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Immigration

6.22.2005

News over at RTE reports a survey suggesting that economic migrants are actualy a plus not a minus to the economy. this is nice to hear and offers a further larger basis to calls for asylum applicants and others stuck in the system to be allowed temporary green cards. It also backs up what i was suggesting about the employment figures earlier this month, i.e. that there is a growing discrepency in job creation between high and low pay jobs with little or no middle goround. We have imported the american McJob culture and the irish are not very ahppy about working these jobs, so we need economic migrants. that fact has been plain for a while.
The other issue regarding immigation is that nowhere have i seen a government official stand up and say to us (or the minority of boneheads) that current levels of immigration are good for hte economy and necessary if this country is to remain moving. Personally, i think that most of this competitiveness stuff is nonsense and using immigrants to fill cleaning positions is a condemnation of the hubris and inequality so pervasive in freemarketism.
However there is no solid argumetn left for the neo-loony racists bith right and left who are calling for caps and other draconian actions to be taken to curb immigration.
The only cure for immigration is making the home state a welcome and profitable place to remain. the only way to do that is encourage selective protectionism and in some cases hand over resource rights. No that is more unlikely still than cutting immigration.
RR

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