There is much talk these days about the decline of America and American industry. How correct is this?

The U.S. is not declining. Other parts of the world are surging.

The global spread of wealth and information and technology is rapidly redressing imbalances in the world.

But the new giants will not be other nations—not Japan or China or the Soviet Union or Brazil. The new giants will be continental and global entities: continental common markets—global electronic markets—global corporations—multinational mergers.

In the 1950s and the 1960s Europeans and Asians and others had to be reassured that the United States was not taking over the world. In the 1980s and the 1990s Americans have to be reassured that the world is not taking over the United States.

The loss of American markets to others and the takeover of American industries by non-Americans is part of a globalization process now gaining momentum. Everything that leaves the United States (or any country) will sooner or later come back.

"Illegal aliens."

There are no illegal aliens—only illegal borders.

If it is wrong to bar people from leaving their countries it is also wrong to disallow people from coming into countries.

The issue of "illegal aliens" is a complex global matter and it will not go away by simply attempting to seal borders.

1— As more and more nations are finding out it is now impossible to stop people from sneaking across borders. In the age of helicopters —small private aircraft—motorboats—mass travel—borders have lost meaning. You can spend millions to shut down your borders—people will still come in.

2— Americans and some Europeans are under the mistaken impres­sion that if they "opened the gates" the whole world would come rushing in. It is true that the U.S. and most European nations offer many economic and social opportunities. But they are not everybody's idea of paradise. There are tens of millions of "illegal aliens" all over the world. No one knows the exact numbers. They are everywhere: in Canada—Mexico—Costa Rica—Venezuela—Colombia—Brazil-Kenya—Nigeria—Ghana—Algeria—Libya—Tunisia—Saudi Arabia —Kuwait—United Arab Emirates—Greece—Pakistan—Thailand— New Zealand—Australia.

A few years ago a poll was taken around the world to find out people's preferences of countries to emigrate to if the need arose. Canada— Australia—New Zealand—Sweden—Brazil were the favorites.

3— Freedom of movement is or ought to be a basic freedom. This is our planet. We should have the right to go anywhere we please. National frontiers are nothing more than pissing borders charted by dogs. "This is my territory because I peed here first."

The millions of dollars currently dissipated by many nations in futile attempts to stop the flow of "illegal aliens" should be rechanneled to help raise everybody's living standards so that people will travel not because of economic or political pressures but to spread out and grow.

We do not want secure borders. We do not even want open borders. We want no borders.

If governments do not do away with borders—modern technology will.

Date: 2015-02-28; view: 814