I drove from Austin to Harlingen, TX this evening after work.  Harlingen is in the lower Rio Grande Valley, and just about as far South as you can get in Texas.  On the way there I noticed at least two dozen cars or trucks towing used pickups; all headed South.  I’d made this trip before, and never saw anything like it.  What, I wondered, was going on?

It turns out that used pickups from the US are very popular in Mexico right now because in March the Mexican government temporarily lifted a ban on importing used trucks, and that ban is about to expire.  Or maybe has expired—it’s hard to say and I’ve been unable to find much news coverage.  In any case, used pickups in the US are being sold at premium prices to Mexican buyers.  The Mexican government then charges $200 (US) to bring the truck into Mexico.  Having exhausted the supply in border towns, people are coming to San Antonio (a 4-hour drive from the border) to buy used trucks.

I would have thought that NAFTA would make this unnecessary.  And it will—eventually.  The restrictions, included in NAFTA, are there to “protect” the Mexican auto and truck industries, and eventually will be phased out.  Like most trade restrictions, the ban on auto imports hasn’t resulted in significantly more sales of new Mexican-built cars.  Instead, it’s resulted in higher prices for used cars and a booming auto theft industry in US border towns.  Cars are stolen in the US, smuggled into Mexico, and sold illegally to unwitting buyers who don’t even know they’re buying a stolen car.  It got so bad that last week the Mexican Senate passed a law allowing the legal registration of foreign cars manufactured between 1970 and 1993 that were brought into the country before Oct. 31.  They estimate that there are 1.5 million illegal (i.e. unregistered) used vehicles now being driven in the country.

Instant communication has its drawbacks.  I’ve long had a love/hate relationship with the telephone because many people use it as a crutch:  rather than figure out something themselves, they pick up the phone and call me:  interrupting whatever it is that I’m working on, and wanting to waste my time with idle chatter as well.  I solved that problem by putting my phone on “Do Not Disturb,” and checking my messages periodically.

The advent of Federal Express, Express Mail, Fax, and electronic mail makes things even worse.  For less than $20, you can send a printed document  to just about any place in the country and be reasonably sure that it’ll be there the next morning.  Fax is instantaneous, as is electronic mail.  These are great conveniences, to be sure, but too many people use them as crutches.  Rather than planning their work, too many people wait until the last minute and then rush to the Federal Express office to get the final document on the plane for tomorrow delivery.  It’s like they’re college students pulling an all-nighter to finish a term paper.  I realize that Federal Express would  have a lot less business if this practice were to stop, but every other company in the country would save huge amounts of money.  I wonder if people would plan their work better if that $20 overnight deliver charge came out of their own pockets. 

For various reasons, I’m not a very religious person—at least not publicly.  But this past weekend’s spending orgy, with marathon sales, Christmas bazaars, frantic shoppers, and other associated madness is enough to turn anybody’s stomach.  The period between Thanksgiving Day and Christmas is just one huge exercise in self indulgence and over indulgence, followed by a 7-day party that culminates in the final absurdity of New Year’s Eve blowouts.  Anybody who asks me “Where is your Christmas spirit?” is obviously missing the point.  This is a season to reflect, enjoy the company of your family and friends, and perhaps remember that we’re all in this together.  Too many people put on their holiday faces in December, and then promptly take them off on New Year’s Day, a behavior that is distressingly similar to those who put on their Sunday faces for morning Mass and then remove them for the other 167 hours of the week.  Is it any wonder that people get depressed this time of year?