But such opportunities are impossible within the current shape of globalization. Most migrants emigrate out of economic necessity, and the vast majority would prefer to have better opportunities at home, among their own family and friends. The comforting delusion that immigrants come here because they love America is incredibly naïve-as naïve as suggesting that the nineteenth-century Irish immigrants Marx described loved England. Marx’s argument that the English working class should see Irish nationhood as a potential compliment to their struggle, rather than as a threat to their identity, should resonate today, as we witness the rise of various identity movements around the world. U.S.-led foreign invasions have killed millions in the Middle East, created millions of refugees and migrants, and devastated fundamental infrastructure. Bush administration have been discredited, the temptation to engage in military crusades seems to live on. Finally, although the reckless foreign policies of the George W. It is equally necessary to take on a financial system that funnels capital away from the developing world and into inequality-heightening asset bubbles in rich countries. Anti-labor trade deals like nafta must also be opposed. This involves, to start with, structural changes to trade policies that prevent necessary, state-led development in emerging economies. The only real solution is to correct the imbalances in the global economy, and radically restructure a system of globalization that was designed to benefit the wealthy at the expense of the poor. Mass migration itself will not accomplish this: it creates a race to the bottom for workers in wealthy countries and a brain drain in poor ones. Reducing the tensions of mass migration thus requires improving the prospects of the world’s poor. 17 Ultimately, the motivation for mass migration will persist as long as the structural problems underlying it remain in place. Now that they have a prosperous and relatively egalitarian social democracy, built on public ownership of natural resources, they no longer want to. But Norwegians did once come to America in large numbers-when they were desperate and poor. Trump infamously complained about people coming from third-world “shithole countries” and suggested Norwegians as an example of ideal immigrants. Such incentives must be eliminated if any workers are to be treated fairly. These employers take advantage of immigrants who lack ordinary legal protections in order to perpetuate a race to the bottom in wages while also evading payroll taxes and the provision of other benefits. Employers, not immigrants, should be the primary focus of enforcement efforts. With respect to illegal immigration, the Left should support efforts to make E-Verify mandatory and push for stiff penalties on employers who fail to comply.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |