Thread: Fail: 9 Times Globalists Claimed Mass Immigration Is Necessary to Increase GDP

July 27, 2018
John Binder

For decades, the big business lobby, ideologically globalist politicians, and economists have claimed that the only route to increasing the United States’ Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is through increasing legal immigration levels.

On Friday, thanks to President Trump’s “America First” economy, GDP soared to 4.1 percent for the second quarter of 2018, outpacing the first quarter, in which GDP was 2.2 percent.

While Trump was on the campaign trail throughout 2015 and 2016, he repeatedly said his economic nationalist agenda would bring the U.S. GDP to at least three percent.

Globalist politicians, business executives, and economists blasted his statements at the time, claiming the only way for the U.S. to increase GDP was through mass immigration and expanding legal immigration levels beyond the already more than 1.5 million mostly low-skilled legal immigrants that are admitted to the country every year.

Here, Breitbart News chronicles the nine times globalists have claimed GDP growth was impossible under Trump:

1. Jeb Bush in 2015: We Have to ‘Dramatically Expand’ Immigration to Get 4% GDP

In 2015, then-presidential candidate Jeb Bush claimed the U.S. would need to “dramatically expand” legal immigration to the country in order to obtain four percent GDP.

Bush said:

"It seems to me we ought to be strategic about this about how do we create high, sustained economic growth And that is to shift away from family reunification being almost the sole driver of illegal immigration to narrowing that do what every other country has, spouse and minor children. And dramatically expanding immigrants that are coming to work. A guest worker program to deal in the areas where there are shortages."



2. Marco Rubio, Larry Kudlow in 2012: Mass Immigration Necessary for Economic Growth

In 2012, when Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) was just about to release his now infamous “Gang of Eight” amnesty plan — that would have given amnesty to the majority of the 12 million illegal aliens living in the U.S. and would have increased legal immigration levels — he and then-CNBC host Larry Kudlow pushed the notion that the amnesty and mass immigration plan was necessary for economic growth.

KUDLOW: I believe, and I’m here to encourage you, immigration reform if done correctly sir, is pro-growth … immigration reform is pro-growth, alright … heck our fertility rate is going down to two percent in this country, we’re going to need workers, both high-end and low-end. Senator Rubio, don’t give up on immigration reform … you are a leader on this. Immigration reform is pro-growth.

RUBIO: I agree with that concept. And I think the fundamental obstruction that we face is not on the pro-growth side of immigration reform, I think that’s a majority position in America that we have to have a legal immigration system that allows us … to bring in a workforce when necessary.



3. Paul Ryan in 2013: Mass Immigration ‘Will Help’ U.S. Have ‘Growth We Want’

During a panel discussion with a local chamber of commerce in 2013, House Speaker Paul Ryan said mass legal immigration through Rubio’s 2013 amnesty was necessary to fill the U.S. with workers and increase economic growth.

RYAN: And we believe in economic growth. And when we’ve got baby boomers retiring, when we’ve got 10,000 people retiring every day as they will be for 10 years coming, we’re going to need people. And when I look at this from just an economic standpoint, our birth rates are pretty [low] compared to our peers around the world, but they’re not where they need to be. Immigration will help improve that so that we have the labor we need to get the economic growth that we want so that America can be a fast-growing economy in the 21st Century. Immigration helps us get the labor force that we need so that we can have the kind of growth we want.



4. CNN’s Fareed Zakaria: Mass Immigration ‘Simple Way’ to Expand GDP

In 2013, CNN’s Fareed Zakaria dedicated an entire segment to pushing the idea that mass immigration through Rubio’s “Gang of Eight” amnesty is a “simple way” to grow GDP in the U.S.

Watch the segment here:



5. Soros-Funded Media: Trump Must ‘Boost Economy’ by Massively Expanding Immigration

The media outlet ProPublica, which is funded by left-wing billionaire George Soros, touted their research on immigration and GDP last year. The report claimed that the easiest route to achieving four percent GDP under Trump was by importing ten million foreign nationals every year, a drastic increase of legal immigration to the country.

ProPublica noted their immigration maximalism plan in a graphic:



6. The Atlantic: ‘Simple Way’ to Increase GDP is through Mass Immigration

Months ago, senior editor of The Atlantic Derek Thompson wrote that increasing GDP could be done under Trump, but that increasing legal immigration levels was how it could be achieved.

Thompson wrote:

So, what’s the trick to raising GDP if productivity levels are subdued? More workers. [Emphasis added]

Productivity growth is unpredictable, and fertility growth is elusive. What’s left? Well, there’s immigration. Achieving higher growth without another baby boom or accelerating productivity isn’t difficult—if the country simply let in more immigrants each year, GDP growth would almost surely accelerate. More able-bodied workers means more work; more work means more production; and product is, after all, the final noun in GDP. [Emphasis added]

7. WSJ: Mass Immigration would Drive ‘Faster Economic Growth’

In its attempt to push Rubio’s mass immigration and mass amnesty “Gang of Eight” plan, the Wall Street Journal released a report in 2013 in which it claimed that “faster economic growth” would be achieved if the U.S. allowed more legal immigration.

The WSJ report reads:

Faster economic growth would in turn drive down the budget deficit over the next 10 years by at least $2.5 trillion. Think of it this way: A more generous and more skill-based immigration system would lower the budget deficit three times more than President Obama’s fiscal-cliff tax increase enacted in January. This is merely a single study and hardly the final word, but the conclusions confirm what many others have found. The most comprehensive modern study was completed by the National Research Council in 1997. It found a net positive, albeit small, economic benefit from immigration. [Emphasis added]

8. Hoover Institute: Importing More H-1B Workers Will ‘Add Billions to GDP’

The executives of the Hoover Institute released a similar 2013 study pushing Rubio’s amnesty plan in which they claimed that increasing GDP could be accomplished, but only if the U.S. imported more H-1B foreign guest workers to take high-paying white collar U.S. jobs.

The Hoover Institute wrote at the time:

Initial estimates put the appropriations cost of the Senate Gang of Eight’s immigration bill (S. 744) at about $17 billion over ten years, leading at least a few politicians to cite cost as a potential reason to oppose its passage. But as Senator Rubio and others have pointed out, that cost does not include the economic benefits and tax revenue that would come from future immigrants. One group in particular, new H-1B visa workers, would add an estimated $456 billion to GDP and $113 billion to federal tax revenue over the next ten years. $244 billion of that increase in GDP would accrue to current US citizens and residents, with the rest going to the new H-1B workers. [Emphasis added]

9. Michael Bloomberg’s Open Borders Group: Mass Immigration Will ‘Increase GDP’

Billionaires Rupert Murdoch and Michael Bloomberg’s open borders lobbying organization, the New American Economy, advocated in 2013 for Rubio’s “Gang of Eight” amnesty, claiming their own study found that it was necessary to boost GDP. “Our estimates found that benchmark immigration reform would increase GDP by nearly 1 percentage point,” the New American Economy report stated.

“Included in the estimate were projected changes to the size of the economy (GDP) over the next 11 years,” the report continued. “The Chief Actuary estimated that by 2024 the level of GDP would be 1.63 percent higher than would otherwise be the case and by 2023, the end of the current 10-year budget window, GDP would be 1.6 percent higher than would otherwise be the case.

https://www.breitbart.com/big-govern...-increase-gdp/

Originally Posted by Jean

2. Marco Rubio, Larry Kudlow in 2012: Mass Immigration Necessary for Economic Growth

In 2012, when Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) was just about to release his now infamous “Gang of Eight” amnesty plan — that would have given amnesty to the majority of the 12 million illegal aliens living in the U.S. and would have increased legal immigration levels — he and then-CNBC host Larry Kudlow pushed the notion that the amnesty and mass immigration plan was necessary for economic growth.

KUDLOW: I believe, and I’m here to encourage you, immigration reform if done correctly sir, is pro-growth … immigration reform is pro-growth, alright … heck our fertility rate is going down to two percent in this country, we’re going to need workers, both high-end and low-end. Senator Rubio, don’t give up on immigration reform … you are a leader on this. Immigration reform is pro-growth.

RUBIO: I agree with that concept. And I think the fundamental obstruction that we face is not on the pro-growth side of immigration reform, I think that’s a majority position in America that we have to have a legal immigration system that allows us … to bring in a workforce when necessary.

Kudlow to become Trump's next top economic adviser


Trump tweeted on Thursday morning that with Kudlow in his administration, "Our country will have many years of Great Economic & Financial Success, with low taxes, unparalleled innovation, fair trade and an ever expanding labor force leading the way!"

LOL!! When Trump talks about an ever expanding labor force, he's talking about our labor participation rate. He discussed that specifically in his speech on Friday. Kudlow is learning from Trump, not the other way around. Hell, even Kevin Hassert said Trump had proved him wrong, too. Trump is going against the grain of almost all pro-growth by population and free trade racers to the bottom economists, dead wrong. They still have data and skills he needs, so he uses them for that, otherwise, they're actually learning the American Economic System from Donald J. Trump, President of the United States of America.

Universities will have to rewrite some of their economics classes, and they will, because Trump has proved much of what they teach to be all wrong on many aspects of economic predictions.

I DON'T TRUST ANY OF THEM .

I know, it's so frustrating, but keep the faith, Republicans may not be able to pass any bill we want because we don't have enough votes in the Senate to do so, but we can stop most anything that's bad if we know about it. MW did a really good job finding that appropriations bill notice and bringing all these amendments to our attention. I suspect silence on those amendments was the way they were able to get the $5 billion for the wall into it. In my opinion, it's not worth it. NO DEALS NOW, just wait until after the midterms, and if Republicans do well in the midterms and hopefully pick up 10 more Senate seats and hold a majority in the House, then maybe we can pass the bills we want and get the funding we need. The key now is not to get lost in the weeds of a crop that will never come to harvest and focus on winning the midterms BIGLY!! In the meantime, try Judy's Plan B:

Judy's Plan B:

Tell all these countries, if your citizens don't stop entering our country illegally, then your country will not have aid from or trade with the United States. Period.

Originally Posted by stoptheinvaders

Kudlow to become Trump's next top economic adviser

Trump tweeted on Thursday morning that with Kudlow in his administration, "Our country will have many years of Great Economic & Financial Success, with low taxes, unparalleled innovation, fair trade and an ever expanding labor force leading the way!"

Yep, Trump keeps dumping those big ole gators in his swamp! So far that hasn't seemed to work out for him or us where immigration and border security is concerned.

KUDLOW: I believe, and I’m here to encourage you, immigration reform if done correctly sir, is pro-growth … immigration reform is pro-growth, alright … heck our fertility rate is going down to two percent in this country, we’re going to need workers, both high-end and low-end. Senator Rubio, don’t give up on immigration reform … you are a leader on this. Immigration reform is pro-growth.

That was Trump's chief economic adviser, Larry Kudlow, supporting the 'gang of eight' amnesty bill. Kudlow is set in his ways and is not likely to change his position on this and don't let anyone tell you different. He is a strong supporter of illegal immigrant amnesty and foreign (cheaper) labor.

Trump may not be guilty of collusion with Russia, but he's certainly guilty of colluding and worse with the enemy when he invites folks like Kudlow to be his economic adviser!

I'm starting to see a picture here that isn't pretty. Could the following scenario be possible:

- Kudlow pounding Trump's ears with how much we need more foreign labor (expansion of guest worker visas).

- Trump has meeting with Rep. Yoder prior to pushing through the 2019 DHS funding bill out of his appropriation committee (this meeting did happen and is a matter of record).

- 2019 DHS funding bill comes out of Yoder's committee with 5 billion dollars for Trump's wall and a huge expansion of foreign labor (fact).

Whether you agree with the scenario or not, it makes a lot of sense. Yes, the dots could lead back to Kudlow who could have massaged and manipulated Trump on this! Like I said earlier, someone like Kudlow is not going to give up his longtime position on the need for more foreign labor just because Trump hires him.

What better way to show you who Trump's economic adviser, Larry Kudlow, is than his own writings. The following article was written by Larry Kudlow, Trump's chief economic adviser:


Immigration Reform Is Pro-Growth and Pro-GOP

By LARRY KUDLOW

• 
  
• 
  

May 16, 2014 9:00 PM

• 
  

Sal Russo (Tea Party Express / teapartyexpress.org)

It will help a shaky economy, and a shaky party too.Tea-party activist Sal Russo offered an eye-opening remark this week. He said “Conservatives should be leaders in the immigration-reform movement.” Then tax-reform activist Grover Norquist organized a media conference call, in which he reinforced his support of immigration reform. American Conservative Union chairman Al Cardenas joined in that call, as did Robert Gittelson, president of Conservatives for Comprehensive Immigration Reform.

In recent days, support for legal status for undocumented immigrants was also voiced by Senator Rand Paul, Texas governor Rick Perry, and former Florida governor Jeb Bush, all GOP presidential contenders.

House Speaker John Boehner has denied making any clear commitment to the White House to overhaul immigration, distrustful that President Obama will enforce a deal combining border security with legalization and possibly citizenship. But Boehner has laid down clear immigration-reform principles that have proven widely popular.

#ad#So the political tide among conservatives and Republicans may be turning in favor of immigration reform. As a longtime supporter of reform — who believes that immigration is a pro-growth issue — I am delighted to see these developments.

If the GOP is to recapture the Senate come November, and move on to retake the presidency in 2016, it must have a strong pro-growth message. Jobs and the economy are going to be key issues. Tax reform, regulatory rollbacks, and a rewriting of Obamacare that ends the mandates and provides real health-care freedom to choose are vital points.

But so is the immigration issue.

Not only because it is pro-growth, but because the Republican party must return to its Big Tent roots. It must follow the lead of Ronald Reagan and Jack Kemp. It must reach out to Hispanics, African Americans, young people, and women. A conservative Catholic like myself can work inside the same tent as my Log Cabin Republican friends.

In doing so, the GOP can maintain its core conservative principles of economic growth, limited government, and military strength. As Reagan taught us, strength at home in the domestic economy is vital to strength abroad in national security. That must not change. Nor should the GOP’s longtime support for defending the life of the unborn.

But the GOP will not be successful unless it actively reaches out to groups that have recently deserted it. It must show independents and disaffected Democrats that the Republican party is open for business, ready to spread its wings to attract greater support.

Immigration reform is a crucial symbol in the GOP reach-out effort. It will create new trust in a party that can govern for all.

All the recent polls say immigration reform is popular. A survey by the Partnership for a New American Economy shows that around 70 percent of Republicans who identify with the tea-party movement support immigration reform. They back the idea of undocumented immigrants obtaining either legalization or a path to citizenship. And 76 percent of surveyed Republicans support improved border security and letting immigrants remain in the U.S., while 69 percent say they would also support a candidate who backs broad reform.

Other polls from Gallup, CNN/ORC, Fox News, and CBS News agree. In fact, the Fox News poll indicates that more than two-thirds of Americans support a pathway to citizenship and reject mass deportation.

As Sal Russo, cofounder of the Tea Party Express, put it, “We need to make the 11 million people who are here illegally obey the law, pay taxes, and come out of the shadows. We have to get them right by the law in exchange for legal status, but not unbridled amnesty. This should include penalties, background checks to root out criminals, and the requirement that they learn English, understand the Constitution, and be committed to our basic freedoms. We must ensure there is no special pathway to citizenship that puts them in front of people who waited in line.” There’s no reason why this can’t be done.

Republican economist and former CBO director Douglas Holtz-Eakin argues that more rapid overall population growth will generate more rapid GDP growth and increased productivity. He notes that labor-force participation rates are higher among the foreign-born, and suggests that real GDP growth could rise from 3 percent to 3.9 percent on average annually over the first ten post-reform years, reducing the budget deficit by nearly $3 trillion.

COMMENTS

What’s more, immigration restrictionists are wrong to cite a CBO estimate that increased immigration will cost jobs. Yes, there could be a minor 0.1 percent transitory uptick in the unemployment rate. Meaningless. Over the longer term, the CBO agrees with Holtz-Eakin’s conclusions.

Pro-growth immigration reform will strengthen the shaky economy. Politically it will help the shaky GOP. And on the road to capturing all three houses in Washington in 2016, it will send a new message about a new Republican party.

LARRY KUDLOW — Larry Kudlow is the author of JFK and the Reagan Revolution: A Secret History of American Prosperity, written with Brian Domitrovic. @larry_kudlow

https://www.nationalreview.com/2014/05/immigration-reform-pro-growth-and-pro-gop-larry-kudlow/

More from Larry Kudlow, Trump's chief economic adviser:

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Currently reading Trump's Deportation Rhetoric Crushing to GOP http://www.newsmax.com/GeorgeWill/immigration-trump-deport/2015/08/23/id/671453/ … George nails it. Important piece.

11:31 AM - 23 Aug 2015

GDP is not what matters. PER CAPITA GDP is what's important. Bringing in 5 million immigrants who each produce say $12,000 of goods and services per year actually hurts america.

That's why we should only let people come here who have STEM degrees and valuable tech skills.

Originally Posted by MW

Yep, Trump keeps dumping those big ole gators in his swamp! So far that hasn't seemed to work out for him or us where immigration and border security is concerned.

Trump is the granddaddy of the gators in the swamp, and pulls in the smaller gators to keep him company and do his bidding.