Immigration and a Big Idiot
On Tuesday Lou Dobbs had a special on immigration and aired parts of interviews with Ben Powell (formerly of SJSU and my boss at the Independent Institute) and Alex Tabarrok. They were chosen specifically for having signed this open letter calling for an open borders policy. After giving both economists a lengthy 3.2 seconds apiece to state their case, Dobbs spends 3 minutes engaging in that time honored rhetorical tactic that earns him the big bucks from CNN: name calling. Because nothing says “argumentative superiority” like responding to a clip (that you edited and selected) with accusations that your opponent is an idiot and a jackass. Well played, sir.
3rd grade playground strategies aside, the “consequences” that Dobbs refers to actually support Powell and Tabarrok’s position. Every time an American purchases an immigrant’s services, be they anything from lawn care to back surgery, it is because that individual feels he will be better off than if he employed the services of an American for the same task, or refrained from having that job done at all. Otherwise he wouldn’t engage in the exchange. The same logic goes for every situation where an American takes an immigrant’s money in return for goods or services. If Americans did not benefit from immigrants we wouldn’t engage in commerce with them and they wouldn’t have any incentive to come here in the first place. It is precisely because Americans benefit from immigrants that immigration is an issue. If Mr. Dobbs spent a little more time listening to the “reasonably well educated” professors and less time formulating how to best call them stinkyface poopheads he might know this.
on August 20th, 2007 at 4:40 pm
Holy crap, that is pathetic.