This monster wall spanning 633 miles as of June 2009, and which passionate “frontier minutemen” want to expand on their own to the full 1,952 mile extent of the US-Mexico border, happens to be extremely expensive and ineffective.
Will any fence stop immigration? No, but it definitely grants a false sense of security, just like it would to a hypochondriac patient who is given a placebo to stave off his feigned ailments.
The monster wall spanning 633 miles as of June 2009, and which passionate “frontier minutemen” want to expand on their own to the full 1,952 mile extent of the US-Mexico border, happens to be extremely expensive and ineffective.
A life cycle cost study estimated in $6.5 billion the price tag for a 20-years worth of tactical infrastructure. That amount does not include nearly $4 billion already spent since this ill-conceived idea saw the light in 2005 under the name of Secure Border Initiative-SBI. The billions spent already include $1.1billion for a cyber border fence called SBInet, already running 7 years behind schedule. This is certainly “a multiyear, multibillion program,” per a statement given by the US Government Accountability Office-GAO to the House of Representatives last week.
Comparing what America spent if 2007 in Foreign Aid with the actual cost of the wall and its up keeping, is equivalent to the following: 5 years of “Child Survival & Health”; 22 years of Nonproliferation and Anti-terrorism funding; 20 years for Peace Corps.
The hypochondriac patient still indulges in at least three forms of trade that luckily for him remain unscathed by his maniacal wall: illicit drugs, firearms, and cheap labor.
The consumption of illicit drugs in the United States is rampant and still growing, adding to the lame waste of taxpayer money demanding that production countries bear the brunt of a protracted and futile war, while our own issue-ridden spoiled countrymen simply refuse to kick the habit.
Who can possibly contain the ever-sacred gun trade? Regardless of whether the heavy weaponry is bought and used by drug-cartels south of the border, any attempts to even have suspect cartel gun suppliers disclose the list of their unsavory clients is met with stiff resistance and the novel accusation of being a “gun hater”.
Cheap labor comes in various forms, whether as so-called “illegal immigration” or as “cheap consumer goods”, either way people inside and outside the U.S. are not being paid living wages nor granted basic work conditions, simply to feed the lavish consumerism sponsored by corporate America in detriment of American workers.
Can we possibly build a wall to fend off our own greed and shameful habits?
Meanwhile a path for unauthorized immigrants towards obtaining a legal status remains unaddressed, perpetuating the very evils we should urgently address.
SOURCE: Ponte al Dia
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