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On Wed, 17 Oct 2001, Ralph Lewis wrote:
> One issue I have not seen mentioned on the list is that immigration to the
> US and other developed countries is a problem because it results in a brain
> drain and middle class drain from many countries leaving the least stable
> individuals in control or worse removing individuals that have a vested
> interest in the stability of their country and resulting in no stability.
Ah, but if borders were completely opened, economies, standards of
living, and populations would equilibrate to the point where
population would offset resources, economic opportunities, and other
factors. Immigration into this country would be offset by emmigration
from it. The bad news is that in the short term, those in the West
would have to adjust to a lower standard of living. On the other hand,
the greater efficiency may result in faster growth that would offset
this. On the other other hand, maybe it is necessary to have elites
and concentrations of resources in some areas, to maintain
technological advancement instead of pouring all efforts into
supplying the worlds billions of bare essentials of life (nevermind
cryonics competing with space or nanotech as a research priority--
we'd see basic research altogether losing out to health delivery and
agriculture). Undecided about this one. Many unknowns.
- --
* I believe that the majority of the world's Muslims are good, *
* honorable people. If you are a Muslim and want to reassure me and *
* others that you are part of this good, honorable majority, all *
* you need to say are nine simple words: "I OPPOSE the Wahhabi cult *
* and its Jihad." *
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