Posted on 03/24/2009 1:54:47 AM PDT by Scanian
Talk about shades of Smoot-Hawley, the 1930 tariff act that was designed to protect American jobs but, not too surprisingly, crippled industries relying on international trade when other nations retaliated. Production kept on plunging and unemployment kept on rising, extending the Depression. In today's extremely global economy, we shudder to think how much worse the consequences today might be.
The Mexican trade war may just be getting revved up, thanks to the Obama administration and the Democrat-controlled Congress ending a Bush administration pilot program that allowed a limit of 97 Mexican long-haul truck drivers into the United States (whereas, under NAFTA, all Mexican trucks meeting reasonable road standards should have been allowed access). These 97 Mexican trucks passed U.S. safety inspections and in fact compiled a slightly safer record than U.S. trucks. With so few Mexican trucks and the short duration of the program the findings can't be said to be statistically significant. But shouldn't the encouraging results let the pilot program go on a little longer before making further decisions on Mexican truckers in contravention of NAFTA?
Unfortunately, that is not how the Teamster's Union reasons. The solution for the union and its supporters isn't to get more information, but simply to cover their eyes and ears and say that they want no more information. Instead, they use what seem like phantom safety concerns to argue we stop letting the 97 Mexican truckers into the U.S.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtontimes.com ...
"..In a desperate attempt to shift attention away from the fact that the card check scheme pushed by Big Labor and its allies on Capitol Hill would strip away worker privacy and make workers vulnerable to threats of intimidation and coercion, Mr. Hoffa, who has been elected by the Teamsters' secret ballot system three times, asked "since when is the secret ballot a basic tenet of democracy?".."
Teamster thinking.
LOL
Never mind. Give him a fifth of single malt and fill it back up.
Trade war?
When will they realize that the only way to solve this problem is the annexation of Mexico. Just send the Army in and sieze everything. General Winfield Scott did this more than one and a half centuries ago, but then we gave back most of it and only kept California, New Mexico. That was a mistake. If we’d kept everything, Mexico would not currently be the economic blight and narcotics trafficing problem that it is today.
“The administration is moving toward a trade war with China to enforce its views on global warming.”
CHina is not stupid and will not submit to the Obamunist’s skeaky “Global Warming” power grab.
The ickle Bantam rooster is playing far above his ability when he took on China in the area of power grabs or long term strategy.
Note that I didn’t say “above his ‘pay grade’” - there is the awful possibility that Obama is a Manchurian Candidate whom America’s enemies funded into office.
Pray for the Republic, and hope He is listening.
I watched a Gangland episode last night on the Mexican Zetas...
They make the Bloods and Crips look like Boyscouts.
We better do something fast about Mexico...
Every time I read someone post that all I can think is that the poster didn't think it through.
Imagine the welfare rolls. Imagine everything in spanish/English (although we are getting there). The problems involved with that silly idea would bankrupt this country quicker than Obama is.
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The women and children of Loudon County are falling victim to illegal aliens
14 people arrested in huge bust tied to Mexican drug cartel
Obama set to unveil Mexico border drugs/guns plan
Feds move resources to Arizona border
In hard times, illegal immigrants lose healthcare
Tough talk over illegal immigrants [Wisconsin]
Mexican day laborers target of rage in Staten Island phony 911 call
HEADS UP:Ignacio "Nacho" Ramos of Ramos/Compean Fame to appear live at 820pm Eastern/520pm Pacific
California Leads Nation with 2,696 TB Cases in 2008—Drug-Resistant Cases Prevalent Among Immigrants
Don’t Keep on Truckin’("Conservative" National Review Favors Dangerous Mexican Trucks)
Mexico Has Proved Oil Reserves for Nearly 10 Years
We are helping Mexico. We are importing the Zetas.
I believe it!
One Zeta gang member said that they had cells all over the U.S. and could carry out any order from Mexico in 2 hours.
He was deadpan serious...
Three countries involved in NAFTA... which one has the most to lose if the USA backs out?
Consumers.
That seems to be the plan the Elite has for the US. Destroy us from the inside. The Trojan Horse is inside the walls. ;0(
The problem here is that the union knows that the push is on to use all Mexican trucks and drivers eventually - resulting in the loss of not only the union truckers jobs, but also lots of non union American truckers jobs as well.
And there's a lot more to this story...
Probably, but that's the way these things go. As I mentioned on another thread, this would probably result in the loss of jobs for US truckers but US workers, as a whole, come out ahead. So that's a good thing. Call me heartless, but I'm not really interested in paying a dollar more for a bag of sugar just for the thrill of knowing it was driven up to the Wal-Mart by a Teamster. I've got better things to do with my money than to subsidize labor unions.
I hope you biotched loudly at you subsidizing the 'unions' at AIG, Citi, etc. with your bailout money. Nice that they shipped your bailout money overseas, too.
The Mexican trucking question is just a ruse... it's the camel getting his nose under the tent scenerio.
Another nice thing about NAFTA, Mexican trucking, Mexican imports (which are mostly USA products to be finished in Mexico and exported back to the US) is that China is taking advantage of Mexican ports and bypassing the tariff on a lot of their goods imported into the USA.
Freedom isn't free. It amazes me when I hear conservatives just selling out our own country for sugar (as per your example) that is (maybe) only a little bit cheaper than what we can produce for ourselves.
You think I'm in favor of bailouts? Let 'em fail. C'est la vie.
is that China is taking advantage of Mexican ports and bypassing the tariff on a lot of their goods imported into the USA.
Eh. I oppose tariffs in general, so if another country games the system to import its products duty free, fine by me.
It amazes me when I hear conservatives just selling out our own country for sugar
Well, it would be a fine system if you were free to buy what you wanted, and I was free to buy what I wanted, and we'd let the chips fall where they may. You would never go for that, though, because when it comes right down to it, you know that very few people would be willing to shell out the extra bucks to support a beet farmer in Louisiana, so you lobby for tariffs on my sugar from Costa Rica, or where ever it is that it comes from.
Ping!
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Screw free trade. I’m with the Teamsters here. We have too many unemployed as it is.
Who are you? The imperial emperor? Teamsters are supposed to be your slaves and Mexicans will do just fine too? Your dumbass sense of entitlement got us into this economic jam
Many freepers have the same malignant attitude towards the blue collar workers. Yeah you are the grand pooh bah and better than them.... at least up in your mind you are
Ping!
Several Freepers on another thread claimed that Mexican trucks out preformed U.S. trucks vis-a-vis road safety issues. I was surprised but accepted that claim.
Though I felt a little touch of dizziness reading what's turned out to be spin.
Shame on them who point to these 97 and want us to believe that a virtual unlimited number of Mexican trucks and drivers would be no safety problem at all.
With so few Mexican trucks and the short duration of the program the findings can't be said to be statistically significant.
Now that's what I expect to see from honest conservatives.
But shouldn't the encouraging results let the pilot program go on a little longer before making further decisions on Mexican truckers in contravention of NAFTA?
Yes, it should. But intensify the safety testing to include all trucks added to the original 97 until the numbers prove the claim of equal compliance with all safety requirements.
BTW, I recall articles from a few years ago about U.S. trucking companies buying into Mexican trucking companies in preparation for the day when Mexican drivers would rule. Good-bye U.S. wages.
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