America is a nation of immigrants.  If Government didn’t set strict limits on immigrants, they’d BE legal.  Immigration is NOT a problem unless you run a WELFARE STATE as we do in the US.  In a welfare State, the potential exists to pay out (in benefits) more than you pay in (in taxes).  If the government shrank we could accommodate more immigrants.  In my mind, if you are employed and paying taxes, you should be eligible for citizenship (work visa) immediately, and if you keep it up, for, say, 5 years, you ought to be eligible for citizenship.  Economics is not a zero-sum game; there isn’t a fixed amount of wealth.  Population and GDP both grew over time in the US.  More people means more production AND more consumption…

I also like the diversity of immigration.  I go to the Taco Truck at lunch and get served a unique meal by people that can barely speak english and I pay what I would for fast food — much better than the monolithic s~~~ the chains dish out — ‘Americanized’ mexican food.  Or I go to a Mediterranean restaurant and have lunch followed by some delicious Baklava — compare that to the crap pastries served up at Chain$.  It also means not everyone thinks alike.  I concede I like some immigrant groups more than others — e.g. Mexicans are pretty hard-working generally; first wave Ethiopians also hard working; second wave generally lazy (the ones let in for political asylum; many collect welfare checks from Uncle Sugar).  I’ve never met an Israeli immigrant who wasn’t a kick-ass hard worker… Same for Russians… I also get torqued off at a lot of stereotypes, especially about Mexicans.  Who is out harvesting the fruit at the crack of dawn and kicking ass in the construction trades?

I also believe fiscal and monetary policy have much to do with prosperity.  Keynes won the philosophical battle, Milton Friedman lost, and there are negative consequences of this…

I also should have added I don’t like immigrants who make no effort at all to assimilate — to learn our language and respect our values — e.g. religious freedom.  I believe we should be able to draw cartoons of the Prophet or the Pope without anybody getting firebombed or any Inquisitions.  And to me the most important value is WORKING, lazy people that want to collect benefits ought to get deported… I also like that religion is fragmented in America — yes, it’s nominally Christian, but no single denomination predominates — when one religion predominates I tend to think it can lead to stifling freedom.  Illegal?  I have no problem granting INSTANT citizenship to a Mexican that’s lived here a few years and is WORKING and not a LEACH… Or any other immigrant.

Letting in the best, the brightest, and the most motivated used to give us an advantage.  Closing the borders to people that  want to work, to me, seems like bad policy.  Sure, some of the money I spend at the Taco Stand probably goes to the employees’ Mexican relatives (they actually believe in family values), but much stays in America for their homes, food, savings, electricity, etc.

I think the US economy has shifted more to a service economy rather than manufacturing.  Working in manufacturing as I do, it’s sad to see.

I think we will eventually be rendered obsolete as far as the need to work, but not sure if it will be soon — maybe tens to hundreds of years, but not thousands in my opinion.

At 45, I’m old, and probably not as sympathetic to young people who can’t find work as I should be.  In my opinion, the economy stinks for most millenials and anyone with low skills.

America has come back before, but I don’t think it will again.