Posted on 08/18/2015 10:24:32 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
Donald Trump may need to rework his Mexico wall math.
Donald Trump yesterday unveiled his policy paper on immigration reform, including how he would convince Mexico to pay for a border wall. But technology is likely to have made his first bullet point irrelevant by the time he would take office.
Trump writes that “Mexico continues to make billions on not only our bad trade deals but also relies heavily on the billions of dollars in remittances sent from illegal immigrants in the United States back to Mexico ($22 billion in 2013 alone)… Mexico must pay for the wall and, until they do, the United States will, among other things: impound all remittance payments derived from illegal wages.”
Before continuing, it’s worth noting that Trump is incorrectly quoting the source to which he links (Fox News Latino). The $22 billion figure is for all remittances from the U.S. to Mexico in 2013, not only those involving illegal immigrants.
But my issue here isn’t bad math. It’s the idea that Trump thinks he’d be able to use remittances as a major cudgel in 2017 (which is when the next president would be sworn in). While most of these payments today are made via traditional wire transfers, more and more of them are being made via bitcoin and other digital currencies.
Not only are such exchanges cheaper than traditional wire transfers, but they are faster and would be virtually impossible for the U.S. government to block (given that Bitcoin transfers don’t include identifying information that could be matched against federal identification databases). There is even a service that lets people in the U.S. send Bitcoin to ATMs in Mexico, where the intended recipient can withdraw their money in pesos.
(Excerpt) Read more at fortune.com ...
America needs to defend our borders.
Every other country does this. Every one. Some have it down so well they are virtually homogeneous. Many countries in Asia are this way.
Other coutries are less ... racially oriented. But nobody does what we do.
We need to control our border. That is just basic.
Control our border.
Trump will assign people in his cabinet that can solve tech problems etc..
Ya know its funny that when Willard was running the RomneyBots claimed we needed him because he was the “strong and mighty one” who could walk on water and solve any problem business or other ...
Now those same groupies are the naysayers for Trump..
Build a massive wall. Problem solved.
Trump should make the Chamber of Commerce pay for the wall.
“While most of these payments today are made via traditional wire transfers, more and more of them are being made via bitcoin and other digital currencies.”
Most Mexican go to Western Union, they aren’t doing bitcoin hahahahaaaa
Ignore anything political that come from Fortune. They are shills for the Global Elite.
I seriously doubt that most Mexicans sending money to Mexico use Bitcoin. Bitcoin is a hard enough concept for most people familiar with high-tech, much less someone who just wants to send $200 a week back to their mom at home.
If 1/4 of the remittances are sent by Western Union, and I would say that is a very low figure, then a 10% tax on remittances would still be $550,000,000, more than enough to start the wall and enough to finish the wall in just three years.
People will point out that you can’t just tax illegal immigrants remittances.
To that I say:
Wait, you are making a difference between illegal and legal immigrants? I thought they were one and the same? Isn’t that what you say every time someone says they are opposed to illegal immigration?
Legal immigrants from Mexico get hit with the same tax because this is a punishment to all of Mexico for not attempting to stem the flow of illegal immigrants.
What if some kind of incident happens between the United States and Mexico? Which side with would the illegal immigrant take — the US’s or Mexico's.
And a follow up point: this question would have come up if the illegal immigrant had come to the US legally and gone through the naturalization process.
And thirdly: How many illegal immigrants really don't want amnesty and all they want all of the benefits given to them by the United States but they never wish to become citizens? What percentage of the 11-20 million?
“the RomneyBots claimed we needed him because he was the “strong and mighty one””
The mighty one who smiled and played with his pencil, while the effeminate Obama verbally pistol whipped him.My Sheltie would at least have bitten Obama’s ankles.
Free oil drilling and extraction.
Yeah, Illegals using bitcoin. Talk about a reach.
I ship regularly with the USPS, there are ALWAYS a handful of ‘migrants’ buying money orders. Most use check cashing joints or get paid cash and buy money orders, so the writer has the right idea, but is laughably off on method used.
At any rate, there’s more than one way to skin a cat, something Trump is all too familiar with.
In the WalMarts here in Maine, at the courtesy desk, there is a large sign which says, “Send money by Western Union....for instance, to Mexico” and then lists the fee.
Like you said, there’s no way the Mexicans are dealing in bitcoins.
“how he would convince Mexico to pay “
Huh?
There’s no “convincing” involved, any more than a movie theater convinces the public to pay.
Of course now the feds go out and solicit, and escort movie goers inside—free of charge—and penalize the theater for trying to collect ticket prices and exclude gatecrashers.
EVERYTHING IS IMPOSSIBLE UNTIL SOMEONE DOES IT................ROBERT HEINLEIN..............
“At any rate, there’s more than one way to skin a cat,”
Uh-oh! You better hope that he cat-threaders do not see your post! They’ll figuratively skin YOU alive! ;-)
That may be true, but more and more is probably under 5 % of the total...
My wife works for WMSC in the money center, she handles lots and lots of wire transfers to Mexico and other South American countries everyday...WMSC is the least expensive way to send them...
To the point of mixing in legal and illegals immigrants sending money...
SO WHAT...
Most of now legal mexicans here at one time jumped the border...
Add a 2 % fee on all money transfer going to Mexico or South American countries..
If they don't like...tough toenails..
Trump or whoever is President must make Mexico pay for the wall. Mexico receive jillions of American dollars and we hold the purse strings. It can be done. Trump is 100% correct on this.
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