From: Randy S (cryofan@mylinuxisp.com)
Date: Thu Jun 19 2003 - 15:42:11 MDT
Hal Finney <hal@finney.org> said:
> Randy S. writes:
>
> > And this provides a semi-seque to my ideas about where opportunity may
lie
> > for Westerners if the outsourcing and race to the bottom dynamics
continue:
> > immigration reciprocity may provide a place for small time American
business
> > people to immigration at least temporarily overseas to 3rd world
countries
> > where their savings would afford them much more ability to operate a
business.
>
> The problem for small business in many third world countries is not lack
> of capital - otherwise they would do no better when they come to the
> United States. The problem is regulation. Most third world countries
> struggle with a bewildering maze of regulatory restrictions, applied at
> multiple levels. Hernando de Soto shows in one of his books the enormous
> number of steps necessary to start a business - it was something like
> 500 different contacts and approvals that had to be made. You had to
> talk to the locality, the city, the state, the national government,
> and a variety of special boards and commissions within each grouping.
> Add to this the widespread corruption and demands for bribes and it
> creates an enormous burden for the would-be small businessman.
>
> As a result, many or most small businesses are "informal", i.e. illegal,
> and are constantly in danger of being shut down. They can't get
> too successful or grow too big, or they will draw the attention of
> the authorities. You end up with a bunch of famly-run shops and services
> which can barely make ends meet.
Yes, I am aware of the problem. In Mexico, many or most businesses are
illegal. But no one seems to care, unless you are a foreigner. Yes, in some
parts of Latin America, and some parts of Asia, and in all of Africa, the
govts are into full blown, brazen, leech mode. Those govts and the govt
workers see the citizens as their chattel. And the bureaucracies are so
Byzantine and entrenched that no amount of immigration reciprocity
negotiations on the part of the Western powers (particularly America) could
begin to reform them.
Here is an example of the chaos in Nigeria :
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?
tmpl=story&cid=817&e=20&u=/ap/nigeria_traffic_madness
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