Anywhere there is Capitalism, there has to be growth. That's the nature of the game, unless you approve of economic contraction. Which to my knowledge, almost no one wants to be poor, everyone wants to be richer than they were yesterday. It's true that immigrants can be a burden and even take out money via welfare, but ultimately, you have to address who is going stand out in the hot sun everyday and keep the food supply chain going. Or how will you grow your tax base and pay for the increasingly dependent senior population at the same time?

So there's still a selection pressure: a shrinking economy will force people to give up their standard of living. And given how more people would rather buy from Amazon/Walmart rather than support higher priced but locally made goods, there's going to be a chaotic end to this episode.