On Mon, 5 Oct 2004, Tim Churches wrote: > On Tue, 2004-10-05 at 08:01, Calle Hedberg wrote: ... > > Add to that the fact that UK, Canada, Australia and other countries > > systematically poach doctors and nurses from SA (we have over 30,000 > > vacant nurse positions now) - the impact on workload should be > > obvious. > > Yes, and it is a totally unconscionable trade in human resources.
Calle and Tim, Why is it "unconscionable" to freely trade human resources? Have you interviewed individuals who chose to migrate? I have. ----- begin quote The German free-market economist Wilhehm Roepke once suggested that "modern nationalism and collectivism have, by the restriction of migration, perhaps come nearest to the servile state ..... Man can hardly be reduced more to a mere wheel in the clockwork of the national collectivist state than being deprived of his freedom to move.... " ----- end quote from "In Defense of Free Migration", Richard Ebeling, The Future of Freedom Foundation http://www.fff.org/freedom/0691b.asp > It's okay for rich countries to fight amongst themselves for trained > health staff, I see. There are different kinds human beings: those born to "rich" countries and those born to "poor" countries? And it is _harmful_ to offer the same opportunities to individuals from "poor" countries? As we all know, major motivation for free software is to increase freedom and lower costs. If vendor lock-in impedes progress and adds to information costs, country-of-birth lock-in carries even higher human and economic costs. Best regards, Andrew --- Andrew P. Ho, M.D. OIO: Open Infrastructure for Outcomes www.TxOutcome.Org
