AUSTIN, Texas -- The Mexican truck debate is a pip because it reveals so
much about globalization and its attendant problems.
I have a dog in this fight: I live nestled on the shores of I-35, the main
route north from Mexico, and spend a lot of time driving up and down it. To
say that NAFTA trucks are already a problem is like calling a dwarf short.
Driving south from Waco Tuesday night, I counted over 300 of them stacked up
in one traffic jam.
This silly circus of a debate continues, with charges of isolationism and
protectionism being volleyed back and forth, unmoored from reality in the
ideological void. Look, if the windmill is running, the wind is blowing.
Here's the question: Have you ever spent much time in Mexico? Pretty much
answers the Mexican truck question, don't you think?
Seems to me a deal could be worked out on the long-haul, short-haul
issue -- as the current system makes no sense. Mexican long-haulers have to
stop on their side of the border, unload onto Mexican short-haulers, which
then drive across the border and unload onto American long-haulers. It's a
big pain in the butt for everybody. You could work out a long-haul to
long-haul system within the present 20-mile zone, but it would take a
significant investment in infrastructure on the border, and that money is
not coming from the state of Texas. The famous, long-delayed "Marshall Plan
for South Texas" has been delayed yet again because the state has no money,
thanks to George W.'s tax cuts.
Or, we could put a significant investment into truck safety inspection on
the border to make sure that Mexican long-haulers meet American standards
and then let them in. It would also be a good idea if American trucks met
American standards. According to the Department of Transportation, 25
percent of them don't. That's because we don't put enough money into
enforcement.
The Houston Chronicle recently had an excellent article on the over-worked,
under-manned federal truck-safety inspection team. There are only 50
inspectors on the entire Texas-Mexican border. Texas has only 353 inspectors
for the entire state. The Legislature just turned down the Department of
Public Safety's request for 171 more.
This failure to enforce regulations is true across the board. We don't even
put enough money into enforcing our own health and safety standards.
Conservatives love to gripe about the terrible burdens imposed by federal
regulation, but Congress has cut so much money from the Department of Labor,
you almost have a better chance of getting hit by lightning than of having
your workplace inspected for safety standards.
The larger point in the truck debate is that it demonstrates the importance
of including standards in trade agreements. Of course we don't want most
Mexican trucks on our roads -- who would? But if it's a safe Mexican truck
with a well-trained driver, why not? See? Standards. And if you can include
standards for trucks, you can include standards for people and the planet
too. You can include labor and environmental standards in free trade
agreements.
That's what all the screaming in Genoa, Italy, was about a few weeks ago,
despite the American media affectation of pretending the demonstrators'
goals are incomprehensible.
The additional complicating factor in the Mexican-truck set-to is that
Mexican truckers are as upset about it as American truckers. They believe
the bill passed by the Senate on Aug. 1 discriminates against them and would
sooner see that part of NAFTA dead. Mexican truckers pay less for labor, but
more for equipment, than Americans -- and so are at a competitive
disadvantage.
The growing backlash against NAFTA is serious political problem for
President Vicente Fox. There is new evidence that NAFTA is actually working
to hold down wages in Mexico, too. In fact, there are rumblings of anti-free
trade backlash all over Latin America.
If the American media could just get a grip on the idea that there are real
issues here that need attention -- that it is not insane or unreasonable to
set conditions on trade -- it would be a lot easier to work out the issues
in a practical way that benefits everyone. Blind faith in free trade is as
much of a menace as protectionism.
To find out more about Molly Ivins and read features by other Creators
Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate web page at
www.creators.com.
COPYRIGHT 2001 CREATORS SYNDICATE, INC.
