Neighbors

Shannon Bohrer

(5/2021) If your neighbor’s house were on fire, and the neighbor wanted to borrow your garden hose, would you say yes? Most people would probable do so, considering that if the neighbor’s house fire got out of control, your own house could be in danger. Some might express a more conditional-response; something like, do I like my neighbor, or how far away is the fire, or which way is the wind blowing. What if your in-laws were the neighbors? Sometimes we over think a simple question, and sometimes-simple questions – are not that simple.

When Hurricane Katrina struck Louisiana in 2005, their Texas neighbors came to the rescue. While Katrina hit the whole State, it was New Orleans that experienced record flooding. Before the flooding started to recede, caravans with aid came from Texas. Texas also took in thousands of victims since thousands lost their homes. Texas was a good neighbor. The federal government did respond, but it did take ten days for congress to approve federal aid. At that time, that seemed like a long time.

A few years later, the State of Texas experienced severe flooding. The federal government sent help, but it was their neighbors from Louisiana that responded with the ‘Cajun Navy.’ The neighbors packed up the trucks and boats, filled their trucks and boats with supplies, and drove west toward Houston. When they arrived, they unloaded the boats and went to work. The ‘Cajun Navy’ provided relief, transported stranded victims, and probably saved many lives. The Cajun’s remembered how Texas helped them.

Not all disasters are given equal treatment by their neighbors or the Federal Government. When Hurricane Sandy struck the east coast in 2011, it took over two months to approve the federal aid and relief package. There was opposition to the aid in the congress that included 67 members who voted "no" to the assistance. The 67 members included eight from Texas, the State that continues to receive aid, for blackouts and numerous hurricanes. Other members that voted no - represented Florida, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, South, and North Carolina. Many of these same congresspersons have since asked for aid to help with the hurricanes and other natural disasters in their home states.

Obviously, there are members of congress that only want to be a good neighbor when disaster strikes their State. When their state is stricken, they ask for and receive help from some of the very states they rebuffed. So, we know that not everyone is a good neighbor.

Being a good neighbor is not just a neighborhood thing; it crosses counties and state boundaries, and on occasion, being a good neighbor crosses nations and countries. In 1995 Mexico was on the brink of bankruptcy. Their economy was terrible, record job losses, and the peso was almost worthless because inflation was rampant. As a result of the economy, border crossings were at an all-time high, with people pouring into Texas. The crises at the border seemed to be the primary news story almost every day. There were even calls to build an entire border wall, sound familiar?

President Clinton wanted to help with conditional loans to Mexico. He approached the international monetary fund, and they said no. He approached the congress, and they said no. President Clinton then, with the help of Treasury Secretary Rubin, loaned Mexico 20 billion dollars borrowed from the U.S. Treasury’s Exchange Fund. The 20 Billion was part of a total 50 billion-loan package (including other countries), with requirements and conditions to be met by the Mexican government.

The congress complained loudly. They had said no to any loans, and they accused President Clinton of going behind their back. This was executive overreach. Congress predicted we would lose the money, and it would never be repaid. There were even predictions that the border crossings would continue to increase, placing a higher burden on the board patrol, the State of Texas, and the U.S. Government. Their complaints were echoed by a few media outlets, some which still have the same view.

To the surprise of many, the multi-billion-dollar loan worked. Inflation in Mexico slowed, stopped, and then receded, the economy grew, and employment numbers in Mexico increased. The great migration of border crossings reversed, with more people going south than going north. As one Houston resident said, you heard this "great sucking sound" from all the people headed south. The border crises disappeared, temporarily, of course, and the congressional predictions ceased. No one wanted to give President Clinton credit, not even the selected media outlets. Mexico even repaid the load ahead of schedule, and the U.S. received 600 million in interest. Our government made money by being a good neighbor and solving a problem.

Being a good neighbor with other counties can have value in trade and economics, benefiting both countries. The Mexico bailout worked, and it demonstrated that the border immigration crises we experienced, was not a problem but a symptom of a much larger problem. Mexico’s house was on fire, so we loaned them a fire hose. Dealing with a symptom does not solve the problem, and not dealing with the problem often exacerbates the symptoms.

The current world pandemic might be the ultimate test to see which countries will be good neighbors. If America ignores our neighboring countries, what will happen? The experts say that higher infection rates in unprotected countries will produce variants of the virus that might be capable of creating another world pandemic, reinfecting us.

Currently, "Countries in Central and South America are the most intense Covid-19 transmission zones." The most significant increases include Brazil, Colombia, Peru, Haiti, Chile, Argentina, Bolivia, and Mexico. If the United States has everyone vaccinated this year, but our neighbors are still experiencing the pandemic, what could happen? We do not know, and it is the unknown possibilities that we should consider. Will a new variant develop that is resistant to our current inoculations? If the South American countries continue to experience the pandemic, how many will show up at our borders?

The world is both large and small. When someone sneezes in England, sometimes that causes someone in America to cough. What we see as simple problems – are sometimes extraordinarily complex, and just because they are complex does not mean we should ignore them.

"Not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be
changed until it is faced." - James Baldwin