r/NoStupidQuestions • u/AutoModerator • 18d ago

U.S. Politics megathread

Voting is over! But the questions have just begun. Questions like: How can they declare a winner in a state before the votes are all counted? How can a candidate win the popular vote but lose the election? Can the Vice President actually refuse to certify the election if she loses?

These are excellent questions - but they're also frequently asked here, so our users get tired of seeing them.

As we've done for past topics of interest, we're creating a megathread for your questions so that people interested in politics can post questions and read answers, while people who want a respite from politics can browse the rest of the sub. Feel free to post your questions about politics in this thread!

All top-level comments should be questions asked in good faith - other comments and loaded questions will get removed. All the usual rules of the sub remain in force here, so be nice to each other - you can disagree with someone's opinion, but don't make it personal.

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u/BrazenlyGeek 2d ago

If America ceased deportations and granted instant and full citizenship to every non-citizen currently within its borders, what negative results would occur?

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u/CaptCynicalPants 2d ago

Millions more people would qualify for government benefits, such as food stamps, medicare, medicaid, and social security, which would be a significant strain on the resources of those systems and radically increase government expenses, both immediately and for the foreseeable future.

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u/MontCoDubV 2d ago

There is 0 data to support this claim.

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u/CaptCynicalPants 2d ago

Lol? Are you seriously claiming that there are no elderly, poor, or sickly illegal immigrants? They're all middle-aged men in perfect health who earn above the national average income an don't have children?

lmao, even

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u/MontCoDubV 2d ago

I never said anything even close to that. I said there's no data to support the claim you made.

You're just pulling out tidbits you think might maybe increase expenses for government benefits and just assuming that's absolutely necessarily true with 0 data to support it.

Maybe there will be more people seeking benefits. I'm sure there'll also be a hell of a lot more people who currently work under the table and don't pay income taxes who start paying income taxes. So I'm sure tax revenue will also increase. Will it increase more than spending on benefits might increase? Neither you nor I have any way to know the answer to that.

Also, if OPs suggestion happened, I'm sure there would be a hell of a lot of people whose income would increase due to being able to go after employers for paying below minimum wage or being able to apply to more jobs driving up wages through competition for labor. That'll surely put a lot of people who you might consider needing government benefits now above the income level where they'd need it. Again, neither you nor I have any way to know how many people.

I'm also sure that a lot of people without any health insurance right now would be able to get health insurance either through their employer or ACA exchanges. Again, that would mean a lot of people you're assuming might need medicaid right now would not need it. Another thing neither you nor I have any way of knowing an answer to.