In the United States today, however, there are lots of ways to make money off immigration by privatizing profits and socializing costs, but very few ways to make money pointing out how immigration is hurting the general public. (Trust me, it’s not much of a gig.) Something America very much needs is a two-sided market where experts can make money betting against immigration inflation.
A law requiring immigrants to buy insurance would, among other advantages, create a cadre of data scientists who are experts in predicting who would be the best and worst immigrants. Paying actuaries to be hardheaded about immigration would inject some valuable skepticism into our mind-sets.
At present, forecasting that some applicants for immigration would be better than some other applicants is widely considered racist and un-American, a violation of the Zeroth Amendment inscribed on the Statue of Liberty. More sane countries, such as Canada and Australia, have complex points systems for evaluating applicants based on statistical models of how much good they are likely to do current citizens. But Americans have been indoctrinated toward schmaltzy stupidity on the subject. Putting insurance companies at risk would encourage intelligence about selection, however.
