Funny how often a quote from Germany in the late Thirties seems appropriate these days.

“Housing shortage – Jews to blame," letter sticker, German Reich, 1938zwangsraeume.berlin/en/context [image or embed]

— Zach Everson (@zacheverson.com) November 13, 2025 at 6:16 PM

 If you haven’t been following administration messaging closely, you might have missed this. It hasn’t gotten nearly the coverage it deserves. The White House and its allies are lining up behind the argument that mass deportation would reduce—or even eliminate—inflation. There are a few deeply disturbing aspects to this. First, the history of this particular argument is exceptionally ugly, with clear antecedents in Nazi Germany.  Second there's the comically blatant lie of claiming that there thiry million undocumented imigrants living here.

Third—and here I’m a bit out of my depth, so I hope Joseph or some of our regulars will jump in if I get something wrong—it also runs directly counter to conventional economic theory. While removing millions of immigrants, documented and undocumented, would reduce demand, these workers are disproportionately employed in sectors like construction and food harvesting and processing. Access to immigrant labor also helps prevent severe labor shortages, which are themselves inflationary. 

Fed Governor Stephen Miran: "Cutting down net migration to 0, potentially even negative because of the deportations that have been occurring, I think is very deflationary." [image or embed]

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.com) November 14, 2025 at 12:05 PM

 Perhaps the most disturbing part of all this (outside of the “we got it from the Nazis” angle) is hearing this line of argument coming from a fed governor. I doubt Miran believes what he’s saying here any more than Bessent believes the claims he’s been pushing about tariffs.