Unsightly Evidence of U.S. Trade Gap Piles Up

KTLA ^ | July 9, 2006 | Deborah Schoch

[hedgetrimmer]

Should we get rid of our 500 dollar an hour lawyers

I know a couple of towns where the citizens would be happy to take care of that for you.

[hedgetrimmer]

Sell them to Mexico for housing.

Don't give LA any ideas. They'll use them to build "smart growth" apartments. They are already on "tranist hubs" (the ports) so the US DOT will fund it.

[hedgetrimmer]

The City of Los Angeles takes in tens of millions on the shipping,

Not to mention how much the foreign agents running the ports take in. But its not their country, so what the hay. Who cares about countries anyway? Regional marketplaces run by corporate/ NGO 'civil governance' consortiums. Thats the ticket!

[Smartass]

Another laugher...

Excerpt  -   Full article

 

Thursday, July 13, 2006

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THE NEW WORLD DISORDER
Cornyn wants U.S. taxpayers
to fund Mexican development
'North American Investment Fund' billed as answer to illegal alien influx

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Posted: July 13, 2006
1:00 a.m. Eastern

By Joseph Farah

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© 2006 WorldNetDaily.com

Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas

WASHINGTON – Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, has quietly introduced a bill to create a "North American Investment Fund" that would tap U.S. and Canadian taxpayers for the development of public works projects in Mexico.

Despite assurances this week from White House press secretary Tony Snow that President Bush opposes the idea of a European Union superstate for North America, the effort, by one of the president's loyal supporters in the Senate, is sure to spark new questions about negotiations between the leaders of Canada, the U.S. and Mexico on issues ranging from security to the economy.

"Currently, a significant development gap exists between Mexico and the United States and Canada," Cornyn said. "I believe it is in our best interests to find creative ways to bridge this development gap."

 

 

[sinkspur]

Yeah. Thats called debt.

How is it debt if we're paying for these goods?

A trade deficit is a good thing; it indicates that our economy is growing.

[hedgetrimmer]

Do you want to know how to reduce the deficit? Get rid of illegal aliens and stop remittances. But no! The whole economy of Mexico depends on it. So much so that La Raza holds workshops to teach people how to choose a company to handle their remittances. Our politicians who consider illegals and their criminal bosses their only constituents nowadays would never do anything to upset them.

[Texas_Jarhead]

"We manufacture and export more now than at any other time in our history."

Perhaps in terms of $$. But I think that the US has lost significant chunks of its manufacturing base over the last 10-20 years. Only through innovation and productivity gains have we been able to retain the industry we have now. We've also been able to take advantage of the time during which foreign manufacturers were going through the learning curve. I think that cycle is almost over as China and India have improved capability and quality significantly over the last decade.

Of course this all just my opinion and understanding but I'm no expert. You might find this NAM report interesting. And this article from IndustryWeek.com discusses the prospect of China surpassing the US in total manufactured good exports this year.

[ccmay]

roughly 100,000 empty containers in 2002, dropping sharply to 28,000 two years later.

Thus undermining the inference drawn in the headline.

The US trade deficit worsened significantly between 2002 and 2004.

-ccm

[hedgetrimmer]

The Chinese government is communist. "free traders" love communism. They can get access to slave labor through FTAs with communists. We have a constitutional amendment prohibiting it here, which makes it a trifle risky and drives offshoring of our manufacturing base by less than ethical US corporations.Although come to think of it, with properly bought off politicians and law enforcement, and multicultural mandates enforced by state and federal law, that is changing.

[ccmay]

Should we get rid of our 500 dollar an hour lawyers, so that we force them to grow and harvest bananas as 2 dollars an hour?

Yes indeed. I can scarcely imagine another way to make American business more competitive.

-ccm

[hedgetrimmer]

What most people DON'T KNOW is the fact that COSCO is 100% owned by the PLA-the People's Liberation Army of Red China [the Red Chinese Army] . COSCO has other facilities up and down both the West and East coasts of the U.S. and the Gulf Coast along with the newest port facility that they have at Freeport,The Bahamas,which is the largest container port in the World.

"free traders" work tirelessly to dismantle America. Even to the point of empowering communists.

[Smartass]

:o)

 

[donmeaker]

I have had two divorces produced by lawyers.


They produce independence and happiness!

[donmeaker]

The US grew our economy by one "China" over the last 3 years. For China to grow their economy, they will have to work a lot harder.

[Smartass]

Please take the time to read the whole article.

Excerpt - Full article:  Made In China

Preface - Made In China.
Fateful decisions made by China’s leaders, limiting births to mostly males and forbidding farmers to tap shrinking reservoirs diverted to smog-choked cities could lead to internal strife and foreign conquest as this economic powerhouse reaches the limits of explosive growth. But US consumers continue to fund China’s military modernization, even as they erode their own economy and employment at home. Even worse, Wal-Mart shoppers are supporting forced labor camps where the healthiest inmates are executed for “organ harvesting”.  Wal-Mart also buys heavily from slave labor manufacturing zones, where women workers are typically paid 3 cents an hour or less for 70 to 90-hour work weeks. See smuggled photos here. And please don’t buy any products “Made In China”.

 

 

[hedgetrimmer]

"free traders" work tirelessly to undermine America.

San Antonio trade officials are in China to drum up support for logistics corridor

San Antonio Business Journal - 10:58 AM CDT Monday, April 3, 2006

Officials with the Port Authority of San Antonio, the Free Trade Alliance San Antonio, the Mexican Port of Lazaro Cardenas and Hutchison Port Holdings are in China to promote Texas and Mexico as a new logistics corridor for goods manufactured in China.

The new corridor is designed to establish San Antonio as a gateway for goods imported into the U.S. market. Currently, most cargo shipments from China are processed through Los Angeles, Long Beach and San Francisco.

The Port Authority of San Antonio is the former Greater Kelly Development Authority, the entity formed to redevelop Kelly Air Force Base into a multi-modal business and industrial park. Free Trade Alliance San Antonio is a nonprofit organization designed to facilitate international commerce. Hutchison is a global port operator based out of Hong Kong.

The San Antonio-Mexico partners are conducting a series of seminars for Chinese exporters and logistics companies in the southern cities of Hong Kong, Shenzhen and Guangzhou -- the three principle cities of the Pearl River Delta region. It is in this region that 40 percent of all of China's exports into the United States are manufactured.

Plans are currently being developed to conduct future seminars in eastern and northern cities in China later this year.

In January, a group of several logistics companies in the United States and Mexico began operating a new multi-modal logistics corridor for Chinese goods entering the U.S. market. Through it, containers are shipped from China to the Mexican Port of Lazaro Cardenas. Containers are then off-loaded by a terminal operated by Hutchison Ports and onto a rail line operated by Kansas City Southern Railroad de Mexico. The containers clear U.S. Customs in San Antonio and are processed for distribution.

The partners are working to promote this logistics corridor to additional companies in China to provide an alternative to U.S. Pacific coast ports, where delivery times for Chinese goods are only continuing to lengthen because of increased volumes and congestion.

So far, the new corridor has been able to reduce the transit time by four to five days for containers moving into the central United States over containers moving from the traditional California routes.

[calcowgirl]

How many containers of COSCO crap destined for Wally World does it take to offset the sale of one 777 to a foreign carrier?

Zero. They usually fly 'em to deliver 'em. :-)

[hedgetrimmer]

This article claims that selling port logistics to Dubai is giving the 'worlds largest retailers' the jitters and causing them to move their port business out of country. We need to put our Treasury Department secretary, and the Congressmen that signed onto that disaster out office!

Mexico, top private interests look to revamp Pacific ports south of the border

The Associated Press, Mar. 21, 2006

MEXICO CITY

Mexico and major shipping interests are bolstering Pacific ports south of the border, hoping to catch future runoff as an increasing tide of Asian cargo sails toward already clogged ports in California.

Mexican officials in coming weeks plan to study the feasibility of turning Punta Colonet _ a sparsely populated, wind-blown bay on the Baja Peninsula 150 miles south of the U.S. border _ into a super-port on par with twin facilities at Los Angeles and Long Beach, the largest western port complex in North America.

Farther south, Hutchison Port Holdings, the world's largest independent port operator, plans to pump about $200 million into expanding container ship capacity at Lazaro Cardenas, Mexico's deepest port.

"We are ready. The port is ready. The infrastructure is ready for anything shipping companies need," said Hector Carranza, business director for the port at Lazaro Cardenas.

Private companies have approached ports in this country looking for backup routes in case of work stoppages in California. A dispute between shipping lines and dock workers led to a shutdown of all major western U.S. ports in 2003, sending thousands of container ships steaming south.

"The world's biggest retailers want to have more options open," said David Eaten, a spokesman for Kansas City Southern de Mexico, the U.S. railroad that serves Lazaro Cardenas.

Los Angeles-Long Beach handles 40 percent of all the cargo shipped into the United States and 80 percent of U.S. imports from Asia.

Last July, officials began unloading cargo 24 hours a day while giving shippers financial incentive to move cargo during evening and weekend hours so trucks hauling it could avoid the long lines of peak hours.

But, officials concede, problems remain.

"As far as congestion goes, that definitely is an issue here," said John Pope, a spokesman for the Long Beach port.

Mexican authorities say lower port fees, as well as jitters about terrorist threats on U.S. soil _ newly fueled by controversy over a plan where a state-owned United Arab Emirates company would take over East Coast ports _ may also push business their way.

Expansions at Lazaro Cardenas are focused on goods bound for the Mexican market. But with the amount of cargo steaming into the American West Coast expected to outpace the capacity of ports there in coming years, Mexico wants to be ready for the surplus.

Lazaro Cardenas' "business model is not to take business away from the U.S. West Coast ports but rather to absorb a significant percentage of projected growth," Kansas City Southern said in a statement prepared for this story.

Officials in Kansas City want to build a $3 million inland border facility staffed by Mexican customs inspectors.

Leaders from both countries are still negotiating the details of the plan, which seeks to allow trucks carrying U.S. goods bound for the Mexican market to be inspected and sealed in Kansas City, then head into Mexico without delays at the border.

American cities, including Kansas City and San Antonio, Texas, also are competing to eventually be hubs for goods shipped to Mexican ports and driven north for the U.S. market.

Last year, Los Angeles-Long Beach handled 14.2 million TEUs _ 20-foot equivalent units used to measure container traffic.

The new development at Punta Colonet could handle 1 million TEUs annually after its first phase of construction and more than five times that amount in the longer term, said Carlos Jauregui, executive director of the Ensenada port, a facility 50 miles south of the U.S. line that would likely administer the project at Punta Colonet.

Mexico plans to offer long-term contracts to private interests who would build and manage the port.

Jauregui said preliminary estimates put the cost _ including a rail link to the U.S. border _ as high as $5 billion. Work isn't expected to begin until at least 2008, and would likely take four years.

"By then, we should see a major overflow in containers that Los Angeles-Long Beach won't have the capacity to handle," he said.

Pope said officials at Long Beach are working to increase efficiency so as to better keep up with demand.

"No one has really given a prediction saying this is going to be the year Los Angeles-Long Beach can't accept more cargo," he said.

Long Beach's port is deep enough to receive huge ships carrying 8,000 containers. Whether the project at Punta Colonet would by deep enough to handle container ships that large is unclear.

Proponents say major global shipping interests have supported the plan. It would be good news for top retailers like Wal-Mart Stores Inc., Mexico's largest retailer, and others who want their goods delivered faster.

But approval could depend on who replaces President Vicente Fox, who leaves office in December. Major Mexican government initiatives often fall apart after an administration change.

More immediate expansion is planned at Lazaro Cardenas, on the coast of the central state of Michoacan, 900-plus miles south of Laredo, Texas, the busiest U.S.-Mexico commercial border crossing. Hutchison expects to begin work on a new Specialized Container Terminal next month, with the first phase to be completed by the middle of next year. Four phases in all, the facility will be the largest of its kind in Mexico, spanning nearly 300 acres, the company said in a statement for this story.

Lazaro Cardenas handled 139,000 TEUs last year and would like to increase that number to 190,000 by the end of 2006. The first phase of the new terminal should handle 300,000 TEUs, pushing capacity at the entire port up to around half a million, Hutchison said.

Hutchison Port Holdings is a subsidiary of Hong Kong-listed Hutchison Whampoa Ltd., which is owned by the territory's richest man, Li Ka-shing, and offers telecommunications, retail and port services on five continents.

Carranza, the business director at Lazaro Cardenas, said the Hutchison project should complement a $47 million internal port plan to build a new bridge and expand docking facilities and customs stations.

"It is well documented there is an ever-increasing demand for port services on the Pacific Coast of North America," Hutchison said. "This growth presents an important opportunity for Mexico."

*** http://www.tkb.org/NewsStory.jsp?storyID=112047

[texastoo]

I have never trusted John Cornyn especially after he came to the valley making speeches geared towards the Mexicans. He won't answer emails. I was surprised he voted the way he did on the Senate immigration bill.

He is back to his old self now.

Here I thought NAFTA was a success. After 14 years we have to give Mexico more money. How much is NAFTA going to cost?????????

Look at part of Cornyn's bill:

a) In General- Grants shall be awarded from the Fund for projects to carry out the purposes described in section 3, including projects--

(1) to construct roads in Mexico to facilitate trade between Mexico and Canada, and Mexico and the United States;

(2) to encourage the development and improve the quality of primary, secondary, and post-secondary education throughout Mexico;

(3) to expand the deployment of communications and broadband infrastructure throughout Mexico, with emphasis on rural and underserved areas; and

(4) to expand job training and workforce development for high-growth industries in Mexico.

(b) Project Selection-

(1) IN GENERAL- The agreement described in section 2 shall include guidelines for determining which projects will receive financial assistance from the Fund.

(2) PRIORITY- In selecting grantees to carry out projects described in subsection (a)(1), priority should be given to projects in the interior and southern regions of Mexico that connect to more developed markets in the United States and Canada.

[Lexinom]

So far, the new corridor has been able to reduce the transit time by four to five days for containers moving into the central United States over containers moving from the traditional California routes.

How nice. So we can get more cheap Chinese junk faster.

* Drill in ANWR, in the Gulf, and off the West Coast to reduce foreign oil dependency and fuel cost.

* Reduce trade with China and other foreign entities. Demand for walkmans (or whatever the trendy new toy is nowadays) will increase. Prices will go up temporarily as U.S. entrepreneurs fill production queues. Then prices will stabilize.

Another point: people who want fine things and want to buy them ONCE for a lifetime don't buy Chinese. There was a time when American goods were built to that standard. Some of our automobiles from that era still grace the roads.