Musk seems to think countries are sports teams
(twitter.com)
You're viewing a single comment thread. View all comments, or full comment thread.
Comments (66)
sorted by:
Elon is a futurist. Everything good about him is motivated by that singular driving motivation, and so is everything bad about him. He hates woke because he (correctly) believes it stifles innovation and competition and thereby retards human progress. He hates government inefficiency and high taxes for the same reason. He likes the American way of doing things and he fought for free speech and the open marketplace of ideas because he (again, correctly) believes that approach to be the most conducive to technological innovation and progress. He wants skilled immigrants so he can enlist their talents in building his cybertopia.
To figure out what Elon's position will be on any given issue, all you have to ask is "Will this help us get to Mars?"
The issue is that he says this—and he may even believe it—but the way that’s manifesting right now is in going to bat for not just keeping, but expanding the H1B Visa program, and specifically going to bat for an Indian who explicitly wants the H1B program to allow in even more Indians. Which is about as far from “high skill” immigration, and as destructive to the social and economic fabric of the nation, as one can get.
Their position makes sense if you're wrong. Maybe the best Indians are the most benefit/cost employees a USA tech company can have. Maybe the stereotypes don't apply to the cream of the crop.
Maybe that doesn't even matter, because the cream of the crop could be excellent and still result in an issue where they change the culture of the nation. Maybe that also doesn't matter because it's very, very clear that the H1B program as it exists is not restricted to the cream of the crop and is instead being used to drive down wages and leave qualified American citizens unemployed, and that's before expanding it even more. Seriously—you can look at Canada or Britain. They're further along this path than we are. Does it look like they're getting the cream of the crop, without damaging the fabric of their nation?
But, even if we were getting the cream of the crop, which we aren't, even if we weren't changing our nation's culture, which we are, America (and you can substitute any nation in here; the argument is true for all) is not an economic zone. It is a nation. Built by generations of our ancestors, for their children. American citizens have a right to the fruits of their nation before the rest of the world. The average man needs to be employed as well; we can't sell out his prosperity to the world on the basis that when he's up against billions of people you can find someone who's an ever-so-slightly more optimized combination of cost + speed + accuracy in their work.
For truly one of a kind talent that truly is essential, we have the O1 Visa program. But that level of talent is incredibly rare, and limited to tiny little handfuls of people. The H1B program is not. Anyone who presents the H1B program as the only method for recruitment of "essential, irreplaceable skills" without mentioning the O1 program is either poorly informed or lying.
You're not wrong in that. I was just arguing against the "pajeet IT" stereotype. I'm sure there must be plenty of competence for them to be so prominent in tech.