Do we want to be like Mexico?
POSTED BY: SignyM
UPDATED: Tuesday, August 11, 2026 19:35
VIEWED: 5399
PAGE 4 of 8
RAPPY
Quote:I guess you didn't read my original post, or if you did you didn't understand it. Well, you know what they say: When the finger points to the moon, the fool looks at the finger. Please read my original post thoughtfully.
I'm here, standing in my original spot, still waiting to hear exactly why anyone thinks we're destined to be like Mexico.
When you think about Mexico, or pretty much ANY nation south of the border, what stands out?
For me, it's always been the existence of extreme wealth in the midst of widespread poverty. The rancheros and plantations and haciendas and maquiladoras of the few, and the virtual serfs who work in them, or the vast urban unemployed who eke out a living tapping out belt buckles from tin cans, or running drugs.
All you have to do is drive through El Paso and look over towards Juarez. On one side, streets with lights. Homes with water and sewage and garbage services. Zoning. Environmental regulation. Emergency services. On the other side, shacks made of scrap, willy-nilly on sand hills right against the fence of a giant foundry, everything gray and blasted and dead from the soot. My cousin is fairly high up in INS (USCIS), he lives in El Paso and travels to Juarez at least twice a week, and it's a nightmare.
I've know about the corruption since whenever. I know many people at work who travel across the border, and they take things with them (spare batteries, cash, etc.) to pay off the various "police" who line the popular roadways, who will dream up an infraction for which you must pay a "fine". It's called la mordita, the little bite. My boss used to go to Mexico regularly, where they built an orphanage and took supplies. But they had to guard the supplies to make sure the orphanage staff wouldn't steal the electrical wires and clothes etc.
And the services? My friend's nephew is just another instance in a long string of instances. My colleague's BIL died in Mexico just two months ago due to a small brain anuerysm. He might actually have survived the bleed, but the bleed stopped his heart and it took the paramedics over 30 minutes to arrive (it wasn't that far away from help!) he was anoxic for too long, and it killed the rest of his brain.
And that's not even counting rampant drug violence.
What I see in Mexico are the rich and powerful not wanting to pay taxes for roads, education, the grid... and pretty much screwing over everyone else whenever they can.
There is NOTHING keeping us from being like Mexico. All we have to do is keep in doing what we've been doing since Reagan.
Quote:We developed since then. And now we're going backwards.
Again, what's different between now and 1860?
Quote:I do. Our infrastructure is getting worse, economic inequity in the USA is the highest its been since the 1920s (That's historic. That's almost a 100-year stretch), and we have a culture that thinks this is all OK and defends the wealthy at every step because people are now comfortable with the idea that most people SHOULD be ground into the dirt. That's what comes of living off of Chinese prison labor and other poor people around the world.
I don't see us trending to be more like Mexico.
Quote:Well, they do. It's self defense. Their civil servants and police are paid poorly, their judges and politicians are taking bribes left and right and skimming the treasuries... being the sole honest person just puts you at an extreme disadvantage. And unless Americans get more uncomfortable with the idea of getting screwed over by the rich and powerful, we'll be there too.
I'm also not comfortable with the idea of saying Mexicans have a 'culture of thievery.'
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Quote:Mexicans have a culture of thievery, unlike Americans.
Originally posted by AnthonyT:
I'm also not comfortable with the idea of saying Mexicans have a 'culture of thievery.'
--Can't Take (my gorram) Sky
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CTS: That's part of the problem. We ALSO have a culture of thievery. So we agree.
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Quote:Maybe this thread should have been titled, "We are already like Mexico"?
Originally posted by SignyM:
CTS: That's part of the problem. We ALSO have a culture of thievery. So we agree.
But if so, why are they coming to the States so much?
--Can't Take (my gorram) Sky
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To live off the carcass of a bigger economy which has lost its way.
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Niki, Sig
This is the main problem I have w/ Leftists, like yourselves.
Anyone who a) questions or b) disagrees w/ your points of view, is deemed a fool.
You gave your opinion, but not much support for it.
Yeah. Mexico is poor. I get that. What's your point?
" I do not love the bright sword for its sharpness, nor the arrow for its swiftness, nor the warrior for his glory. I love only that which they defend. "
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Quote:Rappy, I don't have problems with people who disagree with me, provided they can do so intelligently and honestly. Tony, Jongsstraw, DT and I have had many long discussions, and before them there was Finn.
Anyone who a) questions or b) disagrees w/ your points of view, is deemed a fool. You gave your opinion, but not much support for it. Yeah. Mexico is poor. I get that. What's your point?
It's not Mexico's poverty which is the problem. It is their lack of a pathway towards prosperity. Corruption, believe it or not, has a huge negative impact. As does predatory investment and a predatory upper class. The path towards prosperity involves several things: a robust internal market, an infrastructure which makes production more efficient (roads, water, communication, electricity,etc.), an educated population, rewarding production (not simply putting money on a conveyor to the wealthy, but building factories, houses, etc.). Mexico lacks all of those things.
There are papers... yes, real honest-to-god papers... which study the effect of corruption and hugely unequal wealth on development.
But yanno, from somebody who can only cite Limbo and who merrily dismisses hundreds of provable but inconvenient facts, your call for further data (support) is kinda ironic, doncha think?
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First of all, I rarely, if ever, cite Limbaugh.
Second, the 'facts' you claim I dismiss are still wrong, regardless of whether they're a few ,or a few hundred.
The Russians triced communism for 70+ years, before realizing it's colossal failure.
The point ? Some folks will only see what they want to see, regardless of reality.
You want to equate what's happening here to Mexico, yet you make no tangible , quantifiable connection. You dismiss the different cultures and histories of the two nations. There is ample opportunity here for those who want success, but sadly, too many are programmed to think that they need handouts from the Gov't to survive.
" I do not love the bright sword for its sharpness, nor the arrow for its swiftness, nor the warrior for his glory. I love only that which they defend. "
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Oh yeah facts like the table of Federal revenues, actual UN policies and resolutions, etc. Yanno- trivial stuff that keeps getting in the way of your statements like
"The UN approved the US invasion of Iraq" (FALSE)
"The Bush tax cuts increased Federal revenues" (FALSE)
"The economy is one FIRE!" (FALSE)
And any notion that Saddam was an imminent and growing threat (FALSE).
So wrong on so many important points!
So, here's my point:
We've tried trickle down/ deregulation since Reagan, and REALLY pushed on that rope with Bush. And what did it get us? The worst economic downturn in almost 100 years. If we're talking about failed policies, why not talk about trickle down? BTW, I'm not advocating soviet-style socialism. But there are many parts to a well-running economy that the so-called free market not only fails to provide, it also actively interferes.
Quote:What kind of connection are you looking for? Tell me, and I'll provide it.
You want to equate what's happening here to Mexico, yet you make no tangible , quantifiable connection.
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No. Mexico is full of information terrorists.
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