Column: We need more than just jobs to fix the economy

Job, jobs, jobs. We are told that is what we need to fix our ailing economy.

With an unemployment rate above 9 percent, we do need more jobs. But there's a better chance of getting Sarah Palin to pose naked for a PETA anti-fur ad than there is of getting any kind of job-creating bill through a Congress held hostage by deficit-obsessed Tea Party Republicans.

When you look at the causes of the current economic downturn, it all started with the housing bubble. We can talk about the causes of that bubble, from the frenzy created by rising home prices, to the ease with which people obtained loans without proof of income, to Wall Street's mortgage-back securities casino game, to credit default swaps, and the list goes on.

But the basic problem is that in response to rising real estate prices, developers for many years built more homes than we had people to fill them. As long as prices were going up and speculators were buying these properties and flipping them for profits, everything was fine. The construction sector was booming, creating lots of jobs, which created jobs in other sectors. Times were good.

Eventually, the bubble burst, and according to the U.S. Census Bureau, 11 percent of all homes in this country are now vacant.

What we really need are more people. Yes, people. We have too many empty homes, and as long as we do, the real estate values will continue to stagnate or drop, pulling everything else down with them. You can't really solve this problem with any of the programs offered by the government so far, and their string of failures in this area proves the point.

So where do we get more people from? It's not like we can foster a new baby boom and wait 20 years for them to grow up and buy homes.

Actually, there are millions of people around the world who would love to come to this country, buy homes and live the American Dream. Yes, I'm talking immigration, which has propelled the success of our economy more than once in our history.

I can hear heads exploding among the "build the damn fence" crowd. No, we can't open the borders! What about jobs?

That's the crux of the situation. We need people to buy homes, but we also need them to create jobs, too. And we can do that if we are selective about who we let in.

First, we need to open our borders to people who want to come to this country and start businesses that will employ American citizens. It could work something like this: Anyone coming over would get a temporary visa and be given three months to prove they are starting a business, such as producing a business license. In six months, they must prove their business employs at least one U.S. citizen for every member of that person's family that he or she brought with them. For example, if a man from China comes to America with his wife and one child, his business would need to employ three citizens.

Understand, these employees must be full citizens, as you don't want them to just give jobs to other immigrants. There would also need to be a requirement for them to prove compliance with these rules every year to get their visas renewed. After a period of three or five years of compliance, give them permanent status and the ability to apply for full citizenship.

That program right there could bring hundreds of thousands of people here, along with an equal or greater number of jobs. It would naturally favor those with business skills over the unskilled immigrants that cause conservatives so much distress. These are job creators, right? The Republicans should love these people.

But we need to go farther. We also need to allow U.S. businesses to hire highly skilled non-citizens for jobs they can't fill any other way. If a company can prove they can't fill a skilled position (one requiring at least a college degree) locally within a 30-day period, then give them a visa so they can bring an employee in from outside the country. These immigrants would bring with them skills and jobs, and will help take up the slack in our housing market, all activities which will boost the economy.

One more option would be to allow any non-citizen a visa if they have a masters or doctorate degree from an American university. Every year, thousands of students from around the world come here to get an education, and we send them home. We need these skilled people here who can invent new technologies and create jobs.

The great thing about immigration programs like these is they cost very little money, and would have immediate results. Not only would these immigrants take up the slack in the housing market, they would create demand across the board for food, cars, etc.

Unfortunately, I fear the xenophobia that runs deep in the GOP, along with the hatred of anything President Obama or Democrats might propose, would make any immigration program like this hard to get through Congress. When you have a core of congress members expressing belief that having the country default on it debts is a good thing, it's hard to be optimistic about its chances. These were also the same people who killed the DREAM Act, a rather benign immigration reform that had significant GOP support just a few years ago.

But then, maybe there's an enlightened Republican somewhere who can stand up and champion this concept. Stranger things have happened.

Despite our economic problems, many people around the world believe that America is the best country in the world in which to live. We should use this advantage while we still can to bring the best and brightest to our shores, to build our economy for the future.