It's 9AM

How Much of This is Made Up?

Chris Lowry

Mar 20, 2024

It’s selfish really.

And maybe a little pragmatic too.

Because it’s a bi-polar issue.

We’re having a problem with immigration.

AND we need immigrants.

Lots of them.

Probably all of them.

Because of ten years from now.

Ten years from now, we’re losing a lot of Boomers.

Unless something radical happens over the next decade.

Like dropping sugar and seed oil in our diets by 75%.

And developing some nano-bots to fight clogged arteries and cancer.

But we’re not because of other problems.

So a decade from now, the population of the US drops.

Or over the next ten years, it just keeps declining.

And if the TREND continues, then my generation, GEN-X, and those that come after us are facing some problems.

A smaller work force from Millenials and Gen Z and Gen Alpha means fewer taxes being given over to the governments, state and Fed.

Which means…trouble.

Lower stock prices, maybe.

Higher cost of living. Probably.

Because of bodies.

We used to have a lot of people making a lot of babies, because a lot of babies didn’t make it to the age of twelve.

Then, there were just some people making some babies, and we decided to grow our country with open borders.

Because a lot of people doing a lot of work equals a lot of prosperity.

I read about Irishmen getting off the boats in New York city, only to be put back on the boats headed over to France to fight Germany in WW II.

Their families got to stay and collect their pay.

And when they died, those families got their $10,000 life insurance.

A nice nest egg for newcomers to get started.

And I know the same happened with other people showing up on our shores.

The US has helped.

We have always helped, with the expectation that if you survive, you’re growing the country.

And if you don’t, your family will grow the country.

But today, “politics” has turned immigration into an “issue.”

And the news, no matter where you get it or who you listen to, paints a picture.

It’s not pretty.

Plus, it’s manipulated.

You can listen to the language and the words used to learn how you’re being taught and train to “feel” a certain way.

And the thing is, it’s okay to feel any sort of way.

Love ‘em. Hate ‘em. Don’t give a flip ‘em.

Except…

There is one thing that is true no matter how you feel.

Need ‘em.

Yep, WE need more people.

More people put into the work force, more people learning trades and building things.

More people paying taxes.

More people learning English and learning to enjoy reading so they will buy books.

Told you I was pragmatic.

More people now so that ten years from now, we’re not in a real crisis, and not one made up by the news.

I watched a documentary about Pine Bluff yesterday about America’s fastest shrinking city.

It highlighted a lot of the problems that start with population shrinkage (caused by NAFTA and manufacturing jobs in the South going South of the border).

And I KNOW AI will change our workscape over the next decade, I’m just not sure how, yet.

Maybe we won’t need more people.

Robots will lay roads, and build bridges, and robots will build robots and AI will use data to solve problems, using historical analysis to avoid pitfalls.

And data will steer government decisions in the right directions and all will be well in the world because we are using TECH to make it a better place.

Instead of making corporations rich.

But…

We are not there yet.

And since we might not get there, because I do not expect corporate execs to suddenly decide to became magnanimous.

I think we need people.

More people.

I’m not sure where they would work in Pine Bluff.

Or anywhere in the Delta.

Except I’m reminded of how pioneers settled the Wild West.

Not the big robber barons who came in, claimed a million acres and enforced their own borders with hired six guns.

I’m talking about homesteaders, who claimed a few acres, built a log cabin, planted a garden and got chickens.

Then they built villages, and towns and cities. Industries popped up as more people showed up.

Mills to make boards to build homes. Stores to buy stuff.

Saloons so the working men could drink.

Brothels, because it is the world’s second oldest profession.

Entire economies, all local, and yeah, hardscrabble and yeah, probably a little glorified through the looking back glass, because there were hard times too.

A lot of them.

I don’t think that 1000 new families added to Pine Bluff with no jobs available would change the city by eating eggs, and growing all the ingredients for salsa.

But…

The two largest employers in Pine Bluff say they have a worker shortage because no one wants to work. Tyson. Central Maloney.

CM specifically told me they hire people, who just don’t show up.

Or they show up high, and get fired, because the company doesn’t want them working under the influence and getting hurt.

So it’s not a job shortage, per say.

Would 300 new workers new to the country and eager to build a life help?

I knew a lot of legal immigrants in Los Angeles who worked their asses off and sent 50% or more of their paycheck back to Mexico.

That money didn’t stay in the US.

But half of it did, and it went to buy things, like gas, and food and rent and beer.

Know what’s better than zero?

Half.

Plus importing immigrants into a city like Pine Bluff would change the city I grew up in.