January 31, 2017
An Entire Ocean
I took a few days off and went to the Dutch coast. It is winter so we spend a lot of time talking. Yesterday we had lunch with friends and US politics came up. We joked about the YouTube video in which the Dutch claim to “build an entire ocean between us and Mexico”. My friends asked me:
Is it that bad?
Well, it is even worse. It is a massive setback on civil rights, even civilization as a whole. Under a cover of “America First” facts don’t matter anymore.
America First, not Mexico.
Claiming to fight for American workers, Mexico is portrait as the enemy number one for jobs. Since NAFTA went into effect, the trade deficit between Mexico and the US grew to about 60bn. But, the deficit between Germany and Mexico developed almost the same way. Will there be a wall? And should Germany pay for it?
Trade deficit between the US and Mexico/Germany 1995-2016 in US$m
America First, not Muslims.
Claiming to fight for American border security, Muslim countries are portrait as evil. In 2016 the US had 12,587 Syrian refugees resettled in the United States. During that same time 266,250 Syrians found refuge in Germany. Both countries had zero terror attacks by Syrians.
It takes about 18-24 months for a Syrian refugee to actual enter the US. Putting that process on hold for the sake of security is populism. And with a total of 400,000 refugees entering Germany in 2016, should there be a ban on Germany, too?
While we joke about the “entire ocean”, the reality is horrifying. The last time somebody rallied the masses with irrational fear, it ended bad.
To close on a fun note:
Facts: Trade between the USA and Mexico.
Facts Trade between the USA and Germany.
Facts: US Data on Syrian immigration.
Facts: German data on asylum seekers.