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Edited by Mrph1 on Nov 30th 2023 at 11:03:59 AM
Trump insists that he can get Mexico to pay for the wall's construction out of its trade surplus with the United States. Regarding the feasibility of such a plan, I'll defer to the nervous giggling coming from the economist community.
edited 23rd Sep '15 12:34:08 PM by Fighteer
"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"Your guess is as good as mine. The trade surplus isn't like our government writing the Mexican government a giant annual check; it's made up of millions of commercial transactions between businesses.
edited 23rd Sep '15 12:36:54 PM by Fighteer
"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"There are a couple clips on Colbert's YT channel.
Personally I thought Trump was tired.
As for the why of Mexico not paying. One it's because it's not Mexico's problem, it's a countries job to protect its border, not the job of bordering countries, see Serbia and Hungary for an example. Two Mexico hasn't got the money, it's broke as fuck and it's a dick move to ask the poorest guy around to pay for shit, especially when that shit doesn't benefit him. Third: It's an unreasonable level of security, even if Mexico does have a duty to keep its side of border securish, the demands being made by republicans are absurd and way beyond what it's reasonable to ask for.
“And the Bunny nails it!” ~ Gabrael “If the UN can get through a day without everyone strangling everyone else so can we.” ~ CyranThe idea that it's a country's duty to keep its people from fleeing into neighboring countries is so absurd as to be laughable.
"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"Though what if its not its people? Should Mexico be stopping refuges from further south from continuing north? Like Hungary and France have been expected (at least initially) to do?
“And the Bunny nails it!” ~ Gabrael “If the UN can get through a day without everyone strangling everyone else so can we.” ~ CyranWell, obviously despotic countries might do that for their own domestic reasons, but not for the benefit of their neighbors.
Mexico could be preventing refugees from fleeing north, but why should it? It doesn't have the capacity to take care of them any more than those southern neighbors do. How is it in Mexico's national interest to prevent migration?
edited 23rd Sep '15 2:21:57 PM by Fighteer
"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"Fair point. The argument used against France, Hungary and occasionally Serbia is that refuges are safe there and as such shouldn't be dealt with there, as the whole thing about refuges is that they are fleeing to find safety, so once they are safe they stop being refuges.
Mexico however isn't safe, so I guess that's the big difference.
“And the Bunny nails it!” ~ Gabrael “If the UN can get through a day without everyone strangling everyone else so can we.” ~ CyranThose countries might consider it unfair to be stuck with the lion's share of the burden of caring for all of the refugees simply because of their proximity to the afflicted nations.
Also, France has some pretty serious anti-Muslim prejudice, and Hungary is fast turning into a despotism at the hands of Fidesz so might not remain all that safe.
edited 23rd Sep '15 2:43:51 PM by Fighteer
"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"France has far from the lion's share, it just as those who want to get to the UK. Italy and Greece are the ones with absurd amounts, Hungary does have a fair number now though. Serbia likewise seems to have actually taken pretty much nobody, it's done a reverse Belgium and declared that it is a road rather than a nation.
But yeah it is a rather unfair system of countries screwing over those who are geographically closer to problems.
edited 23rd Sep '15 2:52:27 PM by Silasw
“And the Bunny nails it!” ~ Gabrael “If the UN can get through a day without everyone strangling everyone else so can we.” ~ CyranThe Know Nothings who are most vocal about illegal immigration honestly don't care whether they come from Mexico or elsewhere in Latin America.
Mexico does have strict immigration laws, and has been trying to keep it's own southern border bottled up, though that might be in response to pressure from the US. Though I suppose if the US chucks all the illegal immigrants it arrests back to Mexico, then it'd be in Mexico's interest not to let them in the country in the first place
Because the poor job stealing Mexican is a convenient fiction.
Since at least in January, Shkreli has been under criminal investigation by the United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York, court records show. And Shkreli is not alone—some of his business associates have also received grand jury subpoenas in the case…
The criminal investigation involves Retrophin, a public company where Shkreli served as an officer, director, and 10-percent owner of the outstanding stock before being ousted amid multiple allegations of misconduct. Retrophin focuses on the development, acquisition and commercialization of therapies for the treatment of catastrophic or rare diseases, and was founded by in 2011 by Shkreli.
The inquiry, according to court records and people with knowledge of the inquiry, involves such a vast number of suspected crimes it is difficult to know where to start. A quick summary of the government’s theory: If there was money, Shkreli took it. If there were facts to be revealed, Shkreli hid them. If there were securities laws, Shkreli broke them…
According to the court records and people with knowledge of the case, the allegations against Shkreli that are under investigation involve insider trading, disguising the purpose of corporate payments for his benefit, defrauding shareholders by snatching business opportunities for himself, destruction of evidence, failure to disclose material facts to shareholders and other potential crimes.
One of the key elements of the investigation involves allegations that Shkreli appropriated cash from Retrophin and used it to settle litigation from institutions and individuals who were investors in his hedge fund, MSMB Capital Management, and then illegally classified them in the company’s books as consulting payments. In essence, if the allegations are true, Shkreli stole money from the company to resolve lawsuits that had nothing to do with Retrophin, then lied about what he did in filings to the Securities and Exchange Commission by misrepresenting how and why the cash was spent….
Bobby Jindal has declared if he is elected he will fire congress, rule as dictator, presumably.
I know its a Godwin and all, but Hitler called, Bobby, he wants his campaign promises back.
edited 23rd Sep '15 5:22:30 PM by NickTheSwing

Even asking "What if?" is glorifying the idea. Of course Mexico is not going to pay for such a ridiculous endeavour on the orders of a foreign country. And if the US tried to push the issue, the international community would be overwhelmingly on Mexico's side. But, honestly, I doubt the people who earnestly support the idea care — they probably want nothing more than for the US to bully its neighbour into spending its money on this under threat of violence, and if it pisses off every single one of the US' allies, all the better!