Comments on: Would Immigration Solve Housing Crisis?

By: DC Loser

DC Loser — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 01:24:20 +0000

superdestroyer - Apparently you have a personal problem with Asian Americans. I wouldn't dignify a response to that since what's that have to do with the issue James raised. And I wouldn't know the answer to your question since I haven't set foot inside the Eden Center in over a dozen years.

By: superdestroyer

superdestroyer — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 00:49:18 +0000

DC Loser,

If you are not Korean and try to open a cleaners in DC, the Korean Cleaners associations will make your life hard. They will file complaints, sue you, and to everything they can to use their monopoly power to put you out of business.

When you realize that cheating on their taxes is part of the business plan for most small Asian owned businesses, you would realize what a stupid idea this is. When was the last time you saw a white person working at the Eden Center?

By: DC Loser

DC Loser — Sun, 22 Mar 2009 19:48:44 +0000

Yeah, all those Asians and other immigrants (Jerry Yang, Sergey Brin) who started up the companies like Yahoo and Google in Silicon Valley were stealing jobs from honest Americans. It's not a zero sum game.

By: superdestroyer

superdestroyer — Sun, 22 Mar 2009 17:47:52 +0000

At a time when the unemployment rate in Nevada and California is double digits, does it really make sense more adults who will compete for jobs. Does anyone really believe that another Korean dry cleaners, Vietnamese nails salon, or Chinese restaurant will actually produce jobs for people outside of those ethnic groups.

Depending upon clannish groups from closed society to help U.S. citizens is incredibly naive and foolish.

By: Michael

Michael — Sun, 22 Mar 2009 14:42:27 +0000

Surplus houses are in the most expensive counties.

It may be the worst in the most expensive counties, but it is not exclusive to them.

By: Dave Schuler

Dave Schuler — Sun, 22 Mar 2009 14:17:20 +0000

While I'm not talking about millions of them

That's the point. For a couple of thousand, sure. But not millions. It's not a scalable solution. And the new immigrants wouldn't be distributed evenly throughout the country, they'd be concentrated in a handful of areas where they would present unmanageable demands on local services. The idea deserves to be treated with scorn rather than admiration.

By: DC Loser

DC Loser — Sun, 22 Mar 2009 14:11:04 +0000

Dave - from a completely anecdotal perspective based on years of observation of Chinese (from Mainland, Hong Kong, and Taiwan)and Korean immigrants buying real estate in Los Angeles and Washington DC, paying $300k in cash is not a problem for many of them. While I'm not talking about millions of them, there are still enough of them that they can make a dent in some of the most depressed markets like LA and Las Vegas. Asians have a very high savings rate and many business people in those countries have socked away a lot of money over the years. I have a middle class relative in Hong Kong that recently sold a flat in London and are waiting for an opportunity to buy once the market settles. She is not that much different from many there that have second homes in foreign countries. In the 80s and 90s, many people from HK received Canadian residency based on their ability to buy real estate and start businesses in Canada. Give them this opportunity here and they'll pounce.

By: Dave Schuler

Dave Schuler — Sun, 22 Mar 2009 13:56:10 +0000

BTW “surplus houses” aren't in “much of the country”. Surplus houses are in the most expensive counties.

By: Dave Schuler

Dave Schuler — Sun, 22 Mar 2009 13:53:46 +0000

Confusing causes with effects. I have a question: how would the Indians, Chinese, and Koreans finance their purchase? The average house in Los Angeles County costs about $300,000. If they're contemplating these Indians, Chinese, and Koreans paying cash that would come to roughly $600 billion. I doubt there's that much liquidity in the three countries put together.

By: Pete Burgess

Pete Burgess — Sun, 22 Mar 2009 13:37:14 +0000

James, without mentioning it by name, why don't you consider how my "pet agenda" would stimulate the housing crisis and overall economy? It also would provide some solutions to the illegal immigration problem. It provides many solutions to problems we face today.

Hopefully Steve Verdon will be curious enough to study it and open a debate.