It was a really interesting discussion. He received his MBA from MIT, so it’s safe to make assumptions about his background.
He said that Chile’s northern border is effectively open and that it’s a huge problem for them, with immigrants coming in from Venezuela, Bolivia, Colombia, Peru, and elsewhere. We both agreed that there must be a realistic and legal path to immigration, and that that system must be adhered to.
My personal view is that the border has been Biden’s biggest failure and as such his biggest political liability. We should have passed the recent border/Ukraine bill and I think blocking it was entirely about politics, but so is everything else in DC.
In general, one of the biggest issues in other developed economies has been population stagnation. Japan, China, much of Western Europe, all share the same problem. That’s obviously not a problem for us, but it has to be managed properly, or at all, to derive the benefit.