Mexican trucks defy Congress, still roll

[nhboy]

Mexican trucks defy Congress, still roll. Bill cuts off funds, but Bush insists program can continue

""The DOT response is both arrogant and wrong!" Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., wrote in a letter yesterday to Secretary of Transportation Mary Peters.

Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration officials told the San Diego Union Tribune the cross-border Mexican truck demonstration project would continue because the program was established in September and the amendment allows programs that have already begun to continue.

But Dorgan insisted a provision in the 2008 omnibus spending bill was "clearly written and designed to put the brakes on the current pilot program."

WorldNetDaily: Mexican trucks defy Congress, still roll

 

[forestal]

Maybe the title of your post should be:

Bush defies congress, lets Mexican trucks roll.

After all, it's the executive branch that has made this possible.

Mexican trucks defy Congress, still roll. Bill cuts off funds, but Bush insists program can continue

""The DOT response is both arrogant and wrong!" Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., wrote in a letter yesterday to Secretary of Transportation Mary Peters.

Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration officials told the San Diego Union Tribune the cross-border Mexican truck demonstration project would continue because the program was established in September and the amendment allows programs that have already begun to continue.

But Dorgan insisted a provision in the 2008 omnibus spending bill was "clearly written and designed to put the brakes on the current pilot program."

WorldNetDaily: Mexican trucks defy Congress, still roll

 

[itsbob]

This is ignorant.. Congress trying to prevent those big bad MEXICAN trucks into our country... Jesus they are our NEIGHBORS, not our enemy.

Well, now we know which congressmen are in the Union's pocket.

 

[forestal]

Never thought you would like to see cheap Mexican labor taking away American Trucking jobs.

Way to go patriot..

This is ignorant.. Congress trying to prevent those big bad MEXICAN trucks into our country... Jesus they are our NEIGHBORS, not our enemy.

Well, now we know which congressmen are in the Union's pocket.

 

[aps45819]

Maybe the title of your post should be:

Bush defies Teamsters, lets Mexican trucks roll.

After all, it's the executive branch that has made this possible.

:fixed:

 

[itsbob]

Never thought you would like to see cheap Mexican labor taking away American Trucking jobs.

Way to go patriot..

I am more of a patriot than you'll ever be, and I'm not afraid of ANY Mexican. If you are a truck driver in fear of losing your job to a Mexican, than maybe you've been protected too long, and should look for another line of work. We are ALL open to competition, if anyone can do my job better than I can I would expect to lose my job to them..

ANd I have no problem with sharing the roads with a Mexican Truck Driver. They are probably safer than 1/2 the people I drive with now.

 

[Larry Gude]

Please tell...

I am more of a patriot than you'll ever be, and I'm not afraid of ANY Mexican. If you are a truck driver in fear of losing your job to a Mexican, than maybe you've been protected too long, and should look for another line of work. We are ALL open to competition, if anyone can do my job better than I can I would expect to lose my job to them..

ANd I have no problem with sharing the roads with a Mexican Truck Driver. They are probably safer than 1/2 the people I drive with now.

...me you are kidding.

This is catastrophic for American truckers. And it's unsafe for Americans on the road.

 

[itsbob]

...me you are kidding.

This is catastrophic for American truckers. And it's unsafe for Americans on the road.

Did you forget your smiley, or are you REALLY falling for the Union Spin??

The Mexican trucks have to pass a safety inspection EVERY time they cross into the US, how often do US trucks have to pass a safety inspection??

It's not catastrophic, it's not even a blip... the Mexican trucks will only be taking loads FROM Mexico into the US, in turn OUR truckers can take cargo from the US into Mexico. The Mexican trucks aren't going to be transferring cargo from Chicago to LA.

 

[Larry Gude]

No...

Did you forget your smiley, or are you REALLY falling for the Union Spin??

.

...I was hoping you'd forgotten the sarcasm thing.

Strike up another one for you globalists.

MOST truckers are NOT union. Most truckers are small business people just getting by.

It won't be long after foreign truckers are driving to Chicago then, by golly, why not take a load back to Texas? I'm going that way anyway? Hey! I've got time! Maybe I'll grab that other load in Chicago, take it to Philly, get something in Philly and, why, Charlotte is pretty much on the way back to Chicago. LA is only a day or two from the Windy City...

Before long, giant trucking companies will spring up in Mexico, paying their guys less money, probably getting subsidies from the Mexican government on fuel and I just feel oh so much better about maintenance and repair diligence in Mexico than here. Then, those companies will get US based subsidiaries and it won't be long before foreign drivers have company related permits allowing them to be in the US, temporarily mind you, to gobble up all sorts of runs.

You don't know any truckers, do you? Say thank you for all these years of the modern cowboy and all he's done because you won't be able to thank him in ten years as yet another American small business sector is wiped out by the wonders of globalism so that we can all save 10%-20% on the shipping of our Wii's, the 10% that used to keep your neighbor in business. The 10% that is a small, efficient fraction of the total of cost of goods now.

I'm kinda shocked, bob.

 

[itsbob]

...I was hoping you'd forgotten the sarcasm thing.

Strike up another one for you globalists.

MOST truckers are NOT union. Most truckers are small business people just getting by.

It won't be long after foreign truckers are driving to Chicago then, by golly, why not take a load back to Texas? I'm going that way anyway? Hey! I've got time! Maybe I'll grab that other load in Chicago, take it to Philly, get something in Philly and, why, Charlotte is pretty much on the way back to Chicago. LA is only a day or two from the Windy City...

Before long, giant trucking companies will spring up in Mexico, paying their guys less money, probably getting subsidies from the Mexican government on fuel and I just feel oh so much better about maintenance and repair diligence in Mexico than here. Then, those companies will get US based subsidiaries and it won't be long before foreign drivers have company related permits allowing them to be in the US, temporarily mind you, to gobble up all sorts of runs.

You don't know any truckers, do you? Say thank you for all these years of the modern cowboy and all he's done because you won't be able to thank him in ten years as yet another American small business sector is wiped out by the wonders of globalism so that we can all save 10%-20% on the shipping of our Wii's, the 10% that used to keep your neighbor in business. The 10% that is a small, efficient fraction of the total of cost of goods now.

I'm kinda shocked, bob.

Actually a few of my relatives are truck drivers..

Still don't see how a Mexican trcuk Driver bringing a load in from Tijuana is going to effect a trucker that goes Cast to Coast.. or local.. or the North East.


And yes, EVERY one of the truckers in the family are Union.. By Union laws the eldest (before he died) wasn't allowed to drive a truck anymore since he retired. Even if he needed extra income he was not allowed to have any job affiliated with truck driving, to protect the current pool of Union truck drivers. THe union is going all out to fight this, the propaganda is out there, and they'll try to defeat this no matter how much of their members money they have to spend.

 

[czygvtwkr]

...I was hoping you'd forgotten the sarcasm thing.

Strike up another one for you globalists.

MOST truckers are NOT union. Most truckers are small business people just getting by.

It won't be long after foreign truckers are driving to Chicago then, by golly, why not take a load back to Texas? I'm going that way anyway? Hey! I've got time! Maybe I'll grab that other load in Chicago, take it to Philly, get something in Philly and, why, Charlotte is pretty much on the way back to Chicago. LA is only a day or two from the Windy City...

Before long, giant trucking companies will spring up in Mexico, paying their guys less money, probably getting subsidies from the Mexican government on fuel and I just feel oh so much better about maintenance and repair diligence in Mexico than here. Then, those companies will get US based subsidiaries and it won't be long before foreign drivers have company related permits allowing them to be in the US, temporarily mind you, to gobble up all sorts of runs.

You don't know any truckers, do you? Say thank you for all these years of the modern cowboy and all he's done because you won't be able to thank him in ten years as yet another American small business sector is wiped out by the wonders of globalism so that we can all save 10%-20% on the shipping of our Wii's, the 10% that used to keep your neighbor in business. The 10% that is a small, efficient fraction of the total of cost of goods now.

I'm kinda shocked, bob.

Got to agree with Larry.

People aren't supposed to live 25 to a 3 br house either but I defy you to find a 3 br house inhabited by Mexicans that has less than 5 people living there.

 

[Larry Gude]

And what...

Actually a few of my relatives are truck drivers..

Still don't see how a Mexican trcuk Driver bringing a load in from Tijuana is going to effect a trucker that goes Cast to Coast.. or local.. or the North East.


And yes, EVERY one of the truckers in the family are Union.. By Union laws the eldest (before he died) wasn't allowed to drive a truck anymore since he retired. Even if he needed extra income he was not allowed to have any job affiliated with truck driving, to protect the current pool of Union truck drivers. THe union is going all out to fight this, the propaganda is out there, and they'll try to defeat this no matter how much of their members money they have to spend.

...percentage of US truckers are union, bob? Unions are no more always wrong than companies are always right.

I can't lay the scenario out any clearer; we WILL be flooded with foreign truckers in the near future and it WILL wipe out small business because the layers and layers of bureaucracy that the 'voters' will want to 'ensure safety' and the free flow of paper work will DROWN little guys.

 

[itsbob]

...percentage of US truckers are union, bob? Unions are no more always wrong than companies are always right.

I can't lay the scenario out any clearer; we WILL be flooded with foreign truckers in the near future and it WILL wipe out small business because the layers and layers of bureaucracy that the 'voters' will want to 'ensure safety' and the free flow of paper work will DROWN little guys.

NOpe, not buying the 'Spin'..

What if we were talking about Canadian Truckers instead of MExican.. would you be OK with that?

Take a look at the EU.. you know the continent who's currency is dragging the Dollar into the sewer? They have open borders, and before they opened their borders you would see a truck in Germany with plates from Greece, or Italy.. or Spain or France.

An open economy benefits ALL countries, as the trucks won't be flowing in a single direction.. more US products will be sold in Mexico and other destinations further South.. OUR truck drivers will be used to get those goods there, unless of course you believe American workers make an inferior product than the Mexican workiers, in which case you'd have a reason to be concerned.. Personally I think an American worker and an AMerican made product (90% of the time) can successfully compete with ANY foreighn product or worker..

 

[Larry Gude]

So...

NOpe, not buying the 'Spin'..

What if we were talking about Canadian Truckers instead of MExican.. would you be OK with that?

...your reading comprehension is the real issue, my friend?

Notice I said, repeatedly, foreign drivers. Canadians are foreign.

And if you wanna use Europe as the example of what we should do, we are never gonna see eye to eye on that.

 

[czygvtwkr]

NOpe, not buying the 'Spin'..

What if we were talking about Canadian Truckers instead of MExican.. would you be OK with that?

Take a look at the EU.. you know the continent who's currency is dragging the Dollar into the sewer? They have open borders, and before they opened their borders you would see a truck in Germany with plates from Greece, or Italy.. or Spain or France.

An open economy benefits ALL countries, as the trucks won't be flowing in a single direction.. more US products will be sold in Mexico and other destinations further South.. OUR truck drivers will be used to get those goods there, unless of course you believe American workers make an inferior product than the Mexican workiers, in which case you'd have a reason to be concerned.. Personally I think an American worker and an AMerican made product (90% of the time) can successfully compete with ANY foreighn product or worker..

Its silly things like environmental regulations, minimum wage, and copyright laws, you know the stuff that nobody in Mexico cares about (or ignores) that causes the disparity.

 

[itsbob]

But the notion that the Teamsters bureaucracy is waging a struggle to defend the jobs and living standards of its members is fraud, which is exposed by examining the union’s record. Since the deregulation of the trucking industry in 1980 the number of workers covered by the agreement with major freight carriers has plummeted from 300,000 to 120,000 and real wages for Teamsters truck drivers have fallen by 33 percent. In 1998 the Teamsters signed a five-year pact, which gave a green light to further cost-cutting, the use of low-paid, part-time employees and expansion of nonunion companies, which move 90 percent of the freight in the US.

Insofar as the Teamsters bureaucracy is concerned about the loss of jobs, it is only because the union’s dwindling dues base threatens the perks and privileges of the official apparatus. The financial crisis afflicting the bureaucracy—long known for its corruption and gangsterism—did not stop Hoffa’s representatives from voting at their recent Las Vegas convention to increase the daily meal allowance for union officials to $75 a day. At the same tim,e union officials rejected a proposal to increase strike benefits from the current level of $55 a week.

Moreover, the bureaucracy’s opposition to Mexican drivers is selective. It is noteworthy that the Teamsters bureaucracy has not—as of yet—launched a campaign against truckers from Canada being given access to US markets under NAFTA. That is not because the labor bureaucracy is any less hostile to Canadian workers, but only because the Teamsters also has the franchise in Canada and collects dues from drivers there, unlike in Mexico.

 

[Larry Gude]

So...

But the notion that the Teamsters bureaucracy is waging a struggle to defend the jobs and living standards of its members is fraud, which is exposed by examining the union’s record. Since the deregulation of the trucking industry in 1980 the number of workers covered by the agreement with major freight carriers has plummeted from 300,000 to 120,000 and real wages for Teamsters truck drivers have fallen by 33 percent. In 1998 the Teamsters signed a five-year pact, which gave a green light to further cost-cutting, the use of low-paid, part-time employees and expansion of nonunion companies, which move 90 percent of the freight in the US.

Insofar as the Teamsters bureaucracy is concerned about the loss of jobs, it is only because the union’s dwindling dues base threatens the perks and privileges of the official apparatus. The financial crisis afflicting the bureaucracy—long known for its corruption and gangsterism—did not stop Hoffa’s representatives from voting at their recent Las Vegas convention to increase the daily meal allowance for union officials to $75 a day. At the same tim,e union officials rejected a proposal to increase strike benefits from the current level of $55 a week.

Moreover, the bureaucracy’s opposition to Mexican drivers is selective. It is noteworthy that the Teamsters bureaucracy has not—as of yet—launched a campaign against truckers from Canada being given access to US markets under NAFTA. That is not because the labor bureaucracy is any less hostile to Canadian workers, but only because the Teamsters also has the franchise in Canada and collects dues from drivers there, unlike in Mexico.

...your resentment of the Teamsters is so deep, you'd happily see Americans independents swept away by a sea "euro' style commerce and free trade rather than the relative handful of union drivers get a table scrap?

 

[itsbob]

Its silly things like environmental regulations, minimum wage, and copyright laws, you know the stuff that nobody in Mexico cares about (or ignores) that causes the disparity.

ANd when they operate in our county they are boud by our laws.. and 100% of the trucks coming into the US have to pass a safety inspection.. Of which, when the same safety inspections are done on US trucks (roadside random inspections no way to be construed with 100% inspections) over 25% of the US trucks on the road FAIL!! GOod thing the Union is looking out for our safety!

The drivers even have to prove English Comprehension..

Besides, I don't remember the slaughter of innocents in Mexico by unsafe truck drivers on their roads, or maybe I missed those headline.


And you say FOREIGN truckers, but in the end there are no demonstrators on the Canadian Bordr, the Union is not trying to stop the Canadians from operating here.. only the Mexicans, you know the ones we've been told to hate and didtrust... the ones that aren't members of any US union..

 

[itsbob]

...your resentment of the Teamsters is so deep, you'd happily see Americans independents swept away by a sea "euro' style commerce and free trade rather than the relative handful of union drivers get a table scrap?

The independents aren't going to be hurt by this anymore than they've already been hurt by the Unions..

Matter of fact I would bet that if this was allowed to continue in 5 years the independents would have an increase in market, and better wages and benefits.. I just don't see how an increase of viable market, and millions of additional routes and roads to operate on can hurt ANY trucker.

 

[Larry Gude]

We'll...

The independents aren't going to be hurt by this anymore than they've already been hurt by the Unions..

Matter of fact I would bet that if this was allowed to continue in 5 years the independents would have an increase in market, and better wages and benefits.. I just don't see how an increase of viable market, and millions of additional routes and roads to operate on can hurt ANY trucker.

...put you down, as your wager, that you'll make up the difference to everybody when this panacea, somehow, doesn't develop. OK?

This is one more example of this alleged GOP/conservative American president selling his fellow countrymen down the river. Or over the border, as the case may be.