We don’t need no stinkin’ wall. History proves that great walls are expensive, temporary solutions that prove to fail and fail to prove — prime examples include the Great Wall of China, the Maginot Line (WWII France), and the Berlin Wall.
Projected costs for Trumpty Dumpty’s Wall are now US$33 billion (to include overhead and supporting infrastructure). Since when has our government EVER built anything within budget?
Two Republican states stand to benefit directly from the cash infusion of a wall — Good Ol’ Texas and Arizona. I haven’t researched this point yet, but I’d bet that Trump’s demand to expand the wall from 600 miles to 1,000 miles will protect only Texas and Arizona interests. You scratch my back, and I’ll scratch yours, right?
Instead of a static, festering wall of uselessness, why not take the same US$33 billion and distribute it among the population of illegal immigrants we already have here in the US?
That comes out to US$3,000 per illegal immigrant. Such funding could be used to pay for their educations, housing, child-care, and the like. I‘m not encouraging further illegal immigration; rather I’m making an over-simplified appeal that we take care of those who are taking care of us.
I don’t want to dig mushrooms out of piles of cow manure deep within dark, musty caves, do you? I have no interest in ever again working for a landscaper in Arizona during a heat wave, do you, folks? The list goes on.
Make these 11 million illegals legal (New York Times article), and let them take the jobs no one already here is willing to work. It’s a win-win.
I see help-wanted signs posted at almost every retailer, drug store, gas station, yet when asked why they’re short-staffed, their managers tell me that they can’t get local help to pass a drug test!
Most illegals work here to send money to their families back home or save to move their family members here to be with them. This is exactly the same thought process that brought our great-grandparents and other ancestors here to the USA — the hope of making a living.
We can’t solve illegal immigration with a wall when most of the illegal immigrants arrived here legally. Most came to the US as tourists, and then they stayed beyond their visa’s expiration dates. Most flew here; a wall can’t stop that, and such a “problem” will continue with or without a wall.
Hitler said, “Tell a lie and make it big. Keep saying it over and over until everyone believes it.” Another egomaniac demands a wall or he’ll declare a national emergency, shut down Congress, and take the money to fund the wall. “I want to make America strong again.”
Referenced links:
- https://www.thestreet.com/story/14438943/1/potential-winners-from-trumps-expanded-border-wall.html
- https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/27/us/illegal-immigrants-population-study.html
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Wall_of_China
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maginot_Line
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berlin_Wall
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_states_and_blue_states
Have a good day.
~RJ
Your alternative proposal to resolve the illegal immigrant situation is to divide the estimated $13B among all the illegal immigrants in the U.S. That would give each a one time gift of a bit less than $1200 based on whose members one uses. Which would, according to you, allow them to buy food, a car, and get an education. May I ask on what planet this could possibly take place?
ReplyDeleteYes, the wall be built in those places where it does not already exist, mainly Texas and Arizona. Oh, where will the labor be drawn from to make the wall? Where is the steel made? Where does the concrete come from? Whose engineers design the wall? Do the workers pay income tax, social security fees, and do they send money out of the country.
If we are to make America strong again it's done with minimum unemployment in the legal labor force, using American knowhow and American materials. Yes, our grandparents came to this country to work and make a home here legally. They didn't walk or swim in illegally.
I envision a barrier-wall project will quickly become a boondoggle. Government projects are awarded to the lowest bidders. Sourcing factors of production will invariably look to Mexico. Quality-control, at the site level, will be impacted by the available labor pool.
DeleteIf a wall is built by those that the wall is designed to keep out, it’s plausible that sabotage will be an ongoing concern.
The problem of sourcing legal labor from within the US is compounded by factors such as an inhospitable work environment and an unwilling & incapable labor market. Blue-collar employers struggle to hire and retain qualified, good employees, and as the US economy continues to prosper, such labor demands seem to increase. There seems to be a growing problem with being able to find quality workers who can pass a drug test and/or background check.
I believe overhead. And rework, along with our battling lawmakers, will turn such a wall into a derelict monument to Trump’s presidential legacy. Even if a wall proved feasible and worthy, our political and economic climate won’t contribute to a successful outcome. It’s doomed to fail. I suppose I’d rather see our China-owned Treasury debt spent on infrastructural projects that directly support the US economy.