No, that headline isn’t a snide joke. I think there’s a commonality between Mark Krikorian’s analysis and some of the things said on the Crunchy Con blog. Just as Rod and Co. say that this country is too consumerist and favors cheap goods over community, so too do Mark and the restrictionists say in effect that America favors cheap labor over community. My sincere question is this: If indeed restaurants and construction firms and other businesses have to pay a great deal more in salaries and benefits for native-born Americans, and those costs are passed on to the rest of us, what are the real-world consequences for American consumers who want to spend as little as possible on their family restaurant meals and want affordable houses?

There will be a temptation to make a macroeconomic argument here–to explain that a tough immigration policy will lead to lower governmental costs. But that doesn’t really address the question of what it will mean when new houses cost 30 percent more to build.