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PaperclipPerfector  1yr ago (text post)   33833 thread views

Culture War Roundup for the week of June 19, 2023

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I doubt this. The fact is that the modern right's coalition does not cater to city folks and muslims aggregate in cities.

Don't you have cause and effect mixed up there? The modern right repels muslims and that is part of why they struggle in cities.

Not at all.

Muslim immigrants congregate in cities for the same reason almost all immigrants congregate in cities: They desire to soak up the spillover prosperity generated by the more productive persons in the city. It is very hard to live in a rural area and charge $40/hr to prune the hedges of a Google C-suite character. If you were to live in a rural area, that is a $7/hr job. You get the higher wage by accepting living conditions natives don't, such as 5 to a studio and the like.

What does that have to do with anything? I'm not disputing that Muslims live in cities, or arguing about why.

Living in cities has both causes and effects and attractors.

If Muslims had to settle in places that need them, they wouldnt immigrate.

I still fail to see your point.

Modern low skill immigrants go to places where they replace American workers for a slightly reduced wage, resulting in a zero sum game, as now those are just unemployed welfare receiving Americans. They do not (speaking in large % terms here) go found new cities in remote regions to exploit new resources.

It's not purely that, since reducing the cost of labor makes goods dependent on American labor (including, for example, in shipping), that much cheaper, and more consumers allows for selling more of whatever you're selling.

Anyway, your overall point is good; I don't really know how to compare the effects. I'd be absolutely shocked if economists hadn't done work on this.

It's not purely that, since reducing the cost of labor makes goods dependent on American labor (including, for example, in shipping), that much cheaper, and more consumers allows for selling more of whatever you're selling.

This is true, but because it is service work almost all the benefit is captured by richer Americans. Which is fine, but we should be honest about why the groups politically act how they do. The George W. Bush idea of "natural conservatives" because a group doesn't embrace queer theory is fundamentally flawed.

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