He isn’t moving fast enough to be serious but still, this is farther than I thought Trump would go. Sourced from Associated Press release.
“CADELL CONSTRUCTION CO., Montgomery, Alabama. (Concrete wall & other wall)
Its tan concrete wall is thick at the bottom and narrows considerably toward the pointed top. The other, also tan, has metal poles on the bottom, a metal plate in the middle, and concrete block on top.
W.G. YATES & SONS CONSTRUCTION CO., Philadelphia, Mississippi. (Concrete wall & other wall)
Its models are a darker brown than other prototypes and topped by round beams. Its concrete panel has a plain face; its metal one has a corrugated surface.
FISHER SAND & GRAVEL CO., Tempe, Arizona.
It’s the only prototype to be built entirely on site . as opposed to being hauled in. Its tan surface gradually narrows toward the top, like a long triangle.
TEXAS STERLING CONSTRUCTION CO., Houston.
The gray surface of the U.S. side is stamped with patterns of different-sized bricks, like a driveway or sidewalk at an upscale home. There is a steel plate on top with prongs that feature at three metal spikes, resembling an agave plant.”
Given the choices, I like Yates’ idea for corrugated surface and tube crossbar on top. Corrugation allows good thermal expansion, a necessity in the Southwest desert, and the tube crossbar is harder to climb across than simple spikes or barbed wire. There’s nothing for a grapple to hook on. Metal would also probably be cheaper & easier to repair than concrete as well.
What’s your favorite design?
The US is building a wall because it cannot find the will to enforce immigration laws. Enforcement would be unpleasant and mean! Nor can the US find the will to reduce the economic incentives for illegal immigration, as it is subsidized in diffuse and opaque ways with “other people’s money”: higher taxes, higher medical costs, lower benefits to citizens, devaluation of the currency. (Compare cost of home in a major city now vs. 1960s. Old homes today cost 50 times their cost when they were newer.)
So instead of fixing the incentives, the US might spend a lot of money on a symbolic statement — which will not be effective because of ships, tunnels, and airplanes.
Welcome!
You’re right that the true problem is lack of political will but even so, fence-building would be an improvement because the problem is mainly one of Third World bums on foot. if The Wall would be truly useless then why are liberals so unhappy about funding a decade-long, manual-labor jobs program? It would be popular with the people and an ideal money laundering scam at the same time.