Alan Greenspan Quotes

The bottom line is there are lots of problems that were not created by government. The biggest one is loss of middle class incomes, loss of good-paying jobs which was created by technology and globalization. Above all, when you can move a job to China or India, it reduces wages.

To advocate both for more immigration and for faster wage growth for the working and middle class is to work at cross-purposes.

Significantly opening up immigration to skilled workers solves two problems. The companies could hire the educated workers they need. And those workers would compete with high-income people, driving more income equality.

Over the years, we have lost millions of decent paying jobs. These trade agreements have forced wages down in America so the average worker in America today is working longer hours for lower wages.

Global inequality is such an abstract concept, simply because there is no global government. Telling people in rich countries who have had no increase in real incomes, stagnant median wages and so on, that on the other hand global inequality is going down because people who are much poorer than them are getting richer - it's something that maybe they would like in an abstract sense, because everyone is happy there are fewer poor Chinese, but you may not be as happy if these Chinese are taking your job.

That's an interesting paradox to think about. Make it legal and it's no good. Why? Because as long as it's illegal the people who come in do not qualify for welfare, they don't qualify for social security, they don't qualify for the other myriad of benefits that we pour out from our left pocket to our right pocket. So long as they don't qualify they migrate to jobs. They take jobs that most residents of this country are unwilling to take. They provide employers with the kind of workers that they cannot get. They're hard workers, they're good workers, and they are clearly better off.

Some states are doing better than others. Some states naturally have stronger economies. So it's not as simple as saying, 'Let's go to $15.' If you do it wrong, you can hurt the very people you're trying to help.

The end of free movement means that we will be able to consider the impact on the existing labour market when determining whether we want unskilled workers from the E.U. to be able to come to the U.K.

That border wall's not going to put one single West Virginian to work.

From teaching, the NHS and social care, to cleaning and building, the U.K. economy depends heavily on E.U. workers. Under a Canada-style deal for the U.K./E.U., the ability for E.U. workers to live and work freely in the U.K. would stop.

We want the NHS to be able to recruit the doctors and nurses it needs. And we want British businesses to be free to hire the best workers from anywhere in the world.

I'm an entrepreneur trying to let the American people know that it's not immigrants that are causing economic problems, it is the fact that our economy is advancing in ways that is making human labor less and less essential.

While the Washington swamp, which loves shipping American jobs offshore to make a buck or Euro, is already rising up against the proposed legislation, the USRTA is just plain common sense.

I think Britain's economy has done extremely well from having the influx of talented people from around the world and from having an influx of people from the rest of the European Union. It's both evidence of how strong the British economy was - that's what drew people in - but it's also part of what's making the British economy work.

There are people who want to import the dregs of the world into this country in order to cut this country down to size. Do not doubt me on this. I know it sounds hard to believe. Those people will be found somewhere on the political spectrum, and they vote Democrat.

No matter what Tucker Carlson tried - no matter what logic, the law, no matter what he tried - he could not disabuse this student of the idea that we can't survive as a country doing that and that the country must have borders and that a country must determine who gets in and who does not.

If you're fighting against a minimum wage increase, you're fighting an uphill battle, because most Americans, even most Republicans, are okay with raising the minimum wage.

I concluded that the trade agreements weren't working as promised, and was depreciating the wages and the manufacturing base, and the jobs of Americans, and that both needed to change, and Donald Trump was out there. So I went to his rally.

It is well known that unemployment benefits raise unemployment durations.

The Trump plan is a different plan. It's a you're fired plan. And there's two key elements to it. First, Donald Trump said wages are too high. And both Donald Trump and Mike Pence think we ought to eliminate the federal minimum wage.

Don't let anybody tell you that raising the minimum wage will kill jobs.

During my three years as chief economist of the World Bank, labor market issues were looked at through the lens of neoclassical economics. A standard message was to increase labor market flexibility. The not-so-subtle subtext was to lower wages and lay off unneeded workers.

Many people are coming to this country for economic reasons. They're coming here to work. If you can make 50 cents in the heart of Mexico, for example, or make $5 here in America, $5.15, you're going to come here if you're worth your salt, if you want to put food on the table for your families. And that's what's happening.

We [Americans] are a nation of immigrants. We all understand what this country has become because talent from all around the world wants to come here, people who are willing to take risks, people who want to build on their dreams and make sure their kids have an - even bigger dreams than they have.

One thing we're going to do is talk just about that: Obamacare, jobs. Our jobs are being taken away from us. Companies, as we speak, are signing documents with Mexico and other places to move. Our jobs be being... Look at Ford two weeks ago. Ford Motor. They're gonna make all of their smaller cars in Mexico. They're gonna move everything outta here. And so many... I mean, Carrier air-conditioners. I talk about all these companies. There are hundreds of companies. They're moving out to Mexico and other countries.