Re: "emigrants"

[valis <valis@xxxxxxxxxx>]

Quoth Doug, in part:
> Michael mentioned emigration from the U.S. I discovered when I did my State
> of the USA Atlas that exact numbers on this are very hard to come by.
> Counting emigrants, a demography librarian told me, is considered
  ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
> embarrassing. But the best estimates are that 1/3 of the people who come to
  ^^^^^^^^^^^^
> the U.S. eventually leave, mostly to return to the home country, and this
> has been true for a long time.

Such embarrassment is a hangover from the "Macy's vs Gimbel's" competition
of the Cold War.  The fact is that many who come are incipient bourgeois
intending to open a business in their native land.  Some scrimping at
even the most pedestrian American job for a year or two, in conjunction
with the perks of the local ethnic network, can cut a decade or more off
this process of accumulation.
You could almost say that US immigration policy is a hidden form of
small business aid.
                                                                     valis