Vote in Congress Tues. or Wed to stop Mexican trucks

[angus]

THIS IS A BAD DEAL.  oops.  had the olde capslock button on.  well, anyway it'll adversely affect the price of many of the goods you buy.  Mangos, jalapeños, bananas, and calcitines.  (that means socks)  Protectionism at its finest.  I'm sure Mr. Kucinich and his ilk are very proud of this one.  Nevermind the fact that the american worker will now pay more for the goods he imports because trucks will have to be unloaded and reloaded at places like Nogales, Matamoros, and Ciudad Juarez.  Nice going.

[angus]

OK - I've heard about this, but haven't seen details - so can somebod summarize for me UNBIASEDLY what the amendment would do?

as with all bills in the congress, if you're interested then turn off the television and get away from the talking heads and radio jockeys and read the text.  This one's especially short.  Here's the text that went from the house, as approved, to the senate committee:

http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/D?c110:4:./temp/~c110a5qv1Q::

"what will it do?"  So you think any of these posters has a crystal ball?  If they do, it's no more shiny and polished than yours.  Just use your imagination. 

imho, it'll do more harm than good, for both great nations.

[angus]

Bad link

And I'm asking just what the bill would mean for Americans - not how the SC could interpret it in a court case.

sorry, tried to cut and paste.  anyway I was only trying to link to hr1773 as referred to the senate, which may not be exactly what you want.  (amendments can be tricky.  things like "a new playground in my neighborhood that costs five point seven million dollars" get amended to things like "tank and armament upgrades" and since I haven't read the very latest version I can't say exactly what we're in for.)  But the bill, as sent to the senate from the house is simple.  It grants authority to drive to "not more than 100 motor carriers domiciled in Mexico to operate beyond US municipalities."   It goes on to impose penalties and make recommendations.  The effect, of course, is not known except to the clarivoyant.  But you can make an educated guess as much as the next guy.  As of now, most trucks--and yes I do see, in my travels on US interstate highways Oaxaca licence plates, and Nuevo Leon licence plates, and Tampaulipas licence plates--will have to unload their wares at the border onto US-licenced trucks.  And since US truck drivers make about four times as much money as Mexican truckers you will see an increase in the cost of goods.  And that's just the goods that make it.  You cannot expect that bananas, for example, will survive the loading and unloading at Nogales and Ciudad Juarez.  Hell, I can't expect a banana to last more than about 3 days before becoming brown and soft.  I'd say the bill is a wonderful deal if you are in a trucker's union.  I'm not.  I'm a consumer and tariffs and protectionism generally eats into my pocketbook.  I suspect it'll eat into yours as well.  As I understand Price Theory, you will see an upward shift in the supply curve for all goods and services transiting from Mexico and points south of Mexico into the US.  This will necessarily mean a shift in the equilibrium price and quantity of those goods and services, and it will result in a higher equilibrium price and a lower equilibrium quantity.  The latter of which will also hurt the average Mexican, since his or her job will, in no small measure, depend on the habits and diet of the average gringo.

[angus]

Actually, if you've seen an Oaxaca licence plate on a U.S. highway before Monday, it was not a commercial shipment. 

well, it's not like I take a pad and pencil with me and take notes.  For future reference, when I say "I regularly see New York licence plates" or "I see Oaxaca license plates" I'm taking a bit of poetic license.  Pardon the pun.  My memories sometimes run together.  It may be that the only Oaxaca license plates I've seen were on the trips I've made to Oaxaca, and those license plates were usually stapled or duct-taped to older-model japanese pickups, often burdened down and loaded down to about twice the intended capacity with what looked like enormous pineapples but were actually agave plant hearts on their way to becoming mezcal.  But yeah, I do sometimes see mexican lisence plates on big trucks on US interstates over the years.  Not in profusion, but they're there.  Then again they may have been privately hired, as you suggest.  No, I can't think of any time I'd ever seen, for example, a J.B.Hunt truck with Mexican license plates, but as I said, I wasn't taking notes.  According to you, then, the law then has no effect other than psychological.  I still say that such laws will increase the price of imported mexican goods and generally will only benefits truckers and the unions buying their votes and selling them to candidates.  Either it has no effect, as you suggest, or it has a deleterious effect to the people on both sides of the border.