I don’t think it’s arguably good for America to be strong. America attracted immigrants who want a better life, and exploits most of its immigrant labor. Is it better if immigrants are left out while America self immolates, loses its “exorbitant privilege” of dollar reserve status, and global living standards rise from clean tech exports from China? I argue yes.
> 20% of S&P 500 companies are run by immigrant CEOs. That number rises to 60% if you take just the top 10 companies.
These people are interchangeable cogs and not material to my discussion. If these 100 people were gone tomorrow, they'd be replaced by an executive search firm and every company would go on as is. As of this comment, there are approximately 200,000 to 206,000 people working as chief executive officers in formal registered corporations across the United States. Help yourself to an alternate cog, if needed, from the bin.
Kaplan, Steven Neil and Sorensen, Morten, Are CEOs Different? (July 1, 2020). Columbia Business School Research Paper No. 16-27, Paris December 2016 Finance Meeting EUROFIDAI - AFFI, Journal of Finance, Forthcoming, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2747691 or https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2747691
Do you believe immigrant CEOs are the same as the millions of immigrants being paid poverty wages? I’m unsure how to have a rational discussion if you believe a few hundred or so (at best) lucky folks are the same as millions who are not. Immigrant CEOs are a rounding error, they do not matter one bit in this context.
Humans make suboptimal choices often, the evidence is clear (out of emotion vs logic and critical thinking, out of lack of information, etc). I have no issues with policy that keeps them out, for their own safety, and I hope that the economic situation continues to improve outside of the US globally to make the decision trivial to not attempt to immigrate. And so, I do not take issue with this administration destroying pipelines supporting immigration. They do it out of racism, I support it out of compassion and empathy. Do not come, it is not safe. Sometimes you will be lucky, "opportunity," but luck is not a strategy, nor does the evidence show immigrants are lucky at scale (imho).
The rest of the world will only continue to improve as the US declines. Fertility rates are rapidly declining globally (71% of the global population lives in countries below replacement rate, as of this comment), which will lead to less economic migration over time. I accept we will disagree on this topic, from different mental models and lived experiences. Fundamentally, this is vulnerability management applied to economic migration and time window exposure to the experience of living in the US as a human, and alternatives to that path.
There is nothing wrong with allowing a equilibrium price to be established across borders. Customers get cheaper prices and workers better pay and better QoL than in their home country. It's a win-win.
If you don't believe that their life is in fact better you can try to convince them. But if you somehow think you are in a position where you should be making life choices for others we have fundamentally different values.
I don't need to convince anyone, anti-immigrant political sentiment just needs to remain high in the US for this to happen. Is this likely to happen? I think so, and this admin has at least another two years in office while this impairs businesses requiring this exploited labor far into the future.
Good luck to the capitalists and attempting to pull these trajectories back towards what they want, it'll take years, if not longer.
I'm not arguing that the US doesn't have the right to decide who moves here. I'm arguing that deciding what's best for others is a huge philosophical and ethical trap.
A really bad way to enter a country with the intention of staying is to come as a visitor/guest and then claim asylum. They are lying their way in and in my opinion not a good start to trying to stay and become a citizen in some day.
Just in case you’re having trouble keeping up, since it moves fast, this is a different ban. The asylum seeker ban happened earlier this week per the article.
We haven't been, and whether you think it's the chicken or the egg, immigration lawyers specializing in H1-B and related visas have made a mockery of the law and of the stated intent of those visas.
If you read the letter of the law it's perfectly reasonable. And when highly credentialed specialists who are truly unique talents get visas to work here, the results are beneficial to everyone.
But as a result of intensive lawyering, thousands of mid engineers get mid jobs at mid pay and are exploited like indentured servants.
If the letter of the visa laws was actually enforced, we would not have this problem. To which the lawyers will say we're just doing our jobs and doing it well.
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[ 0.17 ms ] story [ 47.8 ms ] threadLet's not fuck it up.
Can you tell us more?
I ask because I’m and immigrant. I know many many immigrants. And I don’t know a single one who feels “exploited by the US”. The opposite.
20% of S&P 500 companies are rub by immigrant CEOs. That number rises to 60% if you take just the top 10 companies.
These people are interchangeable cogs and not material to my discussion. If these 100 people were gone tomorrow, they'd be replaced by an executive search firm and every company would go on as is. As of this comment, there are approximately 200,000 to 206,000 people working as chief executive officers in formal registered corporations across the United States. Help yourself to an alternate cog, if needed, from the bin.
Kaplan, Steven Neil and Sorensen, Morten, Are CEOs Different? (July 1, 2020). Columbia Business School Research Paper No. 16-27, Paris December 2016 Finance Meeting EUROFIDAI - AFFI, Journal of Finance, Forthcoming, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2747691 or https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2747691
Study: CEO effect on firm performance could be mostly due to chance - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10441713 - October 2015 (67 comments)
I’m also telling you that I and all the other immigrants I know don’t feel exploited, but in fact the opposite.
So I don’t know why you think America exploits immigrants.
The rest of the world will only continue to improve as the US declines. Fertility rates are rapidly declining globally (71% of the global population lives in countries below replacement rate, as of this comment), which will lead to less economic migration over time. I accept we will disagree on this topic, from different mental models and lived experiences. Fundamentally, this is vulnerability management applied to economic migration and time window exposure to the experience of living in the US as a human, and alternatives to that path.
Terra Incognita: The Economics of a Shrinking World [pdf] - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49352811 - August 2026
The demographic future of humanity: facts and consequences [pdf] - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44866621 - August 2025 (400 comments)
If you don't believe that their life is in fact better you can try to convince them. But if you somehow think you are in a position where you should be making life choices for others we have fundamentally different values.
Capitalism, Ho!
Good luck to the capitalists and attempting to pull these trajectories back towards what they want, it'll take years, if not longer.
https://robertreich.substack.com/p/you-or-someone-you-love-c...
Are we a land of laws or not?
If you read the letter of the law it's perfectly reasonable. And when highly credentialed specialists who are truly unique talents get visas to work here, the results are beneficial to everyone.
But as a result of intensive lawyering, thousands of mid engineers get mid jobs at mid pay and are exploited like indentured servants.
If the letter of the visa laws was actually enforced, we would not have this problem. To which the lawyers will say we're just doing our jobs and doing it well.
From: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c8r56vr40jvo
US data collected by Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) shows Indian asylum requests in the US have skyrocketed.
The requests jumped tenfold in just two years, rising from about 5,000 in 2021 to over 51,000 in 2023.