The Foundations of Trump's wall go back over a decade to 2001. The 2001 fence was conceived to keep Islamic terrorists out of the United States because George W. Bush's infinite wisdom assured him that they must be coming from Catholic Mexico where they would surely blend in. It was an extension of the fence that Bill Clinton instituted near Sand Diego in 1994 to coincide with an expansion in free trade with Mexico and the Zapatista uprising against NAFTA. Congressional wrangling over Bush's border fence landed it partial funding in 2006 and the funded part is still incomplete.
The fence is supposed to be mostly a double layer of high fencing with child shredding razor wire at the top and a walk way in between for border guards to operate with German shepherds which were also used to marshal prisoners to the gas chambers in concentration camps. In some place it has materialized as a more high tech version of the Siegfried line with towers, snipers and electronic sensors.
Former reality television star and serial bankrupt Donald Trump has a vision of a bigger and more complete wall “Its going to be great. And Mexico is going to pay for it.” Days later he completed a miniature mock up on his desk, arranging stale tortillas around his Americanized “taco salad” and giving a thumbs up for reporters.
The estimates on what it will cost vary from $4 billion to over $20 billion. Considering this construction project is the intersection of the federal government, the military, and a man who has declared bankruptcy multiple times, the cost will likely exceed the latter figure.
Mexico is not going to pay for this wall. Trump announced a 20% tax on imports from Mexico. The increased cost of imports will be passed on to the consumer. Some things imported from Mexico are not consumer goods. The number two import is machinery.
The number three import is crude oil. Last year that was $22 billion worth of crude oil. Based on my straw estimates, that translates to a $0.53 tax on gasoline at the pump for the wall. This is on top of the other tax that got slipped in by Paul Ryan on imports. Trump and the Republican Congress just raised the taxes on gasoline by over a dollar one every gallon to pay for the border wall, roundups detentions and camps.
You are not done paying for it yet. So-called American built cars are made in Mexico. The parts are made in America, shipped to Mexico to take advantage of the high repression, lack of unions and lower wages then shipped back and little more work done here to make them American. Consider the wall to be another $1331 tax on your next new car that you will then pump your $4 a gallon gas into.
The higher gas prices will translate to higher prices on any goods that are shipped. Computers and electronics are made or assembled in Mexico and exported to the United States. Those will go up in price.
Medical equipment is also a major import from Mexico. The price of that will go up and the cost will be on your medical bill. Now that the affordable care act is gutted and gone, that price increase will be passed directly to you without harm the profits of a single insurance company.
Another major export from Mexico is fruits and vegetables. These have to be shipped around the country. Do you like Avocados? Shipping them to you fresh from Mexico is about to double in cost. They will be taxed once by Congress, once by Trump, and then the cost doubling of fuel will be passed on to you.
The cost to consumers will be offset by jobs. Trump has promised to build American infrastructure. What he meant was the infrastructure of repression. Some new jobs will be created in building the wall and detention centers, and prisons slated to close will stay open. Private prisons, which the Department of Justice is no longer renewing contracts for, will find their beds filled again, at the lower non-union wages they pay for their untrained staff.
There will be jobs training German Shepherds for the 1951 mile wall and the associated concentration camps it will breed. The Hospitality industry, where the President has made and lost several fortunes, will also get a boost. Aramark (which owns the Marriot chain) provides “food” including maggot ridden meat, to prisons both private and public around the country, surely this gas tax for the Mexican wall will buy them more maggots to feed to the children awaiting deportation at a nice profit and no wage increase for the American worker.
Trump just built a wall around your Taco bowl and you are going to pay for it. How do you like them avocados?