> they are simply willing to work for less for longer hours
If you're don't have a law that treats people equally probably yes.
> Last caveat I'll say is immigrants have produced extreme value and innovation in tech. They are intelligent and dilligent. They just arent good for the american middle class.
You do realize that people in tech probably belong to the middle class right?
I dont want to get bogged down by the values of immigrants. Its just a fact that flooding a labor market with labor will cause working conditions and wages to be lower. You can argue that their existence ended up exapnding the labor market, but take a look at any silicon valley firm, very very few middle class americans working there.
> Its just a fact that flooding a labor market with labor will cause working conditions and wages to be lower.
This is.. a drastic oversimplification. Massive amounts of middle class growth in the post-war era was driven by a flood of women, who were previously largely barred from most middle class work, into the workforce. So it's clearly possible to have a sudden influx of workers and not depress wages.
The thing is, more people working means more people making money means more money moving around the market means, in theory, more money being spent on and paid to middle class people. Even Henry Ford understood that, but it's an idea that's lost on the modern liberal establishment on both sides of the American political aisle.
The big differences between then and now have a lot more to do with wealth redistribution than anything else. In the post-war era, until Reagan/Thatcher flipped the table, taxes were far more progressive and the social safety net was growing.
And while women weren't paid as much as men, and still aren't largely, that's nothing compared to the ways in which immigrants are underpaid since so many of them are undocumented, and visa programs are more and more designed to keep their negotiating power as close to zero as possible.
I think your point about women is in itself an oversimplification. Post war era's always see a boom, many men died in the war creating a need, the USA was able to rise because Europe was effectively in ruin, and lastly in the end what happened? Wage debasement and the destruction of the middle class.
What we see now is the result of decades of policy, not just a recent trend.
What you're saying would make more sense if we were talking about a few years after the war, but the trend I'm referring to continued for decades after the war, well into baby boomers entering the workforce as a massive generational force.
And yes, I am literally saying that decades of policy has had an effect on this, and that it's not just a recent issue. Decades of anti-tax policy has created an environment where wage growth is difficult if not impossible for most people, immigrants or not, and decades of anti-immigration policy has helped create a situation where most immigrants aren't in a position to demand fair wages to begin with.
You're fighting the wrong battle. Immigrants are not to blame, they're more or less in the same position of middle class Americans of not worst.
Point your finger at the rich and elite that pocket the benefits of the immigrants job and the (as you say) pay gap between US and non-US citizen.
These people are likely to earn from immigrants twice: first the blame them to come to the US and gain political power, then they hire them in their company and give low wages.
If you've to blame somewhere, pointing the finger to those who are in a worst situation is not the answer.
> You can argue that their existence ended up exapnding the labor market, but take a look at any silicon valley firm, very very few middle class americans working there.
Pointing to extreme outliers as examples (SV firms) doesn't help your case.
Most SW professionals in the US are middle class - easily. You can see this using the Dept of Labor's data.
If you don't produce enough talent for that industry what do you want?
That companies relocate elsewhere?
You're contradicting yourself twice. Fist you say that the middle class has been wiped off by delocalization then you say that it has always been wiped off by immigrants which have been required because not enough talents in the US are able to pick the jobs created by the company (jobs that would go elsewhere without immigrants as well, and these immigrants with their expenses are also supporting other middle-class US family - eg. Landlords, Restaurant owners, shop owners etc)
If you're don't have a law that treats people equally probably yes.
> Last caveat I'll say is immigrants have produced extreme value and innovation in tech. They are intelligent and dilligent. They just arent good for the american middle class.
You do realize that people in tech probably belong to the middle class right?