Posted on 02/12/2018 10:11:15 AM PST by SeekAndFind
Perhaps the most persistent delusion about economics is the lump of labor fallacy, the notion that the amount of work available in an economy is fixed and the more people you have, the more unemployment you have – instead of recognizing that the amount of work is not static, and people create more of it. One of the most vivid arguments against the lump of labor fallacy unfolded almost 50 years ago, when Uganda dictator Idi Amin expelled some 60,000 South Asians to ensure that “the average Ugandan enjoys the wealth of his country.”
Such massive dislocation of a people who had been productive residents of Uganda for decades is rightly seen as an obscene act. But to paraphrase Talleyrand, it was worse than a crime. It was a mistake. Instead of creating opportunities for Ugandans as Amin intended, the mass expulsion simply punched holes in the country’s economy – holes that have never entirely been closed. It is one of the most important reasons that Uganda became one of the poorest countries in Africa – while countries like Canada that accepted an outsized number of South Asians from Uganda have prospered.
Deep prejudice against South Asians had been simmering in Uganda for many years, as the commercial success of the minority group prompted jealousy and anger.
Amin’s predecessor, Milton Obote, had pursued an “Africanization” policy that, among other discriminatory measures, included a system of work permits and trade licenses aimed at restricting the role of non-citizen Indians in economic and professional activities. But in 1971 Amin kicked the persecution up a few notches, launching a census of Uganda’s Asian population and a review of their status, aimed at narrowing “the wide (economic) gap” between Ugandan Asians and Africans.
(Excerpt) Read more at realclearmarkets.com ...
The author is writing from a false premise. The people Idi allegedly wanted employed had no skills and could not fill the holes left by those evicted. He is making a veiled attempt at justifying the exploding numbers of H1B visas. We here in these United States do not lack from educated and talented people.
Seemed like a veiled attempt to justify the bipartisan policy of non-enforcement that has flooded the US.
Amen!
Ironically, Trumps proposals move immigration law away from family based immigration to skill based immigration. It would be as if Amin expelled low skilled manual laborers in exchange for admitting many more high skilled workers. If Amin did that, Uganda would not be the slowest growing economy in Africa.
The cities of the USA tend to be Democratic.
California has gone from mainly Republican to a Democratic stronghold.
Add more people and you make lots more Democrats.
Chicago has been Democratic since 1931.
Federal wealth taxation is possible. Within a few years it could be made as high as 10% a year on average.
In my youth, Democrats believed in a federally-funded safety net.
Now most Democrats believe in cradle to grave welfare, with survivors benefits.
As my father used to say, pigs get slaughtered. Don’t be too greedy.
Most people in most countries are leftist who would happily vote for Hillary Clinton if they could.
Perhaps the most persistent delusion about economics is the lump of labor fallacy, the notion that the amount of work available in an economy is fixed and the more people you have, the more unemployment you have – instead of recognizing that the amount of work is not static, and people create more of it. One of the most vivid arguments against the lump of labor fallacy unfolded almost 50 years ago, when Uganda dictator Idi Amin expelled some 60,000 South Asians to ensure that “the average Ugandan enjoys the wealth of his country.”...to paraphrase Talleyrand, it was worse than a crime. It was a mistake.It wasn't a mistake from Amin's standpoint, as he was an Islamofascist dictator. He accomplished what he'd set out to do. Marxism is an idealogy, economics is reality.
Rhodesia was once called the breadbasket of Africa before Mugabe took the farms from white people and gave them to his thugs, who promptly ruined them to the point that the people were starving. It is only recently the government has been inviting those farmers back because the current government realized the mistake of taking the land.
The question is this — if you were one of those displaced white farmers, would you go back if asked to come back?
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