Thursday, December 16, 2010

Free Markets Not Turkey are Sending You Illiterate Immigrants

Hat tip to Rabbi Yitzchok Adlerstein.



Austrian MP Ewald Stadler goes on a rant against the Turkish ambassador, Ecvet Tezan. In general I find it useful to watch foreign politicians in action. It serves as a useful remainder for whenever someone says that our politics, here in the United States, are rough. For better or worse, our two party system guarantees that everyone behaves themselves and keeps to the moderate and boring center.

What caught my intention was Stadler blaming Turkey for sending Austria "all the illiterates of Anatolia" and "stone-age Islamists." (2:53) Anyone who is a libertarian understands that countries do not ship out their undesirables, unless at gun point; the market is responsible for that. People go wherever the best jobs they can get are available. This is a good thing as it allows for the maximal use of resources. If anything, Stadler should blame the State welfare programs for attracting "illiterates." (In all fairness, his BZO party seems pretty good in terms of economics.) Not that there is anything wrong with people who are illiterate beyond the fact that it is an inefficient use of a valuable and finite resource, the human brain. Once you assume that the State is supposed to fight poverty, how can you not open your borders to all human beings in need. As for stone-age Muslims wanting bury teenage girls alive, it is the responsibility of the State to make sure that everyone obeys the law and does not cause physical harm to anyone. Beyond that, let every person practice whatever stone-age belief they feel like.      

1 comment:

Clarissa said...

"People go wherever the best jobs they can get are available."

-Some people do. But many immigrants don't. I, for one, was very conscious of the fact that I will lose out enormously in terms of my financial status as a result of immigration. Most of the immigrants I know sacrificed their economic well-being to a certain extent when they emigrated.