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Much of what we are seeing is the effect of our insane visa and immigration policies. The traditional entrepreneurial spirit of the United States was driven by

Much of what we are seeing is the effect of our insane visa and immigration policies. The traditional entrepreneurial spirit of the United States was driven by the culture of immigrants. Over 40% of the companies on the Fortune 500 were founded by immigrants or the children of immigrants. These were once disruptive startups. Now we make it very difficult for talented and intelligent people to become permanent residents. So instead they stay home, or maybe go to Canada or Australia.

_delirium 12y ago
Has the number of people becoming U.S. permanent residents or naturalized citizens actually declined, relative to the times those Fortune 500 companies were founded? As far as I can tell, it hasn't: somewhere around 1 million new permanent residencies are granted per year in the 2010s, versus ~250,000 in 1960, which is actually about twice as many relative to population (~0.3% of population annually now, up from ~0.15% in 1960). Sure, there are many more people wanting to become PRs than are granted, but immigration has been gradually expanding since the low of the 1930s/40s, not contracting. It's true that immigration was freer prior to the 1930s, but today is better than any other time post-WW2, in terms of the % of the population that is foreign-born, the # of naturalized citizens, the # of permanent residencies granted, etc.
- yvsong 12y ago
  Most green cards today are family-based instead of employment or skill based. Family is a golden word in America, according to the Godfather: "But don't ever take sides with anyone against the Family again." In addition, there are many diversity (lottery), refugee, and asylum green cards. It's funny while America is hated, and some other countries are touted to have better systems and will soon take over America's leadership, tons of people are voting for America with their feet, and crying for green cards.
bluedino 12y ago
We have 7-20 million illegal immigrants in the USA out of 313 million total residents. How difficult can it really be to stay?
- sdenton4 12y ago
  Illegal immigration is completely orthogonal to the topic. To run a startup, you need to be able to operate your business legally, which means the founder and employees need to be legal.
- EliRivers 12y ago
  If it was easy, they wouldn't be illegal.
- anigbrowl 12y ago
  It's not that hard to stay, but it's very hard to get access to capital, credit and legal resources. The necessity to get paid off the books imposes a ceiling on earning ability.
yummyfajitas 12y ago
A quick google search suggests this explanation doesn't work. http://web.mit.edu/cis/images/fpi/immigration/fig1.jpg http://web.mit.edu/cis/images/fpi/immigration/fig1.jpg http://web.mit.edu/cis/images/fpi/immigration/fig3.jpg http://web.mit.edu/cis/images/fpi/immigration/fig3.jpg If correlations prove anything (note: I don't think they prove much), it is that immigrants inhibit startup formation.
- blutoot 12y ago
  sweet... this should be dangled in front of those who keep criticizing whites-only startups.

_delirium 12y ago

Has the number of people becoming U.S. permanent residents or naturalized citizens actually declined, relative to the times those Fortune 500 companies were founded? As far as I can tell, it hasn't: somewhere around 1 million new permanent residencies are granted per year in the 2010s, versus ~250,000 in 1960, which is actually about twice as many relative to population (~0.3% of population annually now, up from ~0.15% in 1960). Sure, there are many more people wanting to become PRs than are granted, but immigration has been gradually expanding since the low of the 1930s/40s, not contracting. It's true that immigration was freer prior to the 1930s, but today is better than any other time post-WW2, in terms of the % of the population that is foreign-born, the # of naturalized citizens, the # of permanent residencies granted, etc.

yvsong 12y ago
Most green cards today are family-based instead of employment or skill based. Family is a golden word in America, according to the Godfather: "But don't ever take sides with anyone against the Family again." In addition, there are many diversity (lottery), refugee, and asylum green cards. It's funny while America is hated, and some other countries are touted to have better systems and will soon take over America's leadership, tons of people are voting for America with their feet, and crying for green cards.

bluedino 12y ago

We have 7-20 million illegal immigrants in the USA out of 313 million total residents. How difficult can it really be to stay?

sdenton4 12y ago
Illegal immigration is completely orthogonal to the topic. To run a startup, you need to be able to operate your business legally, which means the founder and employees need to be legal.
EliRivers 12y ago
If it was easy, they wouldn't be illegal.
anigbrowl 12y ago
It's not that hard to stay, but it's very hard to get access to capital, credit and legal resources. The necessity to get paid off the books imposes a ceiling on earning ability.

yummyfajitas 12y ago

A quick google search suggests this explanation doesn't work. http://web.mit.edu/cis/images/fpi/immigration/fig1.jpg http://web.mit.edu/cis/images/fpi/immigration/fig1.jpg http://web.mit.edu/cis/images/fpi/immigration/fig3.jpg http://web.mit.edu/cis/images/fpi/immigration/fig3.jpg If correlations prove anything (note: I don't think they prove much), it is that immigrants inhibit startup formation.

blutoot 12y ago
sweet... this should be dangled in front of those who keep criticizing whites-only startups.