Transportation Secretary Mike Hancock, Bob Jackson, MSU Foundation Pres. Lt. Gov. Abramson, MSU Interim Pres. Tim Miller and Chris Wooldridge, Small Bus. Dev. Ctr.

(Murray, KY – December 10, 2013) – When 150 West Kentuckians gathered in the Curris Center on MSU’s campus this Tuesday morning, the last thing they expected to hear was a lecture from Ron Crouch on immigration. But that’s exactly what they got.

Crouch, unarguably the most knowledgeable statistician in the Commonwealth, told the crowd that what he had to say would fly in the face of conventional wisdom. He came prepared to back up his assertions with facts, figures and a PowerPoint presentation.

Crouch said that instead of deporting illegal immigrants, the US should be sending out invitations to them. The US has a declining “native” population base, meaning that Americans are not producing enough children to grow the population. What growth is happening is from immigrant populations, especially those from south of the border.

Crouch said that with an aging population and not enough workers to replace those in the workforce, the US will have to look elsewhere for workers. Since South and Central America also have declining birth rates, there will be reasons for immigrants not to immigrate to the US. Jobs will be available at home. Typically as labor forces shrink, payrolls rise.

Crouch told the West Kentucky audience that the boomers, those post World War Two babies, are rapidly aging. Many will face longer life spans with smaller or no incomes. It’s not just an American issue. The world faces the problem of caring for a large group of poverty stricken elderly.

Crouch said China is not a competitor to the US. China, he said, “is over.” That heartened many in the crowd.

Crouch had good news and bad news for West Kentucky. The bad news is that while Calloway County has a healthy population of young people, other counties are not faring so well. All of the River Counties have lost young people.

Fulton County has the highest number of out of wedlock births in the state, surpassing the Appalachian counties of Eastern Kentucky.

Crouch said that West Kentucky is blessed with a scarce and valuable resource: water. As time goes on, the value of water will become more and more evident. He mentioned other states like California and Texas are not so fortunate.

Women are surpassing men in higher education. They are finishing school in greater numbers. Crouch joked that some men are “go-getters.” Men take their women to work. Then they go get her when she gets off.

Crouch said that tax policy must change. Allowing corporations he admires, like Apple and Google, to pay no taxes must be addressed. He dislikes a flat tax and wants instead “fair tax.”

Crouch’s tax remarks provided the perfect segue for Lt. Governor Jerry Abramson. The Lt. Governor was appointed by Governor Beshear to lead a tax reform effort. Abramson urged the crowd to become active as the General Assembly convenes and to get involved in tax policy.

Secretary of Transportation Mike Hancock reported that I-69 is making progress. However, Tennessee has made changes in their section of the road that will impact whether I-69 will ever become viable. Then there’s that bridge from Evansville that everyone agrees needs to be built, but nobody has the money to build.

Participants agreed it was worthwhile to get together. Many wondered aloud what the next steps would be to improve the future of the Pennyrile and Purchase regions.