(12-21-2018 12:14 PM)BobcatEngineer Wrote:  

(12-21-2018 11:52 AM)UTSAMarineVet09 Wrote:  

(12-21-2018 11:47 AM)Redwingtom Wrote:  

(12-21-2018 10:18 AM)UTSAMarineVet09 Wrote:  $11.6mil and couting [sic]...

Paging P.T. Barnum.
But great...if you estimate the cost at a conservative $25 billion, you're .0464% of the way there!

Actually a conservative estimate would be less than $10 billion, a liberal estimate would be $70 billion... nice try barbie.
https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/trumps-b...atistician

The statistician in the article you cite said it would cost $25 billion. The "conservative" estimate of less than $10 billion comes from Trump's mouth. I'd like to see how he arrives at that number.
$12.3 Billion in materials
$12.3 Billion in labor
$300 Million in land acquisition
TOTAL = $24.9 Billion
For the most part, I agree with the author's opinion:

Quote:Here’s another misconception. According to a 2015 report by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, 95 percent of drugs enter the United States via container ships or other vessels. So in reality, a wall is going to do absolutely nothing to stop drug trafficking.

Quote:The real question the American public should be asking isn’t how much is the wall going to cost, but rather what is the best way to secure our borders and reduce illegal activity like human and drug trafficking, while at the same time promoting the American dream and helping those who are fleeing for their lives?
The question shouldn’t be about the dollar cost of the wall. It should be about the validity of the wall.

Which is why I’m not a great fan of the wall. If Trump is a shrewd negotiator, I’d tell him to trade the wall for a package of:
1) increased border security, quite frankly including a wall in some places but focused more on technology and increased manpower;
2) increased legal immigration based on a merit-based system; I’d be fine with something like Canada’s;
3) guest worker status (“red card”) with no path to citizenship for those here illegally and their immediate families; we can’t send them back, and they should not profit from bad behavior;
4) upgrading E-Verify to something that is timely and reliable (the red card solves a lot of problems in this regard);
5) more stringent standards for amnesty immigration, including you can’t claim amnesty if you cross illegally;
6) if you serve a full hitch in the military and are honorably discharged, you get a fast track to citizenship;
7) end catch and release; catch and return until your case is adjudicated, and if you turn up on this side again before then, your immigration chances are toast.