Saturday, October 31, 2009

Global Flows



An extremely well done videographic that demonstrates the majoe global immigration trends and that also shows the power of remittances. It is true that the US might have over 25 million immigrants residing within its borders but that represents only around 12 % of the total immigrants in the world. Please also note that most immigrants do not move to different continents but usually stay within their own. Obviously this is also true of North America.
Total estimated remittances from the US totaled around $86 billion. That goes to illustrate, one more time ,that the Neo Classical theory of immigration does not explain many of the motives for migration.

6 comments:

  1. I watched this videographic and it really helps to vizualize how many immigrants are not actually coming to the United States, but are going elsewhere and most of the time staying in their own continent/region. I think sometimes we get caught up in how many people are moving to the US that we forget how many people are also moving to other places across the World. Personally I've never really thought about how many mexicans move to South America, or even to Europe. It is apparent that sometimes we get caught up in our own problems here that we forget to look at the situation from all angles, and this videographic helped to put some more perspective on immigration.

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  2. The last few seconds is really key in understanding a lot of the economic issues of immigration; it speaks to how the top receiving countries for remittances were middle income countries. The video attributes this to the fact that emigrating is expensive, and that "paradoxically" as people leave poorer countries grow richer. I think this may serve to work as both a positive and a negative aspect of immigration in the U.S. On the positive side, one could argue that the U.S. is clearly not receiving uneducated or poor people for the most part; but are receiving those able enough to emigrate who can also contribute a lot to our nation. On the negative side, one can argue that these people are coming here to utilize our resources and are subsequently just making their own countries richer and then returning to them, better off. The wonderful thing about this class is that it has made me wonder; it has forced me to question my stance on this and many other topics. In the long run; however, I am firm in that whatever the economical pros and cons of immigration, there is no denying that these people still deserve equal treatment and respect-illegal or otherwise. Because in all of these writings and in all of these arguments, one thing is fundamental- these people are humans, with families and desires, and needs. In viewing this video; in getting a chance to visualize the flow of immigrants throughout the world, I realized that it is a universal idea for humans to move where there is greater opportunity to sustain the needs and seek the desires of themselves and their families. Where is there harm in that?

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  3. this video is essential in opening up the eyes of those people living in America who are against immigration. Although, it may seem that 25 million immigrants living in the United States is a large number, this article/video demonstrates that that number is a mere 12% of the overall population of immigrants. The issue of immigration vs. migration is clearly conceptualized in this video as it shows that in fact, more immigrants migrate within their own countries as oppose to immigrating to countries outside of thier homes. The main issue here for me though is simply the fact that there is nothing wrong with either immigration nor migration. As Liv has stated, where is the harm in HUMAN BEINGS trying to sustain a better lifestyle for them and thier families. Before any of these people are immigrants or outsiders, they are human beings like the rest of us and deserve a fair chance whether it be in another country or in their own.

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  4. This video really allows us to see that Americans need to stop blaming economic and health care issues on the immigration factor. This video proves that Europe and Asia have millions of more immigrants than we do. Places in Europe, such as France have some of the best health care plans and they have huge numbers of immigrants as well. Americans need to stop getting caught up in the numbers and if they are then they need to look at the other countries numbers because they are overwhelming larger, The previous bloggers are right, we do not consider mexican immigration to other countries even though this video clearly proves they are certainly not only coming to America. America is considered the most powerful country in the world I think we should start acting like it and embrace immigration and its benefits. -Adriana Scutari

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  5. This video was actually very enlightening and eye-opening. As Americans, we constantly believe that the issue of immigration lies solely in our hands, that no other country receives as many immigrants as we do with the same issues within our government system and economy. Boy were we wrong! One never looks outside its own territory to compare the numbers. There are strikingly large numbers of immigrants migrating within their respective continents as well as moving across continents to those outside of North America. North America does not even have the largest number of immigrants and yet we seem to have the biggest problem. I personally believe the biggest issue with immigration that we need to tackle is giving everyone an equal opportunity to live a respectable life. It is everyone's human right to have an opportunity to improve their own and if that means immigration, so be it. The main reason people immigrate, as stated in the video and through others' posts, is to improve their lifestyle. Who are we to say that they shouldn't...isn't that the majority's goal?

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  6. This video was very interesting for all the reasons listed above. Where do we get our information from if we are all saying that this piece is eye-opening. Chances are that if you showed 100 people this data about 95 of them would be surprised. When did we begin to learn that immigrants are poor, welfare sucking creatures on our economy. Data such as this from the economist proves these notions wrong however, in order to not make the same mistake of mis-educating ourself with the same data that taught us many sterrotypes about immigration, we need to question the sources that taught us those false statements and learn to find our own reliable data.--VINNIE

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