i hate how true this is in my experience. its made me default dubious of immigrants to the US (from anywhere) that come here by choice as educated professionals to build a life.
i can totally appreciate and respect the calculus of coming here for some sponsored education/formal training or to extract some $USD salary and transmit it back as a remittance. or just escaping a fucked situation and the US was the first option out.
but the people who come here to be all “entrepreneurial” and shit… total cheap labor and natural resource exploiters, so far.
Once upon a time there were genuine proletarian immigrants looking to work towards a better future for themselves and their family. But now, most immigrants to western countries are bourgeois and are already rich and just want to cash in on the big bubble before it bursts. In Canada, they overwhelmingly come here just to become slumlords. Cramming 10+ international students…People from the same place as them in some cases… into 2 bedroom “apartments” (most are just loosely repurposed house basements).
Ikea bunk beds can really pack 'em in.
I used to wonder why slumlords were slumlords then I read an expose on illegal slumlords in Guangzhou renting to foreigners. Turns out, when you have one tenant you can only get so much. But ten tenants pay a LOT more in rent.
They were all convicted years ago and reducated through labor. Last I heard they were having the same problem with landlords in Yiwu from what I heard.
Expats and immigrants are different.
Expatriates go to another country for work. They go back home when their contract finishes. Immigrants stay in the new country permanently.
Expats work for oil companies in Qatar and as English teachers in China.
Expats are always transient populations. They’ll do things like sell their entire home furnishings at once to new expats so you’ve got everything: blender, oven, cardboard Ikea furniture, the whole deal.
There’s a high chance that any expat you meet in the US is a reactionary or has heavily bought into the US state department’s line
Was working with a client who moved from Mexico last fall. Why did she move? Because of the “crazy government.”
i hate how true this is in my experience. its made me default dubious of immigrants to the US (from anywhere) that come here by choice as educated professionals to build a life.
i can totally appreciate and respect the calculus of coming here for some sponsored education/formal training or to extract some $USD salary and transmit it back as a remittance. or just escaping a fucked situation and the US was the first option out.
but the people who come here to be all “entrepreneurial” and shit… total cheap labor and natural resource exploiters, so far.
Once upon a time there were genuine proletarian immigrants looking to work towards a better future for themselves and their family. But now, most immigrants to western countries are bourgeois and are already rich and just want to cash in on the big bubble before it bursts. In Canada, they overwhelmingly come here just to become slumlords. Cramming 10+ international students…People from the same place as them in some cases… into 2 bedroom “apartments” (most are just loosely repurposed house basements).
Ikea bunk beds can really pack 'em in. I used to wonder why slumlords were slumlords then I read an expose on illegal slumlords in Guangzhou renting to foreigners. Turns out, when you have one tenant you can only get so much. But ten tenants pay a LOT more in rent. They were all convicted years ago and reducated through labor. Last I heard they were having the same problem with landlords in Yiwu from what I heard.
Expats and immigrants are different.
Expatriates go to another country for work. They go back home when their contract finishes. Immigrants stay in the new country permanently. Expats work for oil companies in Qatar and as English teachers in China. Expats are always transient populations. They’ll do things like sell their entire home furnishings at once to new expats so you’ve got everything: blender, oven, cardboard Ikea furniture, the whole deal.