Anarcho-capitalism

CHICAGO, IL

Posted by L.S. on behalf of A.B. Dada, who is taking a few days off to help a relative recover from surgery
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I live in an odd town — right between an middle/upper class caucasion town and a lower/middle class hispanic town. They feed off each other in amazing ways — the hispanics who worked in the caucasian-owned restaurants just 10 years ago now co-own their own restaurants in the hispanic area. 4 huge fresh markets in the hispanic town have almost all latino signage, but their customer base is probably 50% caucasian. The hispanic town is a symbol of a booming market, with new stores going up every week that cater to the latino crowd (usually petite clothing sizes, culture-specific clothing and shoes, and even car stereo stores pertaining to the latino music culture). The caucasian town keeps forcing residents to shop elsewhere, recently with another sales tax increase (on restaurants!) and a push to a no-smoking policy. The police in the caucasian town are now 100% about traffic tickets instead of about protecting the citizens from the growing number of thefts and robberies.

But there’s a problem. As this blossoming hispanic town grew, the vultures at the INS have been watching closer every day. One business owner that lives in my community recently fled to his native country (Guatemala) because he was tipped off that the INS was ready to shut him down and ship him off. According to relatives, he extracted all the equity from his home (worth around $300,000 and paid off entirely) and took off. I know we won’t hear from him again, he showed me pictures a few years ago of the mansions he built in Guatemala. From what I know, he left 20 employees behind who had no idea how to continue his home-improvement business.

I look around me and I see how much immigration has helped my life. The immigrants have created a boom in work-supply: this means lower costs for me. I can get my lawn manicured for half the price of 5 years ago. I can get my carpets cleaned for less than half the price 5 years ago. I can get my car washed for $19 a month, unlimited. I can get fruits and vegetables at 30-70% off the prices of most grocery stores, fresher too. If I need help building a shelf or fixing my roof, there is a huge supply of available manpower at a reasonable price. All the immigrants I’ve seen working the neighborhoods own their homes, pay their property taxes, and many of them have health insurance and car insurance (more than the caucasians I know). They’re not wasting the public’s money, that’s for sure. In fact, when I’ve been to the emergency room in Lake County, I see more caucasians and blacks than I do hispanics: the latino community has seen a growth in clinics and doctors who specialize in tending to the latinos in their language and in the way they expect medical care.

That increased supply of labor has an interesting side effect too: an increased demand on goods. This brought us a VERY short term increase in prices, before the new stores and grocers opened. As the demand increased, it also created new demand for more stores, restaurants, bars, gas stations, and service providers. This demand meant more people ventured into self-employment. Over the decade I’ve lived in the region, I’ve seen more poor families become middle class. I’ve seen more middle-class families “take advantage” of the new labor sources to make their lives better. I’ve seen more eccentric stores and restaurants boom into chains, competiting with the super stores at a level the super stores can’t. The economy has been good to me.

But now we’re talking about kicking these “illegals” out — illegals who pay their rent in cash, who buy their homes with cash, who buy their cars with cash, who buy gas and food and clothing with cash. As the number of deportations has gone up, it has left behind a funny unintended consequence: oversupply. As I drive around the previously booming housing market of Waukegan, Illinois, I see a greater number of homes for sale by banks. When I queried a few banks that I have personal contacts with, I see that many homes were left vacant when the homeowners were tossed out of the country for not having the proper government documentation. I always thought that the housing bubble could keep its course if more immigrants were welcomed rather than tossed out.

The oversupply of services and products is slowly trickling its way into the caucasian neighborhood, too. One of the most popular grocery stores in the area had been very different than the “normal” grocers — it focused on a lot of latino food products, and good ones at that. You could buy real Coke from Mexico — made with sugar instead of corn syrup. You could buy fresh bakery goods every day, fresher than the big chain grocers were making. You could buy a huge quantity of fruits and vegetables that other grocers didn’t carry, for whatever reason. The independent grocer announced it was closing its doors this year. One of the managers (a latino) told me that he fears that their market will be tossed out of the area, so they’re not willing to invest in keeping the doors open. It is tragic.

I can’t get any real numbers from INS — they refuse to comply with my letters and Freedom of Information Act requests. Probably some secret law pertaining to national security, I’m sure. I do know that my favorite restaurant is missing 5 of the best workers — latinos — and the owner won’t tell me where they went. I’ve known their smiling faces and names for the 10 years I went to this business, and they’re gone all of a sudden? Unexpected? He told me he’s having problems finding replacements — that likely means he didn’t fire them. My favorite chef that cooks South American food packed up his family and moved back to Central America this summer — he said he was fearful of what would happen if he didn’t. I know he owned his home for cash, I wonder if he took out his equity and left the bank holding the bag. Hard to say.

Immigration to me is always a good thing — a new supply of labor, a new demand on goods that creates the incentive to increase the supply of those goods. Prices come down.

But the average American hates immigration, because immigration destroys their theft-and-spend system. The “libertarians” at the LRC also hate immigration, because they’re not true anarcho-capitalists. They say that immigration is imcompatible with welfare, and they’re right. Welfare is incompatible with welfare. You can’t steal from everyone to give to everyone forever. Eventually the cut the bureacrats take grows too big to sustain the theft. But the LRC writers seem to think the answer is to just end immigration.

My parents were immigrants — legal ones. Most of my family, too. They worked hard, built their businesses, employed hundreds or thousands, and paid all their taxes on time. They did good for society. On the other hand, it seems that the society that were here before they came has expectations that society owes them their lives. Society must pay for their retirement, for their education, for their health care, for their living expenses, for their defense, for their futures. This is why the average caucasian seems to hate immigration: the immigrants don’t care to pay for what society demands of them, they pay for what they have to pay for. This is how the market works. If someone offers free cars to anyone who asks, people will take the free cars. If someone also says “but you also have to pay your taxes to get your free cars!” people will find ways to avoid those taxes. Good. I appreciate that. I pay my taxes, but I do it with bile in my mouth. I’m glad that there is an entire mega-culture that has found ways to take advantage of what society thinks is free. Someone has to.

I’m going to miss the inexpensive supply of labor. I’m going to miss the manicured lawn. I’m going to miss the always-clean car (the car wash said they’ll go under in a year if they can’t continue to hire new workers at a discounted rate). I’m going to miss the fresh fruits and vegetables that are cheap because of competition and a high supply/demand being met (meaning faster turnover and less spoilage). I’m going to miss the high ratio of home-occupiers to homes available, since many of my friends will be hurt badly when the supply of available homes outstrips demand — causing prices to fall, and people who extracted equity for cars and vacations can’t meet their mortgages.

I’m going to miss the culture, too. I don’t normally eat starches, but I love the food. It won’t go away overnight, but the difference in just 5 years amazes me. I moved from an all-caucasion region to a region with a great mix because I knew that choice makes life better. Now you voters and you power-mongers in government and you false libertarians are taking my choice away from me — because a large group of people are finding ways around your theft-and-spend policies.

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