"Canada sets aside 36 percent of their visas for people with skills they think their country needs. We set aside six percent. We educate the doctors, and then don't give 'em a green card"
About this Quote
Bloomberg’s line lands like a budget memo with a punchline: we’re paying for talent and then escorting it to the exit. The numbers do the heavy lifting. By pitting Canada’s 36 percent against America’s six, he frames immigration policy as a competitive metric, not a moral referendum. It’s a CEO’s argument dressed in civic clothing: other countries are optimizing, we’re leaving value on the table.
The intent is plainly reformist but strategically narrow. Bloomberg isn’t selling immigration as compassion; he’s selling it as infrastructure. “People with skills they think their country needs” sounds technocratic on purpose, positioning selection as rational planning rather than cultural anxiety. The subtext is a rebuke to America’s political theater: we argue endlessly about borders while quietly engineering our own brain drain. The line “We educate the doctors” invokes U.S. universities and teaching hospitals as public goods, implying taxpayers subsidize the training pipeline. “Then don’t give ’em a green card” is the twist - an indictment of a system that celebrates excellence up to the moment it requires legal permanence.
Context matters: Bloomberg comes from the pro-business, data-forward wing of centrist politics, talking to audiences that respond to competitiveness and workforce shortages more than to slogans about identity. It’s also a subtle swipe at a Congress that, for decades, has struggled to align immigration quotas with labor market realities. The quote works because it turns a sprawling culture-war topic into a crisp transactional failure: we recruit, we train, we reject - and our competitors happily collect.
The intent is plainly reformist but strategically narrow. Bloomberg isn’t selling immigration as compassion; he’s selling it as infrastructure. “People with skills they think their country needs” sounds technocratic on purpose, positioning selection as rational planning rather than cultural anxiety. The subtext is a rebuke to America’s political theater: we argue endlessly about borders while quietly engineering our own brain drain. The line “We educate the doctors” invokes U.S. universities and teaching hospitals as public goods, implying taxpayers subsidize the training pipeline. “Then don’t give ’em a green card” is the twist - an indictment of a system that celebrates excellence up to the moment it requires legal permanence.
Context matters: Bloomberg comes from the pro-business, data-forward wing of centrist politics, talking to audiences that respond to competitiveness and workforce shortages more than to slogans about identity. It’s also a subtle swipe at a Congress that, for decades, has struggled to align immigration quotas with labor market realities. The quote works because it turns a sprawling culture-war topic into a crisp transactional failure: we recruit, we train, we reject - and our competitors happily collect.
Quote Details
| Topic | Justice |
|---|---|
| Source | Help us find the source |
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