[filleduchaos]

> Audience here just skews heavily towards personal freedom of movement

...and said audience coincidentally happens to mostly live in places that actually have that freedom of movement. On the other hand, I, my passport that can take me basically nowhere, and the awfulness of visa acquisition know very well that "freedom of movement" is already a joke. And I remain extremely sceptical of the opinions of people from countries that are not impacted by brain and capital drain (and which, in fact, benefit from it) on situations like this.

[mixedCase]

As someone who also lives in a country heavily affected by brain drain, I put in very high regard the freedoms enjoyed in those countries you choose to ignore, because it's the lack of them that causes the brain drain.

Skilled professionals and investors are reluctant to invest their time/money in a country that taxes the crap out of them without giving much back. Excessive protectionism and high costs of living punish the people that can move the country forward just to prevent stagnant industries from suffering an inevitable blow for a little longer.