Not everyone wants the wall and no one wants to pay for it
Update
4:37 PM EST: Following the president’s remarks at the GOP retreat in Philadelphia, White House spokesman Sean Spicer said that the president would look to impose a 20% tax on all imports from Mexico in order to pay for the wall. Such a tax would require approval from Congress.
There is some consideration, however, as to whether such a tax would be effective in achieving its goal. Mexico’s primary export is manufactured products, which seems like a rather large category. However, a significant portion of those products are pieces used in the assembly of larger products, such as car parts and cell phone pieces. Direct imports to the US would result in higher prices to consumers and, most importantly, American businesses reliant on those parts. The increased cost would result in lower profits, inhibiting growth of American manufacturing.
The second largest export from Mexico is oil and oil products. Any tax here would require a separate act of Congress from the one taxing manufactured products. This would not only result in higher prices at gas pumps, but would significantly impact the profitability of American companies.
Finally, agricultural exports from Mexico are a critical area for US grocers as the demand for fresh fruit and vegetables year-round has become a dominant part of their business. Additional taxes on agricultural imports would significantly raise food prices and make some foods that are grown almost exclusively in Mexico unavailable to large parts of the US market.
There is almost no way to impose a tax on Mexican goods imported into the United States that doesn’t have the US taxpayer ultimately paying for that tax. The fact that the money might pass through the hands of the Mexican government somewhere along the way is irrelevant. We still end up paying for the wall out of our pocket.
12:00 PM EST: Mexico’s president, Enrique Pena Nieto has said he will not attend the working meeting scheduled for Washington next Tuesday. This seems to have come in response to a tweet from the US president that said, “If Mexico is unwilling to pay for the badly needed wall, then it would be better to cancel the upcoming meeting.”
Response across Mexico has been strong. “I think that, in general, diplomacy is not conducted via Twitter,” Finance Secretary Jose Antonio Meade told Radio Formula. Mexico’s best-known opposition politician, leftist Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, tweeted: “in the face of Trump’s latest outburst, don’t go to the meeting, and submit an urgent complaint to the U.N. for human rights violations.”
Both sides say that communication lines between the two countries are still open, but pressure is increasing on president Pena Nieto within Mexico to refuse any talks with the US until the wall is removed from the agenda.
The Short Version
Mexico’s president, Enrique Pena Nieto, said yesterday that Mexico will not pay for any form of a barrier along the US/Mexico border. This comes just hours after the US president signed orders to begin construction planning on the wall. Immigration and refugee activists have long decried the very idea of a wall and funding for the wall still faces strong opposition in the US Congress.
I’ve said many times before that models inevitably come and go. Young women who are bright, talented, and intelligent are not likely to stay stuck in a place that does not offer them enough opportunity or challenges for being their best. Models move away and, too often, we never see them again. We try to get over it.
If there is an industry that is currently in decline more than fashion retail, please let me know what it is. Just two days after Macy’s and Sears both announced large layoffs and store closings, The Limited, headquartered here in the Midwest in New Albany, Ohio, announced that it is closing all of its brick-and-mortar stores at the end of business this Sunday
Insults Away
Insults Are Speech But Not Always Protected
The Short Version
Germany’s long-standing law against insulting leaders of foreign governments is going away after an unsettling row with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. At the same time, American actor Shia LaBeouf was arrested after a verbal altercation in front of an art museum in New York. The contrast between the two incidents demonstrates stark differences in attitudes between the two countries.
Say What?
Germany has long had a law that prohibits people from saying nasty things about foreign heads of state who are in Germany at the time of the insult. The German Criminal Code currently states:
“Whosoever insults a foreign head of state, or, with respect to his position, a member of a foreign government who is in Germany in his official capacity, or a head of a foreign diplomatic mission who is accredited in the Federal territory shall be liable to imprisonment not exceeding three years or a fine, in case of a slanderous insult to imprisonment from three months to five years.”Â
The law is part of old German code that has its roots in pre-World War II laws and revised to its current version after the war. It was recently brought into play as charges were filed against a German comedian, Jan Boehmermann. Boehmermann’s crime? He read a poem on television that insulted Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. “Insulted” is probably being a little too nice. The poem inferred a connection between the president and child porn and bestiality. I tried finding a reasonable translation and what I found was too disgusting to bother copying. Let’s just say that this poem, any way you look at it, was in very, very bad taste.
Naturally, the Turkish President was butt hurt. He called in the German ambassador. Charges were filed. Both nations got into a real tizzy about the whole thing. That was back in March-April of last year. However, the case was quietly dropped in October due to a lack of evidence. Boehmermann said that the poem was meant to show an example of the type of insult not allowed in Germany and that he never intended to insult the Turkish president directly.
German citizens, however, were deeply upset that charges had ever been filed in the first place, citing free speech. So, Justice Minister Heiko Mass said yesterday that the law is being scrapped, effective the first of next year.
Meanwhile, In The US
Actor Shia LaBeouf was arrested last night on charges of misdemeanor assault after he got in the face of a man reciting Nazi propaganda outside the New York City museum.
In case you’ve not been paying attention, the politically active LaBeouf set up a 24-hour live stream outside the museum on January 20, in conjunction with the inauguration of the 45th president. The stated purpose is for people to come up to the camera and repeat the words, “He will not divide us.”
Naturally, given all the free publicity the campaign has received, a lot of people with different messages have attempted to step in front of the camera and more than once dear Shia has gotten in their face. The Internet rather exploded on Monday with his verbal takedown of a white supremacist. When another such hate-filled speaker showed up in front of the camera yesterday, LaBeouf was again there to shout the person down. Only this time, according to the charges being filed, the actor pulled at the scarf of the man, scratching the man’s face in the process.
Wait, the scarf scratched the man’s face? What was that scarf made of, steel wool? Something doesn’t sound quite right here.
And yes, the Internet has taken note of the fact that a jew was arrested for taking down a Nazi. #FreeShia has been trending on Twitter all night.
The timing of the two incidents is interesting, though. We generally associate Nazis with Germany. Yet, in this case, it would appear that one has greater freedom of speech in Germany than one does in the United States. Something to think about.
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