Austerity billionaire Peter Peterson promotes high immigration too

Peter Peterson is a billionaire who's spent close to $500 million pushing austerity measures such as cutting entitlements [1]. Together with the Koch family, his millions have played a major role in the rightwing's near total obsession with spending and debt. Less than five years ago, Peterson was a voice in the wilderness; now, the GOP and Tea Parties share his idée fixe.

Besides austerity, another thing Peterson has in common with the Kochs is that some of his funds are used to promote high immigration. Promoting bad immigration policy doesn't appear to be as big a priority for him as it does for the Kochs, but it illustrates once again that fiscal conservative leaders tend to be bad on immigration as well.

For one data point, turn to "Some Aging Nations Look to Immigration to Avert Economic Squeeze" by Albert Bozzo ( cnbc . com/id/49571697 ). It quotes Jacob Kirkegaard, "a senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics" (a Peterson thinktank) as saying:

"Countries that have traditionally been destinations for large immigration tend to have younger populations... There is another link, which is probably more important for the preparation of the aging, and that's if you have a relatively liberal immigration policy you tend to have relatively higher fertility rates. Also, having a fairly liberal economy, open labor markets, easy access and an economy that is relatively flexible is often reflected in immigration policy... An aging population means a decline in the labor force... It lowers potential [economic] growth rates. Where it becomes very problematic is the impact it has on social spending."

The article also quotes Kirkegaard promoting skilled immigration in particular as a "more strategic immigration policy".

As stated, promoting bad immigration policy doesn't appear to be anywhere near the priority for Peterson that promoting bad fiscal policy is, but additional examples will be noted as they're found.

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[1] For background on his efforts, see peekURL.com/zxrwfqT and peekURL.com/zbNYvAj