The (L)ibertarian Visa

Date: Tuesday, September 09, 2003 1:55 PM

JOB DESTRUCTION NEWSLETTER

www.ZaZona.com

Scott McPherson, who authored the editorial below, is a policy advisor
for a Libertarian think tank called the Future of Freedom Foundation.
This Libertarian organization champions the cause of doing away with
all government - EXCEPT GOVERNMENT CONTROLLED VISA PROGRAMS SUCH AS L-1
VISAS and other corporate giveaways.

McPherson said that programmers that used to make $60 an hour are
demanding a "Divine Right of Stagnation" when they complain that L-1
visas are used to import workers at 1/6th the cost. He goes on to say
that programmers should realize the "benefits of rigorous competition
and the morality of economic liberty" and therefore programmers or
other protectionists shouldn't complain when they lose their jobs to
cheaper foreign labor. His moral passion to destroy the careers of
programmers by importing cheap labor is hypocritical since he wants to
use government programs to force the issue.

McPherson callously disregards the Fourteenth Amendment of the
Constitution when he stated that the L-1 loopholes are one of the few
"remaining freedoms" for the corporatists who seek to subvert middle
class America. His hypocrisy becomes very transparent when he says that
"jobs arent theirs to be protected or defended by government" while
at the same time he wants to use a government visa program to destroy
those workers. McPherson's ignorance of the Constitution is obvious
because it's very clear that the government is responsible for
protecting the jobs of its citizens. The 14th Ammendment says that:

"no state shall make or enforce any law which shall
abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of
the United States; nor shall any state deprive any person
of life, liberty, or property without due process of law;
nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal
protection of the law."

Perhaps in McPherson's ideological zeal he thinks that the "L" visa
requires that aliens must be L-ibertarians to enter the country.

The Future of Freedom Foundation is a new inductee on the Skunks page.
Go here for more information:
http://www.zazona.com/shameh1b/Skunks.htm#FFF

http://www.sierratimes.com/03/09/04/fffoundation.htm

Let the Chips Fall

By Scott McPherson

According to the August 11 Washington Times, in a story titled "How
visa program robs U.S. technology workers of their jobs," American
computer programmers are finding it harder and harder to stay employed
because of the "unintended consequences of the nations non-immigrant
visa program particularly the L-1 classification. The L-1 allows
companies to transfer workers from overseas offices to the United
States for up to seven years [and] lets companies continue paying
workers their home country wage."
The nerve!

To make a long (and very old) story short, American computer
programmers who make an average of $60 per hour in wages and benefits
are being gradually replaced by foreign computer programmers. By making
use of the L-1 program, corporations such as IBM, Hewlett-Packard,
Cisco Systems, and Microsoft, are now getting their programmers for
about one-sixth of the usual price.

Not surprisingly, hi-tech workers are unhappy one even said he was
"disgusted" by the visa program. Even less surprising, a member of
Congress is getting involved. Rep. Rosa DeLauro, a Connecticut
Democrat, wants to set a limit of 35,000 L-1 workers nationwide. (There
is currently no limit.)

The free market brings innovation, productivity, diversity, and
ultimately consumer satisfaction. Americans love these benefits and
have been the greatest and the longest-running benefactors of
capitalism in the history of the world. But they too often forget that
economic progress requires efficiency. That means getting the most
effort for the least expenditure.

Though Americans as consumers like the result of this system cheaper
and better products, and more choice in their products as
manufacturers and workers they prefer to appeal to what the
psychologist Nathaniel Branden called the "Divine Right of Stagnation."
In short, they want "their" jobs by right, and will try to cut out of
the market anyone who can produce for less their competition.

Naturally, this requires government intervention in their behalf.

The trouble is, these jobs arent theirs to be protected or defended
by government. When an employer offers a job, he is offering monetary
compensation in exchange for a particular service to be performed. This
is a simple contractual relationship.

It may come as a surprise to most people, but this arrangement in no
way implies a transfer of ownership. The job still belongs to the
employer the labor is the property of the individual worker and
despite any claims to the contrary, the employer should be left to
grant, withhold, or alter the terms of this relationship without
question. Just as employees are now free to do.

The L-1 visa program serves two important functions in the American
economy. On the one hand, it is a "loophole" (note that the economist
Ludwig von Mises called loopholes "remaining freedoms") which allows
the computer market to perform a vital function efficiently using
resources. Money not spent on a more expensive native programmer can be
channeled towards satisfying other needs. This provides a net benefit:
an important job still gets done, with resources left over that will
then be directed to their most efficient use. The final step in the
process is, of course, greater consumer satisfaction.

Secondly, by allowing companies to pay workers a lower wage, L-1 visas
also serve a moral purpose. American firms have an absolute right to
offer whatever wage they wish, and to whoever is willing to do the job
for that sum even a foreigner.

Rather than put a cap on L-1 visas, we should be opening our entire
economy to the kind of competition now taking place in the computer
industry under the L-1 program. One day we might even return to the
days of genuine free trade in labor.

The first word in "free market" is still "free." The L-1 visa program
is not some sinister conspiracy designed to take away Americans jobs

it represents the remains of an economic system that once recognized

the benefits of rigorous competition and the morality of economic
liberty.

Scott McPherson is a policy advisor at the Future of Freedom
Foundation.
http://www.fff.org/

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