You know all about the thousands crossing our southern border, illegally, every day and night. You may or may not care. Over a million since January and they’ve come from a hundred countries. There’s no let up in sight. No matter what the President and other officials say in English, when translated into native language, it means, “Come to America.” You also know that many of them are good people and given a chance will work hard and be successful. But there are plenty of dangerous gang members and criminals sneaking in, undetected.
While I was in Texas, I learned of one particular incident. Imagine you were this rancher living 40 miles from the border. Late one evening she and her daughter and their dog were walking on an unpaved road along the south side of the ranch. As they got near an open shed, she noticed a strange man inside. Concerned, she rushed back to the house and called law enforcement. Soon, Texas Highway Patrol officers showed up. By this time the man’s friend had already picked him up, but the officers caught up with ‘em in town. The man was a drug dealer. He had about 50 pounds of drugs and his old car had broken down near the ranch.
Dealing with illegal immigrants is fairly common for these folks. Ranchers have put up security cameras. If an outsider is spotted, they alert neighbors. Widows are determined to stay on their ranches, but they live in fear.
Whatever happened to this idea that Will Rogers wrote about? “They got a bill in Congress to make a road from Brownsville, Texas, up along the Rio Grande to El Paso, then on out to San Diego along the Mexican boundary. It’s a good idea and should be built. It’s called in the bill a military highway.” (DT #449, Jan. 3, 1928). And a new 30-foot fence beside that road would solve a lot of problems today.
You probably live far away from the Mexican border. But you need to understand what folks near the border, especially in Texas and Arizona, have to put up with. Pay attention when you see Border Patrol Agents, local Sheriffs and Governors pleading with Washington for relief. And lately, in addition to drugs, guns and other illegal paraphernalia, many are arriving with Covid. If they are wearing masks, believe me, it’s not for Covid.
Meanwhile in Washington, Republican Senators agreed to spend One Trillion dollars on an Infrastructure bill. Oddly, these same Republicans offered $1.7 Trillion for Infrastructure a couple of years ago and the Democrats turned ‘em down. They still aren’t sure what’s in this current bill, and Chuck Schumer won’t tell ‘em. Meanwhile Speaker Pelosi already announced, “The House will pass the Trillion-dollar Infrastructure Bill, but it will cost you $4.5 Trillion.” Whoa!
Can you imagine agreeing to pay $250,000 for a house, then the real estate agent says, “Great. But it will cost you a total of $1,000,000?
After you pick yourself off the floor, you find the nerve to ask, “Will we get any benefits from that extra $750,000?”
“Well, of course! Plenty of new benefits for your community. And for your family, you’ll have free child care and free schooling through college.”
Still in a daze, you counter, “But our children are already grown. We paid for their education. They have no college debt.”
“Wow, that means we can do more for the poor, downtrodden, and unemployed. And, most important, to fight climate change we’ve got to build a million free charging stations for folks who drive a Tesla.”
Back to that “extra” $3.5 Trillion. You have heard Speaker Pelosi talk lovingly about her “Reconciliation Bill.” It is a so-called budget bill and she demands that it be passed along with the Infrastructure Bill. Reconciliation sounds marvelous. Such a nice word. Any good English teacher can tell you that synonyms include: Compromise, Understanding, Settlement.
But there was no “compromise.” It is a one-hundred-percent Democrat bill. For anyone who “understands” economics and has common sense the bill is ridiculous. It won’t help the economy and will keep adding to the federal debt. It won’t “settle” anything if it passes the Senate 51 to 50. A vote on such a huge, multi-year bill is supposed to require 60 votes to pass.
Even though it is advertised as only $3.5 Trillion, if it passes and you are still around in ten years, I bet it will balloon to double or triple that estimate. They also claim that our current inflation rate of 5% is temporary. “Temporary” implies that if the cost of a $1.00 item is now $1.05, next year it will go back down to $1.00. Not a chance. More likely you can bet on $1.10.
Historic quote by Will Rogers:
“The trouble with inflation is you get it started and you can’t get it stopped.” Radio, May 26, 1935