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Why doesn't the US move to a points-based system like the UK and Canada? This seems like a simple and sensible solution to a complex problem that ensures that t
by microarchitect 15y ago
Why doesn't the US move to a points-based system like the UK and Canada? This seems like a simple and sensible solution to a complex problem that ensures that the people who immigrate are in some sense "useful" to the country.
I also don't understand why the green card backlog isn't being handled efficiently. Surely, if somebody is paying, say more than 20k in income taxes every year for, say 5 years in a row, there is reason to believe their contribution to the country is a net positive. Why not just give them citizenship and be done with it?
As an outsider, I feel like the US is the opposite of an "agile" government. It seems like there is a lot bickering and fear-mongering at every level and important decisions are being made based on populism and emotional appeals rather than rational decision making. I'm not sure if this is really the case because my news sources are the likes of Reddit and the so-called "liberal media", but unfortunately this is perception I get.
- HistoryInAction 15y ago"As an outsider, I feel like the US is the opposite of an "agile" government." For about every aspect of the US federal government, you're right: http://www.zdnet.com/blog/hardware/us-government-blows-200000-on-useless-smartphone-app/16533 http://www.zdnet.com/blog/hardware/us-government-blows-20000... It's /really/ hard to manage the world's largest GDP effectively. Governmental gridlock tends towards the status quo and institutional inertia is huge. This is Vernon Vinge's 'to scale, you need complexity, but complexity inevitably leads to collapse' theories in action.
- microarchitect 15y agoIt's /really/ hard to manage the world's largest GDP effectively. If any country can do it, it's the US. The universities attract the smartest students from all over the world, and have the best faculty in the world by a large margin. The government simply needs to figure out how to harness all the brainpower to solve real-world problems.
- untog 15y agoBut you're assuming that all the smartest students in the world go to work for the government. They never do- salaries would have to go up a ton before that happens. And tax payers would never allow that.
- scarface548 15y agoIt is not about the inability to find a solution, there are hundreds of things that can be done to improve the process ( including major overhauls like the one you suggested) . But the whole topic is such a quagmire that no government want to touch the subject with ten foot pole. The backlog is there not because the handling is inefficient its due to the country wide quota from the archaic system
- tokenadult 15y agoI feel like the US is the opposite of an "agile" government. Yes. That is intentional by the design of the federal Constitution. A friend of mine, an engineer, was discussing American politics with me and another friend, a mathematics teacher, one day. The mathematics teacher decried the inefficiency of United States government. The engineer replied, "I'm an engineer. The one thing I'm afraid of is EFFICIENT government." Many Americans are strongly in agreement with Henry David Thoreau that "That government is best which governs least." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civil_Disobedience_(Thoreau)#.22That_government_is_best_which_governs_least.22 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civil_Disobedience_(Thoreau)#.2...
- microarchitect 15y agoSo what's the reason Americans feel this way? Is there any fundamental reason why efficient governments are bad? What does it mean to say that a government "governs the least"? Does it make the fewest number of laws? Does employ the fewest number of people? Does it spend the least money? All of the above? Some of the above? Why are these good?
- jellicle 15y agoAmericans don't feel that way.