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Now here's something interesting....

pinoybaptist

Active Member
Site Supporter
October 9, 2006
NewsWithViews.com

Article Title: WHY DON'T WE JUST IMPROVE THE ECONOMY OF MEXICO ?

Don't get taken in by the title, though. Stoddard is simply quoting somebody (if he exists) he calls "head" who proposed the above as a simple solution to the influx of Mexican illegals crossing the border into the US.

However, he says, and I quote, "Anyone who believes this is a simple solution displays an abysmal lack of understanding of Mexico and all things Mexican. " Here are the reasons, Stoddard says:

1. The sheer amount of money sent by Mexicans (both legal and illegal, I presume) would have been more than enough to have already improved the Mexican economy. This year alone, it is estimated that Mexicans in the United States will send approximately 23 Billion dollars to Mexico.

(pinoybaptist says: parallelism here between Mexico and Philippines. Billions of dollars sent home by Filipinos (most of whom are legal immigrants or workers) from almost every country in the world, yet the Philippines' internal and external debt still at a staggering trillions of dollars, there is a thin middle class, a very broad lower class, and a very thin upper class which are, by the way, mostly made up of old money, politicians, landowners, and their ilk and kin.)

2. Mexican laws with regards to business and land ownership are very inimical to foreign investors because of its emphasis on Mexican ownership and Mexicans-first rights. In addition, setting up a business in Mexico requires (most of the time I figure [PB]) bribing, and then more bribing to set up the utilities and so on. He calls this the "mordida" system.

(pinoybaptist says: heck, nothing new to me either. my daughter applied for a landline phone in 2004, she was asked to set up her own two poles from the street to her home through which the lines will run, and two years later she still doesn't have her phone line.:BangHead: :BangHead: )

3. Then once you have set up your business, you need to pay the Mexican government a year's salary for each employee (I think he means the employees' one year salary equivalent) which is called a severance pay for just in case you decide to terminate the employee or pack up and leave. You also have to have funds set up for the employee's sss and so on.)

4. Finally after you're in business, you need to contend with (a) theft, (b) pilferage (c) strikes [which according to the author is a way of life in Mexico with laws heavily slanted in favor of the Mexican).

5. He quotes a lot more things, but here's the rub about the "trustworthy" Mexican partner (item number 2 = Mexican ownership, 51% which means all papers drawn up has a Mexican as majority stockholder or owner or investor).

Ah, well, let me quote him directly:

[I said:
Stoddard in newswithviews.com[/i]]


[FONT=Georgia, Times New Roman, Times, serif]The next pitfall is where thousands of well meaning and sincere U.S. businessmen have been destroyed in Mexico. [/FONT]

[FONT=Georgia, Times New Roman, Times, serif]Your Mexican partner decides that he doesn't want to be a partner anymore. He wants the whole business for himself. Does he feel the need to buy you out? You better hope so. But usually what happens is he accuses you of defrauding him and files suit in a Mexican court under Mexican law.[/FONT]​

[FONT=Georgia, Times New Roman, Times, serif]Remember you are a foreigner? Remember that your partner owns 51% of the business and the property is in his name? Remember also that you are under the Napoleonic system of law? (pinoybaptist explains: in short, you prove you're innocent).[/FONT]

[FONT=Georgia, Times New Roman, Times, serif]Can you prove that you did NOT defraud your "partner"? [/FONT]
[FONT=Georgia, Times New Roman, Times, serif]You will go to court with a civil/criminal complaint filed against you by your partner. The judge will be a Mexican. There will be no jury. (There are no jury trials in Mexico.) [/FONT]​


[FONT=Georgia, Times New Roman, Times, serif]Even if you get an honest and sincere judge, Mexican law, being what it is, weighs heavily in favor of your partner. This exact scenario has played out time and again in Mexico. The end result is that the gringo is booted out of the country and the business becomes the sole property of the Mexican. [/FONT]

[FONT=Georgia, Times New Roman, Times, serif]So, to all those talking heads who say so glibly, "Let's just improve the economy of Mexico", I invite you to go to Mexico, open businesses so you can employ Mexicans and improve their economy.[/FONT]​

Uhmmmm, I think I will "like" Mexico. I think I understand the culture. After all, both Mexico and my country were colonies of Spain for hundreds of years. The siesta, the comida mucho, the tequila (tuba or lambanog in the Philippines), the peso slipped in the driver's license, or the passport of the incoming or outgoing Filipino.​
 
Last edited by a moderator:

NiteShift

New Member
Yes it is very difficult for a foreigner to set up a legitimate business in Mexico. My brother tried, and they put up so many barriers that he threw in the towel.

As for Philippines, their greatest export is workers isn't it. Very hard to make ends meet there. Hospitals in the US snatch up all the Philippine healthcare workers they can get.
 

El_Guero

New Member
Sounds like Stoddard could have been the northerner that I saw try to do business with a Mexican when I was a kid . . .

After insulting the proprieter of the business ... after cussing him ... after calling him a liar and a thief . . .

The business man sold me the item for the price that the northerner had told the 'stupip mexican' that he had to sell it to him for.

The look he tried to give me . . . he shoulda slept in that day instead of insulting someone because he was ignorant.

Business in Mexico is easier and more difficult than it is in the USA ...

They steal from the business in the USA, China, India, and Indonesia . . . so why should we demand that Mexico be different?

:1_grouphug:
 

pinoybaptist

Active Member
Site Supporter
On the other hand, when I was a student we marched against so-called "Foreign Investments" because at that time (I don't know now, have lost a lot of interest in politics), the term meant that the "Foreign Investor" comes in with little or practically no money, borrows from the Philippine government the capital they need to invest, or at least a big part of it, makes profits, pays off their debt, and carts off their profits to their US or Swiss bank accounts.

I don't know how foreign investment works in Mexico, though.
 

cranston36

New Member
Doing business in Mexico is harder and easier than in the United States?

It's easier for Americans and harder for Mexicans. That is why so many Mexicans are leaving their nation and abandoning their responsibilities.
 
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