What if the liberal elites are right? (Matthew Parris, November 8, 2024, The Spectator)
It’s time we stopped patronizing populists by cooing that we’re sorry we didn’t listen and will henceforward do our best to “address their concerns.” We should treat them as the adults they are, and tell them, man to man, that their concerns cannot be met. In countries like America, where money, talent and ambition gravitate towards clusters where success breeds success, we cannot realistically level-up with scarce public funds when the Treasury’s cupboard is bare.
In a national workforce where whole sectors of the economy are critically short of workers to fill jobs we must either import labor (immigration), hoist wages to a level that attracts native workers (inflation and higher taxation) or starve the health, social care, farming and service sectors of workers (ruination). We can keep out imports at a stroke, but prices will rise and our own exporters will face reprisals.
Actually, we do know better.