The most expensive fence in the U.S.

As my husband is training for the Border Patrol right now (the reason: steady job and good government benefits in a bad economy) and we'll be moving to West Texas at the end of the year, I took particular interest in this just-released report from the Government Accounting Office about the cost of border security. Its findings aren't just relevant to Border Patrol staff and their spouses, it should interest every taxpayer.

In a nutshell, it will cost $6.5 billion over the next 20 years to maintain the fence along the U.S.-Mexico border. However, despite the fact that $2.4 billion has already been spent to build 633 miles of fence along the southwest border, there's no way to evaluate cost-wise whether the fence has helped to control the flow of illegal immigrants.