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September 28, 2005
The U.S. Economy: ‘Driven by the Energies of People Who Can Still Dream’
Joel Kotkin, author of The City: A Global History, penned an noteworthy article for The American Enterprise on the increase in European immigration to the United States over the past ten to fifteen years. (Thanks to Arnold Kling at EconLog for the pointer.) Such immigration, Kotkin observes, is driven by economic opportunity:
European immigration to the United States jumped by some 16 percent during the 1990s. Europe’s percentage of total immigrants to the U.S. rose crisply between 1998 and 2001. Visa applications dropped after 9/11, but then increased last year by 10 percent. The total number of European-born Americans increased by roughly 700,000 during the last three years, with a heavy inflow from the former Soviet Union, the former Yugoslavia, Romania, and France. These new immigrants have dispersed across many parts of the country, but have been especially drawn to New York, California, and Florida. . . .
St. Louis . . . has benefited enormously from European immigration—in its case, the growth of a Bosnian community now estimated at well over 10,000. Since the Bosnians’ appearance on the city’s south side, they have transformed their neighborhoods. South Grand Avenue, once a dying thoroughfare, has been turned by entrepreneurial-minded newcomers into a major center of Bosnian commerce. In typical American style, the community is gradually spreading to the city’s sprawling suburbs.
"When we got here, South St. Louis was a city of ghosts. But we were survivors," notes Bosnian immigrant and entrepreneur Amir Holtic. "You drop a Bosnian on the moon and he’ll survive. We are the people who help give the city a future."
As Holtic would be quick to point out, an economy is driven, more than anything else, by the energies of people who can still dream. Although many American intellectuals and urbanites hold European cities in higher regard than our own, many young everyday Europeans have discovered that American metropolises are often more exciting, more liveable, and, most important of all, better places to find opportunities for upward mobility. . . .
What a beautifully articulated reminder of the source of a nation’s economic vitality: "the energies of people who can still dream."
The future of the United States ultimately rests not in musty trust funds build by the efforts of entrepreneurs long dead, nor in past scientific and economic achievements, and not in reputation. Education alone means nothing.
If these factors alone determined economic vitality, Europe wouldn’t be in the doldrums today. Europe has all of these things piled high.
For their special advantages to be utilized, capital, ideas, technical breakthroughs, and institutions require a special elixir: the magical brew of entrepreneurial visions and the drive to make such dreams a reality. Only when this special mixture seeps throughout a nation will genuine economic verve be ignited.
China is a notable example of this principle. When you go to China (as I will again in the next two weeks) and visit a cross-section of the country, you see dreams of greatness driven by the desire and seemingly tireless effort to achieve those ambitions. That’s what makes China’s potential so bright, in my opinion.
Immigrants alone, by the way, aren’t needed to provide such spark, and such fire needn’t arise out of the latest hot technological breakthroughs.
Our friends Guy Millner and Bud Stumbaugh, at a time in life when many of their peers are waking up to a daily tee time, have poured their entrepreneurial energy and focus into remaking their own corner of the auto insurance sector through AssuranceAmerica. Even mighty General Electric, which could easily calcify resting on its laurels, is busily remaking and repurposing itself to match its vision of the future.
This desire to recast and revitalize established businesses and industries is crucial for the national interest.
Immigrants are adding fuel to our economy base, however, and we should encourage the energy they bring.
Today’s immigrants to the United States are arriving here not to escape religious or political persecution, as was predominately the case in past generations. They are landing here with the magic brew of dreams and drive bubbling inside.
Such a circumstance is extraordinarily bullish for the future of this country.
Full disclosure: An affiliate of Heritage Capital Advisors is a filing shareholder in AssuranceAmerica and two of its partners are members of the board of directors. Our comments should not be construed as a recommendation for any securities.
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Comments
This is purely anecdotal, and I will not even pretend to have thoroughly considered the implications. However, my friends' experiences with our H-1B work visa system have seemed particularly counterproductive with respect to promoting the vitality discussed above. I know too many who are all but thralls to their sponsoring employer. This relationship prevents their making decisions to take better, more creative jobs or found companies of their own. I know if frightens many tech. workers to no end (and content sponsoring employers), but I would like to see H-1B status more simply associated with continued employment rather than employer sponsorship. As long as that worker can remain employed, he should remain a welcome resident of the United States.
Posted by: Coty at September 29, 2005 11:11 AM
Coty: I like your comments; if I get started about the visa problems in this country I may not get stopped!
Posted by: John at October 2, 2005 10:17 AM
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