[discostu]

Throwing? No. But I do know that the most effective way to stop massive Mexican immigration (legal and otherwise) is to make Mexico a place worth staying in. People leave the country in droves because it's poor and they can't feed they're family. Wise spending can accomlish a lot.

NAFTA in this case is a red herring, at the time NAFTA went through Mexico still had hardcore socialists in charge and the first thing they did was outlaw requesting a raise. Whatever NAFTA could have done for them went away the minute that was done (I believe that law is now gone). Also when you have as much unemployment as they have it takes a LOT of new jobs before the fuller employment begins lifting the wage scale.

It is time Mexico learned to stand on it's own feet. But remember the mess they're in was created by 80 years of socialism, you don't fix messes like that overnight. It's all a matter of timing. Eventually, if they manage to avoid sliding back into socialism, they will stand on their own feet, but that's a long way off. With guidance (and greenbacks) from us that necessary time can be shrunk drastically.

As for the resources they don't have anybody with the capital to get to them, they're being smart and not giving them away to foreign interests, they know the resources are the key. It's like having $10 million buried in your backyard but not being able to afford a shovel and the only people willing to lend you one want control of what's found.

[lonewacko_dot_com]

You make a few moderately good points. But, will this be the final shakedown? No, really, I mean that. Will they promise and double-promise that this will be the final shakedown? Scout's honor?

OK. But, can we pay them in pennies?

[Reaganwuzthebest]

With guidance (and greenbacks) from us that necessary time can be shrunk drastically.

It isn't going to work because the environment that has created the mess in Mexico has shown no signs of going away. We cannot spend it into prosperity. Until they have created a system where the rule of law is supreme and free enterprise can thrive without government interference, giving them money is like throwing it down a black hole.

[judgeandjury]

People leave the country in droves because it's poor and they can't feed they're family.

Most of the people in Mexico may be poor, but the country of Mexico is not poor.

[Tripleplay]

Mexico has had over a 1,000 years to solve its economic problems.

A gift from America cannot change a culture which relies on fraud, graft, and payoffs to deliver goods and services to its citizens.

[boris]

"But I do know that the most effective way to stop massive Mexican immigration (legal and otherwise) is to make Mexico a place worth staying in."

You know, you lack vision. What are borders, anyway? Just lines on some map. Why not just make every living human in the hemisphere a U.S. citizen? Then they can collect their welfare checks without the arduous journey to el Norte.

=========================

Put ME in charge of immigration and borders and I can stop 90% of illegal immigration in less than a year. Provisos:

(1) When I say "in charge" I mean IN CHARGE.

(2) My methods will be stringent and not entirely "nice". However they would be highly effective.

We "cannot" control immigration because we simply lack the will and guts to do so.

--Boris

[Dr Warmoose]

With guidance (and greenbacks) from us that necessary time can be shrunk drastically.

Guidance from us?</p?

What? Guidance to expand the porn industry, increase lawsuits, rely on the lottery, progessive taxes, failing schools? The united States is well on its way of decline because we the people keep acting in a way that is consistant with crumbling empires.

If there was a way to meld the immigrant work ethic with the education/intellect of the previous US generation, then perhaps so. But when I see the native doofuses here with their hats on backwards and their pants around the knees talking in broken english about the next X-box game, or women who are only concerned about People magazine, mascara and their flow, or the typical American "worker" who shows the greatest interest in the punch-clock, or the senior citizen who demands that every generation owes them every luxury in life, I am trying to figure out what this alleged "guidance" is, and who around here is qualified to dispense it.