Denouement.

In case you have no idea what this is the denouement to... https://a-bas-le-ciel.blogspot.com/2024/08/immigration-my-daughters-friend-micah.html

Immigration: my daughter's friend (?) Micah Johnson writes in…

Listen Up Donkey!

For someone who grew up with your Daughter, I've heard nothing but disgust! Keep complaining and roasting everyone you low life scum!

I'm not racist but… immigration is wrong: economically, politically and morally wrong. - FUCK YOU BALD HEAD DICK FACE! YOU DON'T MATTER!

 -- Don't worry! You'll only have that shot with that lousy ass girlfriend of you

You're not only a racist but an ugly one. If there was a competition, even the word ugly would look beautiful.

You know what? You're a fucking joke. No wonder your Mom didn't take you Benjamin- or your DAD, and they'll take fucking anyone. I mean, you are a ridiculous, immature, half-wit moron. I have never met a sadder, more attention-starved jabbering little prick in my entire life, and that says a lot. ! And I'll tell you, you're right about one thing: "Women I could have had sex with BUT REFUSED when I was NOT single" NO ONE WOULD EVER HAVE!. You couldn't even save a relationship with a goddamn half-wit of a girlfriend! Motherfucker.

Want to talk about what's haunting you, or should we wait for a third act flashback? You really are God's Perfect Idiot, aren't you?

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I'll bet you have a really interesting, counterposing argument, that Japan should indeed rely on Pakistan and the Philippines to provide them with medical doctors and nurses, right?

;-)

E.M.

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Listen! 

I'm half your age and I'll make a far better argument!

• Immigration can boost the economy by increasing the labor force, filling labor shortages, and stimulating innovation. 

• Immigrants often pay taxes and contribute to social programs.

• In a globalized world, immigration is a natural consequence of economic integration and cultural exchange. Restricting immigration can hinder a country's ability to participate in the global economy and benefit from cultural diversity. You'd probably settle in China if you could! 

MiJn

—————

Right, you're half my age, but you don't have an education in social science statistics.

Any increase in population boosts the statistics you're quoting here: if you "import" bedridden ill cancer patients from China, and offer them free health care (as citizens) for the remainder of their lives, they will boost GDP.

However, what is the net effect on the budget?

There are calculations for that, and guess what?  They're bad: immigrants can indeed cost the benefit system far more than they provide in tax revenue.

If you regard immigration and refugee policy as a charity, that's not a problem, but you're proposing it as a self-serving (right wing) policy.

Is it moral (and is it more economically productive) for a factory in Texas to employ Mexican immigrants below minimum wage, or to employ American citizens above minimum wage?

The answer to this question cannot be the kind of math you're proposing:

in reality, what you're saying is, "new immigrants will be paid less" —and that is true.  But that isn't boosting the economy: that prevents "moving up the value chain" as explained in the video.

The future of Japan isn't competing with the Philippines for the cheapest factory labor —nor is it importing Philippine citizens to work in Japanese factories at a lower rate of pay than Japanese citizens.

Listen to the whole video again: it isn't racist.  There's something important for you to learn here.

E.M.

—————

For someone who talks this intellectually, I'm surprised with your content!  

You're right about the fiscal impact. While some studies show short-term strains on public services, others point to long-term economic benefits. It's important to consider factors like the age and skill level of immigrants, as well as targeted support policies.

Exploitative labor practices are a serious concern. We need to advocate for fair labor standards and ensure all workers, regardless of immigration status, are treated fairly.

Your point about Japan's economic strategy is spot on. As countries develop, they should focus on innovation and quality rather than low-cost labor. But Japan's economic system is outdated! 

—————

Right, but my point is genuinely altruistic (and I have made other videos articulating this recently, many are hidden away under the "shorts" tab on youtube, i.e., as "shorts" are now in a category separate from "videos").

I actually want to help the people of China.

I actually want to help the people of Cambodia, Syria and Afghanistan, too —I am not making an argument that is narrowly pro-Canadian, nor narrowly pro-Japanese.

It will not help the people of China to invite their citizens to live in ghettos in Canada, where they will earn less than minimum wage (or less than someone born a Canadian citizen, more generally).  That is not going to help China progress toward democracy —it is neither good for China politically nor economically.

At the start of the Afghan conflict, we could have simply invited all of the highly educated people (doctors, architects, etc.) to evacuate Afghanistan and start living in Canada (and the United States, etc.) instead of living under Taliban domination.  What would have been the effect on Afghanistan?  Economically and politically and culturally?  Now this did happen, but not all at once, in the rise and fall of Afghanistan as "an American colony": many of the educated people fled at every stage —beginning, middle or end.  Many of the most highly educated Afghans (and Syrians, etc.) are now living in Canada, the U.S. and Western Europe —but this, also, does not benefit Afghanistan.  In parallel, we are not helping China by "recruiting" labor from their country.

The type of multicultural exchange that has been justified economically for decades does not benefit China or Canada: it "make sense" only when you force a short term (single stage) of analysis on a very long term problem.

Short term, recruiting 10,000 medical doctors from Pakistan seems "to solve the problem" —the problem being a shortage of trained doctors.  But this is misleading.  Short term, recruiting 100,000 desperate people to work in fast food restaurants (McDonalds, etc.) seems "to solve the problem" —but this is misleading.  The transformation you're seeing right now in California, in response to a $20 per hour minimum wage, indicates the long term solution —and this, also, is linked to higher levels of education, although not as obviously as medical science.

Thank you for taking the time to write in, please do "stay tuned" to à-bas-le-ciel,

Season three is gonna be lit, 🔥

E.M.

He says "your millennial is showing"... BUT I WAS BORN IN THE 1970s.

Vegan diet.  Zero alcohol.  Zero marijuana.  200 push-ups a day.  :-/

Perhaps due to his admitted lifelong alcohol dependency, he's ended up looking and sounding like this. :-/  https://youtu.be/_fTvIT9bCzg

Veganism: failure of a political movement, failure of a market segment, failure of a futuristic investment fad

There is a chapter of the book dealing with this in appropriate depth —and, also, appropriate shallowness. https://www.amazon.com/Veganism-Future-Illusion-Eisel-Mazard/dp/B09X7QXPRF

Ten Pythons

The Emperor has no clothes: the adoring crowd, with their eyes, they clothe him.

I will not be well remembered here, but I will be well forgotten.

That is "my" poppy hidden in the back: the one I plucked from a crack in the pavement and tried to transplant. It seemingly died as soon as it took root, but either it revived since then or, more likely, this is its direct descendant.

I had no friends here, only enemies.

Menswear

Misery Misperceived as Pleasure.

You're lying to yourself: you don't "destress" playing video games, they only stress you out more —like a part time job you're not being paid to do.  I can tell you that learning Chinese is relaxing: don't believe me.  It's hard work.  Video games are, too.  They're misery misperceived as pleasure.  Lifting weights at the gym, also, is stress, but is commonly misrepresented as relaxation —and as a pleasure.  And the most dangerous delusion of all: you think that "destressing" in this way makes you more proficient at other tasks —but that is also the opposite of the truth.  As Herodotus said, it is what is contrary that is good for man, as with drawing tension in the bow and the lyre.

I'm not morally opposed to video games: I'm morally opposed to escapism.

Life is like a leg, and a life ruined like a leg missing: it has no particular purpose, no one destination, but many —or, ruined, none.

And now the preamble:

Art and addiction: time is finite, our task is pressing, and death is near.

There are those who speak from ignorance and those who speak against it.

"I'm not an addict because I'm also a dealer."

The "it can't be evil because I'm making money doing it" fallacy —astonishingly common in this generation.

For the vast majority of people, skepticism begins when they're losing money, and ends when they're making it.

I can remember Cathie Wood becoming emotional on camera years ago when she described meeting an investor working as a dog walker (perhaps in New York's Central Park?) who was not a wealthy person and who had really lost a huge portion of her life's earnings by trusting Cathie Wood.  She is aware that she's ruined people's lives.

And yes, BTW, she's a religious nutcase. The problem isn't just that she has religious attitudes toward economics. That is why she called her company "ARK".

You're not "being edgy" if you're actually on the edge.

It's like the difference between dressing up in a cowboy costume and actually working on a farm with cows, regardless of whatever hat you happen to put on.

Hashtag not all strippers. #notallstrippers

My readers know the books better than I do.

The final edit of No More Manifestos is still "forthcoming".

Video Game Nihilism.

The rapacious, irrational stupidity of real human nature.

We all have to divide our time between living and dying.

And for most of us, it ain't fifty-fifty.

War is less of an evil than peace, when opposed by evil men; when opposed by the good, peace is less evil than war, although cowardly.

I like Google Translate's choice of "inertia" for cowardice.

Footnote to an elegy for the death of the vegan movement

Roger Hallam should die in jail: he was the worst enemy ecology ever had. (A sixty second video.)

And don't miss this equally brief follow up video:

Stop Donating to Protest Movements... Roger Hallam, etc.