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Josh wrote: ↑Sat Mar 09, 2024 12:21 pm Covid showed it is indeed possible to fix the border problem. You just have to do it.

Josh wrote: ↑Sat Mar 09, 2024 12:28 pm I fully understand what “productivity gains” are. The problem is the benefits from them have accrued almost entirely to the top 0.1%.

You say fewer people are needed to do jobs because of these productivity gains. Then why are large numbers of immigrants needed? You can’t have it both ways.

Josh wrote: ↑Sat Mar 09, 2024 12:36 pm I care about results. The result we got was a stop to endless waves of pointless migration.

You don't have to try to whitewash things. Trump didn't. It was Trump himself and his top aids who made it about religion and labeled the policy a "Muslim Ban". Back in 2017, Trump was all over the news talking about his "Muslim Ban".

And it is just another example of Trump's failed attempts at immigration policy.

Ken wrote: ↑Sat Mar 09, 2024 12:45 pm

Josh wrote: ↑Sat Mar 09, 2024 12:28 pm I fully understand what “productivity gains” are. The problem is the benefits from them have accrued almost entirely to the top 0.1%.

You say fewer people are needed to do jobs because of these productivity gains. Then why are large numbers of immigrants needed? You can’t have it both ways.

Technology gains mean that fewer people are required in the resource extraction jobs that are a far bigger part of rural economies than urban economies. So farming, mining, logging, fishing, oil drilling, etc. But technology also creates new jobs in other parts of the economy. Unfortunately for rural areas, those jobs are more likely to be in urban and suburban areas. For example, the number of people working in telecommunications today is vastly higher than it was in the days before cell phones. But those jobs tend not to be in small towns and rural areas.

If you are concerned about benefits accruing to the top 0.1% then you should be concerned about Republican policies. Because their hidebound twin obsessions with tax cuts and deregulation do little to stimulate the economy but mostly funnel wealth upwards to the 0.1% at the expense of economic growth.

But we can also look at today's economy and see to whom recent gains have accrued. In the past 5 years, much more wage growth has accrued to the bottom 10% than the top 10%. But again, that is mostly happening in urban and suburban areas where the economy is stronger and not so much in rural areas.

Josh wrote: ↑Sat Mar 09, 2024 12:54 pmKen, I’m aware you think rural areas and people are worthless and that you think living crammed into dense cities is the nadir of human existence.

Please correct me if I got something wrong.

Ken wrote: ↑Sat Mar 09, 2024 12:45 pm Technology gains mean that fewer people are required in the resource extraction jobs that are a far bigger part of rural economies than urban economies. So farming, mining, logging, fishing, oil drilling, etc. But technology also creates new jobs in other parts of the economy. Unfortunately for rural areas, those jobs are more likely to be in urban and suburban areas. For example, the number of people working in telecommunications today is vastly higher than it was in the days before cell phones. But those jobs tend not to be in small towns and rural areas.