really jobs in a meaningful sense.

    Keep your eyes on Saxony and Bavaria. If a populist movement is gaining strength, we’ll see it there first.

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