This piece on today’s NYT got me thinking about conversations with Mom, reminded me of the age old rules of supply and demand.

Mexican Drug Smugglers to Trump: Thanks!

When Trump won I told Mom that I was looking to invest in a companies that make ladders. Because, Trump’s wall will do nothing more than create demand for taller ladders. Ioan Grillo, the writer of the piece, essentially agrees with me.

Mr. Grillo is right on when we writes that the wall won’t have any affect on drug use. When I was using, I’d find the drugs I was looking for and I’d pay any price for them.

I remember how the law of supply and demand applied to drugs. If drugs were plentiful, the price was lower. If not, the price was higher. If drugs were harder to come by I’d just work harder to get them, whatever that meant – quitting jobs to make sure I was in line to score, whatever else I had to do.

I just celebrated 10 years of being clean and sober. It’s wonderful. I don’t get here without the program of Alcoholics Anonymous. In A.A. I found a book I believed in. I found people I connected to. The meetings provided me accountability. When I got clean I was smoking weed all day every day and it was still illegal. Had weed been hard to find or expensive, it wouldn’t have mattered. I was going to get my weed, no matter what. I’d go to the end of the earth to score, I’d pay any price to do so.

A closing point in Mr. Grillo’s piece is also right on, something I’ve been talking about since immigration became cause celebre. The single most effective solution for illegal immigration is to impose punitive fines on employers for hiring illegals.

The war on drugs was lost the day Nixon announced it. We’ve spent trillions with nothing to show for it. Now Trump wants to throw more good money at bad. If Trump was a great leader, he’s not, he’d be investing in treatment centers. If politicians had a clue, most don’t seem to, they’d be working to make economically depressed areas of our country strong and vibrant.

Fredrick Douglas said, “It is easier to build strong children than to repair broken men“.

Trump’s wall is idiotic. He’s a dolt.