I think the problem with a perfectly normal question like that “should we bring in this many students/immigrants?” is the following:
1: the housing crisis existed before the latest wave of newcomers and isn’t actually their fault that we have been selfishly negligent with building housing for more than 2 decades - stopping that influx wouldn’t mean that our NIMBY problem goes away in any meaningful way.
2: having productive people want to come to your country is a “problem” that many places on earth would like to have and we should embrace it as good public policy.
3: it’s embarrassing that we have so many levels of small-minded government that refuse to leave their silos and actually make good policy.
All of this dithering just makes it so much easier for unabashed racists to have a good time with the instability it causes.
1: the housing crisis existed before the latest wave of newcomers and isn’t actually their fault that we have been selfishly negligent with building housing for more than 2 decades - stopping that influx wouldn’t mean that our NIMBY problem goes away in any meaningful way.
2: having productive people want to come to your country is a “problem” that many places on earth would like to have and we should embrace it as good public policy.
3: it’s embarrassing that we have so many levels of small-minded government that refuse to leave their silos and actually make good policy.
All of this dithering just makes it so much easier for unabashed racists to have a good time with the instability it causes.
local cambridge weirdo