Trump's Wall
 

Hey Folks,
Can anyone provide some info on this. I don't mean specifics of his motive, or size, cost etc of the wall. What I am wondering about is the legality of the wall. What does it take to actually make this happen? Executive orders? Act of congress? What

Thanks in advance!!!

One stumbling block will be that "Trump's Folly" will have to be built on privately owned land. I guess he will have to invoke eminent domain in some of these cases. Not exactly a pillar of Republican thought.

Physically, it's fairly daunting. There is terrain it will have to cross that doesn't easily lend itself to building some sort of huge wall. Costs will have to be astronomical and congress holds the purse strings.

Personally, I'd rather see those billions (trillions?) of tax dollars go towards upgrading railroads (hi-speed rail), highways and other infrastructure such as cleaner energy production.

Just spit balling here on the left coast sans coffee...(grin)

I believe there is legislation enacted for some years now for the wall.

BTW the wall need not be physical in every sector.

This is all you need to know. :D

“I will build a great wall, and nobody builds walls better than me. Believe me. And I’ll build it very inexpensively. I’ll build a great, great wall on our southern border and I will have Mexico pay for that wall. Mark my words,”

Donald J. Trump

Secure Fence Act of 2006

https://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secure_Fence_Act_of_2006

At least 3 lies there.

I disagree. Those oil pipelines are all about confiscating property via eminent domain, they are pillars of republican thought.

Thank You!!

I still don't see Congress funding this fence nor funding any infrastructure either.


Carl

Fun thread.

Aside from the legal hurdles and funding, I have been noodling on whether the wall would be effective in the long term.

Walls have been around a long time and, unless they are architecturally interesting, get torn down by political forces. In this case it seems that we are talking about an ugly wall and my guess is that no one wants to look at it for too long. Also, if we are building a wall and the purpose is to keep people out, then it should have few gates.

And there, in the number of gates, is the rub that I have. There will be gates for visitors, migration, and trade. Someone would need to tell me how they are going to gate the ugly thing in a way that satisfies an expected visitor, migration, and trade flow equilibrium. See, the bigger issue IMO, is that those in favor of the wall lean more toward a short term status-quo than a long-term equilibrium.

Just thinking out loud.

Sean Sphincter today: 'White House press secretary says border wall will be funded by 20 percent import tax on Mexican goods' WP

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world...=.96de915c21a1

Guess who's going to be paying for this?

I wonder what that tariff will do to US exports to Mexico, since 40% of our Mexican exports to them are incorporated into finished goods then imported to the US.
When you factor this into the equation, we have a net positive trade balance with Mexico. For a businessman, trump is an idiot.

Good point.

Of course, a tariff means Americans pay for the wall--importer pays the tax, not the vendor. Not that it matters--will be passed on to American consumer in any case.

Let's been honest here. Trump could dive into an icy river and save a pregnant lady from drowning and you fuckers would find a way to complain about it.

Not if he drowned doing it.:D

Trump might jump into an icy river to impregnate a drowning lady....

He might throw Melania in the river to save her, but he'd never get his feet wet.

He would never jump in the water in the first place....

Best comeback so far. :D

He would hire a contractor to throw her in the river, and then stiff the contractor.

Here are the government figure for trade to/from Mexico since 1985. Trump has said that we are hemorrhaging money to Mexico in an exceedingly one sided NAFTA agreement that only benefits Mexico.

https://www.census.gov/foreign-trade/balance/c2010.html

in 2016, just over 40% of our export net was incorporated into goods that were then imported back into the US. Adjusting the trade figures using this margin corrector, we end up with the following trade balance...

Initial figures in millions
211,848.7 Exports
270,647.2 Imports
-58,798.6 Balance

Corrected Figures
211,848.7 Exports
(270,647.2 x 60%) = 162,388.32 Imports
+ 49,460.4 Balance

WOW, we have a +49.5 MILLION DOLLAR TRADE SURPLUS with Mexico! Trump lies.

Hey Dave,
First I am sharp as a marble on my best days. Second, I am NO economist. But even so, I have to ask a few questions on this.

rounded off for simplicity -
$212 million for exports of which 40% will be used to purchase imports. 40% equals about $85M. Our net exports are $127M

Then the imports rounded off are $271M. Since I took the $85M out to buy imports subtract it from the cost of the imports. This gives a net cost of imports of $186M

$127M export - $186M import = -$59M net cash fllow.

Make any sense. If I am way off base or plain nuts, or have absolutely no idea what I am doing, my apologies. I am just trying to wrap my head around these numbers.

Mark

Mark, I meant to write 40% of our imports were first exported, so I got the wording swapped. But not the math.

Mexico turns out to be one of our largest positive balance trade partners, and Trump is trying to screw them. This is how he negotiates.

got it. thanks!!

There is a grain of truth in most all of Trump's positions. It is our job to read his statements, and then go research the actual facts ourselves, to better understand the total picture. Here is a very good article about some aspects of NAFTA, job creation, and gives you a better understanding of what can happen to the trade spiderweb when Trumps starts hacking away at the main web threads.

Like it or not, the US, Canada, and Mexico are a vastly integrated economy at this point in time. Point in fact is that US car manufacturing plants had to shut down and lay off workers following 9/11 because border security changes slowed cross border shipping down so badly the factories could not get sufficient parts with their JIT inventory models.

https://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/04/u...cost.html?_r=0

Trump is aiming for adjustments.

There is a constituency which bore the brunt of the integration. Such supports Trump. This constituency expects him to try.

At least they hope for a reduction in the chaos at the southern border.

Yep.

Now, it's we get to pay it initially but Mexico will eventually "reimburse" us in a "complex" way. Maybe a "very complex" way.

That's Trumpese for "I'm full of shit, Folks."....................

I knew that's what he meant all along.

Only an idiot would believe that Mexico was going to write us a check.

The US can put plenty of economic pain on Mexico which will result in economic gain for us and loss for them.

I'm wondering what impact a 35% re-importation tariff and a 20% tariff on other imported goods will have on INFLATION.

Again, don't get me wrong, I'd LOVE to see manufacturing return. But, anyone who thinks this won't come with a price is a damned fool. Especially with the simplistic and potentially reckless proposals being tossed about.

There's a whole lot of idiots out there.

Stuffs gonna cost more when it's not being made by slave labor in overseas sweatshops.

And I won't like it, but I realize it will be for the best.

I'm already paying $6 a dozen for organic free range chicken eggs when I can get the the ones laid by chickens that are cooped up in a cage the size of a shoebox all their lives and fed the cheapest shit there is for $2 bucks a dozen.

I also pay $5 bucks a loaf for organic bread when I can get that wonderbread crap for $2 bucks.

At my age I will stay with the $2 crap. :D

I am feeling your comment about reduction in chaos, but honestly I do not understand the constituency etc that you mentioned. Just trying to explain my mindspace at the moment.

When President Trump mentioned a complex payment arrangement, or whatever words he used, I envisioned a contract that says the more you help us not build a fence the less fence we will build. Man Law. :D

Seriously though, IMO, before we contemplate a bigger wall we need to look at NAFTA with the benefit of hindsight. We essentially have a clean house to redecorate and Mexico is staged to provide the furnishings. Are we uncomfortable with staring at a blank canvas? To me that is where the fun work is. The art. City design. Nuevo Americana?

Building a wall would simply be kicking the can of redesign down the road.

Constituency: The people who believe that the US is under siege at its southern border.

Hordes from all over the world force their way into the US through Mexico.
Trump's constituents feel Mexico is complicit since the transit is openly big business there.

Constituency: People whose jobs went to Mexico.

All this bullshit about Canada and Mexico ripping us off. The Iron Ore mine in Quebec is a shining example of how beneficial it is to trade with the US. America got all the ore and Canad got the shaft.:p

The Trump Wall to be self funding by the addition of solar panels to the wall.
Here then is Trump's answer to Illegal Immigration and Global Warming.
This is pure genius if I say so myself. :D

Trump suggests border wall with solar panels

http://www.cnn.com/2017/06/06/politi...r-border-wall/

"Used solar panels flood Mexican market" (news item)

The wall itself is a bad idea.
But, if there is going to be a wall, solar panels seems like a good idea. I can't help but think that Trump will benefit financially from this idea should it happen. He doesn't do anything unless he gets his reward out of it.