[015a]

The reality that I observe with H1Bs among a couple of my friends who are here on one is: They are paid less, they dislike their jobs, and they feel a tremendous inability to find a new one.

H1Bs are figuratively a policy disconcertingly similar to slave labor.

Much of this election cycle has been about the schism between the ground truth people observe, and what we're being told by the elites; the economy is good, but many people are struggling, stuff like that. H1Bs are that for me. Everyone says we need them, that our industry would be screwed without them; but what I see is a program which exists only to prop up unsustainable companies on the backs of cheap indentured labor; it does not serve the interests of the American people. The vast majority go to companies like Accenture; trash consulting companies.

Immigration is America's superpower. Temporary migrant workers are not immigration. The goal of every foreign worker entering America should be citizenship, every migrant worker program should pose citizenship as the outcome, and if it would be politically/economically unsustainable to do that the program should not exist.

[franktankbank]

> Immigration is America's superpower.

I think America's natural resources are its superpower personally. Immigration has historically been important in setting up systems for extracting these resources however I think whether its good at a given time needs to be justified every time.

[015a]

As global birthrates decline, as they are, nations which can consistently and willingly integrate immigrants have a huge cultural superpower. America does this better than any nation; we're the only nation on the planet that someone can come to and "become" our nationality. As an American; I can (with difficulty) move to Japan, but I cannot become Japanese; I can't become Australian; I can't become British, German, Chinese, or Indian; but people from those countries may come to America and become, in every sense of the word, American. That's a superpower. It might change over time, but its still true today.

When you combine that superpower with our insane natural resources; our insane oceanic coverage on the west and east borders; and our cultural and governmental bias toward personal freedom; there's simply no alternate reality or predictable-term future where America isn't a global leader.

[jvanderbot]

There's one other way. While "demographic collapse" is an overwrought problem, relative demographic advantage (a country having more favorable demographics for growth) is an area we can optimize for, and immigration (as well as child-positive culture) are a great way to ensure economic growth when dialed in properly.