Fed Chair Jerome Powell Comedy Hour: All those hordes of illegals coming across the border the last two years have been filling the jobs employers couldn't fill, making the economy grow 3%

 The laughs are here:

Fed Chair Jerome Powell: Immigration The Reason Why The Economy Grew 3% In A Year, "We've Needed More People":

Our economy has been short labor and probably still is if you talk to and we do talk to a lot of business people, it is still difficult to hire for many, many companies. So we've needed more people. But what happened over the course of last year is to a much greater extent than had been thought. Immigration moved up quite a bit over the last two years.     

 Meanwhile, full time as a percentage of civilian population DROPPED year over year in the first quarter, according to the employment numbers out today, from 49.7% in 1Q2023 to 49.2% in 1Q2024.

Elon Musk, Glenn Beck, Matt Yglesias, and Donald Trump are FOR lots of LEGAL immigration

 I'M NOT.

In your guts you know he's nuts

 

Kim Strassel: Everyone remembers that Joe Biden invited all these illegals here who are pouring across our border unimpeded by his administration

 Biden invited them all during his campaign:

Biden promised millions of them amnesty and citizenship during his debate with Trump:

Kim Strassel, here, on Biden now pretending there's no problem with the millions streaming across.

Kim's lookin' good:

Governor Kathy Bart Simpson Hochul of New York now: ""If you're going to leave your country, go somewhere else"

 Then:

 Yikes.

Same old story: The Freedom Conservatives are godless, pro-immigration, free-trade libertarians

 Discussed here by John Fonte:

Unlike in both the Sharon Statement and the National Conservatism Statement of Principles, “transcendent values” and “God” are nowhere to be found in the Freedom Conservatism Statement . . ..

It is no accident that Grover Norquist, Jeb Bush, and mass immigration enthusiasts associated with Koch-funded organizations such as the Niskanen Center and The Bulwark readily signed on to the FreeCon statement. ...

Overall, the share of American imports covered by trade restrictions increased under Reagan from 8 percent in 1975 to 21 percent by 1984.

Michigan's Republican US House members Jack Bergman, Peter Meijer, and Fred Upton vote to turn on immigration magnet, give citizenship to the adult children of H-1B visa holders, the 1.5 million foreigners who already take jobs from Americans

The Roll Call vote is here.

The story is here.

AmodeiRepublicanNevadaYEA

BairdRepublicanIndianaYEA

BaldersonRepublicanOhioYEA

BarrRepublicanKentuckyYEA

BergmanRepublicanMichiganYEA

BradyRepublicanTexasYEA

BucshonRepublicanIndianaYEA

CammackRepublicanFloridaYEA

Carter (TX)RepublicanTexasYEA

CawthornRepublicanNorth CarolinaYEA

CheneyRepublicanWyomingYEA

ColeRepublicanOklahomaYEA

Davis, RodneyRepublicanIllinoisYEA

Diaz-BalartRepublicanFloridaYEA

DunnRepublicanFloridaYEA

EmmerRepublicanMinnesotaYEA

FallonRepublicanTexasYEA

FitzpatrickRepublicanPennsylvaniaYEA

FloresRepublicanTexasYEA

FoxxRepublicanNorth CarolinaYEA

Garcia (CA)RepublicanCaliforniaYEA

GibbsRepublicanOhioYEA

GimenezRepublicanFloridaYEA

Gonzales, TonyRepublicanTexasYEA

Gonzalez (OH)RepublicanOhioYEA

Gooden (TX)RepublicanTexasYEA

GrangerRepublicanTexasYEA

Graves (LA)RepublicanLouisianaYEA

GuthrieRepublicanKentuckyYEA

Herrera BeutlerRepublicanWashingtonYEA

IssaRepublicanCaliforniaYEA

Jacobs (NY)RepublicanNew YorkYEA

Johnson (OH)RepublicanOhioYEA

Joyce (OH)RepublicanOhioYEA

KatkoRepublicanNew YorkYEA

KellerRepublicanPennsylvaniaYEA

Kim (CA)RepublicanCaliforniaYEA

KinzingerRepublicanIllinoisYEA

LongRepublicanMissouriYEA

MaceRepublicanSouth CarolinaYEA

MalliotakisRepublicanNew YorkYEA

McCaulRepublicanTexasYEA

McHenryRepublicanNorth CarolinaYEA

MeijerRepublicanMichiganYEA

Miller-MeeksRepublicanIowaYEA

Moore (AL)RepublicanAlabamaYEA

NewhouseRepublicanWashingtonYEA

ReschenthalerRepublicanPennsylvaniaYEA

Rice (SC)RepublicanSouth CarolinaYEA

Rogers (AL)RepublicanAlabamaYEA

RouzerRepublicanNorth CarolinaYEA

SalazarRepublicanFloridaYEA

SimpsonRepublicanIdahoYEA

SteelRepublicanCaliforniaYEA

TaylorRepublicanTexasYEA

TenneyRepublicanNew YorkYEA

Thompson (PA)RepublicanPennsylvaniaYEA

TurnerRepublicanOhioYEA

UptonRepublicanMichiganYEA

ValadaoRepublicanCaliforniaYEA

WagnerRepublicanMissouriYEA

Wilson (SC)RepublicanSouth CarolinaYEA

I'm all in for more immigration as long as it's rooftop Koreans

Good a day as any to remember that Alan Greenspan in 2007 explicitly advocated for immigration to suppress the wages of skilled laborers

Greenspan: Let more skilled immigrants in :

"Our skilled wages are higher than anywhere in the world," he said. "If we open up a significant window for skilled workers, that would suppress the skilled-wage level and end the concentration of income."

Yeah, the problem isn't millionaires and billionaires concentrating wealth in their hands, it's the goddamn skilled laborers who must be stopped, the engineers, scientists, doctors and teachers, the crane operators, CDL truck drivers, machinists, drafters, plumbers, craftsmen, cooks and accountants.

 

When you've lost Alabama to a pro-immigration Republican, you can't help but feel all is lost

Comprehensive Immigration Reform means doubling immigration (per Kevin Hassett), and Trump's Jay Sekulow sings the song

Here.

And Jay admits it.

Gaslighting on a civilizational scale began with just one tribe convincing eleven other tribes to cough up their best animals in exchange for their sins

Trump's Council of Economic Advisors to be headed by Kevin Hassett, a pro-immigration, free-trading globalist

FTAlphaville (registration required) summarizes all his problems here, with links.

The libertarians are thrilled.

Looks like Donald Trump is proving to be the Manchurian Candidate Hassett thought Obama was.

Scott Sumner is simply an ideologue, and a confused one at that, otherwise he wouldn't be as unhappy as he is

In "Libertarians have nowhere to turn" Scott Sumner the market monetarist laments:

'In my view neither major political party has libertarian inclinations. ... I'm slightly more sympathetic to the progressives who insist that I should really be a Democrat. They tell me "After all, you are rational. You believe in evolution and support carbon taxes and redistribution and think money was too tight during the Great Recession. You are pro-immigration and skeptical of the idea that America is an 'exceptional' nation, which must police the world." Those are all good arguments, but then I start obsessing about economics. After all, I am an economist.'

Apart from completely missing that the Democrat Party is the party of social freedom and the Republican Party is the party of economic freedom, it's rather singular for a self-described libertarian to embrace economic redistributionism so openly (not to mention a draconian form of taxation). To do so betrays a feeling for the left, not the right, which, if libertarians were only honest enough to admit it, has always been their inclination.

Sumner might reflect on the fact that we actually live in a perfect storm of libertarianism, in which economic (and social) actors have been unleashed to be all that they can be. The trouble is, only a few "succeed". The fact that income inequality has reasserted itself to a degree not seen since the gilded age is proof of the basic fact that not all men are created equal. The very best at making money have risen to the top and become enormously wealthy in an environment specifically designed to allow it to happen. The end result of economic libertarianism is that the very best will eventually succeed in hoarding all the goodies for themselves while the rest of us are left to serfdom. The end result of libertarianism is freedom for thee, but not for me.

The same can be illustrated on the social side, where some freak flags fly higher than all the rest. They rise to fame and influence beyond all their fellows in "art", "music", "literature" and "society", if you can call violent, vulgar and obscene Hollywood films, rap, "shady" novels and the Kardashians representative of those categories.

Conservatism, primarily rooted in religion, has historically functioned in society to apply the brakes to keep these actors from getting out of control and acquiring undue influence, whether socially or economically. The left only imagines itself capable of replacing religion's heretofore tempering role, which primarily functioned through willful self-restraint. Hence the efforts to reduce income inequality by force through taxation schemes, which obviously aren't working. On the social side the left has had even less success, except by recourse to venomous speech and conduct codes which meet with little assent and not a little fear and loathing among the many.

Freedom, as currently conceived in all its sterility, is quite literally killing America.

Republican control of the Senate may well mean immigration amnesty

Most Republicans running for still-in-play US Senate seats are endorsed by the pro-immigration-amnesty US Chamber of Commerce. Consider those listed below without NumbersUSA high rankings or recommendations in parentheses to be sympathetic to amnesty when it comes time to vote on immigration reform, despite what they may say to get elected. The US Chamber doesn't endorse lightly these days, and it wants more cheap labor in this country, which comes at the expense of already unemployed and underemployed Americans.

Endorsed by the US Chamber:

Mitch McConnell in Kentucky (B+)

Thom Tillis in North Carolina

Thad Cochran in Mississippi (B+)

Tom Cotton in Arkansas (B+)

Joni Ernst in Iowa

Scott Brown in New Hampshire (D+)

Steve Daines in Montana (C+)

Corey Gardiner in Colorado (F-)

Mike Rounds in South Dakota

Shelly Moore Capito in West Virginia (C+)

Dan Sullivan in Alaska

Pat Roberts in Kansas (rated A+ by NumbersUSA)

Ed Gillespie in Virginia

Jim Oberweis in Illinois (used to be opposed to amnesty, but not now)

Terri Lynn Land in Michigan

Mike McFadden in Minnesota

Monica Wehby in Oregon

Not endorsed by US Chamber:

Ben Sasse in Nebraska

David Perdue in Georgia (rated "true reformer" by NumbersUSA)

Bill Cassidy in Louisiana (rated A- by Numbers USA)

Endorsement uncertain:

Jeff Bell in New Jersey

Allen Weh in New Mexico

Michigan Gov. Snyder Brags He's The Most Pro-Immigration Governor In The Country

Michigan Governor Rick Snyder, someone who will never be president, here:

“I’m probably the most pro-immigration governor in the country and I’m proud of that,” said Snyder, who included farm workers in his call for opening the state’s borders to immigrants who can create jobs for the state’s economy.

Best comment on the story:

"I never see advertisements for farm labor." 

Face It, The Heritage Foundation Has Been And Remains Confused (By Liberalism)

As the photo at left demonstrates but conservatives want to ignore, including Erick Erickson here at Red State, a Heritage Foundation representative was present for the signing of RomneyCare in 2006 because Heritage invented the damn idea way back before HillaryCare raised its ugly head and Heritage was happy to see it made into law (so was Senator Ted Kennedy). That was just seven years ago, but now Heritage would just rather have you ignore all that.

Forcing people to sign up for health insurance at the point of a gun has its analog, of course, in forcing people in distant lands to adopt Western-style democracy, something we heard the heir of Republican conservatism, George Bush, incessantly preach: "The long-term solution is to promote a better ideology, which is freedom. Freedom is universal." (Whether they want it or not). To this day, as Molly Ball's article in The Atlantic points out here, "universal coverage" is still Heritage's position:

In my interviews with them, Heritage officials could recite chapter and verse on why Heritage turned against the individual mandate -- a turn, they claim, that occurred before Romney or Obama adopted the idea. “We still believe universal coverage is a good idea,” [Phillip] Truluck [VP and COO] said. But none of the four Heritage officials I interviewed could tell me offhand how the foundation proposes to reform health care and cover the uninsured if Obamacare is scrapped. (Later, an assistant followed up by emailing me links to Heritage papers on “putting patients first,” regulating the health-insurance market, and Medicare reform.)

The place is universally incoherent, and always has been. It has been against Drugs for Seniors as an expansion of big government, but supported the line-item veto, thus expanding the authority of the executive part of government, even as it once used to warn about the imperial presidency. Today it is famously against the current immigration amnesty plan but was pro-immigration for the longest time. It had a founder who has moved notably left liberal, but now it has a libertarian-friendly leader in Jim DeMint. It was for ObamaCare before it was against it. Something about the Heritage Foundation is really off for it to be the home of so many contradictory currents. If conservatism is the negation of ideology, as Russell Kirk taught us, Heritage knows nothing about it.

Maybe they should just rename the place The John F. Kerry Foundation and be done with it.

To the Left, Enforcing the Law is Right Wing Extremism

As in this from Conor Williams for The Washington Post:

Yet [the ex-governor's] views are hardly moderate at all: [Tim] Pawlenty has advocated fining or jailing business owners who employ undocumented immigrants. He's even suggested amending the Constitution to repeal birthright citizenship.

This approach to immigration policy could be disastrous for a region already suffering from economic hardship. The Midwest needs more immigrants - not fewer.

What the Midwest needs is fewer coastal pricks telling fly-over country what's what, and a vigorous emigration policy for liberals, from wherever they hail, including the Michigan governor's residence.