Quote:
Originally Posted by pjohns
I admit that I have no idea if the above numbers are accurate; but for sake of discussion, I will assume that they are. So this is the way it hashes out:
A total of $74 million divided by 12.5 miles works out to $5.92 million per mile--for most of us, a lot of money; but for the US government, not so much.
Multiplied by 1,950 miles, however, the grand total comes to $11.544 billion--some pretty serious money, for anyone this side of Bill Gates (or at least Michael Dell); but still not a prohibitive amount for the US government. So the real question becomes: Is it worth the investment?
Assuming, for the moment, that it could work--and, unlike the case of the San Diego wall that just sent illegals fleeing to Arizona, there would be no place left to go--it strikes me as impossible to put a price upon our national sovereignty. And absent an effective barrier to illegal entry into this country (I would emphasize that legal immigration can be a very good thing), we can have no national sovereignty, in any meaningful sense of the word.
So yes, I believe our spending 11 1/2 billion dollars (or even a bit more, if there are the usual cost overruns--and, of course, normal inflation) would be well worth it, in order to preserve the integrity of our borders--and, attendantly, the integrity of the American nation.
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Do you really think that your 'sovereignty' is being threatened out there in Tennessee? I wouldn't worry too much if I were you.
Let me tell you why the 'fence' idea is not only stupid for being a total waste of money but would actually do more harm than good in social and environmental but more importantly, economic terms.
You (or who ever it was) hit the nail on the head when you said the fence is basically just 'window dressing'. It really does not serve any useful purpose other than to look like a 'Potemkin village'. The only measurable effect it has is to shift people from one area to another. But the simple truth is, the fence is in fact effective. But the effect is not the intended one.
It would seem logical to think that if we built the fence ALL the way across the border then there would be no place for people to cross illegally, right?
Totally wrong. Ever heard of the tunnels they've found in San Diego and Mexicali. They'll start finding those elsewhere. Also, consider that almost half of the border is formed by the Rio Grande (Rio Bravo in Mexico) so what should we do, build the fence in the middle of a river? Briliant! I'm sure we can leave that up to the Army Corps of Engineers. They did such a bang up job with New Orleans, they can't miss.
Now consider the REALLY important aspect of this issue. Economics. Throughout the border region, which consists of 4 US states and 6 Mexican ones, there are a total of fourteen sister cities which share the border. They go from San Diego/Tijuana all the way to Brownsville/Matamoros. These cities, not to mention all the small towns in the region, have a population in the tens of millions many of whom depend on cross-border buisness (of the legal variety mind you) for their livlihood. Tens of thousands of these folks live on one side and work on the other (legally and for a decent salary), and it's not a case of ONLY Mexicans doing so. Many Americans willingly work in Mexico and for a short time, I was one of them.
Building a fence (or adding all the 'tech' crap they want to) is going to make the daily 'comute' all the more complicated. It will also increase the tension and negative feelings across the border.
But lets look at the numbers and you can draw your own conclusions about how the fence will effect things:
As of 2006, there were a total of 67 existing or proposed border crossing, most of them in Texas.
These border crossings saw 52 million passenger vehicles cross the border carrying 105 million people.
They also saw 25 million pedestrians cross the border.
2.8 million cargo trucks crossed the border. Laredo being the most common crossing point.
5,800 trains crossed on the dozen or so rail lines that cross the border.
The total trade (in dollars) that went IN to Mexico totaled $116 billion US.
The total trade (in dollars) that came IN to the US totaled $155 billion.
US-Mexico Trade Data by District Port
RITA | BTS | Transtats
Not only are there places where one can cross the border by land, but there are dozens of ports and airports that serve the border region. Little known fact: Houston is Mexico's largest port. Seriously.
Now, do you think that this economic activity is going to be POSITIVELY impacted by building a fence? I don't.
The economy of the border region is one of the fastest growing in the US or Mexico, while the average level of income is lower than anywhere else in the US and only slightly higher than in other regions of Mexico. For example, McAllen, Texas is one of the fastest growing urban areas in the US, but has the lowest per capita income in the US. Building a physical barrier is only going to hurt the regions economy and given the state of the US economy these days, I think we need all the help we can get.
Stopping economic growth is NOT the way to fix a recession.