Oh Bullship!

The WSJ drafts Kofi Annan to lecture on the importance of "migration."  I'm trying to think if there is any more thrilling feeling then having one of the most singularly morally corrupt individuals on the face of the planet, who heads one of the most singularly corrupt organizations on the face of the earth to 'splain to us why we should eat our vegetables.

A taste of the loopiness...

Ever since national frontiers were invented, people have been crossing them--not just to visit foreign countries, but to live and work there. In doing so, they have almost always taken risks, driven by a determination to overcome adversity and to live a better life. Those aspirations have always been the motors of human progress. Historically, migration has improved the well-being, not only of individual migrants, but of humanity as a whole.

What in the cerulean blue blazes is a migrant? I'm familiar with immigrants, bith the legal and illegal variety, but migrant? Methinks they need to stop soft selling this crap. But wait, there's more...

All in all, countries that welcome migrants and succeed in integrating them into their societies are among the most dynamic--economically, socially and culturally--in the world.

True, we gain when we welcome a non-overwhelming number of immigrants to join us in this great experiment. No argument, it's true. But that's not what he's saying, is it? No, he's saying we gain when other countries foist their poor, unskilled laborers off on us instead of changing their shithole countries into places people might cease to flee from.

Meanwhile, countries of origin benefit from the remittances that migrants send home, which totaled around $232 billion last year, $167 billion of which went to developing countries--greater in volume than current levels of official aid from all donor countries combined, though certainly not a substitute. Not only do the immediate recipients benefit from these remittances, but also those who supply the goods and services on which the money is spent. The effect is to raise national income and stimulate investment.

It is true that all that money is stolen from our economy, however, remittances have their downsides as well.

Yes, migration can have its downside--though ironically some of the worst effects arise from efforts to control it: It is irregular or undocumented migrants who are most vulnerable to smugglers, traffickers and other forms of exploitation. Yes, there are tensions when established residents and migrants are adjusting to each other, especially when their beliefs, customs or level of education are very different. And yes, poor countries suffer when some of their people whose skills are most needed--for instance health-care workers from southern Africa--are "drained" away by higher salaries and better conditions abroad.

Okay Sunny Jim, you just keep slinging that crap, we'll see how it flies shall we? The biggest problems with out of control illegal immigration aren't the effects on the criminals themselves, but on those least able to bear the effects in the receiving country. Notably the poor and those with less education.

It is extraordinary to me how the WSJ can keep pushing this open borders crap after 9-11. Perhaps they were all at their houses in the Hamptons on that sunny September morn, I'm sure it was a lovely day for sailing.

H/T The Corner

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