Venturing to Mexico, Donald Trump defends right to build huge wall
On Mexican soil for the first time as the Republican presidential nominee, a firm but measured Donald Trump defended the right of the United States to build a massive border wall along its southern flank, standing up for the centerpiece of his immigration plan in a country where he is widely despised. Trump, who previously derided Mexico as a source of rapists and criminals, praised Mexicans Wednesday as “amazing people” following a closed-door meeting at the official residence of the country’s president, Enrique Pena Nieto. Trump and the Mexican president, who has compared the New York billionaire to Adolf Hitler, addressed reporters from adjacent lecterns before a Mexican flag. The trip, 10 weeks before America’s presidential Election Day, came just hours before Trump was to deliver a highly anticipated speech in Arizona about illegal immigration. That has been a defining issue of his presidential campaign, but also one on which he’s appeared to waver in recent days With political risks high for both men, Trump stayed on script, declining to repeat his promise to force Mexico to pay for a wall along the border between the two countries when pressed by reporters. While he and Pena Nieto talked about the wall, Trump said they didn’t discuss who would pay for a cost of construction pegged in the billions. “Having a secure border is a sovereign right and mutually beneficial,” Trump said, reading from prepared remarks. “We recognize and respect the right of any country to build a physical barrier or wall on any of its borders to stop the illegal movement of people, drugs and weapons. Cooperation toward achieving this shared objective — and it will be shared — of safety for all citizens is paramount to both the United States and to Mexico.” Trump’s presence on Wednesday, his first meeting with a head of state abroad as a presidential candidate, sparked anger and protests across Mexico’s capital city. Former Mexican President Vicente Fox bluntly told the celebrity businessman that, despite Pena Nieto’s hospitality, he was not welcome. “We don’t like him. We don’t want him. We reject his visit,” Fox said on CNN, calling the trip a “political stunt.” Pena Nieto was less combative as he addressed reporters alongside Trump. He acknowledged the two men had differences and defended the contribution of Mexicans working in the United States, but he described the conversation as “open and constructive.” He and Trump shook hands as the session ended. Pena Nieto’s performance came in for immediate condemnation from his many critics in Mexico. “Pena ended up forgiving Trump when he didn’t even ask for an apology,” said Esteban Illades, the editor of Nexos magazine. “The lowest point of the most painful day in the history of the Mexican presidency.” After saying during his Republican primary campaign he would use a “deportation force” to expel all of the estimated 11 million people living in the United States illegally, Trump suggested last week he could soften that stance. But he still says he plans to build a huge wall — paid for by Mexico — along the two nations’ border. He is under pressure to clarify just where he stands in the Wednesday night speech, which had been rescheduled several times. Trump’s running mate, Indiana Gov. Mike Pence, told CBS earlier in the day that Trump would make clear “that there will be no path to legalization, no path to citizenship. People will need to leave the country to be able to obtain legal status or obtain citizenship.” The buildup to the speech was abruptly interrupted Tuesday night by the news that Trump would visit Mexico, accepting on short notice an invitation offered last week by Pena Nieto. The newspaper El Universal wrote in an editorial that Trump “caught Mexican diplomats off guard.” Campaigning in Ohio earlier in the day, Democrat Hillary Clinton jabbed at Trump’s Mexican appearance as she promoted her own experience working with foreign leaders as the nation’s chief diplomat. “People have to get to know that they can count on you, that you won’t say one thing one day and something totally different the next,” she told the American Legion in Cincinnati. “And it certainly takes more than trying to make up for a year of insults and insinuations by dropping in on our neighbors for a few hours and then flying home again.” Trump has promised, if elected, to deport millions of immigrants who are in the United States illegally, force Mexico to pay for the construction of a wall to secure the nearly 2,000-mile border and renegotiate the NAFTA trade agreement to make it more favorable to the United States. Pena Nieto suggested there was room to improve the trade deal, which Trump described as unfair to American workers. The New York businessman promised to promote trade deals that would keep jobs in the Western Hemisphere. Pena Nieto made his invitation to both Trump and Clinton, who met with him in Mexico in 2014. The inclusion of Trump puzzled many in Mexico, who said it wasn’t clear why their own unpopular president would agree to meet with someone so widely disliked in his country. Pena Nieto has been sharply critical of Trump’s immigration policies, particularly the Republican’s plans to build a wall and have Mexico pay for it. In a March interview, he said that “there is no scenario” under which Mexico would do so and compared Trump’s language to that of dictators Hitler and Benito Mussolini. Pena Nieto did not repeat such criticism on Wednesday, but acknowledged Trump’s comments had “hurt and affected Mexicans.” “The Mexicans deserve everyone’s respect,” he said. Republished with permission of The Associated Press.
Daniel Sutter: College football, competition and monopoly
The 2016 college football season kicks off with Alabama ranked No. 1, after winning its fourth national championship under Coach Nick Saban last year. Any company dominating its business like the Tide could easily face antitrust charges as a monopolist. Sports, however, illustrate the key role of competition in the economy, even when the same competitor often comes out on top. Alabama’s run of four titles in seven years has only been equaled by Notre Dame (1943-49) in the 80-year history of the AP poll. In the game of Monopoly, play continues until one player has 100 percent of the properties, but in markets the term gets applied well below this threshold. So a charge of monopolization of the championship is plausible. Economist John Hicks wrote that “The best of all monopoly profits is a quiet life,” because a monopolist earns profit with little stress. If Alabama were a football monopoly, Coach Saban and the team are probably wondering when they will have a leisurely stroll to a title. Instead the Tide faces fierce competition annually. While Alabama has a large football budget, according to Knight Commission figures, Auburn, LSU, Tennessee, Ohio State and Texas all outspent the Tide in 2014. Alabama fans know that championships are not automatic, as the 30 years between Bear Bryant’s last title and Coach Saban’s first title brought only one championship and six straight losses to Auburn. Competition ensures that Alabama cannot rest on its laurels. The same applies for Olympic champions like Michael Phelps and Usain Bolt, who continue to win gold medals by besting the best competitors in the world. Economists recognize the same role of competition. As microeconomics students will soon learn, the key factor for monopoly is barriers to entry. This asks, can new firms readily challenge the dominant firm? Absent barriers to entry, a large market share can only be maintained by offering consumers a better product or service, or a lower price. This should affect how we view the economy. John D. Rockefeller started Standard Oil after the Civil War, and by 1890 was refining 88 percent of America’s oil. This was market dominance for sure, but Rockefeller enjoyed no barrier to entry and was challenged by over 100 new refineries. Standard succeeded by continually innovating, and their cost of refining fell from 3 to 0.29 cents per gallon between 1869 and 1897. This helped reduce the price of refined petroleum from 30 to 6 cents per gallon. The discovery of oil in Texas eventually boosted new refiners like Gulf and Texaco, which Rockefeller had no power to prevent. By 1911, when the Supreme Court broke up the company, Standard’s market share had fallen to 64 percent. Unfortunately, antitrust lawyers often view large market share as inherently suspicious, as illustrated in the Alcoa antitrust case. Alcoa had a 90 percent share in the market for new aluminum because they kept their price low, increased efficiency, and expanded capacity. The market dominance was enough for Judge Learned Hand, who wrote in the case, “It was not inevitable that it should always anticipate increases in the demand for ingot and be prepared to supply them. Nothing compelled it to keep doubling and redoubling its capacity before others entered the field.” I would characterize increasing production capacity to meet demand as serving customers. The most prevalent and effective barrier to entry is a legal restriction, which only government can enact. The U.S. Postal Service, for example, enjoys a legal monopoly on the delivery of first class mail. Cities established and maintained cable television monopolies for years. Between the 1930s and late 1970s, the Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB) regulated commercial airlines and never approved entry for a single new airline. All 79 applications between 1950 and 1974 were shot down. Will Alabama win another title this year, or will today’s prominent firms like Amazon, Google, and Microsoft still be significant 20 years from now? I really have no idea. But as long as rivals are free to challenge them, success can result only from sustained excellence, which improves our lives. ••• Daniel Sutter is the Charles G. Koch Professor of Economics with the Manuel H. Johnson Center for Political Economy at Troy University and host of Econversations on TrojanVision. The opinions expressed in this column are the author’s alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of Troy University.
ACLU-Alabama files lawsuit for Christian woman’s right to headscarf in license photo
When Yvonne Allen of Tuskegee, Ala., went to renew her license in December, she was reportedly forced to remove the headscarf she wears for religious reasons. The clerk explained to her only Muslim women were allowed to cover their hair in the photos. On Tuesday, the American Civil Liberties Union of Alabama filed a lawsuit on her behalf. “I was devastated when they forced me to remove my headscarf to take my driver’s license photo,” Allen said in a statement released by the ACLU. “Revealing my hair to others is disobedient to God. I should have the same right as people of other faiths to be accommodated for my religious beliefs.” Lee County’s refusal to grant Allen a religious accommodation contradicts state rules and violates her rights under the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution and the Alabama Constitution, according to the lawsuit. On Wednesday, the Alabama chapter of America’s largest Muslim civil liberties and advocacy organization, the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) showed their support for the suit, saying that Christian women in Alabama should be able to wear a headscarf for a driver’s license photo, just as Muslim women and Sikh men are allowed to wear religious head coverings. “Alabamans of all faiths should have the right to wear religious apparel in driver’s license photos,” said CAIR-Alabama Executive Director Khaula Hadeed. “The right to practice one’s faith is a universal right, one that should not be limited to Muslims and Sikhs.” In 2004, Alabama changed a policy that prohibited the wearing of head scarves and turbans in driver’s license photos. The new policy allowed head coverings for religious and medical reasons.
In political gamble, Donald Trump to make surprising trip to Mexico
Donald Trump will make a quick visit to Mexico on Wednesday, meeting with the president of a nation he derided as the home of rapists and criminals. The trip is a politically risky move for the Republican presidential nominee less than 10 weeks before the election. It is not clear how Trump will be received in a country where he is widely despised. Beyond his disparaging comments about Mexicans, Trump has promised, if elected, to deport millions of immigrants who are in the United States illegally, force Mexico to build a huge wall to secure the nearly 2,000-mile border, and renegotiate the NAFTA trade agreement to make it more favorable to the United States. Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto has compared Trump to Adolf Hitler. But it also offers Trump an opportunity to appear more presidential as he makes his first foreign visit since winning the nomination. Polls show him trailing Democrat Hillary Clinton in most of the key states that will determine the U.S. election. He is struggling to win over moderate voters, including Republicans, who are turned off by his brash rhetoric and controversial proposals on immigration and other matters. Some former Republican foreign policy officials have warned that Trump is unprepared to lead on the world stage. The trip will come hours before Trump delivers a highly anticipated immigration speech. It’s a defining issue for Trump, but one on which he has appeared to waver. After saying during his primary campaign he would use a “deportation force” to expel all of the estimated 11 million people living in the United States illegally,” Trump has suggested recently he might be open to “softening” his stance. Last week, Pena Nieto extended invitations to visit Mexico to both Trump and Clinton, who met with him in Mexico in 2014. The Washington Post first reported Tuesday that Trump was considering making the trip to Mexico. The invitation to Trump puzzled Mexican analysts. It is not clear why Pena-Nieto, who already has low approval ratings, would agree to a meeting that might boost the candidacy of someone so widely disliked by Mexicans. The newspaper El Universal wrote in an editorial that Trump “caught Mexican diplomats off guard” by accepting the invitation. Trump took to Twitter on Tuesday night to say he looks “very much forward” to meeting with Pena Nieto. The Mexican leader’s office confirmed the meeting with its own tweet, saying the two men would meet privately. Pena Nieto has been sharply critical of Trump’s immigration policies, particularly the Republican’s plans to build a wall and have Mexico pay for it. In a March interview, Pena Nieto said that “there is no scenario” under which Mexico would do so and compared Trump’s language to that of dictators Hitler and Benito Mussolini. Former Mexican Presidents Vicente Fox and Felipe Calderon have also alluded to Hitler in describing the Republican nominee. Pena Nieto cast a different tone late Tuesday, tweeting, “I believe in dialogue to promote Mexico’s interests in the world and, principally, to protect Mexicans wherever they are.” Clinton’s campaign has urged voters to not “be fooled” by what it calls Trump’s attempts to disguise his immigration policies. “What ultimately matters is what Donald Trump says to voters in Arizona, not Mexico, and whether he remains committed to the splitting up of families and deportation of millions,” said campaign communications director Jennifer Palmieri. While Trump’s visit came as a surprise, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, a close Trump adviser, has been among those pushing Trump to make the trip, according to a person familiar with their conversations who spoke on the condition of anonymity in order to discuss them publicly. Christie made his own successful trip to Mexico City in September 2014 and has a warm relationship with the Mexican president. On NBC’s “Today,” Trump’s campaign manager, Kellyanne Conway, was asked if Trump would change his rhetoric in his meeting with Pena Nieto. She said, “I think you’ll see a very presidential Donald Trump.” Asked if Trump planned to stand by his campaign position of forcing out people living in the U.S. illegally, she said, “He’s made very clear that he hasn’t changed his position at all when it comes to enforcing the law.” She declined to say what Trump might offer in his speech, except to say he’ll repeat his opposition to amnesty, his commitment to building a wall along the U .S. Southern border and his plan to revoke President Barack Obama‘s executive orders on immigration. In meetings recently with Hispanic supporters, Trump had suggested he could be open to allowing some people living in the country illegally to stay. After one such roundtable this month, Conway, said Trump’s stance on using a deportation force to expel people was “to be determined.” In the days since, Trump and his staff have broadcast varied and conflicting messages – though on Wednesday Conway, appeared to make clear that Trump had decided against allowing immigrants in the U.S. illegally to stay. Trump has spent much of his campaign railing against the U.S.’s trade imbalance with Mexico and other countries and promising that, if he’s elected president, he will punish companies that try to move jobs overseas. During his announcement speech, Trump accused Mexico of sending its rapists and criminals across the border, and vowed to build a giant wall to stop them, along with the flow of illegal drugs. Republished with permission of The Associated Press.
After easy win, Marco Rubio has bigger challenge to keep seat
Republican Sen. Marco Rubio‘s presidential aspirations and insistence that he was done with the Senate didn’t hurt him with GOP voters, now it’s time to see if the rest of Florida will be as forgiving as he seeks a second term. Rubio easily won the Republican nomination to retain his seat and will be challenged by Democratic U.S. Rep. Patrick Murphy, who defeated Congressman Alan Grayson in Tuesday’s Senate primary. It’s a race Democrats are targeting in an effort to regain a majority in the Senate, and their hope is that Rubio’s presidential ambitions have dulled the shine he had with Florida voters. In other races Tuesday, U.S. Rep. Corrine Brown lost a primary as she faces felony fraud charges. It will end her 24-year congressional career as former state Sen. Al Lawson is almost assured of replacing her in the heavily Democratic district. Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz, who resigned last month as Democratic National Committee chairwoman, fended off the first serious challenge she’s faced since winning office in 2004 by beating Tim Canova, a Bernie Sanders-backed law professor. Rubio and Murphy have already been giving a preview of the general election match up, with each candidate focusing on each other rather than their primary opponents in the weeks leading up to the nominating contest. Murphy says Rubio cares more about political ambition than voters and can’t even commit to serving all six years in the Senate if he wins, and Rubio says Murphy is a privileged son of a wealthy man who has lied about his education, work experience and starting a small business. “He’s going to have to account for his four years in Congress, where he was ranked by a non-partisan group as one of the most ineffective members,” Rubio said after winning. “That’s a hard thing to achieve in a Congress that’s been as ineffective as this one has been over the last 10 years.” Murphy also immediately attacked Rubio after his victory. “Senator Rubio is trying to distract from his terrible record. Here’s a guy who has missed more votes than any senator from Florida in nearly 50 years. He told us he doesn’t like the job and just yesterday he told us he said he won’t commit to a six-year term,” Murphy said. There is evidence that the presidential run has taken a toll on Rubio. A Quinnipiac University poll taken before he announced his presidential campaign showed a 54 percent job approval with voters, compared to 35 percent disapproval. After he announced he’d seek a second Senate term, those numbers dipped to 46 percent approval and 43 percent disapproval. Democratic party leaders felt Murphy, a former Republican, has the best chance in the general election. He was backed in the primary by President Barack Obama and Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid. Vice President Joe Biden traveled to Florida three times to campaign with Murphy. Grayson, a fiery liberal who often makes headlines with brash statements, was seen as too inflammatory to win over a state that tends to support moderate candidates. But Murphy is still largely unknown in Florida and outside Republican groups began running negative ads against him weeks ago. Until Rubio decided in June to seek another term, it was expected that Murphy’s Republican challenger would also be a lesser known candidate. Rubio will start the contest with the advantage of already having won a statewide election in a state with more than 12 million voters. Still, Rubio’s chances of re-election could rely heavily on the presidential election between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump. If Clinton wins by a large margin, it could hurt Rubio in the state Obama carried in 2008 and 2012. Rubio has half-heartedly endorsed Trump, but says he won’t campaign with him. Murphy has repeatedly pointed out that Rubio called Trump a conman who can’t be trusted, but now supports him. Democrats hope to gain seats in Florida’s heavily Republican U.S. House delegation after court-mandated redistricting chipped away the advantages of some incumbents. Florida had to rip up and redraw its congressional maps after they were found to violate the state constitution’s provision requiring compact districts that don’t favor incumbents or political parties. That spurred one of the state’s most heavily contested congressional election years. Florida will eventually send at least eight new House members to Washington. Republicans now outnumber Democrats 17-10 in the state’s congressional delegation. If Democrats sweep all four seats seen as competitive in November, that Republican advantage could be reduced to 14-13. One of those is now held by U.S. Rep. David Jolly, a Republican who was expected to win Tuesday, but who would then have to beat former Gov. Charlie Crist, who used to be a Republican but is now a Democrat. Republished with permission of The Associated Press.
Hillary Clinton to stress American exceptionalism in Ohio
Hillary Clinton plans to stress her support for American exceptionalism during a speech in the battleground state of Ohio, while arguing that Donald Trump has rejected the concept. Clinton’s midday address at the American Legion’s annual convention in Cincinnati Wednesday comes as Trump ponders a last-minute trip to Mexico in advance of a long-awaited speech on immigration. A Clinton campaign official said the Democratic nominee plans to use her first public event in days to portray her Republican opponent as a questionable leader who would “walk away from our allies, undermine our values, insult our military – and has explicitly rejected the idea of American exceptionalism.” In contrast, the official said Clinton “will make the case for American exceptionalism and call for maintaining America’s military and diplomatic leadership in the world.” To bolster her argument, Clinton will talk about her experience, including serving on the Senate Armed Services Committee and as secretary of state. She will also emphasize the growing list of Republicans who have backed her campaign. A campaign official said that in advance of her Wednesday speech, another leading Republican would back the campaign. James Clad, former Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense under President George W. Bush, will announce his support for Clinton, following a slew of GOP endorsements. In a statement, Clad will say that “giving an incoherent amateur the keys to the White House this November will doom us to second or third-class status.” Clinton’s remarks come on the same day her Republican opponent is set to deliver a long-awaited speech on immigration where he is expected to provide more clarity on his primary pledge to deport all of the estimated 11 million people living in the country illegally. While Trump had said during the primary that he intended to accomplish that goal with the help of a “deportation force,” in recent weeks he has suggested in closed-door meetings with Hispanic activists that he might be open to re-considering. He and his aides have spent the last week-and-a-half offering mixed signals. Trump is scheduled to speak in Arizona in the evening. Trump’s campaign said Tuesday night that he will make a surprise trip to Mexico on Wednesday to meet with Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto. The Washington Post first reported the planned trip. Clinton’s speech in Ohio comes after several days of big-ticket private fundraisers in the Hamptons, a wealthy community on New York’s Long Island, where she collected millions at waterfront mansions in preparation for the fall campaign. The fundraising swing concluded in style Tuesday night, with an event featuring performances from Jimmy Buffett, Jon Bon Jovi and Paul McCartney. Though many national and state polls show Clinton with an edge, she has been stressing that the campaign must not take anything for granted. At a fundraiser on Monday she told supporters she was “running against someone who will say or do anything. And who knows what that might be.” Republished with permission of The Associated Press.
