re: What does it say about our economy that it requires cheap (often illegal) labor to survive

I blame liberal white women

People say this but there are places probably willing to pay a Mexican more than a teenager.

The real cheap labor are the jobs over seas.

It means we need to cutoff the "sit on your arse and collect a check" crowd

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This doesn't really address my question. Unless it's simply an argument for fixing the social security program, what is the economic rationale for a growing population being required for prosperity?

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It’s more than social security. The only way we can get out from under our debt is to hold the line on spending and grow out of it. You can’t grow a developed economy like that without growing the population. The only other way would be to increase productivity radically. That has only been done a few times, and the only prospect for doing so now is AI. Maybe it will happen, but that’s why I said it was a leap of faith.

Also, we need the growing economy to maintain the size and quality of military that will guarantee our freedom from foreign domination and subjugation.

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I agree with this. But it’s exacerbated by companies exploiting people’s urges to get them to consume more. So the companies can keep growing forever.

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Capitalism bro.

The shortest distance to unlocking revenue is constantly creating need. Your efficiency doesn't even matter at that point. This shows in addictive digital things, in marketing, in creating wars to serve the MIC, planned obsolescence, and everything in between. Without an actual way to control that because "capitalism bro," it won't end. Ever.

If ALLOWED to merely focus on their pleasure needs, Humans absolutely will. There are very very few who can resist it once you have a taste for it. And without a certain kind of value system in place, humans will create in themselves unfillable needs.