Sen. Tom Cotton is right. The US needs to help Mexico

[_moksha]

Figure out why the drug cartels are so powerful and then think of ways to take their power away.

Could you give us examples to get us thinking?

[_Themis]

Isn't that the job of the Mexican taxpayer, not the U.S. taxpayer?

No. These organizations operate internationally, especially in the US. in my opinion they do much more damage to the US then all Islamic terrorism has and the US should be expected to a lot in trying to deal with the problem.

[_Res Ipsa]

Figure out why the drug cartels are so powerful and then think of ways to take their power away.

Could you give us examples to get us thinking?

Money and guns purchased from U.S. sellers.

[_DoubtingThomas]

Figure out why the drug cartels are so powerful and then think of ways to take their power away.

To take some of the power away the US would have to legalize all drugs with no restrictions. However, if all drugs get legalized the Mexican cartels would simply do other bad things like trafficking for example.

Here’s a partial explanation:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Illegal ... n_Colombia. Read the part about what happened when the US and Colombia dismantled the Cali and Medallin cartels.

Things are out of control in Mexico and the Mexican government is powerless.

[_Res Ipsa]

Well, you certainly can make the argument that no matter what we do, the cartels will do something that will keep them in power. If we send the army to Mexico, they'll just set up operations in Guatemala. And so on. Which leads to the logical conclusion that we're powerless to do anything about them.

[_ajax18]

I think you have an excellent point here Res Ipsa.

Here's my take on it. Colombia was estimated to be netting about $18 billion/year in illegal drug sales revenue in the 90s when I was there. President Clinton put them on the black list and took away their $1 billion/year in foreign aid for good reason. Colombia was playing both sides of the coin. I'm sure they would rather have lost $1 billion in foreign aid over $17 billion in illegal drug sale revenue.

[_Chap]

I think you have an excellent point here Res Ipsa.

Here's my take on it. Colombia was estimated to be netting about $18 billion/year in illegal drug sales revenue in the 90s when I was there. President Clinton put them on the black list and took away their $1 billion/year in foreign aid for good reason. Colombia was playing both sides of the coin. I'm sure they would rather have lost $1 billion in foreign aid over $17 billion in illegal drug sale revenue.

ajax18 thinks drug cartels took their money back to Colombia and invested it there?

ROTFLMAO was invented for this!

I'd bet it's mostly been well laundered and is now invested somewhere back in the good old US of A, where it is much more secure and profitable than anything in Colombia ever could be.

[_Res Ipsa]

I think you have an excellent point here Res Ipsa.

Here's my take on it. Colombia was estimated to be netting about $18 billion/year in illegal drug sales revenue in the 90s when I was there. President Clinton put them on the black list and took away their $1 billion/year in foreign aid for good reason. Colombia was playing both sides of the coin. I'm sure they would rather have lost $1 billion in foreign aid over $17 billion in illegal drug sale revenue.

I''m not sure what you're saying here, Ajax. Specifically, when you say "Colombia," who do you mean? Do you mean the Government? Did the cartels give the $17 billion to the government? Did they pay taxes on it? I'm sure there were bribes, but how much and who got them?

I don't think that withdrawing foreign aid helped the government dismantle the two major cartels. What did seem to work was the U.S. working jointly with the government to forcibly dismantle them. Mission accomplished.

Except that the drug trade was so damn profitable, new groups sprang up to replace the old cartels. I'm suggesting that as long as the drug trade is immensely profitable, somebody's going to profit from it. And if it's illegal, it will be criminals. So, while it certainly is in our national interest to reduce cross border drug trafficking, I'm skeptical that sending our soldiers over to get shot by drug cartels is an effective solution.

[_ajax18]

Specifically, when you say "Colombia," who do you mean? Do you mean the Government?

If the drug cartel spends the money they get through selling to people around the world, it still puts money into the Colombian economy, like 17 times what US foreign aid adds to their economy.

So, while it certainly is in our national interest to reduce cross border drug trafficking, I'm skeptical that sending our soldiers over to get shot by drug cartels is an effective solution.

I'm skeptical of this as well. Why not just legalize it and end all welfare handouts to those who use it?

[_Res Ipsa]

Thanks for clarifying, Ajax. I actually have no clue about the effect of illegal drug income on a nations economy. There are obvious costs that go along with having violent gangs Controlling chunks of your country.

Legalization would certainly take profit out of the drugs. Unless we want to pay the cost of housing addicts in prison, it would make sense to spring for drug treatment services.