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| Donald Trump Finally Puts Price Tag On "Great Wall" Of Mexico |
| 2016-02-11 |
| Donald Trump bailed out TV news operations struggling to flood the zone with today's New Hampshire primary voting -- only so much you can do to make parka'd lines at polling places look sexy and only so many different ways to say voter turnout is expected to be a record -- when he finally announced his estimated cost of that wall between the U.S. and Mexico. I'll bet his estimate does not include the usual graft, corruption, and crony capitalism paybacks. "The wall is probably $8 billion, which is a tiny fraction of the money that we lose with Mexico," he told MSNBC's Tamron Hall in the middle of Granite State voting. Trump said he came to that number by "multiplying the number of miles by a certain number." How much have we spent on laughable excuses for a "wall", development of surveillance systems and other vaporware walls, lost opportunity, human costs, damage control, imported crime, and welfare benefits because our politicians are playing games with this? "I'm taking price per square foot and price per square, you know, per mile, and it's a very simple calculation," Trump said, adding he would build about 1,000 miles of border wall along the 2,000-mile long border, because natural barriers would do the trick without a wall in portions of the border. This number is a drop in the bucket compared to the figure MSNBC's cable cousin CNBC came up with back in October. Citing various sources and studies, CNBC estimated the actual cost for Trump's border wall -- which it estimated would run roughly 1,300 miles -- could be as high as $16 million per mile, with a total price tag of $15 billion-$25 billion. Politicians love this figure, I'll bet. Trump is expected to win New Hampshire primary voting, after finishing second in Iowa caucuses, so it seems appropriate to pick today to release his estimated price of his wall. Trump in the summer launched his presidential campaign off The Wall: "I would build a great wall, and nobody builds walls better than me, believe me, and I'll build them very inexpensively," he said controversially, as he announced his candidacy in June, ending decades of flirtation. "I will build a great, great wall on our southern border. And I will have Mexico pay for that wall. Mark my words," he added. Every time you find an illegal, seize their assets and put them towards the wall. Fees on money sent back to Mexico. Fees to cross the border. Visa fees. Tariffs. Taxes. Just the beginning. I could do it I'll bet. Mexican President Felipe Calderon recently mocked Trump's pledge to make Mexico pay for the wall, CNN noted today in its coverage of Trump's $8B news. "Mexican people, we are not going to pay any single cent for such a stupid wall, and they need to know that," Calderon has been quoted as saying. "And it's going to be completely useless." If it's useless then why fear it? Responded Trump on MSNBC today: "You tell them, 'You're going to pay for it.' ... Mexico makes a fortune. Mexico is going to pay. And I heard [Calderon] said that we will not pay. Guess what? The wall just got higher." |
| Posted by:gorb |
| #18 "Keeping the A-10 would also be good for southern Arizona." *cough* *cough* |
| Posted by: swksvolFF 2016-02-11 23:29 |
| #17 UA 571-C Automated Sentry Guns would be appreciated |
| Posted by: Mullah Richard 2016-02-11 22:27 |
| #16 Have the ugly chain link fence and sensors on the real border but a hundred meters back build a proper wall, one modeled on the Great Wall of China, one that can be seen from space, and make it a tourist destination. |
| Posted by: rjschwarz 2016-02-11 19:14 |
| #15 Over at Instapundit the other day, it was pointed out that remittance to Mexico has reached 24B. As was mentioned, that is more than Mexico's petro industry brings in. Quite an incentive for the Mexican gov to keep it going. |
| Posted by: SteveS 2016-02-11 16:54 |
| #14 Any remittance from illegal sources, ie the new slave class should be seized. And tell Mexico and the others, for every one of their people we catch here illegally, we will annex 1 square mile of their country. And it's our choice WHICH Mile^2 it is. Ie their oil fields, mines and all the other good parts. They don't like it, they can take it up with our new experimental killer robots, who can use a good combat trial. |
| Posted by: Silentbrick 2016-02-11 15:06 |
| #13 Why not enforce Immigration laws we have? |
| Posted by: newc 2016-02-11 14:01 |
| #12 I'm not talking about a glorified cow pen, I'm talking Theodosian Wall building machine. |
| Posted by: swksvolFF 2016-02-11 12:36 |
| #11 with patrol vehicle path between I prefer killer 'bots between two concrete walls with moving top edges spaced far enough apart that you can't bridge them. |
| Posted by: gorb 2016-02-11 11:59 |
| #10 @ #9 & #8 Yes, these slip casting machines for highway barriers do exist here in the U.S., and are in regular use. Once you get past all the politix, the controlling factor in barrier design is $$/unit length. It is simply cheaper per mile to go with sheet steel wall & chain link with patrol vehicle path between. |
| Posted by: nguard 2016-02-11 11:54 |
| #9 @@8: England has a neat machine for 'slipcasting' the UK equivalent of the highway Jersey barrier, so it would seem to be a simple matter of scaling up to build a higher J.B. I have to assume we have a similar device, Would probably need to pre-position rebar. (No, I am not a civil engineer, and I have not stayed in a Holiday Inn Express lately) |
| Posted by: USN, Ret. 2016-02-11 11:35 |
| #8 I do not understand why there is not a rampart building cousin of the boring machines. |
| Posted by: swksvolFF 2016-02-11 10:41 |
| #7 And any living space sold or rented to an illegal is seized and auctioned off, the proceeds go to the wall. And get rid of the anchor baby bull$hit. |
| Posted by: gorb 2016-02-11 10:31 |
| #6 Simple enough I suppose, and a solution for the European refugee problem as well. Don't sell merchandise without ID. Enforceable for tobacco and alcohol why not all? |
| Posted by: Skidmark 2016-02-11 10:24 |
| #5 Calderon shouldn't be making a fuss about the "stupid wall." He should be in the Home Depot parking lot angling for a shot at weed-wacking around its foundation. |
| Posted by: regular joe 2016-02-11 10:04 |
| #4 What should be done is to levy a 40% tax on all remittances to Mexico - whether it is wetbacks sending cash back home, or US companies buying cheap manufactured goods - for as long as bit takes to complete the wall. Then - extend an offer to Mexico to allow them to directly fund any portion of the cost that they wish. That leaves Mexico with two choices: 1) Contribute nothing, and watch tens of thousands of Mexicans return to Mexico, where they can at least retain some money, and also watch manufactured goods inventories pile up in Mexico. 2) Pay for the wall, and the tax goes away. |
| Posted by: Lone Ranger 2016-02-11 09:29 |
| #3 BTW, there's a lot of graft money being made in transiting these illegals to and across the border besides helping the purer blood Spanish ruling caste of Mexico maintain its power by avoiding reform or revolution by dumping millions of their mestizos y indios upon El Norte. |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2016-02-11 09:18 |
| #2 Over at Instapundit the other day, it was pointed out that remittance to Mexico has reached 24B. You could pick up a good chunk of that with a 10, or 15, or 20 percent Then suspend Davis-Bacon Act and use a lot of 'day laborers' to drive costs down. I like irony. |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2016-02-11 09:14 |
| #1 If he is in charge he will do the job under cost and finish ahead of scheduled completion. Like Teddy's Calvary he will ride down to see it gets done. Bully, jolly good job, well done. |
| Posted by: Dale 2016-02-11 06:56 |