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Foreign nonimmigrant workers should be as eligible for social assistance as anyone else. H1B workers pay almost exactly the same federal, state, and local taxes

by shas3 12y ago

Foreign nonimmigrant workers should be as eligible for social assistance as anyone else. H1B workers pay almost exactly the same federal, state, and local taxes as citizens and permanent residents. In general, restrictive visa rules are a form of protectionism, where the government arbitrarily assigns financial benefits and unequal opportunities in favor of citizens. [edit: wrong usage of 'immigrants', changed to 'nonimmigrant']

refurb 12y ago
Non-immigrant workers do pay the same taxes as citizens, however, they don't pay them over the same time period. If a citizen starts working at 18, gets laid off at 32 and doesn't find another job until 34, that's much cheaper than a non-immigrant who comes to the US at 32 and ending up on unemployment at 34 for 2 years before going back home.
prodigal_erik 12y ago
Over a billion people out there live on less than 2 USD/day. Protectionism is the only force sparing us from an existence like that. Dividing the world's resources fairly would result in universal grinding poverty rather than luxuries like the Internet.
- logfromblammo 12y ago
  That's 2 non sequiturs in three sentences. The reason why people live in grinding poverty is because they are, for a stunningly wide variety of reasons, unable to accumulate capital and bring their own resources to market. If you divide resources fairly today, they will be back to poverty tomorrow, because the very same people will take the distributed resources away from them that currently take their savings opportunities. Besides that, the flip side of your argument is that protectionism is the only force keeping poor people from becoming rich. Economics is not a zero-sum game. It is far more complex than you portray.
  - prodigal_erik 12y ago
    Scarcity itself is the force keeping all the poor from becoming rich. The resources to do that simply don't exist on Earth no matter how we might spread them around. Technology is a multiplier but it doesn't run on nothing. Hell, they can only eat until the oil to make fertilizer is gone.

by shas3 12y ago

refurb 12y ago

Non-immigrant workers do pay the same taxes as citizens, however, they don't pay them over the same time period. If a citizen starts working at 18, gets laid off at 32 and doesn't find another job until 34, that's much cheaper than a non-immigrant who comes to the US at 32 and ending up on unemployment at 34 for 2 years before going back home.

prodigal_erik 12y ago

Over a billion people out there live on less than 2 USD/day. Protectionism is the only force sparing us from an existence like that. Dividing the world's resources fairly would result in universal grinding poverty rather than luxuries like the Internet.

logfromblammo 12y ago
That's 2 non sequiturs in three sentences. The reason why people live in grinding poverty is because they are, for a stunningly wide variety of reasons, unable to accumulate capital and bring their own resources to market. If you divide resources fairly today, they will be back to poverty tomorrow, because the very same people will take the distributed resources away from them that currently take their savings opportunities. Besides that, the flip side of your argument is that protectionism is the only force keeping poor people from becoming rich. Economics is not a zero-sum game. It is far more complex than you portray.
- prodigal_erik 12y ago
  Scarcity itself is the force keeping all the poor from becoming rich. The resources to do that simply don't exist on Earth no matter how we might spread them around. Technology is a multiplier but it doesn't run on nothing. Hell, they can only eat until the oil to make fertilizer is gone.