$24,000,000,000.00 (That's Billion) Sent "Home" To Mexico

Red State ^ | April 19, 2008

[Clintonfatigued]

Thanks for the open borders, Jorge Bush!

[OCC]

Giant sucking sound continues....

[quintr]

Seems like California ought to get some of that money to help pay for all the social services that the illegals aren’t paying for. Which is probably why they can afford to send a whole tanker car full of money back to Mexico.

Something verrrrrrrrry wrong with this picture.

[kingu]

But FairTax will fix all this, as we give them monthly checks and they send that money flying on home to Mexico.

[Clintonfatigued]

That is SO true!

[ProfessorGage]

Nearly everybody at FR worships (rightfully so) Sowell and Williams, and yet, hardly any of us, it seems, have read what they have to say about sending greenbacks out of the country.

[org.whodat]

Butt, butt there was that clown on c-span this morning talking about how much good the Latino thieves did for America, you know doing jobs no one else would do and etc.

[bjs1779]

No problemo. Just print more more money to make up the difference. The gov knows how to do that.

[DTogo]

Just think, Americans doing those jobs would be paid much more, and all those billions would be spent IN THE USA!!

[txroadkill]

please, post a link, I'm doing a research paper on this and I could use it.

[bjs1779]

"Ford sold fewer cars and trucks."

Isn't that a sad state of affairs? What the heck, we still have GOOGLE!

Ford Motor Company. Last Trade: 7.45

[AZLiberty]

We had a trade deficit last year with Mexico of $75B. That is, we bought $75B more of their stuff than they bought of our stuff. Adding that to the $24B, we now have a $99B cash flow deficit with Mexico.

I don’t believe Mexico is hoarding all this money — they would be foolish to be piling up a pyramid of greenbacks — so it either gets recycled into purchases from other countries, investments in other countries, or investments in the U.S.

This $24B figure doesn’t necessarily mean anything at all.

[CottonBall]

Just think, Americans doing those jobs would be paid much more, and all those billions would be spent IN THE USA!!

Yup. And Americans doing those jobs would also 1) pay taxes 2) pay for their own health care and not end up closing hospitals by demanding 'free' care 3) teach their children english so the schools wouldn't get dumbed-down having to do it and 4) not collect food stamps, welfare, and other free handouts along with getting paid under the table.

[PeterPrinciple]

The dollar isn’t worth much so maybe it is just as well that we export it..........................

[bjs1779]

Yup. And Americans doing those jobs would also 1) pay taxes 2) pay for their own health care and not end up closing hospitals by demanding 'free' care 3) teach their children english so the schools wouldn't get dumbed-down having to do it and 4) not collect food stamps, welfare, and other free handouts along with getting paid under the table.

You should be censored. That in not supposed to be the way to think!

[CottonBall]

I don’t believe Mexico is hoarding all this money — they would be foolish to be piling up a pyramid of greenbacks — so it either gets recycled into purchases from other countries, investments in other countries, or investments in the U.S.

This $24B figure doesn’t necessarily mean anything at all.

Of course it does. It's a negative cash flow for the U.S. Investments and purchases made with that money from other countries doesn't benefit us one bit - just the opposite.

[CottonBall]

Luckily, free speech and free thought still go together! Here, at least...

[AZLiberty]

Also, there was a very interesting comment on the Red State Web page:

1) its the most efficient form of "foreign aid." It goes right to families and the poor instead of to some government agent's cousin's son. It is earned income, not just a gift. And it is spent by poorer families on what they need, not what the government thinks they should need.

2) People making this money are buying a lot of things in the U.S. as well, thus increasing demand for goods. You can't talk about people earning money and sending it home if you don't talk about the money they spend in the U.S. as well.

3) This is not a zero sum game. If a worker did not create that wealth, it may not have been created at all. The pie grows every year because we have more people creating more wealth. The idea that the pie is one size and every dollar one person gets comes out of the pocket of another person is a fundamental flaw in the economic thinking of the left. I hope the right doesn't go down that path of ignorance. The wealth creation happening because workers are working inside a capitalist society should be applauded, not derided.

None of this takes away from the fact that people illegal working should not be working. But that's a rule of law issue, not an economic issue. The economics are in favor of allowing more people to migrate to where they can create the most wealth for their work. Thanks to our successful capitalist system, that means economics alone would lead to an inflow of working immigrants.

Also if it wasn't a rule of law issue, then the easiest solution (which fixes most of the "don't pay taxes, taxpayers cover their expenses" etc arguments) is to legalize all of them. Lift the cap on immigration and those problems disappear.

Illegal immigration is a law and order issue, not an economic issue.