Food for thought: Christmas shopping arbitrage

Counting cars at the Tucson Mall today going into and out of two of the department stores, I found that nearly 40% had Mexican license plates, mainly from Sonora with the usual handful of Sinaloans thrown in, but also a few from as far away as Mexico City (Distrito Federal).

In Tucson we're used to seeing this every weekend--at Food City, at Wal-Mart, and at department stores--but not quite at the same scale. Arizona politicians should think of that before speaking as though the AZ-Mexico relationship is one-sided.

Jeff Flake isn't running flat.

We can usually count on (6th District Congressman) Jeff Flake to be a voice of both tolerance and good economic sense. For a dose of the latter, see his letter to President Obama about the tire tariff.

Far from distilling think-tank talking points, Flake (or his staff) are contributing something new to this discussion: it is worth considering, as they remark, that this will make US producers--or Big Labor--think pursuing Trade Act Section 421 claims and provoking further trade disputes with China will be a fruitful strategy. The law or not, this sends a bad message.

The claim that the domestic tire industry wasn't involved is not an exaggeration. Some producers even objected. Sensible--I'd want to sell my tires in China, too, were I in that business.