As the United States enters the new “Trumponian-Era,” there are rapid changes taking place left and right. It’s almost hard to keep-up with all of the executive orders being signed by President Trump throughout his first week in the oval office. On January 24th news hit the mainstream media that Trump would be officially moving forward with securing America’s borders--specifically securing the American-Mexican border by constructing a 12 billion dollar wall to divide the land.
In an interview with ABC News, President Trump stated that, initially, the excessive bill would be paid for by US tax payers, but Mexico will pay us back 100% and all tax payers will be reimbursed. Despite the list of questions many have about how a reimbursement like this will happen, I took it upon myself to take a look at what 12 billion dollars could buy (if we used that money on something other than a large wall). So I pose the question: What can 12 billion dollars do?
1. Solve 40% of World Hunger
According to the Borgen Project, the cost to dissolve world hunger adds up to approximately 30 billion dollars. 12 billion dollars that American tax payers will pay out of pocket for the wall could feed 40% of the world’s most malnourished and hungry people. The countries with the highest amount of need include Africa, Asia and Central America and include an estimated 795 million people. If 40% of these people had access to food and clean water, we would reduce the number of undernourished people by 318 million. This would lower world hunger dramatically and give an incredible opportunity to people who have never even seen a full plate of food.
2. Pay for 240 Million Months’ Worth of Birth Control Pills
At its highest cost, kidshealth.org reports that the cost of birth control pills per month is about 50 dollars. At this rate 12 billion dollars could provide approximately 5 million women with the pill for 4 years! This type of support for female healthcare could lower the amount of abortions performed in the United States. A study done in 2010 in St. Louis provided low income women free birth control and health services. The effect the study had on teenage women was astonishing. In 2010 the national birth rate of 34 pregnancies per 1,000 teens was lowered in St. Louis to an average of 6.3 pregnancies per 1,000 teens. This type of drastic statistic proves that offering free birth control to 5 million women could dramatically decrease many of the issues involving women, their health, and our government.
3. Put 311,000 Students Through College
College is expensive. Young millennials enter into adulthood with thousands of dollars in debt due to expensive college education. Collegedata.com reports on average a student will pay $38,000 in college tuition to obtain a degree. To be fair to our current government, they pay out a whopping 69 billion dollars in federal grants to help cover tuition for students that enter into college each year, but the additional 12 billion dollars could help 17% more students gain an education annually.
4. End 60% of Homelessness in the U.S.
An estimated 20 Billion dollars is needed to end homelessness in the United States. 40% of that is what American tax payers will give to the government to secure the border. Places such as Philadelphia or San Francisco which have large homeless populations would see improvements almost immediately if they took part in aiding 60% of their cities homeless occupants. The homelessness debate has been a long-winded controversy, but there has never been a program that has been funded enough to see an impact. The money taken from the wall could do just that. .
5. Fund 100% of Needed Maintenance for All National Parks in U.S.
Many do not know, but the National Park Service has a backlog of almost exactly 12 billion dollars’ worth of maintenance needed for the up-keep of our country’s National Parks. The laundry list of needs from the National Park Service includes new roads, preservation of historical structures and landmarks, water system upgrades, fire damage, and more. This battle has already been at the feet of congress and some money has been allotted to help maintained parks such as Yosemite, The Grand Canyon, and hundreds of other parks in need of help. Though some money has been given, there are still 12 billion dollars’ worth of need waiting for some sort of government assistance.
6. Cover 250,000 Adoptions
There are 100 million orphans in the world. I don’t think anyone with a heart could argue the urgency and need of parents for these kids. 12 billion dollars can barely make a dent in the problem of orphaned boys and girls; however, the opportunity for the hundreds of thousands of parents who cannot bear children to provide a good home for a little boy or girl is priceless.
These are just a few examples exemplifying the impact 12 billion dollars could make on America, or the world. There are hundreds more that we could add to the list. Of course, If we add in the additional net worth of President Trump (which also happens to land right around 12 billion dollars) we could double the list above and almost no one would go to bed hungry. Now of course it’s silly to take the net worth of our new president and expect him to trade his life for solving world hunger, or even half of his wealth to providing a quarter million orphans a new home. But, it's important for all of us to know the price tag of keeping out our pesky neighbors and building walls instead of bridges.
Resources
The Borgen Project 2013 “The Cost to End World Hunger.” http://borgenproject.org/the-cost-to-end-world-hunger/ Accessed January 26, 2017
World Hunger Education Services 2016 “World Hunger Poverty Faces and Statistics.” http://www.worldhunger.org/2015-world-hunger-and-poverty-facts-and-statistics/#hunger-number Accessed January 26, 2017
Kids Health 2013 “About Birth Control: The Birth Control Pill” http://m.kidshealth.org/en/parents/bcpills.html Accessed January 26, 2017
CBS News 2012 “Study: Free Birth Control Leads to Way Fewer Abortions.” http://www.cbsnews.com/news/study-free-birth-control-leads-to-way-fewer-abortions/ Accessed January 26, 2017
Collegedata 2017 “What’s the Price Tag for a College Education” http://www.collegedata.com/cs/content/content_payarticle_tmpl.jhtml?articleId=10064 Accessed January 26, 2017
Department of Education 2012 “Enrollment in Postsecondary Institutions” https://nces.ed.gov/pubs2013/2013183.pdf Accessed January 26, 2017
Huffington Post 2012 “US Could End Homelessness with Money Used to Buy Christmas Decorations.” http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/12/11/homelessness-christmas-decorations_n_2276536.html Accessed January 26, 2017
NPR 2016 “National Parks have a Long To-Do List But Can’t Cover The Repairs Cost” http://www.npr.org/2016/03/08/466461595/national-parks-have-a-long-to-do-list-but-cant-cover-the-repair-costs Accessed January 26, 2017
Women Aid International “Children of the World Initiative” http://www.womenaid.org/wcwi.htm Accessed January 26, 2017
American Adoptions 2017 “Comparing Costs of Domestic, International, and Foster Care Adoptions” https://www.americanadoptions.com/adopt/the_costs_of_adopting Accessed January 26, 2017