U.S. treasurer urges investing in southern, central Mexico

El Paso Times ^ | May 10, 2003 | E. Eduardo Castillo

[FITZ]

MEXICO CITY -- The U.S. treasurer said Friday that Mexican and U.S. officials want businesses and individuals on both sides of the border to invest in poor central and southern Mexico, where a lack of economic opportunity forces many people to head north for work.

"Our goal as governments is to give (private businesses) incentives for investing in those areas," Rosario Marin told the Associated Press.

Marin was in Mexico to drum up support for a Partnership for Prosperity program meant to tear down logistical and financial barriers that make it hard for Mexicans in the United States to send money home.

Marin said money allowed to flow easily back to Mexico eventually could be used to jump-start sputtering economies in the Mexican countryside.

Marin will be in El Paso on Wednesday to speak at the Women's Issues Forum, sponsored by the El Paso Hispanic Chamber of Commerce.

Presidents Vicente Fox and Bush "have decided that this can be an important way to increase the amount of foreign investment in these areas," Marin said. "If (migrants) invest there, eventually they will create jobs and the economic circumstances in these areas will improve."

The Foreign Ministry estimates that 10 million Mexicans live abroad and that 98 percent are in the United States. Mexican states with the highest rates of illegal and legal U.S. migration tend to be in central and southern Mexico. Marin said $10 billion was sent from the United States to Mexico last year.

Governments in both countries have been urging money transfer companies and banks to reduce transfer fees and commissions. A new partnership plan would also allow people to receive the funds as construction materials for housing.

Marin was born in Mexico and did not speak English when she came to the United States at 14. She worked her way up from assistant receptionist to vice president of a bank, was mayor of Huntington Park, Calif., and was an advocate for people with disabilities.

[FITZ]

Who is she working for? I don't see anything at all about the interests of the American people. Looks like another handout to the wealthy elite of Mexico to me.

[FITZ]

This woman does not seem to be working in the interests of the American people ---not in the least ---what is she doing in our government ---why can't she be honest and just work for the Mexican government? The problems of the Mexican economy are due to massive corruption and culture ---no amount of money thrown at their problems from the US will fix things there.

[aynrandfreak]

Why not just give my money to the Chiapas rebels now & skip the middleman?

[FITZ]

I think the Chinese Communists are doing that --I guess we may as well ---but usually our money just goes right into the pockets of the Mexican elite and they already have plenty of bucks.

At least Marin isn't even trying to pretend this give-away is supposed to be for the good of the American people, we don't even get mentioned.

[4Freedom]

If we could just get a Republican in the White House, all of this nonsense would stop.

Oh, wait a minute, Bush is a Republican.

Sorry, Bush just makes it so easy to forget. :(

[Tacis]

I believe these comments will infuriate the Mexicans! First, they are arrogant and NEVER like advice from outsiders, ESPECIALLY, gringos. Second, illegal emmigration to the US is wonderful because they get rid of the restless people who head north and those people send money back. Third, they (Fox and his drug lord buddies) get a cut of all the money that is sent back. Forth, the near slave level poverty in that area of Mexico, keeps a lot of the arrogant land-owners in very cheap labor. And, five, the PANistas want to do nothing to solve the US's problems with all the illegals. The drugs and illegals and now terrorists that head north are the problems of the US and are caused by the US, therefore, only the US can solve them. Finally, relist number one.

[cyncooper]

want businesses and individuals on both sides of the border to invest in poor central and southern Mexico,

This is exactly what must be done. Note it says businesses and individuals, not government handouts.

I have thought for years that growth of a strong middle class in Mexico is what they need. The country is gorgeous and has resources galore. There is no reason it can't have its own thriving quality of life, which would result in reducing and eventually eliminating the illegal crossings.

There is nothing wrong and everything right with this approach.

[cyncooper]

I believe these comments will infuriate the Mexicans!

Yes! Imagine the horror of businesses investing in Mexico and individuals traveling to and making purchases in that country, enabling the locals to run a good business themselves. It must not happen! < /sarcasm>

[FITZ]

Shouldn't the US treasurer be concerned a little more about the economy of the US? She isn't hired to get more American money into Mexico ---or was she?

[FITZ]

And I agree there is no good reason at all that Mexico has the dire poverty it does ---but the fault is not enough American money pouring over the border ---plenty does --it's the fault of their faulty laws and poor government. We're just throwing more good money after bad and it's disturbing the woman sitting on top of all our money seems to have her own agenda. And when she was mayor of Huntington Park ---did she do much for the economy there?

[FITZ]

"Marin was in Mexico to drum up support for a Partnership for Prosperity program meant to tear down logistical and financial barriers that make it hard for Mexicans in the United States to send money home."

"Marin said $10 billion was sent from the United States to Mexico last year. "

So it's not too hard for Mexicans to send money home. Obviously enough money is going into Mexico ---but there needs to be more? It's already a wealthy country but wealth is held by only a few ---what is Ms. Marin doing about that?

[cyncooper]

Shouldn't the US treasurer be concerned a little more about the economy of the US? She isn't hired to get more American money into Mexico ---or was she?

I really see this as an attempt to cure the illegal immigration problem which affects the U.S. economy. I take your point about their internal structure, but it does urge businesses and individuals on both sides of the border, not just U.S., so I see this as a step toward businesses there bringing their employees up to standard. At least that's my optimistic reading of it.

[Billy_bob_bob]

Actually, there is a very good reason that Mexico is so very poor. It is because they have no legal infrastructure there, what they call a "legal system" is totally corrupt. You have to bribe every single authority you come in contact with in order to just get through the day.

Wealth comes from social and legal infrastructure, which serves to protect wealth and which serves to provide an environment where wealth can be created and retained. If you have a society like South Africa, with its "buy me, give me, share me" SO-PE-KA ethic, then anything that anybody gets is eaten up by their "fellow citizens", all personal initiative evaporates, and the end result is poverty and misery for all.

If you have an infinitely corrupt society like Mexico, then you end up with lawlessness running rampant, to the point where the president of the country has their grandson kidnapped by the local chief of police (like what happened to Carlos Salinas when his grandson was kidnapped for ransom by the chief of police of Tijuana). Once you understand the pitiful situation there, you can understand why Mexico is so very poor, yet they have as many billionaires as America does. It is all due to their infinitely corrupt legal system.

[FITZ]

Until I see Mexicans actually invest in their own economy ---few trust their own political system or stability ---then I sure wouldn't want to be my own money on it. There are plenty of Mexican millionaires and billionaires but they for some reason have their money outside their country. Maybe Marin should work on her own countrymen first ---get them to invest Mexican money in Mexico before she worries about having to have more American money in Mexico. Her job title would imply she should worry about the US economy ---but apparently her heart is in other places.

[FITZ]

It is all due to their infinitely corrupt legal system.

It sure is ----but Ms. Marin apparently doesn't see the need in that being changed. The elites of Mexico like things the way they are, they wouldn't like to see their golden egg laying goose killed yet.

[sarcasm]

U.S. treasurer promotes banking network to help U.S. remittances go further in Mexico
By Lisa J. Adams
The Associated Press, January 7, 2003


MEXICO CITY (AP) -- U.S. Treasurer Rosario Marin and Mexican banking officials launched a program Tuesday aimed at helping Mexicans obtain broader access to the billions of dollars in remittances sent home each year by relatives in the United States.

The program, called "The People's Network," will link BANSEFI, a Mexican federal savings bank, with five Mexican credit unions and savings and loans institutions, to deliver financial services - including remittances - to poor, rural Mexicans who most heavily rely on money from the north.

The banks will charge low commissions on remittances to encourage residents to open accounts, hoping they will save some of the money - something they are believed unlikely to do if they cash the remittances at a shopping center or other commercial businesses.

Currently, about 90 percent of remittances sent to Mexico from the United States - an estimated $10 billion annually - is spent on consumer goods, said BANSEFI General Director Javier Gavito.

The network's goal is for some of the money, by being deposited into bank accounts, will be invested in houses, small businesses, and other long-term development projects, "principally in those regions that because of their socio-economic conditions are the chief exporters of labor to the United States," Gavito said.

[Tancredo Fan]

Rosario Marin is an insignificant token appointee (the worst one Bush made, IMO) who happened to be mayor of an illegal alien and gangster-bloated rathole that is absolutely crawling with illegal aliens..... Huntington Park, California. Buzzard flags fly everywhere in that cesspool, and old Rosario just beamed over the crime-infested sewer when she tried to run it. It's as bad as neighboring South Gate.... it looks and smells like Mexico City and is replete with corrupt pinhead politicos galore.

Marin spends more time in Mexico chumming up those corrupt moochers than she does doing whatever job she's supposed to be doing in the United States. Vicente must be proud of her. She should be fired. She's a disgrace.

[FITZ]

I doubt the economy or well-being of the US concerns her in the least. Her agenda seems to be only promoting her own country's demand for US dollars which would be fine if she was in Fox's cabinet. She shouldn't be getting a paycheck from the American people though.

[FITZ]

It's as bad as neighboring South Gate.... it looks and smells like Mexico City

So what ever qualified her to become a US treasurer? I know the city she ran is gang-infested and one of the poorest in California ---doesn't sound like her creditials were all that great for such a position she holds now. From what I've read she did nothing as mayor of that town that benefitted the town in any way.

[PRND21]

She should be fired. She's a disgrace.

Pathetic Tancy Fan.
I asked you days ago what she has done to deserve your extreme dislike.
That's it? Still can't find a valid offense?
Perhaps you should move to Sweden or Germany. Atlantis?

I'm guessing you cannot source your claim that she spends more time in Mexico. But I'll give you a shot.