Posted on 07/02/2009 6:58:34 AM PDT by traumer
When 21-year-old Rigoberto was working on construction sites in the US, he could earn up to $400 a week.
Now that he is back home in Mexico, working as a farmhand, he makes just $65.
And that is why there are estimated to be between eight and 12 million Mexicans in the US.
It is also why the US economic crisis spells disaster for its southern neighbour.
I met Rigoberto in a pretty little town in central Mexico called Jungapeo. I also met Martin, who has three sons working in the US.
But times are hard for them too - and they can no longer afford to send money home to help him out.
Like millions of Mexicans, Rigoberto and Martin know what it feels like to be victims of a recession made in America.
Tourism hit hard
Here is a remarkable statistic: in the first three months of this year, more Mexicans crossed the border heading south - in other words, coming home - than in the opposite direction.
Empty beach in Cancun Beaches and hotels in Cancun are largely empty this season
That is how bad it is.
In normal times, the money sent home from migrant workers north of the border is the second biggest source of revenue for the Mexican economy - and so far this year, it is down nearly 20%.
No wonder the overall economy is on course to shrink by nearly 6% this year.
So what about tourism, another major revenue earner?
It is another disaster.
In Cancun, the country's most popular holiday destination, I found the hotels and the beaches half-empty.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.bbc.co.uk ...
Here we go ...
Boo frickin hoo!
Maybe they shouldn’t have hitched their wagon to our horse.
Cost of living is 1/10 of what it is here too.
All things are relative.
“there are estimated to be between eight and 12 million Mexicans in the US... “
Oh really ?
Barf
Nashville’s illegals have dwindled..
Its amazing how sometimes the press actually let facts get in the way of their agenda
Since when are there between 8 and 12 million Mexicans in the US? There are that many in California alone! I'd say there are at least 18 million ILLEGAL Mexicans in the US, and a similar number of legal Mexicans here.
“GOOD...send em’ all back...”
I’m all for putting more gaters in the Rio Grande ...
>> All things are relative.
Yep, and things are “relatively” better for Mexicans when they have “relatives” living as criminals in the US.
It ain't too much fun for the Americans either. Where did the idea that we're supposed to employ all of Mexico come from?
So...there was no illegal job here, so they went back to Mexico. There’s a clue to how to handle the illegal immigration problem in there somewhere.
Help is on the way! Just yesterday I was standing behind a guy at the bank who was swapping a bunch of cash for a money order...He and the teller were speaking Spanish.
I’m sorry but I just don’t really feel bad about this...
>> Like millions of Mexicans, Rigoberto and Martin know what it feels like to be victims of a recession made in America.
...as only a trained and biased Beeb journalist could put it. “Brilliant”, dickweed.
My heart bleeds............ not
ISGAS. I scarcely give an Obama.
Oh boo freakin hoo. Maybe this is just an evil conspiracy to make sure all illegals go home. I don’t care about Mexico. I do care about the impact illegals have on the USA. Let them all go home
The United States catches a cold, Mexico gets pneumonia and goes on life support.
And what is happening to the US right now is MUCH worse than a cold. Mexico becomes a rotting corpse, with no viable government and the countryside in anarchy and chaos.
The flow of arms into Mexico, much decried as “coming from the US”, is in fact a flood being sent in from Venezuela, Cuba, China, and North Korea, and being supplied in large measure to the drug cartels, who run their own fiefdoms in enclaves about the country.
The question of legality or legitmacy never comes up.
I have a friend that is visiting her home near Nashville. She’s been away for about a decade now and is amazed at how the latinos have taken over.
Gee, and the Mexican drug gang violence has nothing to do with tourism dropping off? I am still employed and wouldn’t go to Cancun on a bet.
I'm sure it has absolutely nothing to do with the gun fights between rival drug lords in vacation places like Acapulco.
Just wait ‘O’ may bail out Mexico....
Mexican women and children hardest hit...
[Here is a remarkable statistic: in the first three months of this year, more Mexicans crossed the border heading south - in other words, coming home - than in the opposite direction.]
Atleast one good thing is coming out of the recession.
sw
Vacations are cheap in Cancun in the summer, mainly because it’s too damn hot.
If I ever go back to Mexico, I think I’ll head for Cuernavaca, where it’s in the 70s all year long. I wonder if it is still as beautiful as it used to be?
I truly feel bad for them. Let’s encourage them to get home, post-haste, because Mexico needs their skills and the money they’ve earned here. They shouldn’t return here — too poverty stricken in this country. Bad place for them.. bad, bad, bad.
)
For me it would depend on how large the bet was and how long I had to be there.
libs have taken over nashville too....mostly transplants from the north and kali but not all
meterosexual over educated southern kids are stupid too
nashville proepr went 72% Obama
surrounding counties almost exact opposite
I thought that Sotomayor proved that Hispanic insight and leadership were MAXIMUM SUPREMO!! That means that Mexico and Central America are actually the strongest, smartest and most advanced civilizations on Earth!!
Am I missing something here? Que Paso? Mucho Presto Bingo?
With Obama and the democrats expanding the welfare state,
YOU WOULD THINK THAT THOSE ILLEGAL ALIEN LEACHES WOULD BE COMING LIKE FLIES TO HONEY.
But no, they actually work and when the work dries up, they leave. What’s with that. Everyone knows the only reason the Mexicans come here is for the government handouts.
extremely low estimate.
Bingo, we have a winner.
All your jobs belong to them.
20 million Americans out of work and the only thing these morons can find to moan about is the harm being done to Mexico????
Boo-freakin’-hoo. Me lo siento ... NOT!
But many Mexicans are without health insurance.
We need to provide them with good health insurance.
“.... more Mexicans crossed the border heading south - in other words, coming home - than in the opposite direction.
That is how bad it is. “
Here is a remarkable statistic: in the first three months of this year, more Mexicans crossed the border heading south - in other words, coming home - than in the opposite direction.
Remarkable?......more like FANTASTIC!
It is another disaster.
In Cancun, the country's most popular holiday destination, I found the hotels and the beaches half-empty.
Darn those selfish Americans! Fleeing Mexican tourist spots just because of the threat of kidnappings, and getting caught in the crossfire of drug lord wars!
I worked with so many in the Air Force. Charlie Hernandez’s family had been in the US since the Spanish Land Grant days. He was still upset that he’d lost all that when New Mexico was made a state. He said that the first time he heard English, it sounded like “dogs barking”.
And how many Americans give a rats ass?......
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