While politicians debate the border until blood vessels in their foreheads pop, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) says it would be better for the economy if we lay out the welcome mat. The nonpartisan group released a report last week saying that a surge in immigration could boost the US GDP by $7 trillion over the next 10 years.

The Department of Homeland Security said net immigration jumped to 3.3 million people entering the US last year, compared with an annual average of just under 1 million about a decade ago.

But the CBO’s report laid out a few reasons why that growth could be beneficial:

• If immigration continues at its current rate, the labor force will increase by nearly 5.2 million people by 2033. That would mean more workers, more taxes paid by those workers, and more demand for goods and services.
• The CBO did say, however, that wages could grow more slowly since migrant workers usually work lower-wage jobs.

The population effect

Some economists believe the 2022 and 2023 jump in immigration helped stave off a recession in the US and allowed industries like hospitality to rebound from pandemic-era labor shortages.

Other high-income nations like China and Japan are sweating buckets thinking about how their countries’ aging populations will soon catch up with them. But the US’ population of young people is growing thanks to immigrants: The largest group of immigrants entering the country are 25–54.

The context: Capitol Hill is fighting to address the influx of people crossing the US–Mexico border. Last week, House Republicans blocked a border reform bill. It’s unclear if or when Congress will pass immigration legislation—but it will likely remain a major issue in the 2024 elections.

Big picture: An expanding population won’t be without growing pains. Cities with asylum laws, like New York and Chicago, are currently struggling with the number of people who need housing and legal help.—MM

Commuting requires planning: remembering chargers, making lunch decisions, wearing layers for unpredictable office temperatures. Fortunately, HOKA is making one of those daily decisions a whole lot easier.

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Don’t waffle over what shoes to wear when there’s a chance of rain. Shop the HOKA Transport GTX.

Trump’s first criminal trial officially has a start date. The hush money trial will begin with jury selection on March 25, a New York judge decided yesterday, denying the demands for a delay by the former president’s legal team. Trump is accused of directing a hush money payment to porn star Stormy Daniels and then covering it up to avoid the story becoming public during the 2016 election. The charges, which include falsifying internal records, are punishable by up to four years in prison, though it’s unclear if Trump would serve jail time even if he’s convicted. In addition to the hush money case, Trump is also facing allegations of interfering in the 2020 election and illegally hoarding classified documents.

OpenAI unveiled its text-to-video AI tool. Named Sora, the tool can generate videos up to a minute long based on a user’s text prompt. CEO Sam Altman showed off the model by fielding prompts from X users and posting the resulting videos, including a wizard casting a spell with lightning and a street-level tour of a futuristic city. OpenAI promises the model can create “complex scenes with multiple characters” but admits it can struggle with a prompt’s physics and cause-and-effect. The company is making Sora available to experts, artists, and filmmakers to get feedback before rolling it out more widely. Google’s Lumiere tool is expected to compete with Sora in the AI text-to-video space.

Police ruled out terrorism in the Chiefs’ Super Bowl parade shooting. The shooting, which left one person dead and 22 others injured as the NFL team celebrated its victory in Kansas City on Wednesday, was likely the result of an argument between several people, police said. At least three people were detained, two of them under the age of 18. Police added that they recovered several firearms. There have been 49 mass shootings in the US so far in 2024, leading to more than 80 deaths and 170 injuries, ABC News reported.

The planemaker duopoly could be going mono: While Boeing works to make sure nothing else flies off its planes, Airbus is soaring ahead of its crisis-riddled competitor.

Passing ships: Boeing’s stock is down almost 20% this year thanks to the gaping hole that appeared in a 737 Max 9 mid-flight, leading the FAA to ground and then cap production on the company’s best-selling 737s. Meanwhile, Airbus—the world’s largest commercial plane manufacturer—is up about 5% over the same period.

If you’re reading this, Boeing, look away:

• Airbus obliterated the industry record for new orders last year and now boasts a decadelong backlog of orders—the largest in planemaker history. This year, it’s boosting aircraft deliveries by ~9%.
• By 2026, Airbus said it should be producing 75 A320neo planes, its 737 Max competitor, per month (Boeing’s pre-scandal goal was 57/month).

Nobody’s perfect. Airbus also had to ground 400 of its planes in January after discovering potential flaws in some of the engines powering its A320neo crafts, according to Bloomberg.

But this hasn’t slowed its roll. Airbus has so much cash that it announced it will pay out a special dividend of 1 euro per share.—ML

Like a worn-out turntable stylus, Caitlin Clark can’t stop breaking records.

The senior Iowa point guard broke the women’s NCAA scoring record last night against Michigan, surpassing the previous record of 3,527 points and cementing her status as the greatest women’s NCAA baller of all time.

Clark, who was named a midseason Player of the Year this week, has brought undivided attention to a sport often overshadowed by the men’s version. She’s averaged over 32 points per game (USC’s JuJu Watkins is second with 27.7) and, in December, became the first Division I player—man or woman—to accumulate 3,000 points, 900 assists, and 800 rebounds in a career.

It’s not just scoring records. With fans anticipating the milestone, tickets to last night’s game cost $375 on average—the most expensive ticket ever for any women’s basketball game, college or professional.

• Prices typically decrease as it gets closer to an event in order to sell seats—but not for Clark’s games. Tickets spiked more than $100 in the two weeks leading up to last night.
• The face value of a typical Iowa women’s basketball ticket outside of season ticket packages is just $15.

There’s another record to be broken. Lynette Woodard, who played women’s college bball for Kansas in the 1970s, scored 3,649 points in her four years. She doesn’t officially hold the NCAA record because the NCAA didn’t include women’s sports at the time. In any event, Clark will probably break that one soon, too.—CC

Quote: “Look where we’re at in our careers. Look at our age and look at what we’ve done, and we still love each other, so why not do something together?”

Frodo and Sam. Tina and Amy. Snoop and Dre. Some bonds transcend friendship into something much greater. And some are so powerful that the only way to harness them is to launch a ready-to-drink “Gin & Juice” cocktail together. That’s precisely what longtime collaborators and pals Snoop Dogg and Dr. Dre announced this week, 30 years after their song got a generation of fans to pretend they like gin. Available in apricot, citrus, melon, and passionfruit, Gin & Juice enters a crowded but growing RTD beverage market.

Stat: When it comes to housing, boomers are doing their best Leo in The Wolf of Wall Street impression and saying, “I’m not f*cking leaving.” According to a report from real estate brokerage Redfin, nearly 40% of baby boomers (people born between 1946 and 1964) have been in their current homes for at least 20 years as they wait for mortgage rates to come down. That’s up from 24% in 2012. Another 16% have stayed between 10 and 19 years. Meanwhile, the average US homeowner has lived in their house for 12 years, almost twice as long as in 2005, Bloomberg reported. The Great Boomer Dawdling is largely to blame for the market’s inventory shortage, making it harder for younger first-time buyers to find a home.

Read: Why Americans suddenly stopped hanging out. (The Atlantic)

The feeling of getting a 5/5 on the Brew’s Weekly News Quiz has been compared to cutting into room-temperature butter.

It’s that satisfying. Ace the quiz.

Watch: Return to the Saturday mornings of your childhood with the nostalgic trailer for Marvel’s animated series X-Men ’97.

Reach the green: These former golf courses have been reclaimed by nature and turned into parks and preserves.

Grow closer: Five science-based tips to improve your relationship with your partner.

Read: The wild story of how The Cut’s personal finance columnist got scammed out of $50k by someone she thought worked for the CIA.

Love is $150: The best Valentine’s gift for your finance team? Take a demo with BILL and they’ll give you a complimentary $150 Amazon gift card. Kiss tedious financial tasks goodbye.*

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