Etaoin
02-01-2006, 08:11 AM
Whiskey & Gunpowder
January 31, 2006
by Jim Amrhein
Towson, U.S.A.
Mending De-Fences, Part II
"Americanism is a matter of the spirit and of the soul." ~
Theodore Roosevelt, 1915
In the first installment of this series, I debated with myself about a topic hotly debated nowadays in the media, the blogosphere, and the government: The construction of a security wall along the U.S./Mexico border to reduce rampant illegal immigration…
To recap a bit, various plans for such a barrier have been proposed, ranging in cost from roughly $2-8 billion -- at most, about the same money as it takes to prosecute the Iraq war for two months or so. And although polls indicate that 87% of American citizens support the wall, it remains to be seen whether any 2008 presidential candidate has the cohones to embrace the idea as a plank in his campaign platform. After all, such a plan is likely to cut jobs (both menial labor posts and government positions, like in the Border Patrol and INS), stall large segments of the U.S. economy, and invite all sorts of the most vehement vitriol in the media.
Also in Part I, I briefly explored some of the likely reasons why Mexico's President Vicente Fox seems so dead set against such a plan. One would think he'd want to keep as many ambitious, able-bodied people as possible inside his country's borders to fuel the growth and development he's always promising (and that the United States has passed legislation and ratified trade agreements to help ensure). Despite all this, Mexico's economy remains virtually joined at the hip with America's, since we buy almost 90% of its exports. Our respective GNP growth has been a virtual mirror image for years.
Why hasn't resource-rich Mexico blossomed into prosperity of its own, you're asking? Because we're paying them not to…
Here's where things get dicey for me with regard to Fox and his motives (and for that matter, President Bush's motives, as I'll soon explain).
Subsidizing Stagnation, Corruption, and Crime
In Part I of this essay, I likened the prodigious flow of cash back to Mexico from illegal immigrants in the United States to a "new Rio Grande of dinero." I also equated this river of money to giving cash to a derelict -- it enables only a bare-minimum existence in continued impoverishment, while doing nothing to push meaningful change that benefits all concerned. And while this comparison drew the ire of some readers, I stand by the analogy. In fact, in researching Part II of this essay, I found out just how on target I was about the "rio de dinero." Consider:
THE REST (http://us.f302.mail.yahoo.com/ym/ShowLetter?MsgId=7360_31229510_21390_1231_16810_0_ 77269_54972_4247150001&Idx=2&YY=92931&inc=25&order=down&sort=date&pos=0&view=&head=&box=Inbox)
January 31, 2006
by Jim Amrhein
Towson, U.S.A.
Mending De-Fences, Part II
"Americanism is a matter of the spirit and of the soul." ~
Theodore Roosevelt, 1915
In the first installment of this series, I debated with myself about a topic hotly debated nowadays in the media, the blogosphere, and the government: The construction of a security wall along the U.S./Mexico border to reduce rampant illegal immigration…
To recap a bit, various plans for such a barrier have been proposed, ranging in cost from roughly $2-8 billion -- at most, about the same money as it takes to prosecute the Iraq war for two months or so. And although polls indicate that 87% of American citizens support the wall, it remains to be seen whether any 2008 presidential candidate has the cohones to embrace the idea as a plank in his campaign platform. After all, such a plan is likely to cut jobs (both menial labor posts and government positions, like in the Border Patrol and INS), stall large segments of the U.S. economy, and invite all sorts of the most vehement vitriol in the media.
Also in Part I, I briefly explored some of the likely reasons why Mexico's President Vicente Fox seems so dead set against such a plan. One would think he'd want to keep as many ambitious, able-bodied people as possible inside his country's borders to fuel the growth and development he's always promising (and that the United States has passed legislation and ratified trade agreements to help ensure). Despite all this, Mexico's economy remains virtually joined at the hip with America's, since we buy almost 90% of its exports. Our respective GNP growth has been a virtual mirror image for years.
Why hasn't resource-rich Mexico blossomed into prosperity of its own, you're asking? Because we're paying them not to…
Here's where things get dicey for me with regard to Fox and his motives (and for that matter, President Bush's motives, as I'll soon explain).
Subsidizing Stagnation, Corruption, and Crime
In Part I of this essay, I likened the prodigious flow of cash back to Mexico from illegal immigrants in the United States to a "new Rio Grande of dinero." I also equated this river of money to giving cash to a derelict -- it enables only a bare-minimum existence in continued impoverishment, while doing nothing to push meaningful change that benefits all concerned. And while this comparison drew the ire of some readers, I stand by the analogy. In fact, in researching Part II of this essay, I found out just how on target I was about the "rio de dinero." Consider:
THE REST (http://us.f302.mail.yahoo.com/ym/ShowLetter?MsgId=7360_31229510_21390_1231_16810_0_ 77269_54972_4247150001&Idx=2&YY=92931&inc=25&order=down&sort=date&pos=0&view=&head=&box=Inbox)