Mexican Economic Woes Highlighted

As I posited in my post from last week Mexico is taking a heavy third blow from the swine flu hysteria - with the US media, particularly the US cable TV networks, fanning the flames. Two articles in the more reasoned reportage of the print media have touched on these aspects. One headlined locally "Some see media flu coverage as overblown" and it does seem a bit unfair as I read recently the US recorded something like 13,000 flu deaths (another website cites 20K annually) last year from "normal" seasonal flu outbreaks. It is interesting to note that absolutely no swine flu cases have been reported in any of Mexico's most popular resort destinations, such as Los Cabos, Cancun, Puerto Vallarta, and Acapulco (a popular spot for weekend vacations from Mexican City). The other article highlighted the continuing impacts to Mexico's economy recent events have had (along with the damaging media coverage).

That article, by San Francisco Chronicle reporter Carolyn Lochhead, while focusing on the current hits that Mexico's economy is/has been taking (and how that impact will magnify an already reeling lower class) also emphasized the tremendous strides that Mexico has taken in the last 20 years. It noted the percentage of citizens deemed to live in extreme poverty has declined from 18.6% in 1990 to 9% in 2006 (I suspect though a reversal in that trend this year).

Another aspect that was cited as having a decided economic impact on Mexicans was the decline in remittances sent home by immigrants (legal and illegal) to relatives in Mexico - however, not mentioned, but somewhat mitigating is the change in in currency values - the exchange rate a year ago was around 10.5 to 1, as of today, it stood at 13.8 pesos to the dollar.

Perhaps a little more sanity (and sensitivity) would go a long way in aiding one of our most important trading partners in this time of great stress for both countries.