Economic Stimulus via Immigration Reform
We need more of this kind of thinking
“All you need to do is grant visas to two million Indians, Chinese and Koreans,” said Shekhar Gupta, editor of The Indian Express newspaper. “We will buy up all the subprime homes. We will work 18 hours a day to pay for them. We will immediately improve your savings rate — no Indian bank today has more than 2 percent nonperforming loans because not paying your mortgage is considered shameful here. And we will start new companies to create our own jobs and jobs for more Americans.”
This guy reminds me of an idea I had this past Sunday: if we gave amnesty to the 20 million illegal immigrants working in our country today, and allowed them to bring their families into our country, we could massively stimulate the economy in several ways.
First, we would increase the size of the workforce. Initially this would push down wages, but I think this would push down prices as well. Lower labor costs would be great for entrepreneurs (you know, those folks who invent new ways to create wealth).
Second, because of the population bump, demand for goods and services would receive a nice bump as well.
Third, Mexican immigrants send large portions of their earnings back to thier families in Mexico. This amounts to billions of dollars disappearing from our economy. If their families were here, that money would be spent here.
Fourth, more immigrants means more entrepreneurs.
A savings bump mixed with low labor costs, lots of money to lend, low interest rates, and high entrepreneurship would give our economy the swift kick it needs to get going again.
America was built by hardworking immigrants. Somehow we forgot that.