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Saturday, February 24, 2007

80000 Pounds of death coming to city near you!




The Bush Regime announced today that beginning in sixty days it will begin a pilot program in conjunction with NAFTA that will allow over the next year some 17000 Mexican trucks to enter the United States without stopping at the border and make their deliveries. Currently Mexican trucks bring their freight to the border where they drop their trailers or deliver to a warehouse at which time an American trucking company will pick up the load and deliver the goods to its final destination. Bush in his determination to destroy this country will now enable these trucks to enter this country and compete with American truckers for freight. Having once been involved in the trucking industry I can break this down to the point that each of you should be be screaming to the top of your lungs to stop this madness.

In the early 1980's the Reagan Administration deregulated the trucking industry thus opening up and making the industry very competitive. Many trucking companies from that era are no longer in existence because they could not adapt to the cut throat nature that came with deregulation. The Federal Government stepped up its motor carrier enforcement when it realized that a great deal of revenue could be collected from these rolling piggy banks. Each state saw what the feds were doing and they too began their own enforcement knowing that most of these rolling piggy banks would be passing through their states and most would not be voters so they had nothing to lose by raising fines for safety violations. So what evolved from the extortion of the trucking industry, was the demand from the industry itself that manufactures start building safer trucks. Over the past two decades and up to the current day,most trucks on the highway today are more sophisticated and far superior safety wise than cars or suvs on the highway. The greenest rookie driving a commercial vehicle is statistically ten times a safer driver than a person who has been driving a car for thirty years. The drivers are better trained, the equipment is better maintained and now the Empty suit who is our President wants to take our safety back to 1980 again by allowing the Mexican trucks on our highways. The PR spin machine is working overtime down in Mexico telling everyone that the DOT will be inspecting 100% of all trucks before they are allowed to enter the US. That's their first lie and it is virtually impossible to do. They would have to run around the clock everyday all year, and on every route leading out of Mexico and they don't operate that way, but trucks do! Remember the trucks don't have to stop at the border! Let's get back to safety. Having picked up many loads at the border I can tell you most of the trucks I saw coming out Mexico would be placed out of service during any DOT inspection. Most of these trucks were auction fleet trucks. Trucks that were owned by large fleets and after reaching a mileage limit usually 750000 miles they are brought in and stripped of every part that still has some use and replaced with a part that is only good enough to get the vehicle resold. The tires are replaced with retreads that are barely passable then these units are sent to large brokers and most end up in Mexico, where they don't receive much care. The roads in Mexico are horrible and inflict even greater damage on these vehicles, shaking loose the slack adjusters which keep the brakes tight loosening up the lug nuts and other safety equipment. Having to pick up trailers from Mexico I can tell you the trailers never came back in the condition they went down. The tires on the trailers were always stolen and you could bet the truck that pulled your trailer up had your trailer tires on his truck. Now they do have some big trucking companies in Mexico with newer equipment. These companies never send their stuff across the border because they know equipment at the border is nothing more than a parts warehouse for the thieves. I suspect these larger companies will be the ones coming across the border in the first year to give the program good results with safety, after that we get the 40 tons of death.

For once this is not a one sided deal of danger for Americans. Let me tell you what the Mexican drivers will face. Not being able to speak the language will make these guys very easy targets for groups that specialize in hijacking trucks. You see trucks don't deliver to the nice neighborhoods and if your not familiar with areas you are only asking for trouble. I suspect many Mexican truckers will get lost and end up losing their loads to these hijackers. You will hear about many Mexicans being robbed at Truckstops, some by other truckers who resent the fact they are taking work from them, some will just be assaulted. Truckers are a tough bunch and very independent but given a great cause will rally together unlike any group in this country. No other group in this country has the power the trucking industry has. They could bring the country to its knees overnight if they decide this NAFTA deal is costing them money. If the truck drivers stay home for three or four days, you will have no food in the stores, no gas, no power and the country will come to a complete stand still very quick. I suspect this will never happen because the large companies would fire their drivers if this ever happened, but if the independents all went on strike there is not company trucks to cover the excess freight that would be left and many companies would see their freight rot on the docks, I do however see this as a possibility, because it is the independent who will be the big loser in all of this. Mexico currently does not allow American ownership of it's trucking companies but once this new program begins I suspect that will change. You will see large carriers like JB Hunt, Schneider, Knight, CR England, Swift and all the other big carriers head down to Mexico to swallow up the Mexican based companies. This will give them a foot hold in the Mexican market, they will then hire and train Mexican drivers furnish them with US equipment and then they will be able to operate throughout the North American continent using Mexican drivers unimpeded paying them 15-20 cents per mile as opposed to American drivers who are making as much as 48 cents per mile. Once other companies see the profits the big boys are making from this strategy they will begin to relocate to Mexico firing their American and Canadian drivers for the cheaper Mexican drivers. You see the Mexican drivers will be able to pick up freight in the United States and Canada no one said they had to return back to Mexico. Where Bush really is putting us in danger is two to three years down the road when some of these Mexican drivers start buying their own trucks and compete with the larger carriers. They will take loads for pennies on the dollar which means their equipment will not get the much needed service it requires on a daily basis making it unsafe for travel and putting the motoring public at risk. There will no longer be any American drivers and if the Mexican Drivers decided they want more money or they are tired of being so far away from home our freight rates will climb higher than they are now. I suspect this will happen within five years. If your a driver based in Mexico City you would have to stay out for two months just to do what an American driver can do in a week. I suspect they will relocate drivers to terminals all over the United States and Canada but once the border is opened up they will want to go home or look for other work. Unemployment will soar with 3-4 million American drivers out of work many will be bankrupt unable to make payments on their equipment things look pretty bleak for the truckers who without fail have always delivered for America, now George Bush is cancelling their contract.

This is how George Bush and our elected officials intend to destroy the American Middle Class in every industry.



1 comment:

jakejacobsen said...

Hey Chief,

We have begun a video blogburst in the Blogs For Borders Blogroll.

You can see what we're doing here...

http://tinyurl.com/2tkn7n

And here...

http://tinyurl.com/2r7fps

This will be a weekly event and the videos are released on Tuesday for posting and trackback.

If you'd like to be a part of the burst shoot me an email so I can add you to the ever growing email list.

Thanks and all the best,
Jake