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Yes, please do. My job as a quant is sort of like software engineering (in some aspects) and I wouldn't give a single shit if every country on earth could send over quants to the developed world. In fact that's basically what the situation is like now where companies will bend over backwards to arrange your visa and everything if you can convince them you'll be a positive addition to the team.
Competent quants who really understand what they are doing are quite rare, it's already basically a global market for us and we're doing more than fine regardless. Why can't other jobs also handle the heat? Are you scared that you'll be outdone by third worlders who had and have none of the advantage you were handed on a silver platter by being born in a first world country?
Trying to protect your job by limiting freedom of movement is a system of economic rent extraction and nothing more. Westerners who were born in high wage countries use their borders to prevent firms from getting their labour from the most efficient source possible. This imposes a (very large, when you integrate over the whole world) deadweight loss upon humanity as a whole. I am in favour of smashing them down just like how I am always in favour of smashing down rent seeking.
I've worked for a few months in China. I'm aware of how vastly better I am than them at my profession. For years part of my job was fixing their screw ups. I don't have it in me to screw things up as badly as overseas engineering teams do.
So they certainly won't outcompete me on capability. But they blow me out of the water on willingness to work for very low wages. There were junior engineers living two to a studio apartment. Add in US residency and they'd work for (by my 'silver spoon' American standards) poverty wages and they'd do it with a smile.
Some people would frame this as a race to the bottom. Median wages would drop and tech companies would capture the difference. Major tech companies are already wildly profitable. It is not as though design staff wages are breaking the bank. You'd sure be smashing something here. The formerly prosperous American upper-middle class would be crushed. Like that bit in Snow Crash where perfect borderless globalization equalizes wages and results in something that resembles prosperity from the point of view of a Pakistani bricklayer.
At the moment Canada is trying a radical experiment in massive immigration. The results are a disaster for non-immigrant Canadians. Looking at that, I have decided to selfishly not ruin my nation by opening the floodgates to 3rd world immigration.
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Yes.
Then I am in favor of rent extraction.
I am happy to impose this loss.
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Not too long ago you boasted how you and yours exploit Western weaknesses and do it with no remorse because you do not respect the way the West does things. I consider that a data point in favor of protectionism.
Sure, that's a good argument for protectionism from a western prespective (much as I would dislike it). However just because one argument for something is good doesn't mean all arguments for it are good, and we can still tell a lot about people from the types of bad arguments they make.
The "they take all our jerbs!" refrain against immigration is fundamentally selfish and rent seeking. It needs to be called out and ruthlessly mocked whenever it shows up.
No remorse? I do it with glee. See my latest dramapost about the Scottish First Minister hosting an Iftar event at his official government residence.
And why shouldn't I be happy like this? We're slowly winning over the west in a completely peaceful and bloodless manner and that is a cause for celebration because I genuinely believe our system is better than the western system. Funnily enough I think the western system is better for someone like me than our system but for society as a whole and those lower down on the human hierarchy it's the opposite. Instead of being selfish and promoting the western way I look at the bigger picture and support what I think is best for society instead of me personally.
Normally transitions between systems are times of upheaval and suffering but the transformation we are slowly effecting is one of the most peaceful ones of this scale that has ever happened in human history. This is a good thing.
To quote a Magic the Gathering card: "On the day of victory, no one is tired".
I think I will graciously refuse your offer for cultural uplifting and selflessly suggest that you stay home and build up your own country.
Well, hypothetically, that is, since I'm not a Westerner. In my country, the best Muslims seem to be able to do is shoot up a concert hall. I don't think excessive Islamophilia is going to be in vogue in the near future, here.
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I'm beginning to see why Ayn Rand got a following. The world runs around people acting selfishly. EAs may claim they should give as much of their income as they can for malaria nets. Non-EAs earn money for themselves and their families. Yes, not wanting competition from immigrants is selfish. So is saying "you should hire me for this job over the other applicant" whether immigrant or not. So is spending money to buy yourself ice cream instead of donating it. So is saying "I really would like to keep my kidney even though someone else can use it more than me."
Maybe your parents told you "don't be selfish" growing up, but kids are told simplified versions of things. Look out for your own interests.
"A moderate degree of sharing will result in positive goodwill which will in the medium and long run be considerably greater than the loss from deviating from pure selfishness" -- Adam Smith to his kids, probably.
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