A sign of the times

[Verisimilitude]

It starts this Saturday.

Long-haul Mexican truck program needs work
August 22, 2007
The administration is preparing to begin a one-year pilot program to test the impact of opening the U.S.-Mexico border to trucks from either country, as required by the North American Free Trade Agreement.

Currently, Mexican trucks are allowed to travel only within a 25-mile border zone. U.S. trucks are not permitted in Mexico.

The Bush administration has still not finished implementing the safety requirements in that law, but decided this year to rush ahead with the pilot program in an attempt to open the border.
consumeraffairs.com/news04/2007/06/pubcit_mexican_trucks.html

The idea behind illegal labor and programs like this are that goods and services in America will become less expensive. I have yet to relize any of those savings.

 

[Jerusha]

It is going to take a long time for Mexico to get a vistory over police corruption and the drug trade. Given a choice between “Made in China” and “Hecho in Mexico”, I’ll choose Mexico any day. The economy of Mexico needs a boost into legal industries.

 

[Jennifer123]

The economy of Mexico needs a boost into legal industries.

True but at what cost? As far as I know these trucks and the people driving them won’t be subject to US regulations about safety and competence. I sure wouldn’t want to save a few bucks at the expense of some family being mowed down by a Mexican driver who doesn’t have to comply with US safety standards.

 

[Jerusha]

A sad story:

A Mexican family, at the end of a long trip home for the holidays, was moving along in a driving rain storm. The car was hit by a truck traveling in the wrong lane, head-on collision. I think there were six or seven children. The entire family was killed, the truck driver had apparently been drinking. Unhurt, he ran into the hills.

This happened in Mexico. Does it really matter where it hapened? Is a Mexican family worth less than a white American family?

Some in the Nebraska town where I lived at the time had no concern for what had happened.

 

[Joe_Kelley]

True but at what cost? As far as I know these trucks and the people driving them won’t be subject to US regulations about safety and competence. I sure wouldn’t want to save a few bucks at the expense of some family being mowed down by a Mexican driver who doesn’t have to comply with US safety standards.

They recently ran a truck check near the border south of here. 25% of the Mexican vehicles failed inspection. This seemed rather conclusive until it was noted that 19% of the US vehicles also failed. Stiffer inspections for everyone would seem a good idea.

 

[Jennifer123]

A sad story:

A Mexican family, at the end of a long trip home for the holidays, was moving along in a driving rain storm. The car was hit by a truck traveling in the wrong lane, head-on collision. I think there were six or seven children. The entire family was killed, the truck driver had apparently been drinking. Unhurt, he ran into the hills.

This happened in Mexico. Does it really matter where it hapened? Is a Mexican family worth less than a white American family?

Some in the Nebraska town where I lived at the time had no concern for what had happened.

Of course not but it is okay to allow foreign nationals to drive hundreds, eventually thousands, of unsafe vehicles on roads paid for by US taxpayers? Safety records cannot be verified and Mexican regulations have no provisions for hours of rest or drug testing.
I guess we better get used to lower wages and a lower standard of living because it is apparent that the people in power seek to gain even more while taking more from the last remaining vestiges of a US middle-class.

 

[Jerusha]

As for unsafe vehicles, read Joe’s post. Perhaps allowing open trade for now, continuation provisional on Mexico’s beefing up thier own standards would be the best option. Once they see what it does to their economy, they wouldn’t want to risk it being shut down. $$$$$$$$$$ in their eyes.

Sorry to disillusion you, but what happens in Mexico does affect us. They are our neighbors. (And most of them are Catholic, if that matters to you.)

 

[Jennifer123]

As for unsafe vehicles, read Joe’s post. Perhaps allowing open trade for now, continuation provisional on Mexico’s beefing up thier own standards would be the best option. Once they see what it does to their economy, they wouldn’t want to risk it being shut down. $$$$$$$$$$ in their eyes.

Sorry to disillusion you, but what happens in Mexico does affect us. They are our neighbors. (And most of them are Catholic, if that matters to you.)

Oh don’t worry - your posts will do little to disillusion me

With all due respect, Joe’s post doesn’t address the real concerns about Mexican driver safety. The government equivalent of the DMV in Mexico is highly corrupt and it will be almost impossible for any state and local agencies to verify any information given by these drivers other than what was given to US officials at initial registration. This isn’t the EU, not even close. And like always with this “immigration” debate, Mexican nationals will be exploited and the US middle class will be stripped bare.

And please don’t paint me as some sort of intolerant racist. You have hardly any information to base that judgement upon other than your own bias.

 

[Verisimilitude]

I guess we better get used to lower wages and a lower standard of living because it is apparent that the people in power seek to gain even more while taking more from the last remaining vestiges of a US middle-class.

The US truck driver in less than 5 years will be the construction drywaller today. 10 years ago drywallers were nearly all US citizen without question, and today they are a very rare sight on a job site. These are good paying jobs, and with all honesty the quality is less today than 10 yrs ago largely due to the language barrier, and the cost has not dropped to the consumer to include the taxpayer funded projects that employ them.

It is amazing to me that a nation that has been attacked on her own soil with a promise to do it again from the foreign killers would permit a foreign owned/operated port (China) in a corrupt foreign country (Mexico) can load a truck(s) to pass our border with unrestricted travel, inspection or notice. What is to prevent counterfit trucks from bringing more people and drugs than already come through from Mexico? Should Americans trust the Chinese and Mexican nationals to inspect what is allowed to enter our country? Was the risk we failed to realize on 9/11 greater than an open border 6 yers later?

How long until the scrutiny of today is focused elsewhere and the spit and polish wears off as it always does? It is not a good idea in the long or short run.

 

[johnnycatholic]

I’m somewhat concerned about the transport of more drugs into this country as well as illegal immigrants. As a sovereign nation, the government has a duty to protect our borders and this is not a step in that direction. Our policies need to reflect the dignity and respect we, in theory, have for ourselves as a nation. Right now we have a doormat policy. How are we supposed to influence Mexico to shape up if we have no cards to play? If we continue the path we’re on now, Mexico’s corruption will not improve, but will soon become us (I know we’re not perfect now, but we sure ain’t Mexico).

 

[Jennifer123]

The US truck driver in less than 5 years will be the construction drywaller today. 10 years ago drywallers were nearly all US citizen without question, and today they are a very rare sight on a job site.

Yes - this is one part of this “immigration” debate that seems to get lost, how jobs and wages are being diluted by illegal immigration. Once employers can exploit illegal immigrants to do jobs once done by highly skilled craftsmen, wages go down for many other workers too.

Not to mention the fact regarding the many families torn apart by illegal immigration, the children being raised without families, the men and women who then marry and start other families without the other spouses’ knowledge.

I agree with many on the left, this is a human-rights issue. I just wish they’d see that calling for open borders without demanding anything from these illegals doesn’t do anyone any good. They are left illiterate and exploited and US middle class shrinks.

But at least someone’s cutting the grass.