IN SHORT, MEXICO IS A SYSTEM OF FEUDAL LORDS. (Complicated by friction
between the political lords and the drug lord...when there is a difference.)
Joel Cairo via Mercedes <mailto:mercedes@okiebenz.com>
June 6, 2016 at 4:52 PMvia Postbox
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I asked my niece that question in reference to SA countries, but
Mexico is similar enough. She was the resident expert on certain
political and economic matters in a certain SA country for A
Government Agency, so was probably as knowledgeable about such things
as anyone could be. She has a degree from Georgetown in International
Relations, and a fair amount of training. She has briefed presidents
directly/personally on these matters.
She thought about it a bit and attributed it to the effects of
colonialism, in that the ruling classes of most LA countries are the
descendants of the yurpeens, the Spanish specifically, and mostly
white/mestizo not native and their attitudes towards the indigenos is
not wildly different from colonial times 500 years ago. That sorta
made sense -- they have their status and wealth and really don't care
that much about the rest. In places where indigenos do get elected (I
think Hugo in Venezuela and the guy in Bolivia?) they tend to go
overboard the other way with the predictable results -- it gets even
worse.
Interestingly, we were just in Peru and the electioneering was going
big time for the election yesterday. They started out with something
like 30 candidates, it got winnowed down to 2, Fujimori and Kuczinski
(sp?), both right-center candidates and obviously neither has an
indigeno name, not even a Spanish name. I'm still not sure which got
elected as last I heard it was 50.5-49.5 for K. In any case, Peru has
been fairly right of center, and their economy has been going pretty
well, and from what I saw it did not have the really bad poverty you
see in Mexico and some other countries, though most people would not
be wealthy by any means. The Fujimori candidate is the daughter of a
former president, now in prison, who went a bit too far after
eradicating the communist Shining Path uprising, which people are
still grateful for though a few remain back in the mountains and in
the forests causing trouble.
Some countries are starting to get their acts organized though
Argentina keeps regressing every 10-15yr or so. Chile is doing well,
as I think is Colombia, mostly, after the bad times with the drug
trade. Brazil is starting to slow down after some good growth. Costa
Rica and Panama are doing pretty well. Ecuador could but their idiot
presidente keeps trying to screw things up with socialismo to appeal
to the lower classes. It seems that the ones doing well adopt some
US-style reforms and the leaders take some interest in the general
welfare and actually try to improve things. Not so much in Mexico.
--JC
Scott Ritchey via Mercedes <mailto:mercedes@okiebenz.com>
June 6, 2016 at 4:32 PMvia Postbox
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It has long seemed to me that there is no fundamental reason for Mexico to
be less prosperous than the US. Mexicans are educated, at least to the
point they are literate. They are hard-working. They have a strong family
identity. They have great natural resources. They have a large country
with a mild climate. And they have access to both Atlantic and Pacific
ports.
So why is Mexico so poor and crime ridden that folks flock to the US for
jobs and safety?
This is more than an idle question if we don't want the US to become
Mexico.
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