author of My Father Left Me Ireland. Senior Writer @NRO.
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Me: Hey kid! Back up, you're going to get bit by that crocodile if you're not careful.
Them: Crocodile lover. Big Croc shill. Why do you hate innocent kids?
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People are overestimating the economic tail risk of the diesel export ban idea and underestimating the political risk.
Most investors will sniff out that it’s an election year gambit. But it will send prices up again in Europe ahead of French and Italian elections.
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No matter how many times you explain that political questions aren’t resolved by reference to economic axioms, ideologues will just claim that you don’t understand an ideology that an 11 year old could master in an afternoon.
I have no sympathy for the Dunning-Krugers on this site who come across something in econ they don't understand and, despite complete ignorance of the economic argument, declare that it is econ that must be wrong.
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“Free trade is the optimal trade and industrial policy” is just as useful to me as “Peace is the optimal foreign policy.”
True if you could get it. But in a world of rivalry, you can make your economic and foreign policy and aim for the best, or someone else will make it for you on terms advantageous to themselves.
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This is such a weird thing to say. Actually lots of people were virtuous when they were politically imprisoned and oppressed. We admire Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, or Maximilian Kolbe for their heroic virtue. Joseph in Egypt was virtuous.
Sorry, he may have done a lot of weird stuff, but Brent Bozell absolutely hammered Frank Meyer on this point. Orwell hammered Ghandi on it.
Jeremy Boreing: “In a fallen world, freedom does not guarantee virtue. And yet, freedom is the prerequisite for virtue.”
@JeremyDBoreing
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The problem really is that people who demand you follow “basic economics” try to disguise political questions like “what is your immigration policy?” as axioms about market forces.
Those who want to micromanage the economy for the common good, or some other bullshit reason, tend to get everything backwards about basic economics. Their issue is not with Hayek's knowledge problem but with their own no-knowledge problem.
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A nine year old can understand ideology, that’s why any serious though about governance is flattened into your sloganeering.
I’m in the free men and free labor tradition, i think programs that legally encumber foreign labor are bad for the character of a republic, and the abuse of this program has been documented over and over again.
When you point to the abuse, the ideologues will always praise it as some hedonic advantage anyway.
"I will never understand the free market, and I will not try." The absence of perfect freedom doesn't mean that more freedom would be bad. There is no perfect free market. The sole argument is that H-1Bs are bad for US workers, which is ridiculous and false on so many levels.
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Michael Brendan Dougherty retweeted
Comparing an H1-B worker to the median American worker across every occupation in the U.S. labor market is not a relevant economic comparison. The relevant comparison is whether an H-1B worker is paid comparably to an American worker in the same occupation, in the same labor market, at a similar level of skill and experience. There is ample evidence that firms, such as those @michaelbd identify, exploit the visa program for labor price arbitrage, disadvantaging similarly situated American workers.
The lowest paid H1Bs are higher skilled and higher paid than the median US worker. Infosys and Tata increase the productivity of US workers. Why is that bad?
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Michael Brendan Dougherty retweeted
Better yet, end the H-1B program entirely. Replace it with a program that brings in immigrants of truly extraordinary ability (your Elon Musks, Andy Groves, etc.) and doesn’t tie the visa to a specific employer.
See the replies and quote posts to my simple post below. Wild how people freak out when they learn that price and wage controls like the $100K H-1B visa mandate are more like China than America. A better approach is to get Congress to change immigration law so H-1B visas are given out based on the market wage determined by employers and workers within the rule of law, not arbitrarily-determined by politicians. Didn’t think that would be so controversial. But the desire to keep labor shortages, slower prosperity, and more poverty in America and elsewhere is on full display. Is it because they care about the rule of law or because they care more about keeping people out than improving human flourishing for God’s greatest gift: humans?
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I’ve explained why it’s bad to legislate for extraordinary talent and innovation but then use the program to create a legally insulated and encumbered part of the work force to lower wages. The Republican party’s proudest tradition was a republican demand for free men and free labour.
You would think libertarians would believe that the price system works under the law, but they don’t believe it and prefer the state to find end runs around the market.
The lowest paid H1Bs are higher skilled and higher paid than the median US worker. Infosys and Tata increase the productivity of US workers. Why is that bad?
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I know what trick you’re trying to pull here. Average salaries currently don’t tell us everything. more that the industries H1-Bs are in belong to the top earning ones, we would expect that higher paying firms are the ones who will pay for labor price arbitrage.
I would support reforms to the system that made it what it was advertised to be, an actual program for bringing in the absolute best talent from around the world. Although we could also expand the O Visa system.
So you would support a simple wage floor at like $125k to price out that work and have the visas go to other, high wage work that is a big economic multiplier?
If not…would be good to hear why
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While it’s true that some remarkable people have used H1-B’s to transition from a student Visa to get a green card, in previous years one study showed a majority of hires went to Infosys and Tata Consultancy- outsourcing firms that aren’t in the business of innovation but of labor price arbitrage.
Every time someone looks under the hood they find companies gaming the system, blocking American IPs from accessing their job listings, spamming the lottery system.
No, it's also because the issue of hiring foreign workers is often more complex than merely laying off Americans to replace them with "cheap foreign labor." Scarce skills, recruiting from U.S. universities, access to a larger talent pool, firm-specific expertise, and other reasons play into it. It's far more complicated than Vance describes. Relying on the simplicity of "cheap foreign labor" is an emotional tug, not one that is bound by economics.
Naturally, scapegoating immigrants (and corporations) is a classic distraction, especially when your administration's garbage economic policies and ill-advised, poorly planned war have thrown the economy into chaos.
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Michael Brendan Dougherty retweeted
An H-1B visa is not a natural right of businesses. Congress established the visa program by statute. It authorizes employers to hire foreign workers, subject to conditions set by law and regulation that the administration enforces. A commitment to the “demands of the rule of law” extends beyond the H-1B visa program. Federal law prohibits employers from knowingly hiring unauthorized workers. A serious commitment to the rule of law therefore also requires serious worksite enforcement and meaningful sanctions for employers that violate the law.
With all due respect, Mr Vice-President @JDVance, businesses must be free to hire and fire as they need, subject to the demands of the rule of law. Absent that freedom, the dynamism and prosperity that creates jobs in the first place will soon disappear.
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Michael Brendan Dougherty retweeted
The H1-B program is a government intervention.
With all due respect, Mr Vice-President @JDVance, businesses must be free to hire and fire as they need, subject to the demands of the rule of law. Absent that freedom, the dynamism and prosperity that creates jobs in the first place will soon disappear.
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