Friday, August 31, 2007

Mexican Trucks Begin Crossing Border Saturday

 
Funny - I've been mildly following the North American Union conspiracy theories on and off for the last few months, and now it looks like it's going to start getting shoved into place with about as much competence as practically everything else the Bush administration has done.  Way to shove in an untested and unprepared solution on one of the busiest trucking weekends of the year. 
 
There's an element of close-mindedness in not wanting to interact with other countries, but there's also something to be said for thinking things through before taking really dumb action.  I hope at a minimum, the following have been accounted for:
- "Supporters of the plan say letting more Mexican trucks on U.S. highways will save American consumers hundreds of millions of dollars."  I'm missing how this will benefit American consumers, not just corporate interests.  Is it pointing toward need for the old Wal-mart conversation of when do you stop sacrificing other important considerations just to get a lower price, or something else?  Now if they're saying it will save corporations hundreds of millions, I can totally see that - but it's time to stop kowtowing to corporations.
 
- Traffic congestion (both of traffic speed and environmental impacts), which slow, polluting, big trucks just make worse.
 
- Making sure those inspections are up to snuff, instead of just waved through or subject to easy corruption. (similar to what I've seen in both Mexico and Thailand, just from my limited experiences)
 
- I just get the feeling lots of little things haven't been thought about.  For example, how do license and registration work in this case?  If U.S. versions are required, who pays for it - the Mexican companies?  What about the infrastructure strain, are they contributing to paying for that somehow?
 
- Two of our big challenges with Mexico are illegal immigration and the drug trade.  Do we not see either of these getting much worse through this arrangement?
Overall, it reminds me of the Dubai Ports World debacle which similarly got shoved through, even though the net benefits to the average American are dubious at best.  My concern is that things in our country seem to be changing quickly, but not in ways I've seen are based on sound principles or competent implementation.
 
 

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