Stupid Ideas

I’ve read a lot of really, really stupid things on the Internet over the years, but this takes the cake:

Fundamentally, with only so many families in the country, there’s no need for all the houses we have. The housing bust has caused a construction bust, so over time population growth will eat up the supply overhang. But that could happen more quickly if population growth was faster — i.e., more immigrants. At a minimum, if we stopped trying to drive illegals out of the country and instead put them on a path to citizenship, that would help.

I mean, I’m kind of dumbfounded that Matt Yglesias would even write something this fundamentally stupid. First off, we don’t have a crisis of excess housing, we have a crisis of people being unable to afford their housing. Leaving aside that little fact … Is Matt suggesting that we import wealthy foreigners to buy up all our excess housing? I seriously doubt it. I assume he means we should allow more poor immigrants into the country. Which would depress wages further (more inexperienced labor=more people willing to do work for next-to-free…see: current illegal immigration scheme). Which would make those houses even more unaffordable for the working class. Which would lead to more foreclosures. Which would lead to more excess housing.

Am I missing the point? Am I going to regret this post? I mean, seriously: someone explain to me what in the hell he’s talking about. I feel like I’m taking crazy pills.