Here's a letter to someone at the local paper who is enamored with the wonders of big government and central planning.
Reality is not his strong suit.
I'll limit my reply to a single statement in your article in today's paper. You write, "I'm sure Mexico and others would gladly
write checks, after they pay off their international loans and the cost of correcting the free-market, globalization reforms that
eliminated jobs and drove millions to come here."
Third world countries burdened with large debts don't get that way by accident. Individuals don't spend billions, then
negotiate loans with international financial institutions. Only governments do this. Only governments can spend money they
don't have, then socialize that cost upon its citizens. And only governments have the ability to crank up the printing press in
an attempt to inflate their way out of the mess that they have created. It is not a coincidence that Mexico's poverty is directly
related to the egregiously incompetent and corrupt state Mexicans have endured for over a century. Can you possibly deny
this?
You are also under the mistaken impression that free-markets eliminate jobs (on net) despite overwhelming evidence to the
contrary. Wealth creation is not like a lottery. There are no great secrets. Trade and capital accumulation make people
wealthy. These can only develop through private property rights strictly enforced (not by public "servants" trading votes for
bribes). The more the state intervenes, the less wealth is produced for rich and poor alike. For one to claim that central
planning is superior to the unfettered market requires a shocking ignorance of economics, history and common sense, yet this
is what you're supporting. Why?
As with most editorialists, you use the term "globalization" as if it were an evil to be eradicated. How is it wrong for me to
trade with my neighbor to our mutual benefit? If Americans trading amongst themselves is beneficial for all parties, why is it
destructive to permit Americans to trade with Mexicans across the border? It's called comparative advantage, another basic
economic term you should learn about someday. Apparently free trade among nations - globalization - is what you want to
stop, and to everyone's detriment. The result is desperate Mexicans risking life and limb to come here to feed their families.
It is all so unnecessary and easily prevented.
Mr. Rodriguez, you've listened to far too many Marxists. It's time to open your eyes and your mind to the world of voluntary
exchange. No inane government "solutions," no coercion, no violence. Peace, freedom and prosperity cannot be mandated by
politicians, no matter how passionately you wish otherwise. You ought to read about what free markets are all about from
those who advocate it, not from liberal professors who knowingly distort its message. Take the time to read something from
Mises, Rothbard, Hazlitt, or Bastiat. You might begin to see the light. I'm not holding my breath, but there is always hope.