As you have probably heard, Donald Trump wants to build a wall between the United States and Mexico, effectively separating Mexico from the United States. Like all misguided rhetoric, it makes no sense. Forget the preposterous notion of Mexico paying for the wall. Forget the logistics of building Trump’s wall. For US citizens it comes down to their pocket books. So let’s focus on some inconvenient facts today that will affect every US citizen’s pocket book that would vote for Donald Trump plus the pocket books of those that know better.
Look at the following graph depicting US exports to Mexico. US exports are products made in the United States and purchased by Mexicans. In its simplest terms, every dollar sent back from Mexico to the US eventually ends up in a US pocket book.
Now, let’s put some context to those numbers.
The top three trading partners with the United States in 2015 was China, Canada and Mexico. China accounted for 16% of the trade. Canada was second at 15.4% and Mexico came in third at 14.2%. The next country is Japan, that came in at 5.2%.
What Donald Trump is proposing to do is stop 14% of its trade with the rest of the world. That is, leave the US citizens that directly benefit from the 14% of Mexican trade without a job. Is that really what the US needs today, large layoffs?
To make it crystal clear, Donald Trump wants to destroy the jobs of many US families just to get elected into office.
Every dollar the United States exports to Mexico is a dollar that is spent on a US worker. So if you don’t like the dollars in your pocket then by all means vote for Donald Trump. However, if common sense is something you have, then show these numbers, that represent US jobs to the misguided Donald Trump supporters and make them understand that they are only voting their prosperity away by electing Donald Trump.
It is a simple as that.
Donald Trump wants to kill US jobs and put families on welfare.
Very misleading title and article. Even if the wall was built, it would not affect commerence. It would continue to flow through the legal ports of entry.
Let’s tell the facts, Mexico has a wall on its southern border to stop or curtail or control illegal or unauthorized entry. If a wall was built on our border, that’s it would accomplish. Don’t want a wall, then assign police on the Mexican side of the border. Discourage unauthorized crossing.
Next help the Mexican people by attacking corruption, increase education, health programs, economy and jobs. That will be the incentive to stay in Mexico. Then Mexico would face the the problem of massive unauthorized entry from Central and South American countries. Perhaps then Mexico would have an understanding of the problems with uninvited visitors.
Mexico already has an understanding of this. Try working or living in Mexico as a US citizen illegally. The laws and fines are draconian. They just don’t enforce their laws when it comes to poor people in transit to the US.
Hey Martin
I am coming to live in your house. I may bring some other family members to live at your house too. We do not need any door keys we’ll just break I’m sure you will not mind. Also going to use your resources while living at your house.Yep think you need to let us have access to your bank account while your at it and keys to your car.
Have some younger family members who need to get education so go on and foot the bill for that too. Also have a couple of family members with extensive criminal records we are sure you will not mind putting them up.
If you complain or call the police to have us removed or try and kick us out then you are clearly a bigot and racist.
Martin,
Like it or not, Trump is forcing is to have a conversation about whether or not uncontrolled illegal immigration is in our best interest. The reality is taking large numbers of folks with marginal skills and an attitude that laws are suggestions that can be ignored if inconvenient doesn’t make us a stronger country. It is time to go back to strong borders and immigration quotas aligned with our ability to support and integrate new legal immigrants. We do need to create a work permit system for jobs that are hard to fill but also need to charge employers a fee to use it to ensure it isn’t used as a way to get cheaper than US citizen labor. Birthright citizenship needs to be limited to citizens and folks legally permitted to reside in the US. And you should limit your comments about scared old white people because we and our ancestors help create the country you have “fled” to. I’m tired of listening to folks who come to this country because of lack of opportunity lecture us. Mexico is controlled by Mexicans. It has good natural resources. Why is it that it hasn’t managed to evolve into a country that distributes its opportunities for success as evenly through its population as the US or Canada? We aren’t perfect, but we’ve done a much better job than Mexico. I welcome folks all races and ethnicities that want to become part of our American Dream and be “all in” in terms of assimiling our values and loyalty to this country. And I’m voting for Trump because he is the one politician with the cajones to fight the open borders spin that illegal immigration is all good.
i have to agree with Walk in My Shoes. I don’t think that any wall, which by the way can’t be built in some long stretches of the border due to terrain, is meant to curtail the numbers crossing illegally. Commerce is controlled by corporations who quite frankly don’t have a country, since most are multi-national and trade around the world. in fact one could surmise that corporations are really more powerful than any one country so the rules are those they write for themselves. As far as needing border security i am amazed that our country, and for that fact Mexico (at least in the northern part of the country) lacks a military presences like we find in other parts of the world. it’s the military who protects Russia, Japan, China, India, Pakistan, Israel, and so many other borders. Why are we so adverse to doing the same? i think because we are sticking our head in the sand. The wall, as Trump calls it, will have a physical and electronic corridor, again because building a physical fence across the entire border isn’t practical. You will still be able to get your trucks, cars, parts through because it’s the corporations rules, not the governments.
and your source comes from?
As to those who support a wall. Well walls have proven historically not to worked very well.Whether it was the great wall of China, Hardrain’s wall, the Berlin Wall. the military and physical wall between North and South Korea or the George Bush 2.0 memorial wall we have along the U.S. Southern border for the cost they do not work for any real length of time.
Humans will always figure out a way, given time, to get around, over, under, such barriers. Hell if mountains and oceans will not stop humans a wall is nothing.
Then we will hear put the military on that wall. Well that has been proven not to work so great either. It did not work for the Chinese or the Romans or the Communist in Germany or in Korea or for Mexico for that matter on it’s southern border. People always have an affinity in getting around such barriers.
Hey the George Bush 2.0 memorial wall those on the other side pretty quickly had doors build with their own locks in no time or came up with some ingenuous way to get over that wall.
Nope if you really want to stop illegal immigration two things must be done. First there must be a massive crack down on those employing the undocumented with fines that really have a punch and real consequences. Two a vast limiting on support once the undocumented are here.
Well the Republicans will not do it because they really like the cheap labor which helps undermine American workers wages. The Democrats side big money power brokers like the cheap labor too and some where a long the line they may end up with a few more voters.
Sorry if either party really wanted to fix the problem it would have been done long ago but they really do not and play both sides of the issue like a harp from hell.
Trump is not going to change one damn thing about the illegal immigration but do as little window dressing for show. For those wanting Hillary bet money she doesn’t do anything about the issue either just like Obama did nothing beyond window dressing.
Hey one thing we can always hope for is the George Bush 2.0 memorial wall become a tourist attraction in time to the folly of man or at least some in American government.
Adios, America.
Thomas, I agree with your points except the wall.
Security, the wall, in this situation is not designed to be 100% foolproof. Security is designed to delay the perpetrators long enough that someone will see or hear them. In other words slow them down.
The Mexican government could end the crossings in 24 hours by placing patrols along the border. The problem would be bribes, as in we have in the. U.S. I think we can assume that there is a lot of money being made so why secure the Mexican side and an open border provides Mexico with a relief valve.
But, that’s correct cheap labor started the issue and it most likely here to stay so let’s on workable solutions. Such documentation for temp/seasonal work or visas for professionals in our shortage areas.
Corruption Pays
How about using all the money for a wall for a system of immigration/work visa houses along the border were people could enter legally at a reasonable cost. Then any one caught illegal in the U.S. would have zero excuses and should be prosecuted as criminals.
One issue Martin and others refuse to address is the money being made on illegal enter to the U.S. on the Mexican side of the border. No way around it it’s big business.
Also there has to be a real will on the U.S. side of the border to fix the problem by Republican and Democratic leadership and neither has the will to go after business interest on this issue with heavy enforcement. If these people couldn’t get jobs and other benefits they would not stay for the most part and would not come.
Simple we have and have had in place a system they support this non-sense in the U.S. and those in government have given a tacit (wink,wink) approval to this system for decades. So it doesn’t matter who is in the White House at best window dressing of the issue will be all that takes place.
Those of us who vote for Trump see it as a way to tell the do nothing establishment in both parties that individual votes still matter. Maybe a Trump presidency won’t change anything, but voting for the only candidate that is self funding makes a lot more sense then voting for the ones that are dependent on the donor class who benefits from maintaining this unworkable status quo.
thomas, that wall(or fence) on paisano works pretty well since i havent had to swerve or weave around an illegal crossing paisano with a fat border patrol agent chasing him while driving home in a long time. hell, billy(or anyone like him) hasnt run over anybody in a while either.