5 Things That Will Happen To You When America Goes Bankrupt

April 09, 2011

Mexican trucks could soon roll across U.S. border as Obama administration proposes 3-year deal

San Antonio Express-News.

The U.S. Department of Transportation on Friday announced a proposal for a new, three-year, U.S.-Mexico cross-border trucking program that would allow Mexican drivers to make U.S. deliveries beyond the border zone.

The proposal is the next step toward Mexico eliminating prohibitive tariffs against numerous U.S. exports to Mexico, a move that could happen within a few months.

The new proposal follows the previous test program, originally proposed by San Antonio business leaders, that lasted from 2007 to 2009 before Congress ended funding.

The Transportation Department posted the proposal in a Federal Register notice. The public will have 30 days to submit comments. After the comment period, the department will develop and implement a final program. A federal government shutdown is not expected to affect the comment period unless the shutdown lasts more than 30 days.

Both countries then must sign the agreement. Mexico has promised to cut in half the amount of the tariffs imposed on S-2.4 billion worth of U.S. food and manufactured goods annually once the agreement is signed. Mexico will lift the remaining tariffs once Mexican trucks are authorized to make U.S. deliveries.

Texas business leaders proposed the first cross-border trucking test program because they wanted to position the state to better service truck freight. The goal also was to move freight more efficiently throughout North America and cut costs for consumers.

"It's encouraging that we're moving forward," said Nelson Balido, president of the San Antonio-based Border Trade Alliance. "The BTA is a longtime supporter of the United States complying with NAFTA. We look forward to the day we see the first Mexican truck get its permit to do business in the United States. It will foster better competition and more trade for San Antonio, Houston and Dallas."

The Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association, based in Missouri, said Friday it was infuriated by Friday's announcement.

"This is the wrong plan at the wrong time for numerous reasons," said Todd Spencer, OOIDA executive vice president. "It's irresponsible and reckless. The administration must reconsider, or Congress must step in again to force them to do the right thing."

The Transportation Department and its Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration will be able to use available funding to start the program without congressional approval, a department spokesman said Friday.

Friday is the first time the department has said it can restart cross-border trucking within its own rule-making authority and without funding approval from Congress.

In early March, the U.S. and Mexican governments revealed negotiations leading toward a resumption of cross-border trucking. In 2009, the Mexican government imposed the punitive tariffs because the United States had failed to comply with the trucking provisions of the 1994 North American Free Trade Agreement.

In 2010, Mexico revised the list of U.S. exports subject to prohibitive tariffs and increased the number of food and manufactured items to 99, up from the initial list of 89 products. Numerous U.S. companies have lost their Mexican markets because of the tariffs, and it's estimated that more than 10,000 U.S. jobs have been lost.

The U.S. Transportation Department will pay as much as S-2.5 million from the federal Highway Trust Fund to equip Mexican trucks with electronic data recorders to ensure safety compliance, according to a Transportation Department fact sheet quoted by Bloomberg News.

The data recorders are necessary to ensure Mexican companies are complying with safety regulations, the department said in a memorandum emailed to industry groups Friday. U.S. funding will stop when the three-year program for cross-border truck traffic ends, the department said.

Friday's developments are the latest after more than 15 years of delays of the NAFTA cross-border provisions that were supposed to phase in beginning in December 1995. The Clinton administration initially delayed cross-border trucking that month, citing safety concerns over Mexican trucks and drivers.

Opponents of cross-border trucking have taken the same arguments to Congress and the courts over the years. Truck driver unions also have said they did not want to compete with Mexican trucking fleets and drivers.

Mexican trucks could soon roll across U.S. border as Obama administration proposes 3-year deal

http://blogs.chron.com/txpotomac/2011/04/mexican_trucks_could_soon_roll_1.html

As I sit back and ponder the circumstances presented, I find that America has choices to make, good or bad. America was build on the belief that all are created equal and thereby should participate with rewards as it grows provided that the right choices are made. As a nation we're once again at the crossroad between making a good choice and bad choice that impacts all facets of American lives. Obviously America has mostly made the right choices since its inception otherwise we would have went the other way just like Rome and countless others have gone. As I write this, America cannot balance its books. This is not because it lacks the knowledge but it does lack the willingness to do so. We can no longer write blank and worthless checks. Even though we've lost our way; we can survice and prosper once we all are willing to begin first by balancing our books and then determining what is really required to sustain and grow the economy. The time is to start now with this basic approach so that everyone knows the truth about our status regarding our finances. Let us not waste time with bickering.

Taxing corporations is not the solution. Corporations don't pay taxes, they collect them. A tax on a corporation is an indirect tax on consumers. Raise the taxes, businesses recoup the loss by raising prices. Of course, most don't understand this fact and use the "evil" corporations as a scapegoat for why our country is on the path to bankruptcy.

Sorry for some of the poor sentence structure and missing words, I'm really tired and should of gone to bed.

Lots of good comments tonight.

It's really a pity that Washington can't see what some of you see.

Good night folks

Once the government enacts any policy or legislation, it is very near impossible to undo it without catastrophic results.

The people whom policy effects settle into dependency and when the threat of withdrawal comes, they start squealing likes.

It is clear that Social Security and Medicare are programs which must and will be phased out, but you will not be able to end it for those who are retired on fixed incomes, or those who are about to retire.
It will have to be phase out.
Politicians are going to have to grow up and start acting like the hired servants that they are.

It is their job and responsibility to enact policy which sound economically and socially for the as a whole.
The day where deals are cut to benefit certain individuals, companies, corporations, organizations, must come to an end.

The job of the federal government is to protect this nation and create an economic environment for individuals to prosper without interference from the federal government.

Their job is to up hold and enforce the Constitution of the USA, not reinterpret it, twist it, change it to suit the social climate.

It is not the job of the public school system to indoctrinate our children to meet the social climates of the times, it is their job to give our children the tools to earn a living.
It's the parents responsibility to equip their child socially and spiritually.

Government is using taxpayer dollars to fund everything under the sun, involving itself in areas that it has no business Constitutionally.

You can bet your life that we are at a crisis point.

The government is not going to be able to make all the cuts necessary without creating a serious problem, especially with all the policies in place that have destroyed our economy.

If good paying jobs are plentiful, they might pull it off, but they have devalued the dollar, because of debt, to the point where low paying jobs must be subsided by the government, which is part of the problem (entitlements).

We have been talking like; cut everything, do it now, get rid of all entitlements, subsides, foreign aid,
tax cuts, bring the troops home.
We seem think that with the swipe of a pen that it's done, and next week the government will have all this money rolling in, unemployment is going to be 2%, business is going to be booming, trade is going to be hopping.

The debt needs to be paid off, the policies need to be changed so that we can develop resources in America, we need to be in a position where industry wants to come here instead of leaving, we need a super strong defense so that no country dare left a finger of aggression against us.

We need to quit getting involved in nation building.
We need a fair trade agreement.
When I can't pick up anything in a store that does not say " Made in China", we've got a problem.

We need to abolish unions, why, for obvious reasons. If you are reaping the benifits of a union environment, naturally you are for them, but if you are the one dealing with the consequence's of the union environment, you clearly see the down side.

The problem is very complex, and is definitely going to have to be addressed.

Cuts are going to have to take place. Thomas Sowell's article clearly laid out good areas to start.

Environmental policies are going to have to be changed, Washington is going to have to get off the backs of industry and let them get people back to work.

In the last 25 years 21 countries have experienced hyperinflation, all of them either third world countries or former subjects of the Soviet empire. The U.S. may be the first "first-world" country to go there.

Another Civil War would not be out of the question. Desperate people do desperate things. We are not immune to the Laws of Economics or Human Nature. It will NOT be a pretty sight.

"Everyone wants to go to heaven, but no one wants to die"


Not so ... I, for one, cannot wait to be rid of The Democrats.

Retired Geeks points (below) , the video version;

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=661pi6K-8WQ&feature;=player_embedded

HAWKINS: "...Yet, if we yank even a few million away from special interest groups like PBS, Planned Parenthood, or the unions, they squeal like pigs that are about to accidentally be put in the wolves’ pen at the zoo."

And if we so much as mention how certain other "special interests" -- i.e., major corporations -- avoid paying billions in federal taxes and rake in additional billions in government welfare, the GOP changes the subject. Screwed up priorities much?

Even if you taxed all the profit from all the corporations and wealthy people at 100%, you wouldn't cover the spending going on. And the result of doing that for one year would make all those jobs go away. Then what?

We have a spending crisis that cannot me resolved by taxation alone.

You mean like GE? Jeffery Immelt is a big supporter of the Lib Left and Obama. The Leftists channeled billions to unions and investment services under Stimulus and others.

That old "it's the wealthy Republicans blah-blah" is simply a great big LIE. Pay attention! Both parties are equally guilty of robbing from the poor and giving to the rich.

It's gotten out of hand now and the thieves have emptied the treasury. The only difference is that the Liberals still believe that only Conservatives are Robbing Hoods. What a joke!

I was just thinking last night what would happen to me and my family personally if things went really bad. I have 4 life saving meds that I take every day. Let's just say for example, the middle east blows up and they decided to cut off our oil. This is not a doomsday scenario, this could actually happen especially when you consider the real possiblitity of Islamic fundamentalist taking over these oil rich countries like Saudi Arabia.

In that scenario, our economy would come to a complete halt, and goods and services as we know them would end..which brings me back to my earlier comments about my health situation. What would happen if pharmacies and hospitals run out of medications because we have no way to ship them to their locations? I and millions out there would be in serious trouble, while our president makes jokes about sky rocketing gas prices, and advises folks to buy hybrids, get tune ups and inflate their tires rather than actually doing something. What I drive is not the issue here! The issue is our govenrment is supposed to do whatever it takes to keep our people safe from this sort of catastrophe.

I don't know about you folks out there, but for me the idea is a very frightening one. I am so angry and sick of these politicans who are playing chicken with our lives and our survival as a country. 0bama has to go, and so do all the other liberal politicians and rinos. We need to start facing the truth here, and continuing the status quo is the opposite of that.

I love the way John Hawkins simplifies the situation in layman's terms - good article - true, all this whining over what to cut will be obsolete if our country is bankrupt - common sense articulated in steps - thank you!

If Barack Obama 'Stole all of this money:

1) 100% of the 2010 profits from the Fortune 500 Corporations (391 billion dollars).

AND

2) 100% of the profits from the 2011 Super Bowl (250 million dollars).

AND

3) 100% of the salaries from all Major Sports Athletes (9.4 billion dollars).

AND

4) 100% of the income above 250,000 dollars a Year (1.412 trillion dollars).

AND

5) If Barack Obama stopped the Wars in Iraq and Afghanistan (total of 264 billion dollars).
We do not know yet how much Barack Obama will spend on his 'Personal War' in Libya.

AND

6) If Barack Obama 'Stole' all of the approximately 15,000 homes of the 'Rich' in Beverly Hills and sold them for 2 million dollars each (30 billion dollars).

AND

7) If Barack Obama 'Stole' all of the Money from all of the Billionaires in America (1.29 trillion dollars).

Barack Obama 'Still' could NOT fund his proposed budget.

What will Barack Obama do for his NEXT budget?

How will Barack Obama Fund ObamaCare?

http://thpatriots.blogspot.com/2011/03/bill-whittle-eat-rich.html

about #6. 15000 homes of the arrogant wealthy left in hollywood are stolen and sold for 2 million each, for a 30 billion dollar windfall. just who is gonna buy those homes? remember, everyone's wealth has already been stolen. oh, i know. rich muslims. good idea.

What about taxing the repatriation of off shore assests? just asking :)

"NOW OR NEVER " --
Remember that song ?
If this country doesn ot elect a smart business man this coming election this articles statements
will come true ! BTW, Trump has gone thru 5 Bankrupticies maybe he is not as smart as we think he is...hmmm?!?
But Mr. "R" would do ! Romney , Ryan would work !
Elvis

elvis!!!! Glad to see you resolved the computer problem!!! We went through the same thing several months ago.

LOVE THE CARTOONS!!! Great talent there and lots of laughs, too!!! Thanks!

THANK YA THANK YA VERA MUCH !
Now that I know you and family are still among the breathing, New batch going out tomorrow
so hang in there . This load will include 6 colored one that I drew years ago...not Political
best I can remember ?
You may appreciate the updated one of Allison.... ha, ha , ha.
Elvis

I think responsible americans are investing in Guns and bullets. Both will be important in the coming apocalypse. Oh yes nerves and courage will be valuable also.

I concur, wholeheartedly.

When I would tell people to stock up on guns and bullets it would scare them so I like to call it investing in precious metals!
Obuma should be named the Gun salesman of the decade.
I got an AR-15 thanks to him.

Sorry for the Burma Shave commercial. I was getting the Townhall inappropriate language barrier and trying to push through it. I'm not even sure what it hung up on, but it wasn't inappropriate in the least.

Most likely dollar signs.

Problem solved. It's not the mortgage we'll need to worry about. It'll be the property taxes.

Yeah-
I just had to write a check for 9700 dollars, and that's just for six months! What are they doing with all my money anyway? Giving it away to Leachers unions?

WOW!! Where do you live? I have a 4-bedroom house on 5 acres and my property taxes are 2200 per year. And Texas doesn't have a state income tax. That's what happens when conservatives run the state.

I'll just roll the wagon up to the window and push 500,000 inflated dollars across.

I'm going to pay my mortgage just fine, thank you.

"What about if the country goes bankrupt and your income tax rate shoots up fifty percent? How are you going to pay your mortgage?"

These guys are so out of touch with reality, it's frightening. The guys like Rangel, et al, are so far out in left field they can't see the dugout. Did anyone ever think, I know I never considered, that we would be talking about GM going bankrupy, banks defaulting, the housing market going into the toilet and that we would have spend and accumulated so much debt in such a short period of time. I guess it's easy to see why the Democrats can't be trusted with managing the economy, the country and especially the military. Soon, this week, we'll hear Obama say again, that we need to spend more.

After Rangel's censure, it is astounding that anyone would think of him as a reliable source for fiscal advice.

in a just society he would have been imprisoned.

This is the mess we'll find ourselves in when you have a Marxist in the WH. I've said this over and over again. . .America has been infiltrated by the left (Commies, Marxists, Socialists, Progressives, et al). Sen. Joe McCarthy was right. He knew what was going on, and he was denigrated to no end for it. Yes, the enemy is in the camp right now. We have a Trojan Horse sitting in Washington, D.C. We have a Justice Dept. that doesn't have a clue what justice is; we have a DHS that spews out insanity as to what is transpiring on our southern border; etc., etc. But, most important, we have a MSM that is aiding and abetting this criminal cabal. If ever, America roots out these criminals from our gov't. I hold the MSM at the top of the list for treason. Obama would have never got elected had it not been for the MSM's love affair with Obama. Now, we have the Calif. Teachers Union aiding and abetting in the get out of jail free card for a cop killer. You see, the American public gets it, it's just that the MSM still has a grip on the 'useful idiots' in our country. Where's the next Joe McCarthy now? If we don't root out the evil in our gov't. (meaning both political parties) and that fraud sitting in the WH, we'll lose our way of life. This is serious America. We're in deep trouble. How do you think the 'Tea Party' came into existence? Because there are still common sense Americans out there that know what's going on, and the MSM lay in wait day in, day out, doing everythng in their power to denigrate them. It'll never end until we root them out and deliver justice.

There is a somewhat false picture behind this article in which bankruptcy is an all or nothing sudden affair, which is certainly true in the individual case, but is not true in the case of the US, which as is implicitly made clear is not going to literally happen here. There is a real threat that inflation could rise if deficits are not dealt with, although currently inflation remains at historically low levels showing that credit markets are not spooked.

Similar things are true of all of these things, there is likely to be a mix of spending cuts and tax increases. There could be some monetary expansion, etc. But most of the deficit problem disappears if we get health care costs under control. Obamacare starts the process of trying out a number of cost control methods. The CBO did not score them, because they are untested at this point, but that just means that Obamacare could be even better on deficit control than the CBO has estimated so far.

As it happens the deficit problem largely disappears if we simply do nothing. Of course doing nothing means that in two years we return to Clinton era tax rates. It means that we stop making the doc fix, and the AMT fix. Those last two aren't going to happen, but the offsets are not nearly as large as the problem seems if we maintain the current tax structure.

Ryan's plan turns out to be the worst as far as deficits go over the short term because it begins by cutting revenues, a ridiculous thing to do if you care about deficits.

In the context of concerns about deficits, the discussion of Planned Parenthood and the EPA is just silliness. They do not even register on the scale compared with the tax cuts for the rich that Republicans favor.

Satire??

" But most of the deficit problem disappears if we get health care costs under control. Obamacare starts the process of trying out a number of cost control methods. The CBO did not score them, because they are untested at this point, but that just means that Obamacare could be even better on deficit control than the CBO has estimated so far."

They don't call him "loon" for nothing.

I was watching Neil Cavuto interview Charlie Rangel about raising the debt ceiling yesterday. Neal asked how raising the debt ceiling and borrowing more could possibly be good for the country. Charlie looked right at Neal and with a straight face asked “How do you expect us to pay our debts without borrowing more money?” Take a minute and let that question sink in.

How many of us would live beyond our means by using our credit cards to pay out monthly bills? How long would we last until we have to declare bankruptcy? What would happen to this country if we can no longer borrow money? And every time we ask these questions, we get the same answers from the left. And that is we hate the poor and that we are cold hearted, self centered, selfish racists.

Chris Matthews said that 30,000 people will die if Paul Ryan’s budget goes through. How many people will die if this country goes bankrupt?

David you cite one of the problems we have as conservatives. Our favorite news outlets treat the most vile demonstratively evil politicians in office and host them on TV helping get their insane message out to the public. Rangel, Shumer, Franks are at the top of a list that should be banned from any responsible network shows.

Well said Road Dog. Those three refugees from a septic tank are unspeakably evil. A thief and liar, a fool and sharlaten, and a fat, corrupt rump ranger. Each of them should be in prison with welded doors.

Many formerly employed white collar workers who are now "99ers" are experiencing a preview of #5 right now.

Basset Hound:

By the way, our conservative sister Jeanie in Florida recently apprised us that along the interstates in Florida now, tent cities - Obamavilles - of desperate and dispossessed people have now sprang up, similar to what we saw in the 1930's during the Great Depression.

In fact, in Florida right now, 18% of all houses, about 1.6 million in all, are vacant - and in one county, I don't remember which one off the top of my head, never having been a Florida resident, it's fully one-third.

here in Santa Barbara there are a good number of people living in their vehicles (vans and rv's , etc.) as well as over 160 unauthorized people living in boats in the harbor and now I see 3 small boats anchored out by Goleta beach (just north of SB). Of course, it's tough to afford rent around here.