Shocked and Persuaded

This is something I wrote in response to an article by Dr. Jagdish Bhagwati and Arvind Panagariya at Project Syndicate. I love this site and really the thinkers and practitioners run the ideological gradient. But Dr. Bhagwati (like myself!) has been afforded all the opportunities that come from Warren Buffett’s ovarian lottery. His point about H1(b) and L-1 visas is a valid one but I was left to wonder where he was a couple months back when my favorite governor ever from the great state of Arizona Jan Brewer was putting paper to pen in support of her state’s draconian anti-immigration (i.e. Mexican) SB1070. I’ll tell you where the great doctor from Columbia University was he was talking about how hollowing out the middle class and this country’s production sector was a necessary evil of laissez-fair capitalism. I would think that protectionism is the greatest form of terrorism but if you ask the good doctor he will tell you it is analogous to free-market terrorism destined to plunge the global economy into the abyss. One can only hope this were true at least then maybe the great free-market conflagration would allow for the reset button to be pressed creating a kinder gentler global market. Bite your tongue says Dr. Bhagwati!

Anyway here is the response:

Seriously does Dr. Bhagwati ever think about the little guy about the outsourcing about the increases in M&A that require massive redundancies about the huge increase in Capital to Labor ratios here in this country since most can remember? Does he care about the hollowing out of the goods industry in favor of the low wage minimal employment need services industry? I understand his adherence to complete liberalization (I don’t agree!) AND I agree that the visa issue is a canard tied to the increased anti-immigration bug this country unfortunately cought following SP1070 in AZ and the mosque in NYC. Immigrants regardless of skills should be allowed in and if we actually stopped shipping ever job overseas there woudl be plenty to go around for whites, blacks, indians, asians, etc. BUT as it stands there aren’t thanks to Efficient Marketeers like Dr. Bhagwati. Try doing something altruistic sometime Mr. Bhagwati and cleansing yourself of this told lack of empathy or sympathy you have for blue collar workers and those not afforded the ovarian lottery like yourself (or frankly myself!).