MAKE AMERICA WEAK AGAIN? Why Immigration Policies, Polarized Politics, and Protectionism Are Harmful

MAKE AMERICA WEAK AGAIN? Why Immigration Policies, Polarized Politics, and Protectionism Are Harmful

In part 1 of this series I discussed why America has ACTUALY been THRIVING, but we can’t take that for granted so here in part 2 I’ll dive into some of the KEY risks our country faces. Contrary to popular belief, the biggest threats DON’T come from external factors like China or climate change or AI. They come from WITHIN.
In Texas we have a saying… “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” And trying to fix what isn’t broken is leading to dangerous shifts in U.S. politics that could threaten our future in 3 ways…
The first way that America’s polarized politics and negative self-image could threaten its future is through its immigration policies.
Most people and politicians focus a lot on how too MUCH immigration can be a bad thing, but they FAIL to recognize how too LITTLE can ALSO be a bad thing.
Over the next few decades, aging populations are going to become a bigger and bigger challenge for many countries, including the U.S. One of the keys that has set us apart from places like Japan over the past 30 years has been immigration and it could ALSO be a significant advantage over China in the NEXT 30 years, if we let it.
To illustrate this, you can see how from 1990 to 2020 the percentage of Japan’s population that was over age 65 more than DOUBLED from about 13% to 30%, while the U.S. population stayed about the same. That’s the MAIN reason their economy stagnated while the U.S. continued to grow.
Over the NEXT 30 years, China’s population is projected to mirror the LAST 30 years in Japan, almost exactly. Japan went from 13 to 30% and China is projected to go from 13 to 32% of its population over the age of 65.
Since NONE of the 3 countries have a high enough birthrate to keep the population stable, immigration has been the KEY reason why the U.S. has been able to keep growing while Japan stagnated in the LAST 30 years, and it COULD help the U.S. keep growing while China stagnates over the NEXT 30 years, IF politicians don’t get in the way.
Besides taking care of the elderly and doing the jobs many Americans don’t WANT to do, immigrants have also been a HUGE source of dynamism and innovation in the U.S.
Almost HALF of Fortune 500 companies were founded by immigrants or children of immigrants, including Apple, Amazon, and Costco. Immigrants have also won almost half of the nobel prizes in science that have been won in the United States since the year 2000. Statistically they are LESS likely to commit a crime and MORE likely to start a business than native-born Americans.
Our lives would DEFINITELY NOT be better without them.
Yet, Trump tried to place new restrictions on how many skilled LEGAL immigrants could come into the U.S., then started building a wall, and Biden has continued most of Trump’s immigration policies.
Border control is DEFINITELY important for every country, but when you have an aging population, NOT ENOUGH immigration can be JUST as big of a problem as TOO MUCH immigration, so severely curtailing it could actually HURT our economy in the long-run more than a lot of people realize.
The second way that America’s polarized politics and negative self-image could threaten its future is through protectionist, “America first” policies.
These things often SOUND good when politicians say them, especially when they’re hidden under the guise of national security or paired with nostalgia like “bringing manufacturing jobs home.”
There’s just one problem. The road to hell is paved with good intentions, and protectionism has been PROVEN for GENERATIONS to do more harm than good because of ALL the unintended consequences it comes with.
Maybe these are too complicated for politicians’ tiny brains to comprehend, but I think YOU’ll get it.
Globalization and open competition have been KEY factors underpinning the long-term growth of the U.S.
Take semiconductors, for example. The U.S. used to DOMINATE global semiconductor manufacturing, but it’s lost about ¾ of its market share over the last 30 years.
HOWEVER, you can see from the blue line that its market share of the TOTAL semiconductor industry has actually GROWN since then as U.S. companies like Nvidia and Broadcom have captured some of the HIGHER VALUE parts of the supply chain, like chip design.
Intel lost its edge in manufacturing to companies like Taiwan Semiconductor and Samsung, but that’s OK!
We’ve lost some manufacturing jobs but GAINED even more HIGHER PAYING jobs in the same industry.

Part 1/2 of this USA series: https://youtu.be/z4KlOGzWa_E

00:00 Intro
00:35 Harmful Immigration Policies
2:58 Harmful Protectionist America First Policies
5:29 Deteriorating Strategic Relationships (i.e. China)

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