# The Propriety of Making Mexico Pay for the Wall **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [January 27, 2017, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-propriety-of-making-mexico-pay-for-the-wall/778338 "2017-01-27T20:05:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![penultima\_thule](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/penultima_thule/32/3833_2.png) [@penultima\_thule](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/penultima_thule)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2017, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-propriety-of-making-mexico-pay-for-the-wall/778338/21 "2017-01-29T01:46:17Z")
> [@Kimera757](#): > > Trump came up with a “clever” way to make Mexico pay for the wall. Impose an anti-Mexico import tax, and use that to pay for the wall. > [@Jonathan\_Chance](#): > > Actually, what that would do is make US pay for the wall. +1 Methinks that was on page 3 of the Supply & Demand primer in Econ 1.001 Any and all competitors to Mexico’s supply of goods into the US will now be able to increase prices 20% whilst maintaining market share. Hence the wall’s cost will be borne by the US consumers, have no effect on Mexico and pass on a windfall 20% profit to other suppliers to the US. Making America Great Again, right out of the gate. ---
**Author:** ![Evan\_Drake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b487fb/32.png) [@Evan\_Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evan_Drake)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2017, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-propriety-of-making-mexico-pay-for-the-wall/778338/22 "2017-01-29T02:34:49Z")
It’s very bad taste. > [@Sage\_Rat](#): > > That all said, the wall can be expected to do almost nothing to prevent immigration. If we wanted to do something about that, we would remove the minimum wage, start building barracks-style apartment buildings with super cheap rent, and offer **incentives** for people to get into farming, dishwashing, and other low-pay, low-skill jobs. Whips ? It’s extraordinary how much capitalist libertarian America has morphed into Soviet communism under the threat of having people getting stuff they haven’t earned: the sour embittered _ressentiment_ that fueled a thousand revolutions. Hating Aristos — Hating Welfare Queens. Actually, America had a similar system in The Dust-Bowl Years, the wretchedly poor, deprived of material goods and forced to work in the fields for others. Zeks for Kapital. It was one of the happiest times in human history for the monied exploiter. **[On Arizona Highway 87, south of Chandler.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:On_Arizona_Highway_87,_south_of_Chandler._Maricopa_County,_Arizona._Children_in_a_democracy._A_migra_._._._-_NARA_-_522528.jpg)** ---
**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2017, 3:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-propriety-of-making-mexico-pay-for-the-wall/778338/23 "2017-01-29T03:15:18Z")
Okay, so imposing a large anti-Mexico import tax would cost American consumers significantly. And the consequent trade war would also _cost us jobs_ related to the [$212 billion worth of American _exports to Mexico_](https://www.census.gov/foreign-trade/balance/c2010.html) last year. Up from under $100 billion in U.S. exports to Mexico in 2003. Yes, exports to Mexico have been, [according to Forbes](http://www.forbes.com/sites/kenrapoza/2013/01/25/for-american-exporters-mexico-is-the-china-door/#60a77da024c8) pretty much the only trading partner that has been buying American in a big way. > [@Forbes](#): > > … Every major trading partner saw a decline of at least five percent in their imports from the U.S. Only Mexico continued to buy American. … > > … What are they buying? The top export categories in 2011 were electrical machinery ($32.3 billion), capital goods/equipment ($31.5 billion), mineral fuel and oil ($23.6 billion), vehicles ($18.1 billion), and plastic ($12.7 billion). On the commodities side, farm products to Mexico totaled $18.3 billion in 2011, making it the third largest U.S. agricultural export market after China and the E.U. There’s also exports of private commercial services to Mexico worth some $25.2 billion in 2011, 4.6 percent more than 2010 and 62 percent greater than 2000. > > How about this, computer accessories exports to Mexico in 2011 were $12.2 billion, up from $8.7 billion in 2010, $6.02 billion in 2009 and just $4.2 billion in 2002. Mexico is our next door China. > > For auto parts makers, exports were up to $15.6 billion in 2011 from $12.6 billion in 2010. In 2002, it was $8.6 billion, according to the Census. > > Telecommunications equipment exports were $6.06 billion in 2011, up from $5.6 billion in 2010 and $2.7 billion in 2002, according to the most recent data. … Of course a trade war could crater the economy that demands those American products. Funny thing about what would likely happen then … the same doing fairly well Mexican economy that buys American also employs Mexican workers and the result of that has been [a significant decrease in illegal immigration from Mexico from a peak in 2007](http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2015/11/20/what-we-know-about-illegal-immigration-from-mexico/) … crater that economy and “wall” notwithstanding _illegal immigration will rise back up_. Ironic aint it? ---
**Author:** ![penultima\_thule](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/penultima_thule/32/3833_2.png) [@penultima\_thule](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/penultima_thule)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2017, 7:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-propriety-of-making-mexico-pay-for-the-wall/778338/24 "2017-01-29T07:30:48Z")
> [@DSeid](#): > > Ironic aint it? In a literary sense it’s called ironic. In a quantitative sense it’s called cause and effect. ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2017, 7:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-propriety-of-making-mexico-pay-for-the-wall/778338/25 "2017-01-29T07:37:21Z")
> [@Evan\_Drake](#): > > Whips ? I was thinking more along the lines of financial aid to people who are willing to move into rural areas, but you’re certainly free to advocate for whatever makes you happy. ---
**Author:** ![Evan\_Drake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b487fb/32.png) [@Evan\_Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evan_Drake)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2017, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-propriety-of-making-mexico-pay-for-the-wall/778338/26 "2017-01-29T19:47:09Z")
'_We will pay **Big Bucks** to get you to the Opportunity of a Lifetime: You \*\*Too \*\*Can Earn Less Than Minimum Wage !_" ---
**Author:** ![Sherrerd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sherrerd/32/8_2.png) [@Sherrerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sherrerd)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2017, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-propriety-of-making-mexico-pay-for-the-wall/778338/27 "2017-01-29T20:35:01Z")
> [@DSeid](#): > > … Of course a trade war could crater the economy that demands those American products. Funny thing about what would likely happen then … the same doing fairly well Mexican economy that buys American also employs Mexican workers and the result of that has been [a significant decrease in illegal immigration from Mexico from a peak in 2007](http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2015/11/20/what-we-know-about-illegal-immigration-from-mexico/) … crater that economy and “wall” notwithstanding _illegal immigration will rise back up_. > Ironic aint it? Trump’s administration is badly hampered in its efforts to convince the American people that they are living in a hell hole, by the fact that they are not living in a hell hole. In order to justify doing all that they want to do, they badly need to, you know, _make the USA a hell hole_. Hence we see their tireless and unceasing efforts both to increase illegal immigration across the Mexican border, and to provoke Muslim outrage over Administration mistreatment of Muslims. The Trump Administration will stop at _nothing_ to create justification for the imposition of a police state. How else is Donald going to stop people from saying mean things about him, such as that his Inauguration crowd wasn’t the largest in history? _He can’t go on this way_. He has GOT to get rid of that pesky Constitution with all its horrors (the First Amendment, the rule of law, and that stupid checks-and-balances stuff). Trump needs masses of dangerous brown people swarming over the border and he needs Muslim people blowing up US targets _and he needs them soon_. ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2017, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-propriety-of-making-mexico-pay-for-the-wall/778338/28 "2017-01-30T01:04:33Z")
> [@Evan\_Drake](#): > > '_We will pay **Big Bucks** to get you to the Opportunity of a Lifetime: You \*\*Too \*\*Can Earn Less Than Minimum Wage !_" So what you’re saying is that Americans shouldn’t have to live or work like them filthy, pig Mexicans? Clearly, that would just be a horror. Just think of all those Mexican laborers who moved to the US for a couple decades, supported their whole family in Mexico, retired early, and lived happily for the rest of their life in always-sunny Mexico. THE HORROR! Clearly, it would be a travesty to ask the same of Americans. Clearly, it would be far better to institute a two-tiered citizenship status in our country. That worked out wonderfully the last time we did it! ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2017, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-propriety-of-making-mexico-pay-for-the-wall/778338/29 "2017-01-30T01:14:06Z")
Mexico might be willing to help fund the Texas border section, since it would keep gringos away from the river. ---
**Author:** ![Evan\_Drake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b487fb/32.png) [@Evan\_Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evan_Drake)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2017, 3:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-propriety-of-making-mexico-pay-for-the-wall/778338/30 "2017-01-30T03:55:20Z")
> [@Sage\_Rat](#): > > So what you’re saying is that Americans shouldn’t have to live or work like them filthy, pig Mexicans? Clearly, that would just be a horror. Just think of all those Mexican laborers who moved to the US for a couple decades, supported their whole family in Mexico, retired early, and lived happily for the rest of their life in always-sunny Mexico. THE HORROR! > > Clearly, it would be a travesty to ask the same of Americans. > > Clearly, it would be far better to institute a two-tiered citizenship status in our country. That worked out wonderfully the last time we did it! Yeah, American farmers, farming conglomerates and capitalists have done magnificently in ensuring the guest worker is treated exactly as they would their own families and making their stay something they will cherish forever, with sweet sweet memories of the merry life in the fields. **[Pew Charitable Trusts](http://www.pewtrusts.org/en/research-and-analysis/blogs/stateline/2016/05/02/struggle-to-provide-housing-for-migrant-farmworkers)** **[Farmworker Justice](https://www.farmworkerjustice.org/advocacy-and-programs/occupational-health-and-safety)** National Farm Worker Ministry: **[Children](http://nfwm.org/education-center/farm-worker-issues/children-in-the-fields/)** **[Housing](http://nfwm.org/education-center/farm-worker-issues/housing/)** **[Low Wages](http://nfwm.org/education-center/farm-worker-issues/low-wages/)** **[Health and Safety](http://nfwm.org/education-center/farm-worker-issues/health-safety/)** $500 a week rent for a trailer is a little excessive; but check out the kid born without limbs, as a gift from the pesticide industry, Rad ! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-propriety-of-making-mexico-pay-for-the-wall/778338.md?page=1)