It used to be, in America, that money was not enough to buy things–that even if you had $2, or $5, there were some milkshakes you could not have. We took care of this problem with a little thing called the civil rights movement.
Are there yet still places in the world where money is not enough? Where even with sufficient funds, a non-citizen, for example, cannot purchase land, or credit? Here in America we know much better than to prevent anyone from buying anything, especially if they’re foreign. And tell the Economist about anyone else who doesn’t.
I imagine myself a country overrun by, or surrounded by countries full of, hungry people. Among them there are individuals, or groups, who either have, or can obtain from banks, sufficient funds to make investments. Aren’t I starving them if I prevent them from doing so within my borders?
And isn’t the expense of welfare the understandable reason good governments restrict immigration in the first place? Then what kind of end run around sense is it to instead fence these individuals in and bankrupt myself providing the same services I would if they were citizens? Give them some kind of status and send them to the bank!