Keith.
True Free Trade means the movement of goods AND people should be unrestricted.
Harry
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Keith wrote:
>The following is a precis of an article in today's Financial Times:
>
> >>>>
>LET THE HUDDLED MASSES GO FREE
>Samuel Brittan
>
>In order to convince those with an unthinking prejudice against
>globalisation, a dramatic gesture is needed which would demonstrate that
>the free movement of capital and labour is of benefit to the world's poor.
>
>There was more economic freedom a century ago than today, particularly as
>regards migration policy. Many countries allowed free movement of labour,
>both inwards and outwards. Today, migration is tightly controlled and has
>become a focus of illegality and criminal violence.
>
>Political asylum seekers in the UK are provided with money vouchers at
>levels below normal social benefits and are not permitted to work for six
>months. The distinction between them and economic migrants, at present
>illegal, should be done away with. All should be allowed to seek their
>fortune in any country of choice.
>
>Like other forms of economic liberalisation, this would increase the world
>national income and particularly benefit people in the poorer countries.
>The best results could be obtained if all developed countries adopted this
>policy, countries could do this unilaterally.
>
>The leading candidate in Europe for such a policy in Ireland (two
>inhabitants per sq. km.) which needs the safety vlave of immigrant labour
>for a potentially overheated economy. Even the UK (242 inhabitants per sq.
>km) has a lower density than Holland (385) or Belgium (335), countries with
>a high quality of life. A common European Union policy for liberalising
>immigration is unlikely, given the extreme hostility which exists in
>countries such as Germany and Italy.
>
>Some economists might argue that the wages of indigenous workers might be
>depressed by competition from immigrants. However, a recent research study
>("Migration: An Economic and Social Analysis"; the Home Office) shows that
>native wages have not been depressed in the UK in the past few years.
>
>Immigrants in the UK have tended to perform three types of jobs:
>
>(a) public service, especially health, where government determined pay is
>already well below market levels (in London 23% of doctors and 47% of
>nurses are foreign-born);
>
>(b) insecure, low-paid jobs (as in catering or cleaning) which natives are
>unwilling to take and which otherwise be unfilled;
>
>(c) highly-skilled IT workers. These have enabled the IT sector to grow
>faster than it would otjherwise rather than depress wages.
>
>The Home Office study confirms the belief that migrants are more polarised
>than the rest of the population with higher concentrations of the rich and
>the poor, and also of the highly skilled and the very low-skilled. People
>in between tend not to migrate. Also, migrants have higher levels of
>entrepreneurship than the norm.
>
>Generally, earning of immigrants, age for age, start lower than the natives
>but then rise above them as skills are acquired. Contrary to the popular
>view that immigrants are a burden on the public purse, they contribute 10%
>more to government revenues than they receive in benefits.
>
>About 400,000 people a year arrive legally in the UK with the intention of
>staying a year or more, but some estimates suggest that another 200,000
>arrive illegally. The net effect of the present strict official restriction
>of immigration leads to nighmarish conditions for illegal immigrants who
>then depend on criminal gangs for transport and, aftert arrival, to slavery
>and child labour.
>
>Some opponents of free migration are afraid that it would lead to massive
>floods of people entering the country. For example, 25% of Slovak citizens
>*say* they would like to migrate to England. But would they in practice?
>The evidence so far is that only a minority of a poor country's population
>actually make the leap of migrating. We need a period of laissez faire for
>five years to test and review the matter.
> >>>>
>___________________________________________________________________
>
>Keith Hudson, General Editor, Calus <http://www.calus.org>
>6 Upper Camden Place, Bath BA1 5HX, England
>Tel: +44 1225 312622; Fax: +44 1225 447727;
>mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>________________________________________________________________________
******************************
Harry Pollard
Henry George School of LA
Box 655
Tujunga CA 91042
Tel: (818) 352-4141
Fax: (818) 353-2242
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