Pershing Square Capital CEO Bill Ackman said that increasing immigration may be a more effective tool to tamp down inflation than the Federal Reserve raising interest rates and “destroying demand.”
Ackman -- with a net worth of about $2.5 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index -- made the comments on Twitter after Fed Chairman Jerome Powell earlier this week raised rates by 75 basis points for a third straight time and said there wasn’t a painless way to get inflation “behind us.”
Inflation can be mitigated by reducing demand and/or by increasing supply. The @federalreserve can only reduce demand by raising rates, a very blunt tool. Wage inflation will likely continue until rates rise to restrictive levels. — Bill Ackman (@BillAckman) September 23, 2022
And if we can target immigration policy to achieve important political objectives like catalyzing a Russian talent drain to the US, why shouldn’t we?
— Bill Ackman (@BillAckman) September 23, 2022
Doesn’t it make more sense to moderate wage inflation with increased immigration than by raising rates, destroying demand, putting people out of work, and causing a recession?
— Bill Ackman (@BillAckman) September 23, 2022