TMW
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Mexico-Question for AA
AA, I would like your take on what Mexico (government and private sector) needs to do to improve their conditions for the people, work, schools
overall living standards etc. Also what should the U.S. be doing in our relationship with Mexico and what should Mexico do in that relationship.
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academicanarchist
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What Can Mexico Do?
TW. You have asked a very important, but also difficult question to answer, because it is so complicated. Mexico has an extreme concentration of
wealth, a poorly educated population, an extremely young population, and limited possibilities for the majority. There would have to be a radical
change in Mexico's economy, an abandonment of the policies of the last sixty years since Lazaro Card##as, rapid economic growth that does not look
possible, a redistribution of wealth, massive expenditures on education, health programs, etc., and particularly a reversal of the policies of the
Salinas de Gotari gang, that resulted in the sale of state owned enterprises to friends of the Salinas de Gotari family at incredibly low prices, an
elimination of the massive corruption in the govt. It isn't going to happen soon, particularly with Fox as president.
[Edited on 12-18-2003 by academicanarchist]
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Stephanie Jackter
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I sure am glad you asked him that question and not me, TW.
I thought about the question and must admit, I was at a pretty big loss for answers. Now that AA has answered, I'll fall right in and agree with
every word. Yeah, that's the ticket! - Stephanie
' '
[Edited on 12-18-2003 by Stephanie Jackter]
When the goin' gets tough, the wierd turn pro
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TMW
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Thanks AA.
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academicanarchist
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TW
No problema.
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TMW
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Stephanie, you are more than welcome to give your take on it or add to it. I directed it to AA because of his work and study in Latin America. I go to
Baja 3 or 4 times a years but I don't know much about their government. I found it interesting today when I learned that Bill O'Reilly supports a
charity in San Diego that helps the needy in Mexico. He went on to explain that Mexico has no offical system to help the poor.
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Stephanie Jackter
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That's true. Families, churches and community groups are relied upon a great deal.
I wasn't kidding (well, just a little). I really don't know where to start to advise policy change in Mexico. I think everyone I know (and I'm
talking about mostly middle to upper economic level Mexicans), just accepts the fact that the govt. there is so corroded that there's little way to
mend it so one has to work around it the best way possible and jump in on the little things that can be done or govt. at the local level that does
lend itself more to change.
I always maintain when people carp about Mexicans not participating in politics in the US that the real economic and political unit of most Mexicans
is the extended family. They work very hard at cohesion and unity in that context. It's the largest political unit they can have faith in.-
Stephanie
When the goin' gets tough, the wierd turn pro
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academicanarchist
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Charity
Many people in Mexico have no access to basic services including health. There is nothing in Mexico like welfare or any type of help for the poor, and
the unemployed and under employed. Things really went bad for Mexico in the late 1970s and early 1980s, with the oil boom and bust. I was in Mexico
City in 1977, and went to Teotihuacan on the same day that the crook, I mean the president, announced that Mexico had large oil reserves in the Gulf
of Mexico. The govt. knew about the reserves for years, but only expanded production through Pemex once oil prices were in the range of $40 a barrel.
And there was massive corruption. There is a book and movie called "El Negre del Negro Durazo," about the head of the federal police who built a
palace outside of Acapulco on a $300/month salary. He happened to be a childhood friend of the president. Hank Gonzalez, the governor of the D.F.,
earned around $400/month, and maintained a house in Connecticut and sent his children to private schools. The President, Lopez Portillo, reportedly
took a dollar for himself off of each barrel of oil sold, and retired to a chateau in France.
Mexico borrowed heavily to expand oil production, and to fund social programs to placate the masses after several decades of tensions in Mexico, which
included the Tlateloco Massacre in 1968. Then oil prices collapsed, and Mexico's economy contracted big time and has not recovered. There have been
devaluations of the peso, but there has also been an interesting phenomenon-deposits by wealthy Mexicans in U.S. banks greatly increased for several
months before each devaluation, particularly banks in Texas. Mexico cut back on social programs such as CONASUPO, and the subsidy of tortilla prices.
the equivalent of bread before the French revolution. Things did not get any better under subsequent administrations. I remember being in Mexico in
the mid-1980s when Miguel de la Madrid was the reigning crook. He was in Europe trying to get investments for Mexico, and Televisa was interviewing
his wife. The transmission was suddenly cut off when she began to complain that the French chateau she wanted to buy had already been sold. The
Salinas de Gotari gang, of course, stole the election from Cuahtemoc Card##as, and then was involved big time in the drug trafficking business. Raul
Salinas de GOtari was able to salt away millions in Swiss banks on a $400/month salary, and the gang sold off many state owned enterprises to their
friends at pennies on the dollar. A well known large wall street bank that will remain nameless, but whose initials are CB, was involved in the
laundering of drug money for Raul, and nothing was done by the federal govt.
NAFTA and the Clinton debt bail out did nothing to improve conditions, except to make border crossings such as Brownsville incredibly conjested. Where
did the money from the Clinton bail out go? To the wall street banks that made investments in risky Mexican govt. debt. Another form of corporate
welfare at taxpayer expense.
Mexico's economy has been a basket case for several decades, and Fax is no different than the previous group of crooks who lined their pockets, and
have made large profits for wall street banks. For a long time, illegal immigration to the United States has been a safety valve for Mexico, and
Mexico City has become the largest city in the world. Condtions in shanty towns like Nezahualcoyotl are grime, and crime rampant because of the
desperation of so many. I have pondered many times what might save Mexico, and the only conclusion is radical change that will shake the very
foundations of the society and economy. Until that happens, the wealthy get wealthier, the majority are in a deplorable state, and the middle class
will remain small and weak. The concentration of wealth in Mexico is far greater than it is in the United States, which is bad enough.
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