Not Really Free

If you listen to fiscal conservatives -- including all those that currently are vying for the Republican presidential nomination -- the "free market" needs to be set free. The reason our national economy is so anemic and corporations aren't hiring workers is that regulations stand in the way. If only we would pare back or eliminate regulations the economy would soon be humming and our economic woes magically would disappear.

If I thought this was an honest position, I would still disagree with it, but I would be able to take these people seriously. However, as Ha-Joon Chang points out in 23 Things They Don't Tell You about Capitalism, fiscal conservatives simply don't like some regulations, while they eagerly embrace others!

Wages in rich countries are determined more by immigration control than anything else, including any minimum wage legislation. How is the immigration maximum determined? Not by the "free" labour market, which, if left alone, will end up replacing 80-90 per cent of native workers with cheaper, and often more productive, immigrants.

You see, here's the rub. By and large, the politicians who say they are against regulations that place fetters on the so-called free market are the very same people who favor these stringent regulations to limit illegal immigration! If they truly believed in what they preached, then they should want to open the immigrant floodgates which would boost profits through the roof and quickly pull Corporate America out of its [nonexistent] tailspin.

In a truly free market, business wants to pay as little as possible for labor costs and immigrants from south of the border will work for practically nothing and they also possess few legal rights to boot. For a genuine free market believer, it's a match made in heaven!

So, why don't fiscal conservatives embrace wide-open legal AND illegal immigration?