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| Home Front: Politix |
| On illegal residents' remittances to Mexico |
| 2006-03-31 |
| Interesting factoids from David Frum's blog. Follow the money: In 2005, Mexicans in the United States remitted some $20 billion home. That's 3% of Mexico's entire national income. Remittances have surpassed tourism, oil, and the maquiladora assembly industry to emerge as the country's top single source of foreign exchange. For the 6% of Mexican households that receive remittances, these funds can mean the difference between extreme poverty and an income roughly in line with the Mexican average. And as Mexico's economy has malperformed since 2000, remittances have become more essential than ever - not only economically, but politically. This trend explains why Vicente Fox pressed President Bush so hard for amnesty and guestworker programs in Cancun this week. It explains too why George Bush has acceded: After all, Mexico's problems are inevitably America's problems too. The stability and prosperity of Mexico are vital American national interests. So President Bush is right to sympathize with his Mexican counterpart. He is entirely wrong, though, to give in. Remittances have cushioned Mexico's failure, but they cannot achieve Mexico's success. Only internal change in Mexico can do that. Mexico desperately needs foreign investment in its energy industry, a rationalization of its tax system, and free-market reform of its labor laws. Vicente Fox has done none of these things, and has in fact barely tried. He has instead pinned all his country's hopes on the export of its population to the United States. Today, almost one-fifth of all living Mexican-born people now make their homes in the United States. You have to go back to the Irish potato famine to find a parallel. But Mexico is not suffering famine: It is suffering from a comprehensive failure of political and economic leadership. Mexico's problems are also America's problems, no getting around that. But an American president cannot agree that Mexico's problems should be made only America's problems. In the context of an immigration reform in the American interest - meaning a restrictive immigration reform - the US should of course help Mexico find substitutes for any reductions in remittance income. One good place to start would be the energy industry, which could contribute much more to Mexican wealth if Mexico abandoned its 75-year-old protectionist policies. Of course, Mexicans will say that such changes are politically impossible for them. Then they turn around and ask George Bush to lay waste to Republican political prospects to save them from a fate from which they will not save themselves. |
| Posted by:trailing wife |
| #2 Too much work to fix, RWV. Seriously. We can't fix everything for everyone. |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2006-03-31 23:49 |
| #1 Maybe instead of building a wall, the US should just annex Mexico. Then instead of being immigrants, they will all be citizens with all the responsibilities of being Americans. Mexicos's southern border is much easier to defend. These yahoos running about with Mexican flags should be careful what they wish far. |
| Posted by: RWV 2006-03-31 23:29 |