Tuesday, May 08, 2018

Jobs and the economy can expand to accommodate immigration, but is there enough housing?

Trump wants to deport a lot of refugees from Central America and so forth, but this reduces the number of workers and consumers in the economy assuming most of the refugees are worker/consumers. Could make reaching his targets for economic growth more difficult. A larger population adds to the economy. On the other hand, it can also exacerbate the housing shortage. Seems like the economy can grow to accommodate more people as there are more consumers and jobs. It has a harder time providing the housing. Part of that is NIMBY ism. Good planning can address this problem. A larger economy can also add to the carbon footprint. That's where planning for a green economy comes in. Growth of world population is starting to slow down, but growth is still a reality.

Trump's new economic advisor, Larry Kudlow is a pro growth economist who has been a radio talk show host. He's been pretty much pro immigration differing with his new boss on that one issue. New workers and consumers add to the American economy. On his radio shows, he seemed to never discuss the housing shortage. He also never talked about climate change. I would guess he wouldn't be friendly toward ideas such as shorter workweeks or reducing the rat race of life. Personally, I think much of the economy is like spinning wheels on ice. I like to see progress in technology and so forth, but we can have less rat race. Again, the key is good planning.

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