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Absolutely, there's the posh American resort towns: Cabo San Lucas, Mazatlan, Puerta Vallarta, Cozumel, Cancun etc., but that is not the
real Mexico. Most of Mexico is definitely a 3rd world country.
You can drive across the border from El Paso, Tx which is a very clean
city to Ciudad Juarez, Mexico which is filthy. You will see large areas where people live in cardboard boxes without running water.
Of course, on the flip-side the U.S.A. tends to ignore it's homeless situation that became evident across America once President Reagan released large portions of them from mental institutions. Mexico has
a few nice areas but that is not the norm. Also, 100's of Americans have been killed there over the past few years.
Border towns are also over run by mexican standards. I invite you to come to Queretaro to see what a mexican standard city is. Many americans think that Mexico is just like the border.
What's wrong with most Americans is that they automatically class anybody south of the border as being jobless, living in a hovel and dodging bullets. That is NOT the lifestyle of the vast majority of Mexicans, Central Americans or Latin Americans for that matter. While it is true that in most places there is a 5 year gap between the technology that's available versus the US and that there's a lot of entrenched poverty (especially in rural areas) but Latin America overwhelmingly doesn't meet the average American's view of what a third world country is. To most Americans, Mexico and Afghanistan are interchangeable. This is simply not true.
And I'm an African American saying this, but the amount of ignorance Americans have concerning Mexico when they've had the biggest impact on our own culture in the last 40 years is ridiculous.
I totally agree with you; comparing the world with the USA every other country is very poor. I bet many USA citizens don't know that Mexico is not poor by international standards (the illegals are there because they earn more there not because they are starving in Mexico), I bet they don't know the following stats:
Rank Country GDP (US Dollars)
1 United States 14,256.300
— Eurozone 11,135,595b
2 People's Republic of China 8,887,863
3 Japan 4.138,481
4 India 3,752,032
5 Germany 2,984,440
6 Russia 2,687,298
7 United Kingdom 2,256,830
8 France 2,172,097
9 Brazil 2,020,079
10 Italy 1,921,576 11 Mexico 1,540,207 12 Spain 1,495,683
Source: Worldbank
Rank Country GDP per capita.
50 Argentina 14,559
51 Gabon 14,436
52 S. kitts 14,420 53 Mexico 14,337 54 Chile 14,331
55 Romania 14,198
56 Malaysia 13,981
57 Turkey 13,904
58 Uruguay 13,208
59 Montenegro 13,117
Source: Worldbank.
HDI (Human development index) - Mexico is in the HIGH section.
Rank, Variation in Position, Country, HDI, Variation in points.
3rd world has nothing to do with economic development a third world nation is a nation that remained neutral in the Cold War between the US and the USSR.
Mexico is a Newly Industrialized country that shows many of the qualities of a developed nations, but hasn't entirely broken through the barrier to developed status. Only 15% of Mexicans are living off of less than $10,000 a year. Your statement Kirby, is one that would have been widely accepted in the 80s, but is increasingly untrue. Mexico is not Somalia. Most Mexicans have a decent standard of living, there is a reason why Mexico is classified as an "Upper-Middle Income" nation. Visit Bolivia and that is what a lower-middle income nation looks like. Visit Malawi, Rwanda and several other sub-saharan nations, and you'll see that Mexico is not the hellhole Hollywood and the Media have romanticized.
I totally agree with you; Hollywood has aldo "disapperead" skyscrapers in Mexico city to make look this country nasty.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Huckleberry3911948
i go to tiajuana frequently lots of contruction lots of middle class affluence between TJ and tecate.
but the poor live pretty much like b4. shanty town existence. 20 bucks a day for a contruction worker does not buy much in TJ, has approximately same cost of food and water as here.
i am not sure i agree that mexico is not a hellhole. the 20 million illegal here, and what they had to endure to get here and stay here, attest to the condition of the working person in mexico.
Tijuana? That's all you know about Mexico? Tijuana is over run for mexican standards also. The 10 million illegals (not 20) are because they earn more in the USA, not because they are starving in Mexico.
Quote:
Originally Posted by DiverTodd62
Do you seriously think anyone is going to look at the the 30,000 figure and say "gee that's not so bad" then look at the 100,000 figure and say "now that's outrageous"?
The US isn't making Mexico look bad, Mexico is making Mexico look bad.
Not sure what is being said here. I hope it's not comparing the rate of Americans who go to Mexico and die with the rate at which they die in the US. Because there is a dramatic difference in exposure. They probably spend an average of 3 to 7 days in Mexico versus 350+ days back in the US.
The US is making look bad to Mexico because of its mass consumption of drugs, its homeland security corruption letting pass drugs, letting pass weapons to Mexico and its media over sensationalizing the "drug war".
There are 1 million americans living full time in Mexico. Examples (lets see what they have to say): Motherhood in Mexico
I have many other blogs to post, but I am lazy now...
Quote:
Originally Posted by Kerby W-R
Absolutely.
I am able to travel around the globe due to my work. I have seen impoverished nations. Mexico has a long,long way to go. I know people
who live in Cabo San Lucas, Ajijic [near Lake Chapala], and San Miguel de
Allende but again these places are acceptions to the Mexican norm.
These friends of mine who live there still must travel to the U.S. for certain things [mainly medical].
Come on, Mexico has given americans what its government hasn't: affordable healthcare. That's why many seniors have retired to Mexico. Many seniors are now fleeing to Mexico for affordable healthcare. Just search for Ajijic, Chapala, San Miguel de Allende, Mazatlan, etc. They are enrolled in the public mexican healthcare system, where they get free medication and doctors for a modest pay. What is doing the USA for its seniors?
Quote:
Originally Posted by SarahSal
When you consider (per another video post) that Mexico has the "12th largest economy in the world" and is the "3rd largest oil supplier" and is the 'US's 2nd largest trade partner", this concept of Mexico being a 3rd world economy certainly appears pretty far off base. It's also readily apparent that Mexico (and its current woes) has been 'targeted' by the media (and others) to make people believe it is a nation on the verge of failing. You just have to question the motives for the US's not doing significantly more to help contain and mitigate this crisis, which is spilling over our borders.
Maybe because they want a pretext to invade Mexico; they need something to brainwash americans as they did to invade Irak...(hope not)
And who is behind most of that? It's the illegals from Mexico who are the first to claim that Mexico is so bad they can't live in it, being deported back to their homeland is worse than what the Nazis did to the Jews when they sent them to gas chambers.
The majority of Americans really don't travel much to Mexico and get their impressions of Mexico from it's people who make every excuse to come here illegally - very often claiming their children would starve to death if they had to return home, and insisting that the only way they can better themselves or be educated is to live illegally in the USA which gives the impression to people that there are no schools in Mexico. Yes it's a lie but you hear it all the time.
And more and more Mexicans themselves are insisting they be given "refugee" status and all the government assistance that goes with that, insisting they had to leave because it's too horrible for them in their country.
The people themselves are the best or worst ambassadors of a country. Just like Mexicans get impressions of Americans and the USA from the tourists who visit Mexico, Americans get impressions of Mexico by the illegals pouring over the border.
These statements are just laughable.
Now you're just making things up.
The only assistance they ask for is for someone to help them find work.
You throw the word "demand" around a lot, and characterize things in a way that generally aren't so. Too many unsupported and vague "they/them" references in your comments for coherent discussion.
The Dream Act is a way for some high school graduates to EARN the right to permanent US residency by achieving a college degree or completing military service. It's a win-win.
Seriously - do these people look like they have any intention EVER of returning home to Mexico?
And yes they most certainly are demanding US citizenship as the reward for breaking the laws of the USA.
And the Dream Act is just another demand they make, anyone whose parents had them smuggled in is to be given US citizenhip.
And yes these people are a shame to their own country, they lie all the time about how bad it is, insist they have no chance in their own country when the reality is they do.
And no - they would not starve to death back home but they are the ones trying to give that impression.
Not true, mexicans are not starving; there are 1 milliion americans living in Mexico full time, and every year about 15 million americans come to Mexico as tourists.
I realize that. It's the illegals from Mexico living in the USA who insist everything is so bad in Mexico they cannot live there but must be allowed to come to the USA and bring their families.
Yes, I am very aware that Mexico has a growing middle class and that no one is starving to death, and that the unemployment rate of Mexico is much lower than the unemployment rate in the USA.
Most Americans don't travel to Mexico to see the people of Mexico who love their country and live and work there, and who do improve themselves there. Americans see the illegals who insist that Mexico is terrible and that they want a better life, to improve themselves as though coming illegally to the USA makes them better than those who stay in Mexico.
Unfortunately they are where many Americans get their impressions - not first hand. Americans who travel to Mexico see it's not terrible at all.
I don't think it is so much about the illegals who convey a negative image of MX. That's undoubtedly a factor but I suspect the biggest contributor is the US (and world) media's portrayal of Mexico as a country dominated by an oligopoly of drug cartels fighting each other whilst slaying thousands of innocent people, and a government that is completely ineffective at handling the crisis. I'm sorry, but no I'm not going to have a positive view of Mexico when I read about how the drug cartels have just massacred 72 innocent people from Central America and that three mayors have been killed in one month. I mean, what do you expect people to think when they read these kinds of things?
And by the way, these are not American sources. They are British and Indian, respectively. The whole world portrays Mexico as a dangerous place to live because it certainly appears to be just that.
I don't think it is so much about the illegals who convey a negative image of MX. That's undoubtedly a factor but I suspect the biggest contributor is the US (and world) media's portrayal of Mexico as a country dominated by an oligopoly of drug cartels fighting each other whilst slaying thousands of innocent people, and a government that is completely ineffective at handling the crisis. I'm sorry, but no I'm not going to have a positive view of Mexico when I read about how the drug cartels have just massacred 72 innocent people from Central America and that three mayors have been killed in one month. I mean, what do you expect people to think when they read these kinds of things?
And by the way, these are not American sources. They are British and Indian, respectively. The whole world portrays Mexico as a dangerous place to live because it certainly appears to be just that.
A lot of Americans don't follow the news and they don't follow British and Indian news sources. The USA media is actually not reporting much on Mexico. More people know more about the latest events regarding Paris Hilton and Lindsay Lohan than they know about foreign current events.
Even what goes on in Juarez which is right on the border isn't being publicized much in US news media. I'm always surprised how much people in the USA don't know - people who are average in intelligence and education and they have very little clue because their local news never mentions it.
However - I do agree that when people do know about the violence in Mexico, they tend to think it's all of Mexico and not just certain areas and they think it's some kind of random violence - anyone steps foot in Mexico and they're going to be shot - which isn't the case as almost all the violence is targetted and no innocent American tourists yet have been killed in the cartel war.
I believe the most negative impressions of Mexico come from the illegals here protesting and demanding citizenship - such as Elvira Arrellano who did receive a lot of media publicity and was always putting on some act that being returned home would be so terrible - her own country was so horrendous that she preferred locking herself for a year inside a church and always exploiting her little son and insisting he couldn't have any kind of life in Mexico.
And of course it looks bad on Mexico when people hear of it's citizens willing to pay $5,000 to $10,000 a piece to be smuggled out, or coming over in some boxcar of a train. The assumption most people get from that is that life must be so bad in Mexico that they are forced to do this - which of course they are not.
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