|
Archived Articles
Simeon Mitropolitski is a Canadian analyst, of Bulgarian origin, and a former syndicated columnist with the Bulgarian News Agency (BTA). He is the author of several hundred articles dealing with hot political and economic topics, both national and international.
He was part of the first group of Bulgarian intellectuals and students that began the opposition movement that finally put an end to the communist regime in this country in 1989, and in 1996-1997 participated in international observation teams during the elections in several Balkan countries - Romania, Albania and Bulgaria.
In 2002 Simeon and his family moved from Bulgaria to Canada where they live now in Montreal, province of Quebec. Simeon is a Master of Political Science from McGill University and a B.A. of Political Science and History.
Global Real Estate Project
|
 |
Mexico: It doesn't matter who winsPresidential election in Mexican has ended in almost virtual stalemate. The winner will be announced by September. So far the leading candidate is assumed to be pro-business Felipe Calderon of the National Action Party, the same party as the current president Vicente Fox. At a very short distance, less than 1% of all ballots, is the leftist Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador of the Democratic Revolution Party. Their platforms seem profoundly different. Given the presidential executive system in Mexico it seems that the personality of the winner does matter a lot. In fact, this isn't the main point, at least not in this election. Much more important is to offer the business world an image of a stable country where election don't bring the nation to the edge of major political crisis. Another much more important task is to get the country away from the Third World. Mexico is really an important country for North America. It may make or break the market liberalization south of the United States. As we have already noted, it may flood neighboring countries with millions of new immigrants; under different scenarios however it may absorb millions of immigrants coming from even less developed Central American nations. On top of that, Mexico can show the world whether or not liberal economic models work in Latin America, i.e. whether it's worth investing in this region compared to other emerging markets like China or India. The recent wave of left-wing political victories in Latin America is due to a degree to the disappointments following Mexican membership in NAFTA. Another fruitless presidential mandate in terms of economic success and even the toughest advocates of free movement of goods and capitals may start looking for alternative highways. The main problems for Mexico come from inside the country. It isn't only the statistically significant 400-500% higher living standard in the United States that attracts millions of workers. If we add the notorious class inequalities in Mexico, much more pronounced even than in the U.S., then the picture becomes really tragic, and disparities reach 800-1,000%. Given such tremendous differences in wealth across the border, the real question we should ask isn't why Mexicans move to the U.S., but rather why so many people decide not to move given the obvious benefits. Those who move are predominantly impoverished peasants left without decent occupation because of the free movement of agricultural products. The former and the current Mexican administrations left behind these millions of peasants. Why an administration should care about its own citizens if they have become the main source of foreign currency for the country by sending back remittances for up to $20 billion each year. In fact, these are former poor sending money home to other poor thus relieving the government of the task to care about those in need. If this is what people should associate the liberal economy with, then why we're still surprised that so many nations in Latin America reject this model? No matter who's elected to be the next president of Mexico, this will be the real challenge for his administration. Without dismantling the market liberalization that took place since NAFTA to enlarge the social circle of people that really benefit from this liberalization. Instead of favoring groups of rent-seekers that deform the market in order to keep for them only the guiding heights in the economy, any responsible administration should try to integrate as many as possible new social groups within the capitalist model. This implies introducing a model allowing for unlimited vertical mobility, based on merits, not on political favoritism. Nobody expects miracles within few years when the next administration will be in charge. What may be expected however is that the distance between Mexico and the Third world starts increasing. This will be the only real yardstick, not the personality of the president or his worldviews, which will determine the success or the failure of his administration.
Mexico country profile: --------------------
See also the directory of companies providing real estate services in, and general real estate information of Mexico.
|
See also:
