4 ms·

Love to see Rand Paul's ideas on economic free zone applied to Detroit.

dragontamer 12y ago
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2013/dec/6/rand-paul-pushes-economic-freedom-zones-detroit/ http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2013/dec/6/rand-paul-pus... I'm generally in support of economic zones, but a proper amount of planning needs to be done. Large companies shouldn't partake in the free zone for example, small companies should be favored, as well as companies that source their supplies from within the city.
rmason 12y ago
Michigan Governor Rick Snyder has proposed that the Feds allow 50,000 additional visas for highly skilled immigrants if they're willing to live in Detroit for five years. Priority would be given to graduates of Michigan universities. Despite widespread support from both parties in the state the Obama administration has yet to rule on the request. http://www.crainsdetroit.com/article/20140123/NEWS/140129933/snyder-seeks-50000-work-visas-to-lure-immigrants-to-detroit http://www.crainsdetroit.com/article/20140123/NEWS/140129933...
- vinay427 12y ago
  As supportive as I am of this plan, how would the Obama administration (or the feds in general) benefit from this? It seems to favor Detroit by requiring that immigrants live in the city for five years while affecting the immigration policy of the nation. More cynically, Michigan isn't exactly a swing state for presidential elections, so I don't really see the angle here?
  - cauterized 12y ago
    Given much of the country's antipathy towards immigrants, you'd probably get a lot of people saying it disfavors Detroit. Might be a good experiment to prove them wrong...
- a8da6b0c91d 12y ago
  This would require a constitutional amendment. We have free movement in America. It's not the Soviet Union.
  - vinay427 12y ago
    I'm assuming a conditional visa that transitions to permanent residency (green card) if one lives in Detroit for five years is legal, though. Many visas are restricted to employers, for example, and Canada has a similar system through the provincial nominee program.
    - derefr 12y ago
      Hmm. Now that you mention it, it would probably be much simpler, legally, to make something like a visa specifically granted to companies based in Detroit, to bring their workers to the US. The workers wouldn't be legally obligated to stay in Detroit... but the companies are probably going to want them to.
  - dragonwriter 12y ago
    > This would require a constitutional amendment. No, it probably wouldn't. > We have free movement in America. On a constitutional level, that's not necessarily true of immigrants. The states generally can't impose such limits on immigrants because regulating immigration is Constitutionally a reserved federal power, so it would be a Supremacy Clause issue. The feds, however, almost certainly can impose place-of-residency restrictions on immigrants without a Constitutional amendment.
    - a8da6b0c91d 12y ago
      That's not how it would work. The feds clearly won't even impose "are you here legally in the first place" restrictions. Bush and Obama have made that perfectly clear. Anyway, the whole idea stinks of shit like the propaganda line "jobs americans won't do." You really think Americans are some sort of idiots that couldn't make use of the land and infrastructure in Detroit given proper reforms? Apparently we're too dumb and need some foreigners to lead the way.
- bruceb 12y ago
  How would you make sure 50k stay in Detroit for more than a day? What would be the enforcement mechanisms?
brc 12y ago
I hadn't seen that, but I've been saying for years that if you went Detroit to come back, draw a border around it and make it a free trade, low tax special economic zone that was free from state and federal regulations and only having the US constitution applied. Within a decade people would be lining up at the borders wanting to get in. And it would be a brilliant experiment on how the current crony capitalism heavily regulated economy is the problem, and the solution can only be large scale reversal of all that.
- vinay427 12y ago
  Except that it wouldn't be an example of how a heavily regulated economy is the problem, because people who lived in the hypothetical future Detroit would likely be able to enjoy the unified benefits (social services, infrastructure, etc.) that come with better regulation. It's roughly equivalent to the "best of both worlds" benefit of tax havens in contrast to Western countries that tax fairly heavily. If you really wanted an example, draw a closed border around it and see what happens. I can't predict that, but it would be interesting to see.

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2013/dec/6/rand-paul-pushes-economic-freedom-zones-detroit/ http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2013/dec/6/rand-paul-pus... I'm generally in support of economic zones, but a proper amount of planning needs to be done. Large companies shouldn't partake in the free zone for example, small companies should be favored, as well as companies that source their supplies from within the city.

rmason 12y ago

Michigan Governor Rick Snyder has proposed that the Feds allow 50,000 additional visas for highly skilled immigrants if they're willing to live in Detroit for five years. Priority would be given to graduates of Michigan universities. Despite widespread support from both parties in the state the Obama administration has yet to rule on the request. http://www.crainsdetroit.com/article/20140123/NEWS/140129933/snyder-seeks-50000-work-visas-to-lure-immigrants-to-detroit http://www.crainsdetroit.com/article/20140123/NEWS/140129933...

vinay427 12y ago
As supportive as I am of this plan, how would the Obama administration (or the feds in general) benefit from this? It seems to favor Detroit by requiring that immigrants live in the city for five years while affecting the immigration policy of the nation. More cynically, Michigan isn't exactly a swing state for presidential elections, so I don't really see the angle here?
- cauterized 12y ago
  Given much of the country's antipathy towards immigrants, you'd probably get a lot of people saying it disfavors Detroit. Might be a good experiment to prove them wrong...
a8da6b0c91d 12y ago
This would require a constitutional amendment. We have free movement in America. It's not the Soviet Union.
- vinay427 12y ago
  I'm assuming a conditional visa that transitions to permanent residency (green card) if one lives in Detroit for five years is legal, though. Many visas are restricted to employers, for example, and Canada has a similar system through the provincial nominee program.
  - derefr 12y ago
    Hmm. Now that you mention it, it would probably be much simpler, legally, to make something like a visa specifically granted to companies based in Detroit, to bring their workers to the US. The workers wouldn't be legally obligated to stay in Detroit... but the companies are probably going to want them to.
- dragonwriter 12y ago
  > This would require a constitutional amendment. No, it probably wouldn't. > We have free movement in America. On a constitutional level, that's not necessarily true of immigrants. The states generally can't impose such limits on immigrants because regulating immigration is Constitutionally a reserved federal power, so it would be a Supremacy Clause issue. The feds, however, almost certainly can impose place-of-residency restrictions on immigrants without a Constitutional amendment.
  - a8da6b0c91d 12y ago
    That's not how it would work. The feds clearly won't even impose "are you here legally in the first place" restrictions. Bush and Obama have made that perfectly clear. Anyway, the whole idea stinks of shit like the propaganda line "jobs americans won't do." You really think Americans are some sort of idiots that couldn't make use of the land and infrastructure in Detroit given proper reforms? Apparently we're too dumb and need some foreigners to lead the way.
bruceb 12y ago
How would you make sure 50k stay in Detroit for more than a day? What would be the enforcement mechanisms?

brc 12y ago

I hadn't seen that, but I've been saying for years that if you went Detroit to come back, draw a border around it and make it a free trade, low tax special economic zone that was free from state and federal regulations and only having the US constitution applied. Within a decade people would be lining up at the borders wanting to get in. And it would be a brilliant experiment on how the current crony capitalism heavily regulated economy is the problem, and the solution can only be large scale reversal of all that.

vinay427 12y ago
Except that it wouldn't be an example of how a heavily regulated economy is the problem, because people who lived in the hypothetical future Detroit would likely be able to enjoy the unified benefits (social services, infrastructure, etc.) that come with better regulation. It's roughly equivalent to the "best of both worlds" benefit of tax havens in contrast to Western countries that tax fairly heavily. If you really wanted an example, draw a closed border around it and see what happens. I can't predict that, but it would be interesting to see.