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Jasper
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1 year ago
in Prebuttal on Immigration and Poverty on Will Wilkinson
What’s wrong with comparative advantage? Mexicans sell us food and we sell them tractors? Why do we import Mexicans to prop up uneconomic and dead industries like agriculture?
If, say, a US producer of paper can't find the pulp it needs in the US, but rather must import it from abroad, does that mean the US government is "propping up" an "uneconomic and dead" industry? Of course not. So why would you say this of a US-based firm that can't find the workers it needs? Your argument is especially specious given the fact that a US-based firm is not free to pay the going global rate for the labor it would like to import, but must pay wages commensurate with the cost of living in the US, and/or wage minimums set by law.
If, say, a US producer of paper can't find the pulp it needs in the US, but rather must import it from abroad, does that mean the US government is "propping up" an "uneconomic and dead" industry? Of course not. So why would you say this of a US-based firm that can't find the workers it needs? Your argument is especially specious given the fact that a US-based firm is not free to pay the going global rate for the labor it would like to import, but must pay wages commensurate with the cost of living in the US, and/or wage minimums set by law.
1 year ago
in Prebuttal on Immigration and Poverty on Will Wilkinson
What we really need to do is allow hundreds of millions of starving Bangladeshis, Indonesians, and others come to the U.S.
Cool. Let's all get behind the legislation to let "hundreds of millions of starving Bangladeshis, Indonesians, and others" immigrate. Oh, wait a minute, you mean there isn't any such legislation, nor any candidates proposing it, and you're essentially just spouting irrelevant bullshit? Damn!
Cool. Let's all get behind the legislation to let "hundreds of millions of starving Bangladeshis, Indonesians, and others" immigrate. Oh, wait a minute, you mean there isn't any such legislation, nor any candidates proposing it, and you're essentially just spouting irrelevant bullshit? Damn!
1 year ago
in More on the Missing Evidence of Anxiety on Will Wilkinson
"I think lots of firms will be seeking less-expensive foreign labor, that this will have a significant effect on the jobs available to Americans, but also on the price of many goods and services (down) and on the incentives to acquire new and/or improved skills (stronger)."
Although I don't disagree with any of this, and although I'm a committed fan of globalization, I'm skeptical that a government guarantee of health insurance, say, or a dollop of wage replacement insurance for those too old to make the transition into a new career would do all THAT much to blunt the incentives to upgrade skills. Moreover, I'm increasingly convinced that lack of health/economic security is exerting at least some negative impact on the ability of Americans to fully partake of the so-called "Ebay economy."
I guess what I'm saying is that I suspect to a substantial degree we can have our cake and it eat it, too: Sam's Club protections combined with Brave New Economy opportunities and efficiency. I reject the notion that we must choose either/or because it least appears to my eyes that a number of other places (New Zealand? Ireland? Canada?) are rejecting this false choice to their great benefit.
Although I don't disagree with any of this, and although I'm a committed fan of globalization, I'm skeptical that a government guarantee of health insurance, say, or a dollop of wage replacement insurance for those too old to make the transition into a new career would do all THAT much to blunt the incentives to upgrade skills. Moreover, I'm increasingly convinced that lack of health/economic security is exerting at least some negative impact on the ability of Americans to fully partake of the so-called "Ebay economy."
I guess what I'm saying is that I suspect to a substantial degree we can have our cake and it eat it, too: Sam's Club protections combined with Brave New Economy opportunities and efficiency. I reject the notion that we must choose either/or because it least appears to my eyes that a number of other places (New Zealand? Ireland? Canada?) are rejecting this false choice to their great benefit.
