Saturday, March 21, 2020

Trucking provisions in NAFTA

Trucking provisions in NAFTA What are the potential economic benefits of the trucking provisions in the NAFTA treaty? Who benefits? The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) is aimed at reducing the costs incurred by nations in transportation of goods by road. The member states of the treaty are to benefit. The policy is expected to increase efficiency in transportation of goods to member states. The time spent in unloading and reloading of goods from Mexican trucks to American trucks was a great impediment to fast movement of goods. However, with the implementation of the NAFTA, trucks from every nation would be crossing borders and delivering goods direct to their customers. This will result in huge economic benefits to the member nations because time spent at the border to unload and reload goods will be a thing of the past. Increased competition from Mexican companies involved in trucking services would result in lower charges in road transportation. It is also argued that the policy would result in si gnificant savings in cross-boarder trade. This is due to the fact that two-thirds of goods within the NAFTA nation go by roads.Advertising We will write a custom case study sample on Trucking provisions in NAFTA specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More What do you think motivated the Teamsters to object to the trucking provisions in NAFTA? Are these objections fair? Why did Congress align itself with the Teamsters? Teamsters union represents truck drivers in the United States in America. It strongly opposed the provisions in NAFTA. The union maintained that Mexican drivers had poor driving habits that resulted in many accidents. It also argued that drivers in Mexico routinely violated safety and environmental rules. The union argued that there were no strict punitive measures in Mexico to punish errant drivers. In the United States, the union maintained, drivers are suspended for committing serious traffic offences. It also rejected the truc king provision on grounds that Mexican trucks are older and dirtier than the American trucks. The objections by the union are not fair. The pilot study that was launched by the government yielded very satisfying results from the Mexican trucks. The pilot program showed that Mexican drivers had safer driving records than their American drivers. In addition, the union lobbied the Congress to stop the program immediately. If the union was fair in its objections, then it could not have lobbied the Congress to terminate the pilot program which was yielding good results from the Mexican drivers. The Congress aligned itself with the Teamsters because the opposition members were approached by the union and lobbied to oppose the plan by the government to honor the trucking provision. The Congress proposed and passed a motion detailing 22 new safety standards that would be met by Mexican trucking companies to operate in the United States. Does it make economic sense for the United States to b ear the costs of punitive tariffs as allowed for under NAFTA, as opposed to letting Mexican trucks enter the United States? The punitive tariffs imposed by the Mexican government do not bear economic benefits for the United States. The punitive measures imposed tariffs amounting to 2.4 billion USD. Many goods were affected by the punitive measures. Some of these were wine, almonds, grapes and pears. Exports from California were also affected by the 20 percent tariff imposed by the Mexican government.Advertising Looking for case study on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More The goods from California were jewellery and personal hygiene products. Other United States exports impacted by the punitive measures include tableware from Illinois, and oil seeds from North Dakota. The economic impact is so huge that the U.S Chamber of Commerce has estimated loss of approximately 25,600 jobs. It does not make econ omic sense for the United States to bear the measures imposed by the Mexican government for failing to honor the NAFTA. The resulting economic losses are too huge for the United States export companies.

Wednesday, March 4, 2020

5 Online Style Guides

5 Online Style Guides 5 Online Style Guides 5 Online Style Guides By Mark Nichol You’re looking for a style guide to adopt, or for one you can use as a model for creating your own personal or professional handbook, but you don’t want to pay for one or more books to evaluate and perhaps use (print versions of the major style guides retail for $20–$65), or you’re done with dead-tree resources (translation: books). You could beg, borrow, or steal a copy, but fortunately, several excellent online style guides are available so that you needn’t resort to these strategies. 1. The Associated Press Stylebook The online version of the AP Stylebook, the bible of US journalists, costs $26 for an annual subscription more than the print version but it features bonus benefits, including email notifications of style updates and access to new entries and recent changes. It also includes a search function and a personalization feature. Subscribers can use the Ask the Editor feature and search its archive, which is more voluminous than the Stylebook itself. The subscription policy includes multiuser and renewal discounts. Print version: $19.95 2. Chicago Manual of Style The primary resource for US book publishers is offered online for $35 per year (with multiuser and government and corporate discounts), but several free features are available on the site, most notably the Chicago Style QA, which offers responses to queries either from the manual itself or from a live (and sometimes snarky) respondent. You needn’t pay for a short-form (but still substantial) guide to citing sources, either, and a guide to preparation of electronic manuscripts and a chart of proofreaders’ marks are also available to all site visitors. The subscription cost includes access to the entire text of the fifteenth and sixteenth editions, as well as an online forum and a personalization feature. Print version: $65 3. The Economist The free style guide for this venerable British publication (focusing, of course, on British English but suitable for Yanks as well) embarks on a sure footing with an enumeration of George Orwell’s famous writing rules, followed by these admonitions: Do not be stuffy. Use the language of everyday speech. Do not be hectoring or arrogant. Do not be too pleased with yourself. Do not be too chatty. Do not be too didactic. Do your best to be lucid. The format is encyclopedic, but the often wryly written entries (from Abbreviations to Wrack no entries, alas, for X ray, yak, or zeugma) are searchable, and some expand with the click of a link. (The long-form entry about abbreviations, for example, is more than 1,000 words long.) Print version: $29.95 4. National Geographic This free online resource from the National Geographic Society doesn’t show up high in search rankings, but it’s an excellent resource. (And, seriously, have you ever seen a clumsy sentence, a grammatical error, or even a typo in National Geographic?) Unusually terse but clear entries are organized alphabetically, and the site includes a directory of new and altered entries and, especially helpful, one of terms and rules that contradict other authoritative resources or are exceptions to the norm. Print version: none 5. Yahoo.com Alone among these five selections, Yahoo’s style guide (both in print form and on the Internet the latter version is free) focuses on online writing, and though concise prose is one of the hallmarks of Web content, the site’s articles are substantial (but helpfully so). The Editing 101 section includes thirty detailed articles about punctuation, abbreviation, capitalization, titles, and numbers, and Writing for the Web features more than thirty extensive articles grouped under ten topics such as Shorten and Strengthen Sentences and Write Clear User-Interface Text. The site also includes a selective but substantial sampling of Yahoo’s word list (downloadable, so you can adapt and add to it), a resource list, and an Ask the Editor feature. Print version: $21.99 Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the General category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:25 Subordinating Conjunctions50 Diminutive Suffixes (and a Cute Little Prefix)What Is a Doctor?