Friday, March 10, 2017

#36) Unintended Consequences


March 10, 2017

Dear Mr. President,

So I'm driving home from work really late the other night listening to the News of the World from the BBC on the radio and just what do you think they're saying about your new travel ban in India?  They're over the moon excited about it because it stops the brain drain of Indian computer engineers and IT techs from leaving home and coming to the US!!  This is a huge benefit to the Indian economy.  They have been watching their best and brightest leave by the thousands for years now but your visa clamp down is making them stay home.  Now they are starting software companies in India rather than coming to the US and working for someone else.

The IT sector is growing so fast in India that one CEO they interviewed actually used the word "gleeful."  Yeah, she was that excited.  She was so excited because it's not just that IT is growing, but that it's changing.  Entrepreneurship is blossoming and existing companies now have an amazing pool of candidates to choose from.

Apparently the Indian government has been lobbying the US to restrict visas for years and we haven't (because all those visa holding IT folks were really, really good for our economy).  Currently the Indian economy is growing at a rate of about 7.6%, which is pretty healthy, but they are expecting this to rise even more because of this reverse brain drainall thanks to you!  Talk about unintended consequences.  You're goal was to make American great again, but really you are making India great again.  Oh, the irony. 

And you know the other thing that is feeding India's IT boom, it's that they welcome people from all over the world.  So all of those IT techs and software designers and computer engineers that would have come to America to work for Google and Apple and Microsoft are now heading to India where all sorts of exciting opportunities await them and they are being welcomed with open arms.  In a few years I believe the US is going to have a major competitor in India.  Let's see how "great" America is then.

You really should have thought this through more.

Sincerely,
Amy Beaton

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