Posted on 02/24/2008 10:41:40 AM PST by shrinkermd
The perfect storm for social upheaval is now brewing in Mexico— and in particular Mexico's northern states along the U.S. border.
The first storm front is to the east at a place called Cantarell. Long a blessing, Cantarell is Mexico's largest oil field— and largest source of government funds. Output from Cantarell is down more than 15 percent from last year and many believe the field is now in irreversible decline. Thus, government budgets are being strained.
The second front is to the north. As the U.S. economy has slowed so have remittances from the United States to Mexico. The housing crunch has disproportionately affected Mexican labor (both legal and illegal). As U.S. construction, landscaping, remodeling, and other housing-related jobs have evaporated so has a vital source of income to Mexico.
The third storm front is food. America's well-intentioned but misguided emphasis on ethanol has caused food prices to rise beyond the poor's income. Corn prices have tripled and tortilla prices have soared. Food riots and protests are now common throughout Mexico and confidence in the government is eroding.
The result is this: income flows to Mexico are falling while social unrest is rising.
Predictably, this storm is now manifesting in violence in Mexico's northern states and it is becoming apparent that Mexico is having difficulties maintaining stability. Meanwhile, drug cartels are having no such monetary problems.
Well-financed and well-armed drug cartels effectively compete with Mexican police and army units for control of large sections of the border. Open shoot-outs between government forces and drug gangs are becoming more common.
(Excerpt) Read more at abqjournal.com ...
It would enhance the paranoia of some. They have problems with a national ID card but not with a social security card or a driver's license.
God forbid if some horrendous event occurs in America because of illegal entry and corrupt influence from Mexico
those politicians who did nothing to protect the borders or worse..encouraged dismantling it should face the full wrath of the true patriot Americans screaming of the dangers lurking over the southern border.
Open the borders and bring them all in! We’ll give them free food, health care, and a house that can’t be foreclosed upon. And a driver’s license and the right to vote the US out of existence. What more could they want? Oh, yeah. Free TV, car, x-box, phone,...
The third storm front is food. America’s well-intentioned but misguided emphasis on ethanol has caused food prices to rise beyond the poor’s income. Corn prices have tripled and tortilla prices have soared. Food riots and protests are now common throughout Mexico and confidence in the government is eroding.
>>
My understanding is that the corn used for ethanol is yellow corn while the corn used for tortillas is white corn. THe people selling the white corn are raising prices on it blaming ethanol production while reaping an increased amount of profits due to the blame.
(btw I do not support support biofuels as they are mostly created now ie;corn based, sugar cane based etc)
Wow, sounds like we should build a wall or something like that.
Annex Mexico. Sure it has a lot of problems now, but annexing them gives us near carte blanche to fix them before they become states. We’ll have a population of 450 million, better able to compete with China and India in the future.
This whole article, by “Brig. Gen. Greg Zanetti -NM Natl Guard” has the feel of something that might have been written by a Roman general somewhere on the upper Danube at the beginning of the third century. Septimius Severus had abandoned the Limes, the border forts, and sent the troops off to fight Parthians in Mesopotamia and a tide of illegal immigration struck the empire. They called it a barbarian invasion.
to the best of my knowledge proffering either of those cards or even having them is not obligatory, although some nearly essential services and functions depend on them.
My cow doesn’t care if the corn is yellow or white. The price is up.
Actually, I have problems with all three but I live in a country where you can no longer live without a social security number and a drivers license. A national ID card is like those stupid searches of 80 year old grandmas at airports for explosives. The government doesn’t need to know my shoe size and the government could only keep the country secure with the efficiency and convenience of travelling through a typical airport these days, f*** that. We should secure our borders to keep terrorists out. We should also avoid enacting stupid policies that empowers the Chavez’s of the world and undermines potential allies, such as reform-minded political figures in Mexico. As long as Mexico languishes in poverty and socialism, they will be a bad neighbor. We can’t pull them out of it entirely, but we can avoid making things worse.
if you can grow white corn , you can divert the field to yellow corn if it brings a better price.
“Annex Mexico.”
Yup. Why not? No, I’m not kidding. We’re paying 30-50 million of them already.
Perhaps the farmers who used to plant white corn started planting yellow corn because it paid better.
It is quite simple the best form of identification available in these United States.
I suggest making it mandatory for all citizens.
Another reason why illegal immigration is so destructive. Why did President Bush not see this coming?
I would suggest you read up on the Real ID act, it goes beyond mearly solving that problem.
The individual states could best eliminate fraud in voting by demanding their own secured photo id be presented when voting, of course as you probably are aware not only the ACLU but the NAACP and other civil rights organization proving to be a roadblock.
By making it a felony accross all states for a company to hire any illegal, we are half way to solving the problem,
is already being demostrated in those states that have enacted that law and an exodus of illegals is taking place.
Big Brother is what is in store for us if we accept this Real ID act and is why so many states are challenging it.
Do you really think our way of life would actually survive the erasing of the border? I don’t.
And if the price for corn goes above the price for soy beans, the previous soy bean growers change over to corn, creating less supply of soy beans. With demand for soy beans remaining the same, and supply reducing, guess what happens to the price of soy beans?
And if the price for corn goes above the price for soy beans, the previous soy bean growers change over to corn, creating less supply of soy beans. With demand for soy beans remaining the same, and supply reducing, guess what happens to the price of soy beans?
it always is amazing...how Americans are told by uncaring and unknowing or bought and paid for politicians, if you just accept this (being a safety valve for the world), everything will be just fine. Trouble is, Americans have the safety valve approach rammed down their throats, and the enemy continues its relentless march onward toward America’s destruction.
The last few times the Real ID Act came up for discussion on FR there was a suspiciously large number of people posting about how great Real ID was going to be.
The reason I’m find that odd is that Freepers tend to be small government types, the exact type who would fight an extension of the Federal Govenment into States Rights.
I wonder if there isn’t a push by Homeland Security to convince us their way is the best by having surrogates post here.
Problems in Mexico? Couldn’t happen to a better country. Maybe the Mexican people can solve their problems at home rather than running away to the US. A revolution to topple the corrupt 400 families that run things would be a nice start, a purge of the corrupt police and army, how about honest elections. Mexico has as many millionairs as the US. How did they get that way> paying 50 cents an hour wages. I say Burn their palaces! The revolution will come, its only when. Lets hope uts not a Communist one. The US has been helping them put off the explosion for too long.
I’m a pale-faced WASP, not the sort of person who would fall prey to the mythological charge of “driving while black” or “driving while hispanic” but the sheriff’s department for the county I live is in love with roadblocks for the purpose of checking people’s licenses. Just the thing to brighten my day when I’m trying to make it to the airport so that I can get into the security line for an early morning flight. Officers always harp on about how effective their security program is, but all they ever do to me is take up 5 or more minutes of my time and tell me things I already know, like “your sticker is going to expire in a month”. But hey, it keeps them employed and off the streets, doesn’t it? We can get a national ID and employ even more uniform-wearing do-nothings to stop and inspect them at every opportunity. Great idea!
Wot?
Of course! their checks can be wired there.
Housing assistance and food stamps? We'll have to work out something with the Mexicorruption government. GW's good at that.
I hope they can grow switch grass on less arable land.
“Do you really think our way of life would actually survive the erasing of the border? I don’t.”
“Press One for English” Have you been to Miami? Or Southern California? Or any of a number of other southern cities? Our way of life is already changing.
Border PING
That would be a yes, I’ve lived in L.A. for forty years. Things are bad here, but not as bad as Mexico itself, which your proposal would bring.
This is where I disagree with you.
The best defense is a good offense.
We could start to clean up the mess that is Mexico. It took almost a hundred years to bring the Old South up to the level of the north after the civil war. I expect it will take at least that long with Mexico.
Why wait for them to storm our gates?
That’s a tautology. The variety of drugs coming from Mexico are for the idiot Americans, both rich and poor, who happily consume them. The flood of immigrants from Mexico is a result of something called “economic prosperity”, which increases a demand for labor. I have heard of incidents of real terrorists trying to infiltrate US territory from the border (possibly to hook up with the terrorists who were allowed in by our enlightened state department), but if our government knew the difference between creating a stifling bureaucracy and enforcing real security, that problem wouldn’t be allowed to fester into another 9/11.
bttt
Another reason why illegal immigration is so destructive. Why did President Bush not see this coming?"
With only a very little tinfoil, it is easy to conclude that Bush did see it coming. The US government has been working at erasing the border while putting on an occasional show to convince the restive citizens that it is doing the opposite.
here we go... round 1.
Hell, since Jorge recognized Kosovo its only by natural extension that he begin the task of giving away the South West.
If the various Republican campaigns sent posters here to try to convince us their boy was the one we should be voting for, and we now have a bunch of newbies who are hammering us with the need to vote McCain to "save the country" (from the other two Soros puppets,) why wouldn't Homeland Security think it was a good idea to do the same?
National ID cards dont matter. We know who is elegal. We don’t deport them when we find them. Thats our problem. Its the same with the guns. If you don’t lock up a person commiting a crime with a gun then why get rid of guns.
Birth control could have solved this problem.
The whole situation is perfectly predictable under the law of supply and demand.
I understand your point but perhaps the rise in price of white corn may be due to substitution?
FR bookmark
Pancho Villa? I thought you were dead!
Oh for cripes sake. DHS is not that advanced and FR is not that important!
How bout it's as simple as DHS was created by popular demand of the post 9/11 scurrying congresscritters to "get something done." And Americans of all stripes have grown to love New Deal/Great Society five-year programs.
50% of voters voted for Gore and Kerry.
And even though 2006 only sent signals that pols should be more liberal to get elected, now there's a large number of people on FR who are eager to see Hillary and/or Obama in the White House in order to teach the RNC a lesson.
There are people on FR who want a PRIVATE COMPANY like Walmart to go out of business for selling chinese products to willing consumers.
There are people on FR who are in favor of ethanol subsidies and more eat-the-rich taxation of oil companies.
In this bizarro world, you don't think there'd be at least some folks on FR who think a statist National ID card is a good idea?
Perhaps his MBA from Harvard let him down, LOL.
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