I recently finished teaching my Immigration class at the University of Palermo. During the last week, we visited a Catholic charity that helps Sicily’s migrants. The workers seemed like nice people, but they were deeply economically illiterate. They didn’t have a bad word to say about the Italian government, the organization that makes immigration a presumptive crime. Quite the opposite. According to the workers, the government of Italy heroically cared for migrants, giving them food, shelter, clothing, and much more. The idea that the migrants could have cared for themselves if the government just got out of the way never passed their lips.
Effective charity requires a good grasp of the workings of society. If economics is “not your strong suit,” your efforts will be compromised, perhaps even fatally.
I remember a similar discussion I had with a friend on the topic of gig workers: my friend, a STEM Phd from a top italian university, was of the opinion that we should ban all delivery apps as they are "exploiting" poor people to provide a cheap service. It never occurred to him that the real problem was the government creating so many barriers for these people, mostly immigrants, that the price of labor simply felt very low.
And I had similar discussions with other Italian friends. I blame the Church, which has still a strong impact on Italian culture: profit seeking, and the idea of building wealth is frowned upon in Italy.
It is a very typical behaviour around Europe. Especially among the political left. What many people do not realise despite all socialist style storytelling is that historically seen, many workers have been acting in bad way against other workers as by imposing nativist, nationalist and repressive immigration systems.
"illegal businesses are the best-available remedy.'
Wow that's great and better yet Italy has a long standing tradition of these sorts of libertarian de-regulated underground associations. They don't just provide recreational pharmaceuticals, sexual entertainments, undocumented travel and high stakes games of chance either. They can also provide protection and security, finance and dispute resolution.
At the public universities Caplan is employed at, do they have an open borders admission policy? Can any student just walk over, purchase market price tuition, and enroll in a class for credit? When parents pay human smugglers outrageous fees, as Lori Loughlin paid hundreds of thousands of dollars to get their children in, how does the university treat such illegally admitted students? The University fought to get Lori Loughlin imprisoned, actually thrown behind bars, for the crime of paying giant sums money she lawfully earned so her daughters could pursue a better life as students at a government funded institution.
"The idea that the migrants could have cared for themselves if the government just got out of the way never passed their lips."
Because they aren't going to care for themselves. These immigrants and/or their children are going to avail themselves of the free healthcare, education, retirement, and infrastructure that the natives pay for.
"Farmers pay two Euros an hour, plus substandard room and board, to migrant workers."
Are they going to pay enough in taxes on those $2 to provide for their own healthcare?
"But the reason for these unfavorable market conditions is the oppression of the Italian government."
If the Italian government is so oppressive, why are they migrating there?
Could it be that in the long run they plan to leech off that government.
"Human smugglers and illegal employers, in contrast, have helped millions."
They took advantage of an arbitrage where they could get the government to subsize their workers wages, pocketing most of the value for themselves at others expense. Once they have brought over enough Africans to change the countries demographics the host country will be as poor as the place the immigrants came from.
"To be blunt, I’m right and they’re wrong."
You're an arrogant blowhard who should know better, but you're too deep into your branding to back out now.
The migrants should stay in their host countries and try to fix them. If they can't its likely something wrong with the migrants themselves that they will simply transfer to whatever country they migrate to.
Immigration Charities Should Learn to Love the Black Market
Effective charity requires a good grasp of the workings of society. If economics is “not your strong suit,” your efforts will be compromised, perhaps even fatally.
I remember a similar discussion I had with a friend on the topic of gig workers: my friend, a STEM Phd from a top italian university, was of the opinion that we should ban all delivery apps as they are "exploiting" poor people to provide a cheap service. It never occurred to him that the real problem was the government creating so many barriers for these people, mostly immigrants, that the price of labor simply felt very low.
And I had similar discussions with other Italian friends. I blame the Church, which has still a strong impact on Italian culture: profit seeking, and the idea of building wealth is frowned upon in Italy.
Would a privately owned city-state be “oppressing” potential migrants by being picky about whom to “hire” as a new citizen?
It is a very typical behaviour around Europe. Especially among the political left. What many people do not realise despite all socialist style storytelling is that historically seen, many workers have been acting in bad way against other workers as by imposing nativist, nationalist and repressive immigration systems.
"illegal businesses are the best-available remedy.'
Wow that's great and better yet Italy has a long standing tradition of these sorts of libertarian de-regulated underground associations. They don't just provide recreational pharmaceuticals, sexual entertainments, undocumented travel and high stakes games of chance either. They can also provide protection and security, finance and dispute resolution.
Ohhh ! Fuggedabout it already !
La vera definizione dell’altruismo è quando Kaplan prova a cambiare il governo Italiano con gli economici!
At the public universities Caplan is employed at, do they have an open borders admission policy? Can any student just walk over, purchase market price tuition, and enroll in a class for credit? When parents pay human smugglers outrageous fees, as Lori Loughlin paid hundreds of thousands of dollars to get their children in, how does the university treat such illegally admitted students? The University fought to get Lori Loughlin imprisoned, actually thrown behind bars, for the crime of paying giant sums money she lawfully earned so her daughters could pursue a better life as students at a government funded institution.
We back people into a corner, and then we get surprised that they start making desperate choices
"The idea that the migrants could have cared for themselves if the government just got out of the way never passed their lips."
Because they aren't going to care for themselves. These immigrants and/or their children are going to avail themselves of the free healthcare, education, retirement, and infrastructure that the natives pay for.
"Farmers pay two Euros an hour, plus substandard room and board, to migrant workers."
Are they going to pay enough in taxes on those $2 to provide for their own healthcare?
"But the reason for these unfavorable market conditions is the oppression of the Italian government."
If the Italian government is so oppressive, why are they migrating there?
Could it be that in the long run they plan to leech off that government.
"Human smugglers and illegal employers, in contrast, have helped millions."
They took advantage of an arbitrage where they could get the government to subsize their workers wages, pocketing most of the value for themselves at others expense. Once they have brought over enough Africans to change the countries demographics the host country will be as poor as the place the immigrants came from.
"To be blunt, I’m right and they’re wrong."
You're an arrogant blowhard who should know better, but you're too deep into your branding to back out now.
The migrants should stay in their host countries and try to fix them. If they can't its likely something wrong with the migrants themselves that they will simply transfer to whatever country they migrate to.