Let’s see if I’ve got this right. James P. Hoffa of the Teamsters and Todd Spencer of OOIDA are correct in their opinions of Mexican trucks and 1400 plus trade associations, newspaper editors and business groups are wrong? And the aforementioned duo “speak” for the “majority” of Americans? I think not. The San Antonio Express News editorial board offered their opinion on the issue this morning.
As expected, Todd Spencer and OOIDA quickly released a statement opposing any effort by the FMCSA and the Obama administration to comply with out obligation under NAFTA. Our non compliance having cost us hundreds of thousands of jobs and a significant amount of market share due to the perfectly legal retaliatory tariffs Mexico imposed for our non compliance. Here is OOIDA’s statement: (Our opinion appears in between the paragraphs)
BY UNION-TRIBUNE EDITORIAL BOARD The North American Free Trade Agreement was ratified by Congress almost 17 years ago. It’s about time the United States began honoring a key part of it. A sticking point in the treaty has been the provision allowing truckers from Mexico, Canada and the United States cross-border access to each nation’s highways. The United States allowed Canadian truckers access, but kept out Mexican trucks. Democratic lawmakers claimed they were worried about “safety concerns” related to the Mexican trucks. But what they were really worried about was how best to cater to labor unions and address the ….Read More
The swine flu outbreak that has wrecked Mexico’s economy may become a case study in reckless journalism. It now turns out that it’s not clear whether the H1N1 pandemic originated in Mexico, as first reported, or in the United States. Like most of you, I had taken it for granted that the disease started in Mexico. That’s what most press reports said in late April, when we saw the first headlines about this illness. Some radio and cable television presenters called it the “Mexican flu.” So earlier this week, I found myself scratching my head when I read in a ….Read More
As you know, I’ve followed the case of Jose Compean and Ignacio Ramos from the gitgo and my opinion, as I have stated here many times has not changed. As my email has been flooded with links to people DEMANDING pardons for these two, and my disgust at the stupidity of these people rises, I sat here contemplating how to put in my dos centavos. But someone else has taken the words from my mind and put them on the web. I’m going to use his words en todo, because I could not have said it better. With full credit ….Read More
We have a New Year before us. Soon to have a new President that folks are pinning their hopes and dreams on, an economy in the crapper, the nativists or whining and dreaming of a White America, and new challenges await! The original intent of this site was to debunk all the bullshit about Mexico and the Cross Border Pilot Program, and for that, we were extraordinarily successful. As foretold, what the protectionists predicted would be chaos and calamity, has gone on for 16 months without a hitch. Told you so! The future of the program? Who knows, and the ….Read More
One of the most interesting things about years passing and thinking that we progress from year to year is finding out how little some things really change. An Associated Press article out of Washington that appeared in the May 21, 1942, El Paso Herald-Post. The headline “Senate Okays $50,000 For E.P. Border Fence.” “The senate voted $50,000 today to build a 25-mile long barbed-wire fence along the Mexican border west of El Paso, although Minority Leader McNary questioned the wisdom of using essential materials for such a project. How does this jibe with our good neighbor policy toward Mexico?’ McNary ….Read More
What a year 2007 was. The war in Iraq continued and the casualty count is now well over three thousand and for what? To allow KBR civilian contractors and others to get rich scamming the government as those who were recently indicted in Afghanistan have shown us. Blackwater security employees used Iraq as their personal killing fields, putting themselves above the law, and now it appears, they will succeed. And how about the new “training” facility being built in San Diego county just a few klicks north of Tecate Mexico? That ought to make the hard core anti immigration folks ….Read More
Editorial – Roadblock to free trade – It’s time to comply with NAFTA and open U.S. highways to Mexican trucks
Nearly 20 years after President Clinton signed the North American Free Trade Agreement, a key provision that grants Mexican trucks access to U.S. highways remains stalled. Staunch opposition from unions and consumer groups in this country, which argue that unsafe foreign trucks and inexperienced drivers put U.S. jobs and lives at risk, have successfully shut down even the most modest attempts to comply with NAFTA. In October, the Obama administration tried again, with a pilot program granting three Mexican trucking firms limited access to U.S. roads. So far, just two carriers have sent trucks into the country — a small ….Read More