But using your logic, to export slaves was a natural resource, right? It is not a non-starter.

Perhaps you need to do research on these people who end up coming to work from India and the interesting conditions from whence they came and how they are intimadated once they get over here by the companies they work for, and end up almost as slaves. Again, like the rest of the story, you know very little about it.

Also, I don't remember seeing any pursuit of happiness in any India constitution, but I do see a caste system which makes some of our discrimination look very mild indeed.

No, terrorism comes when big countries like the USA push their weight on smaller countries. Of course, there is the Ugly American, right? That might also have been before your time as well.
We are hated in that part of the globe for our constant inteference in their lifestyles.



No, you might just want them to share your pain. Of course, the people at Siemens were not offered that kind of retraining to them, nor did JPMorgan offer that to Tilmer Wright (whose letter appears at the site), or to the man who worked at Bank of American who committed suicide.
That is only a few. Many companies don't give a damn about their employees and take advantage of this. Of course, let us continue this, it is going to provide benefits for a number of Americans. So did slavery in the south.

Then why devalue my comments is such a manner?



As I have stated earlier, a human being born in India is not even given an equal opportunity in India because of the caste system. They might want to give equality to their own citizens first.
As for putting my country first and those who are citizens in it first, it is one of the few opinions I share with many people in the nation of France and Japan.



That is your conviction. As long as your conviction does not impose on others who choose not to follow what you do or believe, there is no conflict



I don't speak with authority either, just with my voice and keyboard. Nor do I impose my mores upon others, and I expect the same from others.

The oughtness you say has been codified, are you referring to the ten commandments? Or the law handed down by Moses?

As for CS Lewis, well I read some of his works, but I do like his friend Tolkein a bit more.

I reject social contracts as they are subject to changes at the whim of a society and are passing fads that one has to deal with through life.

I have no problem with that going forward.




You must remember that the moral obligation you feel is yours alone, and as long as it remains within those confines, there is no problem.

My policy is proactive, and it is not to have special visas for these people, the reason for these visas (so we were told) was that there was a demand for IT workers(which was a lie)and that is why they required the increase of these visas. It was based on deception and that is why I am so adamant against it.

You see the IT workers as losers in the global economy, I see them as victims of deception practiced by both corporate America with aid from the government which interfered in this market.

I do not favor any redistribution. I have always felt that everyone should pay their share, although I have no problem with a ceiling of where one may not have to pay any taxes at all. I do not favor higher percentage of taxes on those who make more money.

I consider the H1B visa and L1 visa government interventions, why don't you? Oh I forget, that aids and abets the market model, so that is okay....and that I disagree with you, because it creates an unnecessary problem.

The interesting thing is our trade deficit with China which rose 28 percent and our overall trade deficit grew 23 (in the last 12 months)percent with 515 billion, a brand new record. The trend does not look good for us.




Well, I came from a lower middle class income family (who never went to college) and I never had any loans nor took any grants from the government. My tuition along with my books was paid for by me. I worked a full time job, two part time jobs and graduated in the upper third of my class. Oh, did I mention I took about ten credits per semester or thereabouts?
I don't consider myself no better than anyone, but realize I had to make sacrifices if I wanted an education.
If I can do it, why can't others? Or am I unique?



Well, I got off the phone with someone who says we have 50 million Americans without health insurance, so if that is true (I doubt the numbers), it is not much of a safety net.
The best way to cast the net is for the creation of jobs, and to keep them, so that people would not have to rely on these services which cost a great deal to administer so that the tax money is poorly applied to the need.



Again, I find it unfair to make the people who are earning more to be stuck with higher percentage of their income to be taken by a government which wastes their money.
What you are looking for is a model similar to the equilibrium price, one that ensures the most revenues derived by the optimal level of percentage of tax rate. Please correct me if I misunderstood your intent.



When you say that, I see unnecessary pain and suffering for the people who are negatively affected by these forces, which is why I favor proactive, rather than wait and let it happen.
I find it wrong to put people through that.



It proves my point that how ineffective government is to redistribute wealth, and that is the beginning.

I'll get to this comment immediately because you are way off base here.

Try re-reading my post on the topic, I'll quote it here:



I don't know Sam, do they? This is the first comment you made about "government officials". before you merely said "Of course, not everyone has to pay into FICA in the USA."

So you ignore my specificity on the Social Security portion of FICA, and then claim you were more specific than you were. Nice double standard Sam.

Since I don't dispute that point, why would I find it worthhy of comment at all? Tell me Sam, is there some larger point you wish to make? or was that comment some fishing expedition, so I can do some research for you?

Shall I go through and point out all the points I've made that you've ignored?

Like I said Sam, prove that the numbers I provided are 1) not correct, 2) do not take into account your layoffs and 3) do not take into account jobs lost in the last three months.

Last time you had anectodal evidence on the labor market, it was that "millions" were out of work because of the H1-B and L-1 visa programs, which was of course impossible given that there aren't that many visa holders in the US. So forgive me if I have doubt in your powers of observation and extrapolation in your many travels.

Let me see if I follow you here. The position above opposes mobility of labor. Thus you oppose (as you clearly have) foreign workers coming to this country. But as long as the labor stays put and provided there are no extra "advantages", you have no problem philosophically with the jobs going abroad right. Joe Programmer loses his job because Vijay Programmer comes to the US to take it = BAD. Joe Programmer loses his job because his firm moves to India to hire Vijay Progammer = OKAY. That position just doesn't make a lot of sense to me.

What I'd really like to get to the bottom of, is why you think its okay for non human natural resources to cross borders and for nations to take advantage of them, and its okay for goods that contain added value from foreign labor to cross borders but you have a problem when there is a free (not slavery) flow of human resources. What makes labor different?



No I don't favor those things. But
1. As a United States citizen, the my only voice in the policy making process is through my own government
2. Thus I would push our government to enter into trade agreements, and push generally for a lowering of trade barriers.
3. I recognize that we are between between 50-100 years ahead of most of the rest of the world in terms of economic development. Combine that with our great stock of accumulated wealth, natural resources, and educated population, and we have an big head start when it comes to trade.




Like I said, a non starter, but you deal with it in more detail later, so I'll pick it up there.