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Milton Friedman said we can't have free immigration and a welfare state
X ^ | Arthur MacWaters

Posted on 08/06/2026 6:37:52 AM PDT by SmokingJoe

Milton Friedman said we can't have free immigration and a welfare state

He was wrong

Turns out that if you create pathways for illegal immigrants to vote, then actually, 100% of the time you INEVITABLY end up with both a welfare state and free immigration

Because incentives determine actions

Whichever politicians realize they can essentially use taxpayer dollars to fund welfare to import voters will exploit this hack ruthlessly

1. Offer welfare 2. Allow illegal immigration 3. Let illegal immigrants vote (they will 100% of the time vote for more welfare) 4. Win office 5. Raise taxes, offer more welfare, repeat

It's a self-reinforcing feedback loop

Allowing illegal immigrants to count in the census and vote cements this loop

Literally only 12 states require proof of citizenship to register to vote.

Look it up. It's horrifying.

That is why 15m illegal immigrants came across the border in 4 yrs.

It is game theory the only smart thing to do

This ends in disaster

(Excerpt) Read more at x.com ...


TOPICS:
KEYWORDS: illegals; miltonfriedman

1 posted on 08/06/2026 6:37:53 AM PDT by SmokingJoe
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To: SmokingJoe
---- "1. Offer welfare 2. Allow illegal immigration 3. Let illegal immigrants vote (they will 100% of the time vote for more welfare) 4. Win office 5. Raise taxes, offer more welfare,..."

The perfect procedure for 1) gaining political power, and 2) collapsing a productive economy. "Free" voted for by those who want "free" becomes confiscation from all others over time.

2 posted on 08/06/2026 6:43:00 AM PDT by Worldtraveler once upon a time (Degrow government)
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To: Worldtraveler once upon a time

I suspect Milton Friedman would agree with you. I believe he was referring to the collapse at the end.


3 posted on 08/06/2026 6:44:53 AM PDT by marktwain (----------------------)
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To: marktwain
---- "I suspect Milton Friedman would agree with you. I believe he was referring to the collapse at the end."

Good morning. I would and do disagree with Friedman, however. One cannot have "free trade" with a nation or nations whose labor costs are one-tenth of ours, nor with those nations who subsidize and undercut another nation's local manufacturing and labor costs.

"Free trade" as a phrase for use in economic dicsussions is a word trap, first because in functioning ecnomies nothing comes for "free," and second because getting another to discuss "free trade" by using the phrase is already an "assumptive close" in a larger transaction.

4 posted on 08/06/2026 6:51:45 AM PDT by Worldtraveler once upon a time (Degrow government)
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To: SmokingJoe

it also makes a difference when the government never has to pay its bills and instead just racks up 10’s of tillions more in debt with no end in site.


5 posted on 08/06/2026 6:59:46 AM PDT by TexasFreeper2009
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To: SmokingJoe

Friedman was an xxxxxxx….he developed our income tax payroll withholding rules and his views caused high inflation.


6 posted on 08/06/2026 7:26:16 AM PDT by delta7
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To: SmokingJoe

What happens when the money runs out?


7 posted on 08/06/2026 7:42:42 AM PDT by Taxman (We will never be a truly free people so long as we have the income tax and the IRS.)
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To: TexasFreeper2009

Just like a substantial moratorium needs to be enacted for immigration currency printing needs to be slowed for several years to where it’s just enough to replace worn-out bills.


8 posted on 08/06/2026 7:43:49 AM PDT by MikelTackNailer (imagines a world where sanity is the norm.)
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To: MikelTackNailer

socialism would have died everywhere just like communism, if governments were not allowed to run deficits.


9 posted on 08/06/2026 7:52:02 AM PDT by TexasFreeper2009
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To: SmokingJoe

RE: Milton Friedman said we can’t have free immigration and a welfare state

That’s just common sense. We don’t need someone with Milton Friedman’s stature to tell us that.


10 posted on 08/06/2026 8:19:35 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
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To: delta7; SmokingJoe

Yes, Milton Friedman did help design the modern U.S. payroll withholding system, but I don’t see how his economic views caused high inflation.

In fact, Friedman spent his career arguing that inflation results from excessive money supply growth — not from the policies he supported.

Friedman famously stated that “inflation is always and everywhere a monetary phenomenon.”

He argued that inflation happens when the money supply grows faster than real output.


11 posted on 08/06/2026 8:23:44 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
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To: SmokingJoe

Shut down all welfare
Let it be known it’s because of illegals
Buy lots of popcorn


12 posted on 08/06/2026 8:44:53 AM PDT by Keyhopper (Indians had bad immigration laws)
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To: SmokingJoe

No rodent control and free grain for all rodents...


13 posted on 08/06/2026 9:35:56 AM PDT by AndyJackson
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To: SmokingJoe

Incentives determine actions

It’s what keeps fraud going


14 posted on 08/06/2026 11:54:51 AM PDT by Vaduz (NEVER TRUST A DEMOCRAT)
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To: delta7
he developed our income tax payroll withholding rules

To pay for WW2.

and his views caused high inflation.

Wrong.

15 posted on 08/06/2026 1:55:04 PM PDT by Toddsterpatriot (TANSTAAFL)
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