Replies

I'm going to include excepts from an article printed in a north Texas newspaper and e-mailed to me by a friend. I will clearly illustrate why I don't live in America. Please take the time to read........

Mexican Wealth Gives Texas City a New Vitality

June 14, 2003
By SIMON ROMERO

McALLEN, Tex. - Unemployment in this small city on the
southern tip of Texas hovers around 15 percent. Incomes are
half the national average, and many people sell grapefruit
and melons from the back of battered pickup trucks to make
ends meet.

Much of the thirst for luxury here - whether for Jaguar
sedans, imported marble from Turkey or rambling Tudor-style
homes in the gated communities on McAllen's north side -
reflects the economic might of another nearby city:
Monterrey, the prosperous industrial powerhouse of more
than three million people in northern Mexico.

The same vitality holds true for a variety of other
businesses in McAllen, a city about nine miles from the
Mexican border that is 90 percent Hispanic.

"You get the ease of a manageable American city where
almost everyone speaks Spanish," said Rubén de León, a
Monterrey native who moved to McAllen several years ago as
an owner of Regio Tile, a company that supplies Mexican
tile and Turkish marble to customers here and to chains
like Home Depot. "Essentially you're in Mexico and the
United States at the same time."

McAllen's Chamber of Commerce estimates that as many as 80
percent of new businesses are owned by Mexican citizens, a
reversal of the proportions from about five years ago. This
influx of Mexican money has transformed McAllen into a city
that often confounds economists.

For example, per capita income in McAllen declined to 45.3
percent of the national average in 2001 from 47.6 percent
in 1990. That would suggest the city became poorer even as
investment flowed into McAllen and Reynosa, on the Mexican
side of the border, after the the North American Free Trade
Agreement took effect in 1994.

Almost half of the Sharyland homebuyers are Mexican
citizens, many from Monterrey and some who pay entirely in
cash, said Patrick D. Brewer, a McAllen-based executive who
oversees the project for the Hunt Realty Corporation, based
in Dallas. "There's no shortage of cash in Mexico," Mr.
Brewer said.

McAllen city officials do not keep statistics on the number
of homes owned by people from Monterrey, but the evidence
of Mexican real estate investment here is widespread. Mike
R. Perez, McAllen's city manager, said in an interview that
one family on his cul-de-sac owned homes in Monterrey and
McAllen and an apartment in Paris.

Not everyone in McAllen is thrilled with the influx of
wealthy regios. Some residents, for example, resent the
tales of private jets from Monterrey landing at McCreery
Aviation's airstrip, within walking distance of a Tony
Roma's restaurant, a Sheraton Hotel and La Plaza Mall.

"People say, `Those Mexicans,' when they get behind a
really terrible driver from down there," said Rosie Uresti,
a junior high teacher. "They're a little aggressive for
some of us."

The best indicator of whether McAllen will continue to
absorb Mexican investment is probably the value of the
peso, which remains at a historically strong level despite
weakening somewhat in recent months. A weaker peso would
make it more expensive for the regios to spend their money
here.

If you read the above excerped article, you will have noted that wealthy Mexicans weild significan political power here. It is in there benefite to keep Mexican-Americans and Democrats in power rather than facing the tighter restrictions and greater control of the border which could arise under Republican representation.