Bernanke-US immigration rules threat to productivity
NEW YORK, Jan 19 (Reuters) - Tightened U.S. immigration policies since the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks threaten America's ability to keep boosting productivity, Federal Reserve Governor Ben Bernanke said On Wednesday.
[Quite frankly this is assinine. It's going on four years since 2001 and productivity has never stopped soaring (primarily thru job exporation I maigt add) - mish]
A relatively open immigration policy earlier had paid big dividends for the United States, Bernanke said in response to questions after addressing the Council on Foreign Relations.
"I think a very important part of the productivity gains in the past decade were associated with our open immigration policy," Bernanke said. "If we don't allow, if we don't make provision for bright people, whether they be graduate students or professional people to come...that's a loss to our society and a loss to our potential productivity."
[Gag me with a spoon. Immigration, primarily illegal has doen nothing but lower wages. Mish]
On the question of U.S. economic prospects, Bernanke identified what he said were two major "risk factors" in the form of high oil prices and soft foreign demand for U.S.-made goods.
But he said that if oil prices stabilize, even at current relatively high levels, they should not be a drag on national output. "As long as they don't continue to rise at something like the pace of 2004, that too ought to be a net plus to aggregate demand growth in the U.S.," Bernanke said.
He acknowledged that big U.S. trade deficits, which he said represented a drain on aggregate U.S. demand because they stem from swelling imports, were a problem.
"For our growth (this year) to be what we hope it will be, that is, above trend, maybe 3-1/2 percent or even better, we need for the trade balance to be no worse of a drag than it has been recently," Bernanke said.
Stronger growth abroad would help because U.S. trade partners might be less reliant on exporting to the United States if their own consumers spent more.
"I think there's a reasonable expectation of a decent performance in Europe and in Japan and continued strength in China," Bernanke said.
[I think this is a more than reasonable proof he is nuts. Mish]
"Our hope is that the trade balance will not worsen and become even more of a drag in 2005 than it was in 2004 and if that's the case, the prospects for reasonable (U.S.) growth are pretty good," he added.
In response to a question, Bernanke said it seemed as if the U.S. economy may have grown less vigorously in the fourth quarter than Fed policymakers had been anticipating, though he did not estimate the pace of growth in gross domestic product.
[WTF? Trying to get expecations lowered a bit are we? That's a good way to let the cat out of the bag. Mish]
GDP expanded at a healthy 4 percent annual rate in the third quarter this year. Fourth-quarter GDP figures will be published by the government on Jan. 28.
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