|
| Another Big Ditch! Feb. 15, 2008 In 1817 this country built the “Big Ditch” - also known as the Erie Canal - as a means of moving goods across the Great Lakes and onto the Hudson River and then to the oceans and the world. It was a mammoth project for that era, but the American will prevailed. About 100 years later, 1917, another “Big ditch” was opened, better known as the Panama Canal. This gigantic Yankee undertaking allowed shipping to travel from the East Coast (Atlantic) to the West Coast (Pacific) without having to traverse the intense weather and distance resulting from a passage all the way around the tip of the South American Continent. The year 2017 is just 9 years away and if we start now we could build another big ditch from Brownsville, Texas, to San Diego, California, and solve some of the problems we face today: 1) We have surrendered control of the Panama Canal and gradually a Chinese “firm” is wresting financial control of the canal. 2) Tankers are being built on a small scale so that the Panama Canal locks can still handle them - the Panama Canal is just too small for many of the tankers, freighters and other ships sailing the seas, today. 3) There is concern that one day we will not be able to use the Panama Canal for our warships and some aircraft carriers can barely squeeze thru the locks. 4) Illegal aliens are constantly crossing the border into the U.S. from Mexico. This “Big ditch” would make that extremely difficult. 5) Most illegals coming to the U.S. are in search of employment, despite the export of manufacturing jobs from the U.S. to Mexico via NAFTA. Construction of the “Millennium Big Ditch” would have to be a joint effort between Mexico and the U.S. - thereby creating many needed construction jobs on both sides of the border. 6) The U.S. economy is floundering and needs a boost. Ditto for Mexico. Jobs are needed and all the residual businesses and jobs that would result from building that “Millennium (2017) Big Ditch” would justify the expense. |