# Trump's Wall 15 to 20 billion. Can we do it better and cheaper? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [January 26, 2017, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-wall-15-to-20-billion-can-we-do-it-better-and-cheaper/778243 "2017-01-26T18:13:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![jasg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f0a364/32.png) [@jasg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jasg)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2017, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-wall-15-to-20-billion-can-we-do-it-better-and-cheaper/778243/101 "2017-01-30T23:29:21Z")
Why not just build the wall around the Whitehouse? ---
**Author:** ![6ImpossibleThingsB4Breakfast](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/6/e19adc/32.png) [@6ImpossibleThingsB4Breakfast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/6ImpossibleThingsB4Breakfast)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2017, 6:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-wall-15-to-20-billion-can-we-do-it-better-and-cheaper/778243/102 "2017-01-31T06:11:53Z")
Forget building anything. Work with Mother Nature! Plant _Hippomane mancinella_ (“little apple of death”) all along the border, intertwined with some gympie-gympie (_Dendrocnide moroides_) just for some horticultural hijinx. If you brush up against the “little apple of death”, its white sap produces a violent allergic reaction. So toxic is this stuff that even if you come in contact with rain thats run off it in a storm you’ll get blisters. Its fruit can look yummy to an exhausted desert trekker, and if somehow you get to eat some, you’ll be rewarded with a seizure, vomiting and diarrhoea motherload that more often than not will kill you. Gympie-gympie is green, heart-shaped leafed bush (spread the love!) covered with hair-like stinging needles that contain a powerful neurotoxin that causes excruciating pain. The itching is so extreme, and so painful it’s known to kill dogs and horses, and drive humans mad with the agony. This hedge of hearts and apples is something you wouldn’t be able to climb, or dig under; and you certainly couldn’t get through it. No idea how much it would cost to plant and water, but would $1b cover it? ---
**Author:** ![septimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/septimus/32/410_2.png) [@septimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/septimus)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2017, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-wall-15-to-20-billion-can-we-do-it-better-and-cheaper/778243/103 "2017-01-31T16:14:00Z")
I read this thread with increasing dismay. Building the wall is a good start on helping America’s crumbling infrastructure? I’m going to have to tag that as an #AlternateIdea. The best suggestion, given the White House mood, was from **Cornelius Tuggerson** : > [@Cornelius\_Tuggerson](#): > > Have we considered using barbed wire and landmines instead of a wall? Rigging up a truck to deploy miles of multiple layers of barbed wire doesn’t sound too hard. Landmines can cost as little as $.8 each if you get them in bulk. And there are already vehicle attachments that can spread them around randomly. Once you abandon all compassion the money saving possibilities are truly endless. > [@aceplace57](#): > > The government can build basic infrastructure… Whether we have the National will to do it again is the question. Isn’t it Trump’s will that is more relevant here? I’m curious what **aceplace57** ’s opinion on that is. > [@blondebear](#): > > Latest wall news from the Washington Post: > [White House press secretary says border wall will be funded by 20 percent import tax on Mexican goods](https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/the_americas/mexican-president-cancels-visit-to-washington-as-tensions-with-trump-administration-intensify/2017/01/26/ececc3da-e3d9-11e6-a419-eefe8eff0835_story.html) I had to click the link to see if this was a parody from _The Onion_. No? I guess the idea is to depress Mexico’s economy, thereby increasing the flux of wetback crossings (and therefore detonations), so that more graft can be skimmed from whatever happy munitions manufacturer is supplying the landmines **Cornelius Tuggerson** speaks of. :eek: ---
**Author:** ![doorhinge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a5b964/32.png) [@doorhinge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doorhinge)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2017, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-wall-15-to-20-billion-can-we-do-it-better-and-cheaper/778243/104 "2017-01-31T19:32:45Z")
> [@jasg](#): > > Why not just build the wall around the Whitehouse? Because JugearS Obama has already escaped for parts unknown? ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2017, 7:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-wall-15-to-20-billion-can-we-do-it-better-and-cheaper/778243/105 "2017-02-01T07:51:36Z")
The cost could be reduced by finding some way to incorporate a waste stream into the construction - something that was otherwise on its way to landfill, or the ashes of Untermenschen. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2017, 1:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-wall-15-to-20-billion-can-we-do-it-better-and-cheaper/778243/106 "2017-02-01T13:24:45Z")
> [@jasg](#): > > Why not just build the wall around the Whitehouse? Around the statue of Liberty. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2017, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-wall-15-to-20-billion-can-we-do-it-better-and-cheaper/778243/107 "2017-02-02T00:24:26Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > The cost could be reduced by finding some way to incorporate a waste stream into the construction - something that was otherwise on its way to landfill, or the ashes of Untermenschen. Who qualifies as untermenschsen, Muslims, Democrats, Business Rivals? ---
**Author:** ![Elemenopy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b5e925/32.png) [@Elemenopy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elemenopy)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2017, 1:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-wall-15-to-20-billion-can-we-do-it-better-and-cheaper/778243/108 "2017-02-02T13:27:53Z")
> [@El\_Kabong](#): > > Dig a moat instead… I think, if the thing must be done, a [“ha-ha”](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ha-ha) should be built. A), because it would look slightly nicer, and B), because I would love to see and hear that term plastered all over the news. 😃 And then we could stock it with laser-adorned sharks if it gets enough rain. ---
**Author:** ![Melbourne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2017, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-wall-15-to-20-billion-can-we-do-it-better-and-cheaper/778243/109 "2017-02-02T23:41:34Z")
> [@Cornelius\_Tuggerson](#): > > Have we considered using barbed wire and landmines instead of a wall? Rigging up a truck to deploy miles of multiple layers of barbed wire doesn’t sound too hard. Landmines can cost as little as $.8 each if you get them in bulk. And there are already vehicle attachments that can spread them around randomly. Once you abandon all compassion the money saving possibilities are truly endless. Worked really well in Vietnam right? Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it… Speaking of which, I remember that there was already an attempt to build a wall, and that it failed for technical reasons. Technology has marched on for 10 (???) yerars since then, so it’s reasonable to review the program: if it was a good idea then, perhaps it’s still a good idea. Also, who wants to build a simple concrete wall? Is that really being suggested? That’s an insane idea. (Unless you think that America needs more Keynesian economics, in which case… I still think it’s an insane idea) ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2017, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-wall-15-to-20-billion-can-we-do-it-better-and-cheaper/778243/110 "2017-02-03T02:25:01Z")
And apparently some official now claims the wall will be built in 2 years. Isn’t that like, building 5 miles a day? Building one hundred yards per hour? ---
**Author:** ![Lord\_Feldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lord_feldon/32/341_2.png) [@Lord\_Feldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Feldon)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2017, 7:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-wall-15-to-20-billion-can-we-do-it-better-and-cheaper/778243/111 "2017-02-03T07:18:32Z")
> [@Velocity](#): > > And apparently some official now claims the wall will be built in 2 years. Isn’t that like, building 5 miles a day? Building one hundred yards per hour? That’s because some of it is going to be [invisible](http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/fox-news-some-border-wall-see-through?utm_content=buffer01a9c&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer): > [@](#): > > Fox’s Catherine Herridge said that Kelly told her that the wall “will take a multi-layered approach. There will be the physical wall and then parts of the wall that you can see through because it will rely on sensors and other technology.” ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2017, 7:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-wall-15-to-20-billion-can-we-do-it-better-and-cheaper/778243/112 "2017-02-03T07:40:35Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > Who qualifies as untermenschsen, Muslims, Democrats, Business Rivals? I suggest we leave those details to the death squads. ---
**Author:** ![sweat209](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9fc348/32.png) [@sweat209](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sweat209)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2017, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-wall-15-to-20-billion-can-we-do-it-better-and-cheaper/778243/113 "2017-02-04T21:10:18Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > \*\*\*Please - for this discussion let’s assume a border Wall is needed. How can it be done most efficiently and also provide training & jobs? \*\*\* > > Please don’t derail the thread with debates over the need for a border wall. > > The projected cost varies depending on the news source. It’s somewhere around $18 billion. > > This doesn’t make sense to me. My dad’s brother was in the CCC. Civilian Conservation Corps. They built parks, roads and many other projects all across the US. One of their most important tasks was building retaining walls to prevent erosion and flood control. > > A border fence is not that different. It’s unskilled labor supervised by experienced construction trades people. Laying it out with surveyors. Making sure the foundation is dug properly. I’ve worked construction. It paid the costs for my college education. I’m very aware of the challenges and what’s required. Efficient planning and management is essential. > > The military has numerous construction battalions. The Seabees is the best known. But all the military branches have similar groups. Construction is a vital function for the military. They could provide the needed expertise. > > Create a education program. The unskilled workers could learn a trade. The project managers and supervisors will very valuable experience in running a big construction job. Skills they can use for the rest of their careers. > > This could be a very good way to offer work to the unemployed. The US infrastructure needs a lot of other work. The Wall would be just one of many projects. > > The US needs its own construction department that doesn’t depend on bids from private contractors. Much like the State Highway Departments do their own work. > > I’m not suggesting a border wall can be built for nothing. But I think we could easily cut the projected costs in half. Some of the area can be more easily protected by electronic fencing. Areas with natural barriers are already inaccessible and can be patrolled. That still leaves a lot of physical fencing. > > Isn’t it time to revive the CCC? It transformed my Uncle’s life. He was 17 when he joined the CCC. The checks sent home to my grandfather made all the difference during the Great Depression. It quite literally allowed my grandfather to keep his farm and feed his family. > > The model for the CCC worked. Research the documents, structure, and organize it in a similar way. Updating as needed. > > How would you approach this project? Even if they have wall and guard tower every 50 or 100 feet!! I fear people will start digging tunnels that what a lot of drug smugglers are doing now. ---
**Author:** ![Weisshund](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/ba8739/32.png) [@Weisshund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Weisshund)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2017, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-wall-15-to-20-billion-can-we-do-it-better-and-cheaper/778243/114 "2017-02-04T21:16:20Z")
The country generates enough non degradable unrecycled garbage in less than a year probably to build a solid structure that size ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2017, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-wall-15-to-20-billion-can-we-do-it-better-and-cheaper/778243/115 "2017-02-05T16:47:12Z")
[Second musical interlude.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qilWSC4TAmA) \*And the wall gets higher, so you could not see, I said the wall gets higher, so you could not see. Well the lightning flash, the cannon roar, the ground begin to shake, The people wondered but they heard no more, but the Big Chief will not wait.\* [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-wall-15-to-20-billion-can-we-do-it-better-and-cheaper/778243.md?page=5)