Is it just me, or are we like a cat chasing it's tail? All of our efforts at ending the depression/recession don't attack the causes...just the effects. Clearly government is not the answer as it is proving to be a big part of the problem; federal, state and local.
If the paradigm is wrong, maybe it's time to change it?
If you know Spanish..."oye tu q onda eres de potrero? andas turisteando o q yo trabajaba ahi en tepe" You may laugh, but this little clip has been seen 55 times by someone.
The reason is there are many "immigrants" from Mexico that cannot return home again and miss their hometowns.
Wouldn't it be odd if there were a flood of American immigrants to Mexico escaping the U.S. meltdown? ha....you laugh?
Did you see where half of the value of U.S. 401ks has been lost in the past 8 months...still laughing?
So you have to be watching some of the alternative news sources on youtube.com to keep up w ith what is going on. There is this guy George, a laid off construction worker from Southern California who does have some interesting videos...amateur, at times rough, grainy but more poignant and on the spot then ABC, NBC and CBS which have become partisan,sanitized and increasingly irrelevant.
George had one yesterday that showed long term businesses that have closed down in his his home town...and for those of us living in the deflating bubble called California he hits a nerve. He doesn't rant and rave like Sanatelli but simply calls raising taxes in a looming depression madness; something that many other Californians are thinking as well.
George recommends 'opting out' of the system; something that Thoreau recommended in the mid-1840's. George says it's time to get off the treadmill and reconnect with family and friends...Thoreau said that most people live lives of "quite desperation."
Thoreau's book Walden was the Bible for the Big Lie movement in the 1960's and 1970's. Folks like George may be rethinking Walden's message in the 21st century. History repeating itself?
(thanks to D Weller for forwarding this!)
To All My Valued Employees,
There have been some rumblings around the office about the future of this company, and more specifically, your job. As you know, the economy has changed for the worse and presents many challenges. However, the good news is this: The economy doesn't pose a threat to your job. What does threaten your job however, is the changing political landscape in this country.
However, let me tell you some little tidbits of fact which might help you decide what is in your best interests.
First, while it is easy to spew rhetoric that casts employers against employees, you have to understand that for every business owner there is a back story. This back story is often neglected and overshadowed by what you see and hear. Sure, you see me park my Mercedes outside. You've seen my big home at last years Christmas party. I'm sure; all these flashy icons of luxury conjure up some idealized thoughts about my life.
However, what you don't see is the back story.
I started this company 28 years ago. At that time, I lived in a 300 square foot studio apartment for 3 years. My entire living apartment was converted into an office so I could put forth 100% effort into building a company, which by the way, would eventually employ you.
My diet consisted of Ramen Pride noodles because every dollar I spent went back into this company. I drove a rusty Toyota Corolla with a defective transmission. I didn't have time to date. Often times, I stayed home on weekends, while my friends went out drinking and partying. In fact, I was married to my business -- hard work, discipline, and sacrifice.
Meanwhile, my friends got jobs. They worked 40 hours a week and made a modest $50K a year and spent every dime they earned. They drove flashy cars and lived in expensive homes and wore fancy designer clothes. Instead of hitting the Nordstrom's for the latest hot fashion item, I was trolling through the discount store extracting any clothing item that didn't look like it was birthed in the 70's. My friends refinanced their mortgages and lived a life of luxury. I, however, did not. I put my time, my money, and my life into a business with a vision that eventually, some day, I too, will be able to afford these luxuries my friends supposedly had.
So, while you physically arrive at the office at 9am, mentally check in at about noon, and then leave at 5pm, I don't. There is no "off" button for me. When you leave the office, you are done and you have a weekend all to yourself. I unfortunately do not have the freedom. I eat, and breathe this company every minute of the day. There is no rest. There is no weekend. There is no happy hour. Every day this business is attached to my hip like a 1 year old special-needs child. You, of course, only see the fruits of that garden -- the nice house, the Mercedes, the vacations... you never realize the back story and the sacrifices I've made.
Now, the economy is falling apart and I, the guy that made all the right decisions and saved his money, have to bail-out all the people who didn't. The people that overspent their paychecks suddenly feel entitled to the same luxuries that I earned and sacrificed a decade of my life for.
Yes, business ownership has is benefits but the price I've paid is steep and not without wounds.
Unfortunately, the cost of running this business, and employing you, is starting to eclipse the threshold of marginal benefit and let me tell you why:
I am being taxed to death and the government thinks I don't pay enough. I have state taxes. Federal taxes. Property taxes. Sales and use taxes. Payroll taxes. Workers compensation taxes. Unemployment taxes. Taxes on taxes. I have to hire a tax man to manage all these taxes and then guess what? I have to pay taxes for employing him. Government mandates and regulations and all the accounting that goes with it, now occupy most of my time. On Oct 15th, I wrote a check to the US Treasury for $288,000 for quarterly taxes. You know what my "stimulus" check was? Zero. Nada. Zilch.
The question I have is this: Who is stimulating the economy? Me, the guy who has provided 14 people good paying jobs and serves over 2,200,000 people per year with a flourishing business? Or, the single mother sitting at home pregnant with her fourth child waiting for her next welfare check? Obviously, government feels the latter is the economic stimulus of this country.
The fact is, if I deducted (Read: Stole) 50% of your paycheck you'd quit and you wouldn't work here. I mean, why should you? That's nuts. Who wants to get rewarded only 50% of their hard work? Well, I agree which is why your job is in jeopardy.
Here is what many of you don't understand ... to stimulate the economy you need to stimulate what runs the economy. Had suddenly government mandated to me that I didn't need to pay taxes, guess what? Instead of depositing that $288,000 into the Washington black-hole, I would have spent it, hired more employees, and generated substantial economic growth. My employees would have enjoyed the wealth of that tax cut in the form of promotions and better salaries. But you can forget it now.
When you have a comatose man on the verge of death, you don't defibrillate and shock his thumb thinking that will bring him back to life, do you? Or, do you defibrillate his heart? Business is at the heart of America and always has been. To restart it, you must stimulate it, not kill it. Suddenly, the power brokers in Washington believe the poor of America are the essential drivers of the American economic engine. Nothing could be further from the truth and this is the type of change you can keep.
So where am I going with all this?
It's quite simple.
If any new taxes are levied on me, or my company, my reaction will be swift and simple. I fire you. I fire your co-workers. You can then plead with the government to pay for your mortgage, your SUV, and your child's future. Frankly, it isn't my problem any more.
Then, I will close this company down, move to another country, and retire. You see, I'm done. I'm done with a country that penalizes the productive and gives to the unproductive. My motivation to work and to provide jobs will be destroyed, and with it, will be my citizenship.
So, if you lose your job, it won't be at the hands of the economy; it will be at the hands of a political hurricane that swept through this country, steamrolled the constitution, and will have changed its landscape forever. If that happens, you can find me sitting on a beach, retired, and with no employees to worry about....
Signed,
Your boss
My own gut level feeling is that it has to run its course before it will end. All attempts to prevent it from running its course will only stall the recovery.
Having said that the only practical and positive point is the somewhat battered but still surviving entrepreneurial spirit. Despite it all there is always someone that feels they can build a better mousetrap.
When that entrepreneurial age begins, productivity and innovation will flourish as perhaps never seen before.
These are the best of times, these are the worst of times...
 | jackddeal the coming months we will see an bandwagon of ex-Obama supporters turn against him when they do not get their way...turnabout is fair play? | |
| | jackddeal Ms. Brown expects all politicians must be honest and doesn't quite get it that they will say anything to get elected... | |
| | jackddeal the meltdown has only accelerated a "shift in the Gestalt" and things won't go back to the way they were...right Ms. Brown? | |
| | jackddeal in case Ms. Brown forgot, Alan Greenspan said the meltdown was not in "his model"; duh...it's that way across the board, Ms. Brown...ha... | |
| | jackddeal like the stockbrokers telling all now is the time to buy stocks or the realtors saying now is the time to get that huge mortgage...huh? |
Wandering into the San Jose, California Chamber of Commerce one wonders what sorts of local businesses are members. After all, San Jose is Silicon Valley Central and the home to many of the world's best known companies.
As one glances at the list of members what is conspicuous is the absence of the heavy hitters. What is also conspicuous is that of the tens of thousands of businesses in San Jose only a very small percentage bothers to join the San Jose Chamber of Commerce.
In the old days local Chambers were places to advertise and promote your local business. Somehow being a member and paying your $150 yearly fee would put you among the local elite and raise the credibility of your company.
But as in the San Jose Chamber of Commerce most local businesses are not members as well as the "bigger and more important" local businesses.
But it's not just San Jose. Go to any local Chamber of Commerce and more than likely you will find the same thing. Why?
A big picture analysis shows that the concept of "local" has changed. Technology and specifically search technology has opened the world to the local consumer with more than just local options.
In the old days one did business with those that one knew or knew of locally; now the local consumer can do business with any company they find searching the Internet.
The "Buy Local" programs have simply become obsolete as the concept of local has lost its meaning.
The inference once was that local consumers were looking for businesses and a good way to find reliable businesses was through the local Chamber of Commerce member list. Actually this idea died in the 1970's and 1980's and was in reality not a member benefit by 2000.
In the past a new business would join the Chamber hoping to gain local exposure and maybe get some extra business. The badly maligned Chamber Mixers would help serve this function.
New Chamber members were told to bring their "pitches" and stack of business cards and hand them out at the mixers. So in effect the Chamber mixer became a big "let's sell to ourselves" exercise, as rarely do non-Chamber members attend the mixers.
Local collective ads were once another way the local Chamber could promote its members; through brochures, local newspaper and magazine ads, an occasional TV or radio spot. As mass media has gotten more expensive, the collective ads have gone by the wayside.
And like many organizations, the local Chambers of Commerce have been hit hard financially in the recent economic downturn. As their cash flows have diminished, the Chambers' ability to hire and retain good staff had diminished as well.
Hence, all the ubiquitous job postings for Chamber Executive Directors. Part of the "executive package" is that the executive director must raise money to pay for herself.
This means that the primary function of the executive director is not promoting local business but raising enough money to keep the Chamber above water.
But in all fairness, it's not just the executive director's fault; what can a group do locally to promote themselves?
The biggest complaint today is that the Chamber does little or nothing for its members so it has become harder and harder to justify the time and $150 fee. The first question a new Chamber prospect asks is 'what is in it for my business?'
If the expectation is increased business, as many new Chamber members hope, then the expectation turns to disappointment over time. That's too bad.
Communities need a strong business community to thrive and communities with a weak business community have problems.
The simple fact is that the local Chambers of Commerce are delivering less and less value to their members. Unless the local Chambers are able to redefine their mission and find ways to bring greater value, the Chambers will simply go the obsolete route of newspaper advertising.
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Visualize being in the indigenous Third World.
Imagine an indigenous populist political candidate from a populist political party running for mayor. This candidate campaigns throughout the countryside blaming the current local political administration of being corrupt, leaving the municipality in debt and not doing anything for "the people".
As a reformer this populist candidate goes to rural areas and promises new roads, community centers, jobs, schools, assistance for farmers and small businesses, health clinics and so on.
He promises the urban electorate road repairs, improved garbage service, new sewer lines and new culverts to prevent flooding during heavy rains and so on.
To put it bluntly, this whole region of about 60,000 people needed just about everything.
As one of the poorest regions in Mexico this area was economically depressed with an eroding agricultural base causing many locals to leave the area in search of work. And greater than 90% of the population was indigenous Maya.
The party in power had been in power for many decades and had made an "institution" out of corruption. This corruption pervaded every aspect of government and nothing happened of a local political nature unless it happened through this systemic corruption.
The new populist candidate railed on this corruption at the federal, state and of course local government levels. Tired of corrupt government abusing the electorate, the electorate voted for the candidate of "change" who won in a landslide. The local political "revolution" had started.
Fast forward this scene to three years later.
The city is on the verge of bankruptcy. The municipal debt has soared in the past few years some 2,000 percent placing almost all city services on the edge of collapse. Municipal workers are on strike demanding back wages which had been promised by the populist party's candidate.
In three years almost no local streets were maintained except of course in the neighborhood where the populist revolutionary lived. During the rainy season many of the local streets flood and are impassable.
The local city hall building needs painting and is beginning to look abandoned.
The local populist meanwhile has done rather well. Reportedly his family has been able to take trips to Europe and expand their cultural awareness. His children now drive fast sports cars improving their self-esteem so they won't feel so "Indian".
The revolutionary also managed to make a number of improvements on his ranch.
Things were good for the new political boss of this small city of indigenous people because he reportedly paid himself a salary greater than the salary of the President of Mexico. Or as they used to say in the old days; "nice work if you can get it."
As the populist mayor's term came to an end, the protests began to heat up. The farmers wanted to know why the mayor kept none of the promises he made to them. The local housewives wanted to know why the streets in their neighborhoods had been neglected while the streets in the mayor's neighborhood were all repaired.
The local business people wondered what services would be cut back and how that would hurt their businesses. The vendors at the local market wondered how long they could sell food with the stench of sewage filling the air.
They also wondered why the Mayor arranged to sell city property to a big box chain competitor planning to locate just a few blocks from the "peoples" market.
The new incoming mayor from a different party said times would not only be austere but in fact many city services would be curtailed or possibly eliminated. He also indicated that many financial records were not complete and that would be how his administration would start his term.
Impossible fancy? Hardly. It happens all over the developing world with indigenous peoples. The ex-mayor in question is from Quintana Roo, Mexico; the same rapidly developing state as Cancun, Cozumel, Playa del Carmen and Tulum.
As the Governor stood by the new mayor promised he would work hard to confront local problems but the coming years will most certainly be austere and the local populace will have to expect cuts and reductions in service. By working together there is hope, the new chief says reassuringly.
Folks always need hope. But just what hope can realistically be expected from a corrupt system? Unfortunately the only realistic expectation is that like history a corrupt system repeats itself; it's the nature of the system.
So in the end it is largely an indigenous thing; a version of the theme "we have met the enemy and they are us". But you have to admit it's nice work if you can get it.
Bad Boy China is finally ticking off the sensitive diversity folks in my barrio. Somehow lead contaminated products were easier to take; after all, lead kills slowly. Lead is not nearly as dramatic as say a date rate drug coated toy that sends infants into nasty comas.
When the story first broke my first reaction was how horrible for the kids and the second reaction was how the hell did such a drug comes to be on an infant's toy? The answer is not apparent and it took a bit of poking around and plugging into the international network. But thanks to our dedicated staff we quickly picked up the scent and were on the trail...
It appears that Chinese product development laser beams on the results and ignores the means. The cheaper the production the cheaper the price and the more competitive the product. Good business. Sometimes real good business. Sometimes great business.
We discovered that the Chinese scientific community loves American science, ingenuity and creativity. They think we are aces. They love the rigors of our system as is evidenced by all the UCLA, Michigan and U Mass diplomas on their cubicle walls. Perhaps foremost on their admiration list was none other than the man himself, Thomas A. Edison.
Edison was one driven guy. He tried anything and everything until it worked and herein lies the connection between modern Chinese product development and our maniacal Thomas A. Edison, my boyhood hero.
Our research team finally uncovered the truth and we found out that Thomas was actually a frustrated poker player. Every time he would sit down and play with the boys he would lose his shirt. Thomas didn't like that. He liked his shirt and he hated losing. But he stunk at poker.
So Thomas said he was simply going to change the rules. For instance, he could keep drawing cards until he got the hand he wanted. It worked great for Thomas but not really for anyone else so they simply told Thomas that he could take his rules and go play with himself.
Emotionally crushed, our whimpering Thomas retired to the safety and comfort of his lab where he and his crew busted out a stream of original products such as the world never had known and quite likely will never see again. Workers Comp laws simply won't allow it.
The Chinese aren't stupid. They know what happened. They idolize Edison and think all the other American poker players are goofy, which they are. Back in the labs they line up stuff on a table just like Edison and try one after the other. Day after day and night after night. Just like Edison.
The first thing that works is the winner. Bingo and end of game. In the case of the kiddie toy the date rate drug compound was the first thing that worked and it was clearly cheap and available. For some reason I kept wondering what effect dumping this compound into a drinking water source would do to those that drink it. Spike in local date rapes?
Unfortunately our man Thomas Edison might have approved. He might have immigrated to China where he could practice his craft with no Worker's Comp or EPA. He was a maniac.
So far so good? Let's take a look at south of the border...
Mexico and Mexicans in general are not very pro-Chinese. Through corrupt Mexican customs and other means the Chinese are dumping container ships of goods on the Mexican mercados. A guayabera shirt, a molcahete or grinding rock, even the Mexican Virgen Guadalupe Mother of Jesus herself is now mass produced in China. This is ticking the paisanos off.
So why buy Mexican when Chinese is cheaper?
Because it sends a message. Hello? It also employs a Mexican who might have a job and not have to swim the river or walk the desert to find a job in Your Town. The U.S. should be supporting our biggest trading partner, neighbor and friend and encouraging more consumption of Mexican goods.
That's tough because if Americans were to suddenly stop buying Chinese products, Wal-Mart would go broke. Overnight. The conveyor belts running from the factories in China directly onto the shelves of Wal-Mart would suddenly stop. RIP.
Mexico would boom and many Americans with families would start sneaking across the border to look for jobs with health care. All the Mexicanos here would return to Mexico and start their own businesses and companies and corporations. Sooner or later the Mexicans would wise up and build a wall but until then we could use the family and friends network to get in.
It's strange what progress and profit margins can do. I saw a picture on the Internet of a woman in China drinking out of bucket of water from a yellow river. If we are going to buy we may as well buy to create a job for a friendly neighbor and not create profit margins for those dumping toxins in that river.
Buy Mexican. Remember the job you help create in Mexico today might be yours tomorrow...
Better to buy from friends and neighbors than from those that poison us and even their own.
On a recent trip to a developing country I became more aware of the influence of infrastructure and its impact on economic and business development. This insight brought out the need for an adequate infrastructure on which to build an economic base.
The final conclusion I made on this particular trip was: without a solid infrastructure the economic development and human potential of a town, region, country will be less than optimal. The consequences are that both economic and human potential is restricted: this loss not only lowers a standard of living but shatters dreams, opportunities and innovation.
Perhaps the most obvious symptom of a weak infrastructure is that people will do what they have to do to survive. On Maslow's hierarchy of needs, the basics like food and clothing come first. It is very difficult to innovate and create when hungry. Economies with weak infrastructures often evolve into subsistence economies.
What are the outward symptoms of a subsistence economy? For one thing, everybody hustles the basics. Everyone opens a small store at their house (or hut) or becomes a street vendor. Basic commodities become cheaper and the margins for selling these commodities become quite small. In the case of food, only large stores selling high volume can generate sufficient margins to become profitable. Smaller stores and vendors make very small margins, just enough perhaps to feed themselves. The subsistence market continues and is even strengthened as more 'entrepreneurs' enter the subsistence commodities market.
Another symptom can be seen in the skilled and semi-skilled labor markets. If an individual has a skill they can trade on, they will do that rather than opt for subsistence vending. The value of these skills may be diminished as the supply outstrips the demand, creating a skilled labor price war. This makes it hard for all but the large and specialty labor suppliers to exist profitably as they are always threatened by those in the market that will do the job for less. As the bidding wars spiral downward the ability of a company to train and help its employees improve is significantly diminished. Service industries such as construction (including plumbing, electrical, roofing, etc), auto-related businesses (such as auto repair and autobody), and transportation (bus, taxi, freight, air) as well as other service industries are negatively effected. On an international or interregional basis these industries become less competitive and more susceptible to outside competition. This slows development and creates another symptom of the subsistence economy: a lack of discretionary income in large segments of the population.
So a population ends up 'hustling' and very likely becomes 'corrupt'. Instead of looking for ways to improve production, services, quality, etc., the preoccupation becomes one of the hustle, scam and the bribe. Here lies perhaps the greatest challenge to economic and human development: how to make an economy be driven by competition/markets and not politics or culture. In this kind of economic environment working harder or even smarter is not enough: the most likely keys to success are who you know and who they know. Again, the net result is that internal markets become less competitive and the external demand for goods and services is diminished.
As a consequence, the subsistence economy creates a small and ineffective tax base. This small tax base restricts future growth, improvements and perhaps worst of all any future tax revenue improvements. Highways, phone systems, shipping, water, sewage, electrical power, food distribution - - all suffer from lack of a solid tax base. Add to the weak tax base an almost certain layer of bureaucratic/government corruption, then all the ingredients are set for a long term subsistence economy. In the globalized economies of the 21st century, the subsistence economies will become increasingly threatened by outside competition and perhaps more importantly less competitive in international markets. Protectionism becomes a political tactic, imports increase along with a negative trade balance, and the prices of many goods and services go beyond the reach of many in that limited economy. The old adage of the 'rich get richer and the poor get the shaft' is a foregone conclusion.
Unfortunately the only growth these subsistence economies can count on is internal and not external ...usually from internal population increases or internal migrations to urban areas. Those that 'have' in these stifled economies often spend all their energy and resources in 'protecting' what they have. Their view is 'I've got mine and any change in the status quo can only hurt my relative position'. The protectionism, corruption, and consequently difficult and high costs of doing business do tend to provide formidable barriers to entry and help maintain the status quo It also develops many industries that are ineffective and less able to provide opportunities --industries that might not survive in open markets. Mature industries, especially in the service sectors, become overly saturated. New industries find the barriers to entry too severe so innovation is stifled. Eventually interregional and international opportunities are lost.
And the cycle is repeated. It becomes not only a way of doing business but a way of life. Each individual in the subsistence system tries desperately to hold on to their tiny chunk of economic advantage. It becomes a cultural issue and hence very slow to change. To an outsider, it becomes incomprehensible in what outwardly appears chaos though in truth it is a well ordered albeit malfunctioning system.
The infrastructure eventually becomes overwhelmed, ineffective and inefficient. By saving on a sewage system up front a subsistence economy then pays a subsequent price in illness and poor health. By corruptly taking tax funds out of highway repair, the costs of transporting goods becomes higher, eroding margins on those goods. Without reliable, cheap phones communication is hampered in the connected world of today further driving up the costs of doing business.
The real tragedy is that a region's greatest resource -- its people -- is wasted. Yet the forces of change, especially changing markets, are creating pressure on weak infrastructures and their accompanying subsistence economies. As these pressures increase we will see the lower level economic participants demand more and more from the weak systems they live under. When those systems become too inefficient then the systems themselves will be questioned. When those questions and pressures become too great an eruption of social unrest and quite possibly demands for a 'structural reorganization' will occur. Those that have their stakes in these weak economies will not give up easily and the friction will be enormous.
As we approach a new business era we should all be aware of the unlimited opportunities the New World will bring. But we must be very much aware that these opportunities will not apply to all. Unfortunately we must acknowledge upheaval as these old subsistence cultures die and are transformed at what may be a very high cost. What these emerging societies will look like is not certain. Yet, we should not be surprised when this happens...
Jack D. Deal
We are staying in a new hotel overlooking the zocalo or plaza. For some reason I just like looking down at the people; maybe it was from my travel days in Spain.
What we do see are women dressed in very colorful native dresses; more than we have seen anywhere else in Mexico. Supposedly each dress and its colors identify which village the women is from; but I did stop them and inquire.
We take a walk and do the obligatory stop at the local church,it is rather large, filled with the faithful and the tearful. The padre is conducting some sort of communion mass with the chalice and the assistants and the rest of the service. The sounds are mournful and sadness fills the air.
Outside the night is bustling and there are people walking everywhere. We walk past the church and wind our way down to the local market; it is even more crowded. It is clear Ocosingo is a commercial center for the entire region; it is the only town of any size for at least 75 miles in every direction. And there is only one highway; the one we took into town. We stop at some stands and have some corn; we aren't very hungry since we had the big lunch.
We sit and people watch and it is quite a show. A large Indian crowd has gathered around a blanket hawker working out of the back of his truck. We have seen these hawkers elsewhere in Mexico but it is less common than I remember back in the old days.
What strikes me are all the Internet cafes around and they are full. I stop into the one directly below our hotel and tell them that I can receive a strong signal on my laptop in the room above; but the employees don't know how wireless works. They say the owner will be in tomorrow; all the internet cafes are filled. All I need is the access code. Somewhere, somehow these young folks have learned all about technology and are hungry for the information world. Technology certainly may provide a way up for many of them or at least help.
It's clear we should spend tomorrow exploring; this crossroads town is vibrant and exciting. The stores are beginning to close and folks are going home or to wherever they spend the night. Even though we are running out of time, we decide to stay one extra day.
I get up early and look out from the balcony. I can see the high, surrounding mountains still covered in mist. Folks are scurrying below on their way to work; a good indication there is a local economic base. After yesterday's brush with poverty, I appreciate any economic base as a plus. There is no virtue in childhood malnutrition; not communist, capitalist or otherwise and the memory of that poverty is still with me.
Jack D. Deal
I could get a few odd jobs here and there fishing, continues Poncho, but as you know there are times when there are no fish and no jobs. I was sad that all my old friends left me, but like I said, I wasn’t a quitter. My brother let me stay in his little hut over there, he points, it’s gone now. And I decided I would fish when I could and open a cantina right there. The beer company, wanting to get my business, fronted me five cases of beer and that’s how I started my life over again. That first week I was open I sold five beers…can you imagine that? Some people might say – five beers a week is no business – and they would be right. But I thought five beers are better than four beers and I tried to not be discouraged.
The next week I sold ten beers and each week a few more…not much but my beer sales kept growing each week. Here in Mexico we all buy our beer from a handful of suppliers so in turn we all sell the beer at pretty much the same price…unless you have a fancy restaurant or women to go with it, he laughs. So I thought to myself, how can I gain an edge if we all have to sell beer at the same price?
That’s when I started to make botanas or snacks. My business grew because the clientele liked the snacks…they were free and didn’t cost much to me and it was good for my business. But then I noticed they wanted more food, like meals, and sometimes would go to somewhere else so they could eat. Beer drinkers like to eat, ha! he laughed.
But I wasn’t a cook…I didn’t like to cook. I can cook now because I had to learn, but when the women are here they cook. But back then I had to learn and I did not know how…but I knew some cooks that could cook.
Some were even my friends but they would not tell me how to cook, especially things like garlic shrimp or seven seas soup. A few said they would show me how to cook certain dishes if I would get them drunk, so that’s how it started. I just made real sure that I got the exact recipe down before they got too drunk and had to go home, he laughs, can you imagine?
In season, I would catch my own fish and crab and cook meals in the restaurant, or at least the meals I knew. I still can’t do tortillas and enchiladas very well and those are the easiest things to prepare, no amigo? he laughs. I continued to sell beer and food and one day hired a woman to cook…and from there the restaurant began to grow. Now it’s less of a cantina and more of a restaurant – and I like it better talking with people like you and not drunks, he laughs again.
And now that I’m doing pretty well and expanding the restaurant, guess who are coming back to see me? he asks. That’s right, all my old compadres and old friends that did not remember me when I was in jail or had nothing. So how should I act with them, amigo? he laughs, what would you do?
I shake my head and he continues.
I’m a businessman now, not a criminal or a broken down street person, he continues. So they come in to the restaurant, eat and drink and I give them the full bill…maybe I’ll give one of their kids a free soda. They look surprised and I tell them that its business and that’s it. Sometimes they come back again and sometimes they don’t…but they get the message, he laughs. I do that with all of them except the one that came to visit me in jail…he has remained a true friend. Does that make me a bad person? he laughs again, or did life teach me a lesson and I don’t have to be taught twice? I only went through fourth grade but I have a good memory and head for business, he smiles, and for a person’s character. Life has taught me to be a good judge of character…
Angelica is frowning and I stand up to go.
Great speaking with you Poncho, I say, and we’ll do it again someday. Right now the sun is getting lower and we still are going to the beach.
And I need to speak with the other customers too, he laughs, they must think I’m ignoring them. We shake hands and I head for the beach.
Once again I’m surprised at how much Tuxpan has grown. We cross the bridge and it’s building after building. Tuxpan is now a major port and big ships dock at the entrance to the river. All the way to the beach it’s developed…in the old days I remember coconut groves and buying coconuts on the way to the beach. Those groves are long gone now and are now replaced with car dealerships, restaurants, large homes and stores selling everything imaginable. Progress.
The beach has changed too. I remember when there were only four or five restaurants and now there are maybe a hundred. The beach is developed for several kilometers and a lot of it is staked out by hawkers that put up umbrellas and plastic tables and chairs. Cars can drive on the beach and it is filled with Mexican tourists from Veracruz and other states. I don’t see any Americans or even Germans…it’s not that kind of tourist, spot, ha! The trash and the cars and the crowds are not the type of beach that brings the international set, ha!
This is the same beach that Fidel left to create his revolution in Cuba.
In the distance I can see two huge tankers offshore and down the beach the huge thermoelectric power plant belching out smoke…all a price of progress.
The constant stream of vendors comes in all shapes and sizes; from women selling tamales out of buckets to pick-ups selling corn on the cob or fried bananas out of the back. Some of the push carts are very interesting in the way they are propelled to the way they display their wares. I look up and down the crowded beach and see the tourists buying food and souvenirs, as do we. The Germans aren’t interested in fried bananas or cheap souvenirs, but we Mexicans sure are!
I was thinking of Fidel and why his dogmas will never work here and why he is so disliked and then it hit me! Eureka, that’s it! I exclaim out loud.
The Mexicans are considered to be some of the most creative people on the planet and not very conformist…a good example of their creativity is the steady stream of imaginative vendors going past me.
Surprisingly Mexico is rated the twelfth most competitive country in the world and it could be first if the 40 million street vendors could apply their skills and ambition to more than cheap souvenirs and corn on the cob. Heavy industry won’t do; it always goes to cheap labor places like China and there is always somewhere cheaper. But 40 million small entrepreneurs could change the face of the economy without having to exploit labor. Besides, there aren’t that many jobs anyway…
A Mexican Marshall Plan to the rural and immigrant feeder town zones could even help stop all the pain and agony of the border problems…
Mexico’s future is to unlock the potential of its people; not to build large industries or vast capital fortunes like Carlos Slim’s. He’s even far richer than Fidel, ha! At least Carlos doesn’t deny being a capitalist, ha!
When folks create their own opportunities, they can do anything.
Maybe it’s time politicians on both sides of the border get together and look at what can be done to unlock this vast, untapped potential. It could help slow down the flood of illegal immigration and raise millions of Mexicans out of poverty. It is in the best interest of the U.S. to have an economically viable Mexico…and not the controlled, restricted societies found in Cuba and now being seen in other Latin American countries.
It just makes a lot more sense than building a big wall…
On the way back I’m surprised at all the traffic and hustle and bustle. I just wonder what will happen to Tuxpan when and if a major hurricane hits…there are so few roads out of the city and there are so many people living next to the river and beach in huts and cinder block houses. Even the larger buildings are only reinforced with simple rebar…I must be getting old – I didn’t worry about those things back in the old days!
But I haven’t seen any emergency evacuation routes signs anywhere…where will the people go?
Jack D. Deal
I agree and two minutes later we’re off. Techies don’t hang around when they are ready to move.
I suppose Genaro tried to get you to go to church? he asked.
Yes, but there was a football game, I reply.
He’s a good guy but a bit misguided, he laughs; he thinks that religions that don’t fit his are the problem. He thinks we Mexicans have to smash what institutions we have to create progress. His religion is fine but the Catholics are not…but most men are like you, they don’t go to Mass anyway…they drink beer and watch the soccer games…the churches are filled with women and children and when the boys are big enough, they stop going to church, he laughs, it’s God’s will. He laughs again.
The conversation shifts to Pemex, the national oil monopoly.
The oil is a monopoly, he says, and has built in price increases…every month the price goes up – that is why those that live along the border go to Texas to buy their gasoline…it’s much cheaper. Corruption, the union, and the fact there is a monopoly put a heavy burden on us…I can’t see where any nationalized industry in any country ultimately works…it’s as you Gringos might say, the wrong business model. So anyone that uses gasoline or natural gas in their business has to pass along the costs to their customer or they go out of business. A business has to take in more than they spend – I think you Gringos taught us that, he laughs.
And there are those that say since they don’t have a car anyway, the high gas prices don’t affect them. They don’t understand that gasoline and diesel drives all transportation and distribution. The high prices make our overall prices higher, no? Don’t you think that we have high prices here? Almost everything here in Mexico costs more than in the States…no?
And look at the electricity, he continues, I have many friends that run small businesses such as Internet and copy centers. Their electrical costs are as high as 30-40% of their costs…how can they be competitive? Our government subsidizes electricity during the warm six months but not in the winter…the rates really soar then. Plus, we all pay a 15% IVA or value added tax plus another 6% for an electrical development tax. This is so they can expand the power grid into rural and marginal areas and thus increase the demand and perpetuate the system.
Fox, to his credit, tried to dismantle these state owned monopolies but failed. Calderon may try but it will be almost impossible. Why? Politics and that crap about national pride and so on, he laughs, but the truth is gas and electricity are essential for development and by making them very expensive we make it harder or impossible for many areas to develop.
My business is okay because my customers are big and are involved in oil extraction and refineries and so forth. But the small business that sell commodities or provide services just can’t get ahead…they can’t buy the tools and machinery and expand and create jobs, right? Without jobs, especially in the country and smaller towns, folks either live in misery or go to the U.S. Do you understand my point of view?
I think so, I reply.
That’s why you see these businesses run out of homes all over Mexico. The same light bulb that lights the little store lights the house as well. These family businesses can’t rent elsewhere or afford two electric bills. It’s sad and politicians don’t seem to get it…or maybe they do, but they don’t have the will to stand up for what is best. Calderon is better but still, he’s a politico too. It makes us frustrated and these frustrations make millions of us cross the border to your country.
And just look at the young people…what opportunity do they have? In Escarcega or Champoton they finish school and there are no jobs. Their only alternative is to start a labor intensive merchant or service business and spend their days in routine and mundane tasks. I see engineers driving taxis and engineers working as waiters. They get tired, frustrated and take their energy and ambition to the U.S.
I told him about seeing the young adults coming out of the brush in Texas. They didn’t look like campesinos or drug dealers and it appeared they were probably university students.
Exactly, he laughs, they are smart enough to leave. They don’t want to spend their lives making the equivalent of one or two dollars an hour. He hands me a Coke and opens one for himself.
Smaller businesses can only generate the cash flow they need in the larger towns and cities, he continues, I have done work all up and down the Gulf coast and it’s the same. Towns over 50,000 people are growing; those smaller than 20,000 are not. So we have this real problem of migration from the countryside and small towns to the large towns and cities. The growth is chaotic and the countryside is getting poorer…at least that’s the way I see it, he adds, that’s why the States look so appealing. As soon as the kids are old enough, they leave – their parents can’t stop them. I don’t want that for my kids…what parent would? You are a father – would you want your son to swim the river or walk through the desert heat? But what parent can realistically say to their son or daughter they have to stay and spend a life in misery?
Look at these Houses of Broken Dreams, he says pointing to a cinderblock house with three foot walls and no roof, my paisanos start these houses thinking they can somehow find the money to finish them but many times can’t – these unfinished houses are everywhere and you’ve seen them many, many times…the rebar eventually rusts and the block crumbles and they become relics like the Indian structures of old. Why must it be that way?
I don’t know, I reply, when I left California I thought I knew more than I really do…I see great potential but I see problems that appear unsolvable not because of religion or global trade, but things like lack of opportunity and artificially high prices.
Do us all a favor and just tell your countrymen the truth, he continues, we are not criminals or evil – you know us well enough by now. Tell them that we are like them and want the best for our children and want to be able to work hard and prosper…just like our brothers in the United States.
I was somehow hoping I was smart enough to find some solutions, I laugh.
Oh, but you are, amigo, you are, he replies, write your books and articles. I can use one on computers and technology, he laughs. We Mexicans have to solve our own problems and can’t rely on outsiders for that…and besides, we are a proud country and it embarrasses us when we can’t do it ourselves. All we need is to understand each other and to keep open communication and the realization that we are neighbors, friends and family…come on amigo, I don’t know you very well, but I can tell you are a smart Gringo and can do that, no? For you it’s easy, no?
I look out the window at the small houses and shops and children playing in the dusty streets. The neighbors chatting with each other and the men drinking beer at tables outside the cantinas. A mother is nursing her baby and several uniformed schoolchildren are laughing as they return from school. A mechanic and his apprentice are peering under the hood of beat pickup. A group of young boys and girls are flirting and laughing and being teenagers just as they do anywhere.
Sure, I answer, not looking at him, it’s the least I can do.
Jack D. Deal
Mexcio imports more from the U.S. than weather of course; the good as well as the not so good. With porno one can turn it off or not look at it on the TV or Internet; with the porno rap songs it’s hard to avoid. Many of the stores in Mexico now blast this music out from their storefronts…the bad as well as the ugly. Right now I’m listening involuntarily to a rap song that saying something to the effect ‘touch my privates, baby’. The exact words are much worse…Songs like this are all over now and I guess it goes back to U.S. rap. Such is culture…
I wonder that in a society that has a real problem with abuse of women just what the effect of sanctioning such abuse through rap songs has. Maybe it is the same as extremely violent TV shows and movies; it’s just entertainment and all in good fun, no? I wonder what an abused woman walking down the street hearing these songs thinks…She has to feel society condones it on some level…no? And everywhere I go, especially in the cities and towns, I hear this music blasting out, whether I choose to listen to it or not.
I wouldn’t say I’m a prude by any means but I do think porno, obscenities and songs depicting women as farm animals should be optional. If it’s not entertainment to me, I should not be forced to be exposed to it. Walking down the streets it is not optional unless one wears ear plugs. But Mexico is a free speech country and it’s hard to restrict any kind of speech and still be free. We see that in Cuba and China where the alternatives are much worse. Any restrictions result in everything being restricted. Angelica whacks me when I start repeating some of these songs to her…she is such a prude, ha!
This is also another reason why I prefer rural to urban Mexico. The life of the country mouse is in many respects much better…or at least more tranquil…
Right now I’m listening involuntarily to a song called ‘Chihuahua’. It’s partly in English and Spanish. Many Mexican groups are recording part of their songs in English now…to hit that big non-Spanish speaking Latino U.S. market – the Guilty Latinos as they are sometimes called. Another example of the increasingly close cultural and language ties between the two countries. At least this song is not obscene…
Dr. G takes us to famous restaurant in downtown Mexico called Rey de Cabrito or King of Goat. He says the French were big goat fans and brought the food to Mexico…the food is so-so, expensive and not as good as the tacos and stew we had in Estacion Manuel. Just because a restaurant is fancy and expensive does not mean the food is any better. I order a complete goat leg meal; complete comes with leg of goat, some fried onions, tortillas and salsa. No other vegetables. The folks in Monterrey are famous for eating meat only and I guess this is an example of it…seems odd a meal could be complete without vegetables or fruit…all the clientele seem pasty faced and sad…
Later that night we stay up and talk about all sorts of things…one of the more interesting topics is what Dr. G calls ‘mediocrity’. We have the same phenomena in the U.S. so I can relate to it very well…I have seen it in the workplace under a number of different conditions and in different industries.
He claims that less than 20% of Mexicans account for essentially all of the productivity in Mexico. That figure probably is higher in the U.S. but not by much. He says that if you get hired under a contract to produce so many units or deliver so many hours of service and you fulfill the terms of the contract, your co-workers will pull you aside and ask you what your problem is. They will suggest that you lower your standards to theirs…if not they will go tell your boss you are after his job and he will fire you.
Maybe this is why Mexico is sitting on huge natural gas reserves and has to import natural gas from the U.S. It’s also why Mexico will have to start importing gasoline in the next 10 years as well. This in a time, Dr. G reminds me, when the price of oil is the highest in history…both the oil industry and electric industry are nationalized in Mexico and the prices are in fact higher than in the U.S. There have been numerous attempts to privatize these industries but all have failed…
If you want to keep your job you have to conform or else. Your choice is between this compromised mediocrity or letting your children go hungry. Union jobs, government jobs and non-profit jobs are this way. I tell him what I’ve seen in the U.S. in these areas as well.
This dampens individual initiative and resulting productivity as well…big time. It keeps a country and a nation from being competitive and allows countries like China to dominate and eliminate industries through international competition. China has kicked many Mexican industries in the guts…We both agree that the smaller, productivity-based businesses are the one bright spot…such as those that abound in Silicon Valley. It’s a sad statement about the human condition…we are lazy and don’t want those that aren’t lazy to surpass us, which they naturally will. I remember being told by a board member in one job I should not worry about what I was doing but simply think of my job in terms of compensation and benefits, just like everyone else. In managed and controlled economies with high taxes, mediocrity becomes the death blow to competition…
Later I lay awake thinking why so few account for so much productivity. How corruption and lack of productivity are keeping the Third World down and may account for the theory that some of these economies are nothing more than black holes…I wonder why the upwardly mobile ambitious are sometimes thwarted because of mediocrity in the workplace and what that means in terms of an economic base and national domestic production. I can’t always force my mind to avoid these unpleasant thoughts…
We create the wrong economic model and wonder why it doesn’t work. Maybe that is why the leaders of Cuba, Venezuela and Argentina constantly point the finger at external as opposed to internal factors for their failures. Hungrier competitors take our markets until they too become mediocre and eventually fall. We call it the business or product cycle and consider it normal course of things…maybe it is normal.
On a national level it can keep a developing country down. There has to be a tendency toward status quo mediocrity and it is based in human behavior. Changing that behavior has to be a priority although an extremely difficult thing to do…improved productivity is one thing that can fight poverty.
We are our own worst enemy, no?
Jack D. Deal
We refuse to expand our awareness and intellect. We pass all this lump of crap onto our children and then wonder why they are so foolish…just like us.
We embrace ignorance as if it were a good friend…or some sort of bizarre comfort zone. Twilight Zone is more like it…
We catch dengue fever and die because we are too ignorant to do better. Our kids lay in critical care with blood oozing from their noses because we waited too late to take them to the doctor. Or maybe we took them to a witchdoctor first believing that what is cheaper may in fact be better…and then bury them and wonder what happened.
The tropics give new meaning to a cold shower. The sun feels like a broiler. I think I’ll take another cold one and go buy some beer. I’m bitten and sunburned all over and think that should help…I don’t know what I’ll do about the chiggers but scratch them night and day. It’s hard to be circumspect when you scratch your butt. And I know I’ll take the sores back with me to California.
The Jehovah’s believe a huge sea beast with seven horns will rise up out of the sea and do something nasty with all us heathens. Tonight I feel like we all deserve it even though I’m not sure I ever really understood the mark of the beast and such. I read the Book of Revelation as a kid and it sounded pretty odd to me then and it must not have changed much over the years. It must be faith but tonight I don’t have faith in much of anything.
I was driving back home and truck drivers were flicking their headlights at me. That’s a sign something is wrong up ahead. I can testify from personal experience that the Mexican big rig drivers are some of the best in the world. And sure enough. There was a loco walking right in the middle of the road. Tonight for me that loco is a metaphor for humanity…the whole sorry bunch of us. We are all crazy drunk and walking down the middle of the highway in the dead of night…
It’s not just a matter of analyzing the correct solution and supplying the requisite ideas and concepts. I’ve tried that before and seen it fail miserably… Just because I think I have a model to get someone out of poverty doesn’t mean they are willing to make the necessary changes.
Intellect and understanding alone is not enough. It is only the first step. It has to be truly felt through the emotions. Maybe that is the key…creating the desire. Kids have a natural curiosity before society rubs it out…once that curiosity and desire is gone, what is left? Adults…
I was speaking with a neighbor today that was robbed while he and his family slept. He thinks the robbers sprayed something in the air so they would not wake up. Even if the robbers were caught he said he would not press charges. He was afraid they could come back and harm him after they got out of jail. Some days it seems there is just a steady stream of this stuff…no wonder we can’t get ahead!
As if things couldn’t get any worse I found another chigger…some days are like that. Better stop now before I say something I will truly regret…
Jack D. Deal
Even though almost every Mexican carries Spanish blood? And weren’t the Aztecs just as brutal, with sacrifices and slaves and such?
Yes, especially the Aztecs. But not all the Indians were like them…
Not the easiest thing for a foreigner to understand, I add.
But that’s the way it is…we can’t change that, he says. For 300 years Mexico was dominated by the Spanish and to this day there is resentment. Just like there is still resentment about the Americans taking California, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas from Mexico.
But wasn’t that to a great extent due to Mexicans like Santa Ana selling out Mexico?
Santa Ana lived in Cuba, he says, and like many of our presidents was interested in only his personal gain. That is a part of our Spanish heritage, no? he laughs. The Spaniards came to pillage and plunder, whether as soldiers or disguised as Catholic priests. In your country, the Irish and English and Germans came to settle. There is a big difference. But of course your early settlers were expansionists, no? Always looking for something better, even if it was not theirs. That’s the reputation Americans have worldwide, if I am not mistaken.
Probably so, I agree.
When Texas was still a part of Mexico, Mexico invited American settlers into Texas so they could start farms and ranches and be productive. The land was good but not productive…there was what you would call a labor shortage, similar to what you have described in your California agriculture and Las Vegas service industry markets. Ironic, no? But the American settlers wanted to be independent from Mexico so they appealed to the US Congress which turned them down. The US Government did not want to start a war with Mexico. So for something like six months Texas was an independent country. And then came the Alamo and Sam Houston and you know that story...but like most stories there are always two sides, no?
Let me give you an example of another story with a paradox, he continues. Porfirio Diaz is largely considered by most Mexicans to have been a ‘monster’ and the cause of the Mexican Revolution. But when he came into power there was essentially no infrastructure in Mexico; no roads, railroads…nothing. He understood that Mexico needed to develop or it would remain forever poor…so he developed a strategy of inviting foreign companies in to do that development…there was no other way. The foreigners built one of the finest railroad systems in the entire world…as I told you my father worked on the railroad and all the many Revolutionary factions used the railroad since it was the best form of transportation.
Remember, amigo, the peso at that time was 1:1 with the dollar and there was zero foreign debt. In the post Revolution era that has never been the case.
But 99% of Mexicans lived in abject poverty, I reply.
Sure, but without any infrastructure, how would that change? Remember Diaz also brought in the Europeans that first developed the major heavy industries here in Monterrey. How long would it have taken without their knowledge and capital?
I don’t have an answer and shake my head.
Many of you Americans don’t take the time and effort to understand us. You think we still are asleep leaning up against that cactus. If you want to understand us you have to understand our heritage and our language. If you want to sell your products here you have to understand why our bureaucracy is so convoluted and difficult and why you have to put in your budget 20% for ‘extra expenses’. It’s getting better but it’s certainly not like California.
So how would you suggest I explain all this to my paisanos? I ask.
Ah, amigo, that I cannot say. That is your job, ha! Many Mexicans feel our neighbors to the north are really not interested in us at all and don’t care. But if some of you Americans are really interested in understanding us, you have to not imagine us as being something you want us to be. We are what we are and if you think it is worth the effort, you have to tell the truth. Quite frankly amigo it is going to be Americans like you to do the job…you can’t expect your leaders or politicians to do it – they are like leaders and politicians everywhere. But for you it should be easy, no?
Yeah, right, I answer, paradoxes are always easy...
Jack D. Deal
All these Indians come from San Luis Potosi, Hidalgo and other poorer states to the south. Most are at least bilingual in at least one Indian language and many speak more than one Indian language. Further proof that even folks coming from very poor circumstances can learn more than one language – is there any doubt that anyone can become bilingual?
Dr. G explains that most of the Indian languages were called dialects but now are called languages. If they are not written and have some form of grammar, they are considered dialects. But essentially all the Indian languages in Mexico are now written and have established grammatical rules.
This is the Indian’s park on Sunday, he explains, if a Monterrey youngster comes here a group will soon surround him and ask him to leave. If he doesn’t, they could even beat him up…so much for tolerance. I tell him much the same thing happens in some parts of the U.S.
Not all these Indians are recent internal immigrants…many are fourth, fifth and sixth generation internal immigrants. But they never assimilate…it’s a matter of race. The Indian features and the Spanish features are very distinctive and keep the races apart...a hard thing for the outsider to understand. That is why so many Mexicans consider Angelica and I to be such an odd couple…
He explains that back in the 1940’s the U.S. implemented the Bracero program and 200,000 workers flooded into Monterrey. But only 100,000 found Bracero jobs; most of the rest just stayed.
To understand racism in Mexico today one has to go back in history. It is not a simple history, especially for the foreigner. And it is often not a pleasant one either…
The initial Indians that settled in Mexico were by and large peaceful, such as the Olmecs. This all changed with the arrival of the Aztecs. One theory asserts the Aztecs were originally from Mongolia and hence their war-like behaviors. They crossed from Asia at the Bering Strait and migrated to what is Nayarit state today. Supposedly the modern day Huichol Indians are their direct descendants.
Eventually they crossed the mountains to what is today Mexico City. Back then it was a lake called Texcoco. They were looking for a special place called Aztlan that they would recognize when a large serpent appeared to them. Legend has it they found the serpent on a cactus and today that serpent symbol is the Mexican national symbol…
What the Aztecs found were easy pickings. Various peaceful tribes were located at various points around the lake; such as the Tlaxcalans, Nahuatls and the Chiminecas. They had formed towns with names such as Tacubaya, Xochimilco and Ixtapalapa; many of the current municipalities in Mexico City. Prior to the Aztecs, these tribes lived in harmony and traded goods with each other. They would build small, floating islands in the lake called chinampas where they would grow their food.
All this changed with the Aztecs. The Aztec kings such as Moctezuma, Cuatehmoc and Tizoc demanded tributes of food, gold and young maidens and warriors that were to be sacrificed to the Aztec gods. The Aztecs were big on human sacrifice, a fact that creates a bit of a wrinkle for those proud of their Indian heritage. All in all it was still a somewhat peaceful arrangement unless of course you were the one to be sacrificed, ha!
This changed with the arrival of the Spaniards in 1518. The Governor of Cuba sent Hernan Cortez to explore the Gulf Coast and to see if any other Europeans were arriving there. But Cortez had other ideas. Upon landing near the current port of Vera Cruz, he burned his ships so none of his soldiers would be able to desert and return back to Cuba. Cortez had no Plan B. He was a man with a vision and his vision was one of the biggest conquests in history…
He soon heard that the local coastal Indians were paying tribute to the Aztecs up in Lake Texcoco. He knew that was where the real goodies were so he decided to go. He entered the area with less than 400 men. The Aztecs, thinking he was some sort of bearded Aztec god, accepted his authority with little resistance. Why his happened is still a matter of debate, but happen it did. To this day in Mexico Cortez is not considered to be a hero but rather a villain.
Cortez then decided to go back to his original mission and went south to explore what is now current day Honduras. He left some 30 soldiers behind to keep order.
But these renegade soldiers began killing the Indians mercilessly and the Indians ‘revolted’. When Cortez finally returned in 1519 he found out he was no longer welcome and had to flee with his 200 men in what is now called Noche Triste or Sad Night. Legend has it that many of the soldiers drowned as they tried to cross the lake loaded with gold; their treasure still buried beneath the streets and houses of the present day Mexico City.
Cortez returned to the coast and immediately began his strategy to reconquer the Aztecs. With the help of an Indian woman translator called Malinche, he formed allies with tribes that were upset with the Aztecs. In modern day Mexico calling someone a Malinche carries a very negative connotation….
Upon his return he had some Spanish reinforcements but also 125,000 Indian warrior allies. Without these Indian allies, he would have not had the military capacity to win. Again facing little resistance, he reconquered the Aztecs. He was a bit smarter then before and did not kill the leaders but simply put them under a house arrest. Once again, the Aztecs acceded and things became somewhat peaceful.
It is estimated that in the first two years after this reconquest the Spanish soldiers sired some 10,000 children. As more soldiers came, this figure jumped to 100,000 another two years later. Of course these soldiers did not stay with the Indian women and one has to wonder if this legacy is still present in modern day Mexico.
Right behind the soldiers came the Jesuits and other priests and they made the Indians slaves. These Indians worked in the name of God and were often worked to death and simply replaced by other Indians. Some historians consider the Indians in this period to be worse off than before, though it is a relative conclusion. Is it better off to be worked to death or sacrificed?
This whole story would not be believable if it were not for the first hand written accounts by a number of priests. But that is what happened.
I’ll leave the sociological implications to others but it does offer insight into the race problem Mexico faces today. Those of pure Spanish blood consider themselves the top of the class structure and those of mixed blood go under them. Those with more pure Indian blood, such as the ones we see in Alameda Park, are on the bottom.
The outright slavery eventually gave way to an indentured servitude. The slaves became peons and were given food and a hut in exchange for long working hours under the worst of conditions. Today in Veracruz the workers are still called peons, though in many other areas they are referred to as campesinos.
The Spaniards subjugated the ‘Mexicans’ for 300 years. It is hard to understand how this could have happened but when a conqueror has total economic, military and religious control, it is hard to shake; guns, gold and God. It requires an independence revolution and this one took three centuries to happen.
More than four centuries later in many parts of Mexico, such as Monterey, the Indians still have not assimilated. They can prepare food, clean houses and care for children but must return to their own neighborhoods to live.
The sociological consequences of this marginalization have always plagued modern Mexico but today are causing a great deal of anxiety among the upper classes. They fear a France-like revolt of the modern day marginals. Some think it is already happening – is there a difference in burning cars and stealing them?
In these marginalized neighborhoods an estimated 30-35% of children grow up with little or no education, parental guidance or public assistance. They become criminals at ten or eleven and later join the narco gangs. In these gangs they know they will die young but at least they will provide something for their families. It is odd to see mansions that are built in some of these poor ‘barrios’…
The problem of marginalization is certainly not unique to Mexico and most societies have the problem in one form or another. We certainly have it in California. When opportunity and the ability to assimilate are close to non-existent, the conditions are primed for the creation of gangs and other symptoms of marginalization.
In California this problem is complicated by the lack of English. If one does not know English, it is very difficult to advance economically and find more than subsistence employment.
It is a social problem that neither the U.S. nor Mexico has been able to solve. As well as many other countries…Creating opportunities is critical as it provides an alternative to subsistence employment or a career path of crime.
The solutions are not easy, cheap or certainly quick. But until the marginals are integrated into mainstream societies, all socioeconomic classes will pay the price. Modern day France is a good example…
Jack D. Deal
It’s cold and rainy and we decided to go have some ‘caldo’ or soup at the market. It was delicious. We also had very tasty tacos – better than any I’ve had in a restaurant in the U.S. If Americans want really great Mexican food, it makes sense to go to Mexico, no?
The taco lady asked me where I was from and I said California. She said she had just come back from visiting her sister in Cincinnati, Ohio. She said it was a horrible experience for her and I asked her why.
First it took three days and nights to get there by bus. Then she got so sick from the food she had to go to the hospital. She said they gave her an IV drip and took all sorts of blood tests. The doctor spoke only English and she said that from what she could understand, he said she was soon going to die. She went back to her sister’s and told her sister that if she was going to die, it sure was not going to be in such a strange place as Ohio. She got back on the bus and rode three days and was ever so glad to be back home. Oh, and she’s fine now…after nearly dying in the U.S. from bad food!
We meet a family friend at a nearby stall. I strike up a conversation and he tells me I must go to Catemaco. And to not be afraid of the brujos. They only work if one believes in their powers… We also talk about the intersection of progress and ecology and how ecology is often the loser. Just look at all the trash, he says, how can that be progress?
Progress, like most human aspects, is relative. I see a cobbler fixing a tennis shoe. The associations come flying back as I watch him. When I first came to Mexico I was amazed to see auto mechanics rod out a radiator with a wire. I remember the time we were in the Sierras and I blew a hole the size of a silver dollar in a radial tire. I tried to find a used tire but could not. You don’t need a new tire, senor, I can fix said a ten year old boy at a vulcanizdora or tire repair shop. 30 minutes later he had patched it so we could use it as a spare and continue our journey. Necessity creates invention or something like that….
The brain associates ideas and experiences in funny ways. I remember on my first trip going to the old ranch with Angelica’s nutty cousin. There were maybe 50 squatters on the land and he wanted to shake them up a bit…I didn’t realize this was a type of western style range war. He gave me a six shooter with one bullet and he took a rifle. As we were walking through the cornfield he saw one of the squatter’s pigs and shot it. I heard shouts and commotion going on as men came out of jungle and fields and sat down in front of their huts and began to sharpen their machetes. This was going to be some kind of fight and here I was with a crazy cousin and one bullet. I was certain I could outrun any of them…ha! Eventually the older brother came and there was a confrontation but things calmed down. It’s odd that I would think of that time decades later in a market watching a cobbler fix a tennis shoe…the joke in California is that Mexicans can fix anything with duct tape and bailing wire.
But Mexicans tell it a little bit differently. They say that if you break down, the rural auto mechanics can fix your car with wire and pieces of whatever they happen to have at hand. The idea is that it will get you to the real mechanic in the next town but once you get there, you realize the patch or temporary fix was so good you don’t need the real mechanic. Sort of like the hole in my tire….
It’s a different mentality and maybe that is why I always get reverse culture shock when coming back to the U.S. It wouldn’t even occur to us gringos to even think of fixing a tennis shoe…
Jack D. Deal
Our only hope is that we develop technologies that allow us to use 10% of what we now use. You may think that is extreme, but if you have ever been thirsty you know that being thirsty is pretty extreme too. Right now California does not have that technology and most likely the solution will come from some kid that grows up and figures out what to do. Let’s sure hope so.
That kid may in fact be an immigrant kid. Immigrant kids tend to have simpler motivational dynamics; hunger, sleeping in the streets or very strict parents. Those that solve tomorrow’s problems won’t be those that come from the easy low stress comfort zone. They will be ambitious and fearless.
It’s important we don’t lose that kid that speaks Spanish because that kid could save California from its pending water crisis. Ma and pa may work as busboys and maids but that doesn’t mean the kids can’t go to junior college. We as a state and country need that kid to go to junior college. Later they can always go to Stanford or Harvard to get their masters degree!
California is running out of water. We need all the help we can get.
We spent the afternoon in North Las Vegas and had some tortilla soup. For those of you that haven’t been there, take a bus and see another side of Vegas. North Las Vegas reminds me of East San Jose, East Salinas or downtown Watsonville. Lots of non-manicured lawns, wrought iron work fences and older cars parked in front yards. Things strewn across the yard. This is where our waitress lives; she takes the bus each day from N. Las Vegas to the Strip. Her kids go to school there. This is where all the Latinos/Mexicanos live that work in the massive Las Vegas service industry. Without them the Sahara would not be open. Nor Caesar’s, Bellagio or the Venetian. Without them there would be no fancy restaurants or night clubs.
I think it’s very important her kids learn English and not just so they can serve me margaritas in English. One of them may operate on me one day. Or develop solutions to the water problems in the West. They will pay taxes and social security so I will have it.
Our waitress said something about overcoming her fear of being laughed at because of her English. Her kids caused her to lose that fear and now she is chasing the American Dream like the rest of us. At least through her kids.
I saw on TV where MGM/Mirage and the Nevada Association of Latina Women are teaming up to teach kids English. It’s not just that MGM needs English speaking service workers; it’s that they need managers, executives and stockholders as well. So do we.
We all win when our kids learn English.
Jack D. Deal
In the very old days of the big haciendas the Spanish landowners would give their peons a small patch of land to grow their own vegetables. This was known as the ejido. The modern day ejido was born from the Mexican Revolution and two men in particular: Emiliano Zapata and Francisco I. Madero. They came from different worlds; Zapata was a simple farmer and Madero the son of a rich landowner. Zapata is considered by Mexicans to be someone like George Washington.
The Revolution was fought primarily to break up the vast land holdings of the super rich that lived owned these haciendas. Often they would own thousands of hectares and would employ hundreds of peons or campesinos in a system that kept the workers indebted and trapped. Eventually the Revolution erupted and Mexico was in for a violent period of change…for ten long years.
Part of that change resulted in the Plan de Ayala, the initial agrarian reform plan for Mexico. The idea of the communal farm was simple; share the land and resources to make the land productive and raise the standard of living for the abject poor. This was an important step for folks that had nothing…
The Plan was a good one except for a few flaws, the primary one being that not all campesinos worked equally for the common good. Many ejidos never became productive and I have read the research that shows over 90% of the ejidos in Mexico have failed. From what I have read about the communal farms failure rate in Cuba, the figure is about the same.
But Mexico is not communist and despite politics is not a tyranny either…and the ejido system has gradually moved from the communal to the private. Today most ejidos are split into private parcels where each owner does as he wants and is able…this is the case with our ranch in Quintana Roo. Angelica and I are ejidatarios...
At any rate it’s as if there is a fork in the road and if the cooperative farms go the wrong route, they will never make it. It has to do with human nature and private initiative and many other things. But as with any business venture, if it starts out with the wrong model, it is doomed to fail.
I would love to ask Fidel Castro and Hugo Chavez about this fork in the road. But of course this would not happen. They are brave and courageous men when surrounded by their guns but weak without their bullets. They are afraid of ideas, concepts and abstractions. The metaphor to them is an enemy. They fear new ideas because they know these ideas will undermine their tyrannies…they rant about the guns of the Yanquis but it’s not the foreign guns that will boot them out power. It’s ideas and free expression they fear the most so they shut down free expression and censor everything. Ultimately it’s up to each of us to decide just who the cowards and heroes are…
Each ejido has a group of elected officers that administer the ejido’s business. The leader is called a commissar and they call each other companeros. The leaders also look into problems, such as cows coming onto their lands from other ejidos or disputes over fences and boundaries.
I was privileged to go with Timo to the ejido meeting which is an exercise in pure democracy. Not once during the long session did I hear of fears of a Yanqui invasion! Ha!
What I did hear was a group of men and women trying to better their lives but hampered by a lack of ideas, concepts and metaphors. Timo is not stupid by any means but like many of his fellow ejidatarios he knows little of business and the ways of the globally marketed world.
Most in his ejido fish but have to join a cooperative group that markets the fish. They have not been able by themselves to find ways to get their products to market. Consequently, they rely on middlemen that control the prices. They also look to sometimes unscrupulous outsiders for new ideas and capital. They speak as often about selling their lands as they do about distribution channels.
The government did send a representative but there was some degree of skepticism. They have been promised so many things so many times and there is little credibility.
Learning a new concept or idea is a first step but how to internalize it mentally and put it into practice is another matter. By and large the ejido members are simple folk like Timo and I doubt if many went past the sixth grade. It’s not just going to school but the cognitive aspect of learning how to learn and find out what one needs to know. That’s exactly what Castro is afraid of and the only way human civilization advances.
Their future is uncertain. Most likely they will not starve as they have land and food. But beyond that, it is vague… On the island there is an elementary school but not a junior high. Any student that wants to go beyond sixth grade has to find a way to stay with someone on the mainland. After the meeting several of the group asked me my opinion on the meeting and I gave an honest assessment.
They told me they have made many business and administrative mistakes and I explained to them that was how it also works in Silicon Valley, though they clearly did not understand just what a silicon valley is….
This ejido will survive and do better than most. Old members will leave and new members will join. Some children will stay and others leave for Reynosa or Nuevo Laredo or Georgia. Things can get better but the path will be long and filled with obstacles. Maybe there is no easier route as a group of people try to lift themselves up out of poverty. Maybe the ejido is a microcosm of human development in general. I don’t pretend to have the answers…
But the poverty is crushing for both young and old alike. The men get drunk and the women endure.
Later that evening we went for a walk and stopped by the Commissar’s hut. He was drunk and asked me if I wanted to buy his land. I’m not a farmer or fisherman I replied, what would I do here? He laughed and said I’m not the first outsider that has said the ejido was just too remote.
I watched the kids playing in the sand and wondered just what their future was. Most likely as kids everywhere do, they will grow up to be like their mothers and fathers…
Jack D. Deal
But the things money can buy are not all evil. Like food and medicine. If it were not for money, we would still be back in the Middle Ages trading a chicken for some bread. Without money our modern life, both the good and the bad, would not be possible.
It has been said that the invention of money and the calendar led to the development of commerce and a merchant class. After all, one only needs so many chickens. The calendar, developed by the Maya and other Indians in Mexico, told the merchant which day the market was to be held at a certain place. Unless buyers and sellers can agree on which day to have a market, there is no market and resulting commerce. By knowing the date, the merchant could go to different markets throughout the week.
Today of course we know that the market in Tepezintla is held on a Wednesday and in Cerro Azul on Friday. And fortunately for us we can take pesos and not chickens to buy what we need! Like a turkey for our mole…mmm…
Historically the peso has been pegged to the dollar as have weaker currencies been set to stronger currencies. The number of pesos you get for one dollar is called the exchange rate or ‘tipo de cambio’. The difference is kept by the money exchanger, be it bank or other entity, as profit.
This exchange rate is set by the Mexican government and anyone that trades in pesos and dollars has to use it. There is of course at certain times a black market that springs up, but currently no one is quietly coming up to me and offering me a better peso rate.
Right now it appears that the peso is overvalued and Mexicans can go to El Paso or Laredo and get good buys for their pesos. We saw it in Target and Wal-Mart. Many items cost more in Mexico, with the exception of certain items like medicines. Although tourism is way down in Nuevo Laredo, there is still a brisk trade from Americans, especially the elderly, crossing the border to fill their prescriptions.
If the exchange rate is totally free floating, the rate changes daily. It’s a complex system and one that is controlled by the financial system of each country. And sometimes it can be free floating but only ‘a little’, as it appears to me now.
The problem happens when there is too much pressure on the peso; Mexicans take their capital out of Mexico and put it in dollars or other currencies. This is called a ‘run’ on a currency…and not a pleasant time. Speculation abounds and at some point the government cannot support the peso anymore and it falls, often with disastrous results. That brings the capital back in but it also causes great damage.
Immediately the cost of essential goods, like corn and gasoline, go up. Mexicans stop going across the border to buy goods because it is too expensive. Machinery and other imports go up in price as well. The government may impose price controls and it becomes a mess…we know from history and experience that managed economies are weaker economies.
I remember stores in El Paso going bankrupt when their Mexican customers stopped coming. Employees were laid off, commerce slowed and owners strategized how to make it through the lean times until the peso strengthened once again. To say our economies are joined at the hip is an understatement to those that have to face the consequences. Whether we like or not, it’s all one big economy. Especially in California, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas.
When the peso drops quickly it is called a devaluation. In the past, it has always been the peso that has dropped and not the dollar. Tourists like it because their dollar goes farther. American importers like it because it they can buy more goods for less.
The first devaluation I remember was at the end of Luis Echeverria’s presidency. Now better known as the person allegedly responsible for the killing of 600 students in the riots of Tlateloco in 1968, Echeverria let the pressure build on the peso until it broke. The effects on the economy were disastrous. It takes at least one to two years to recover from a major devaluation and that one was particularly bad. Echeverria’s smirks rubbed salt into the wounds…
Historically the Mexican PRI presidents left the devaluations to their successors, who would claim it was not their fault. It also meant the Mexicans had to wait six years to elect a new president. The new president would try to placate the masses and ask them to be patient as the monetary pressure once again built on the peso and the process was repeated. This has played a major role in Mexico’s spotty economic development.
In 1982 another nasty one happened when Jose Lopez Portillo left office. Of course the fact that he stole several billions of dollars and fled to Spain did not help either. His arrogance and disdain for Mexico was only equaled by Echeverria’s.
In 1994 Carlos Salinas Gotari, considered to be one of the most corrupt Mexican presidents, left a pending disaster for his successor, Ernesto Zedillo. Most experts now agree that Salinas Gotari and the PRI stole the election from Cuauhtémoc Cardenas and the PRD. Mexico was on the verge of bankruptcy and Zedillo had to ask Bill Clinton for a bailout, much to the chagrin of those that dislike any dependency on the U.S. Clinton clearly didn’t like it but he knew that if he did not help there would be dire consequences, especially along the U.S.- Mexican border. Clinton finally agreed and it worked out…but there were many anxious days on the international money exchange rate boards. And many anxious days as Mexicans wondered if the bottom would fall out of their economy and if their pesos would have any value at all.
It does not appear to me from here that the peso is freely floating and the pressure may be slowly building again. The stores in El Paso, Laredo and McAllen are booming and commerce is great. For now.
But one always wonders if history will repeat itself. If, and when.
Jack D. Deal
There is no city in the world that is more pro-business than Las Vegas. Maybe it’s because it was built on sand in the desert. But from the time the visitor gets off the plane or drives into the city, it’s geared for the visitor. The fact that the airport is right at the end of the Strip makes it different from other cities. Denver, for instance, put their airport way out of town so it takes an expensive cab ride and an additional hour to get there. Not Vegas. 20 minutes after landing you are in your hotel gambling away. Not a minute is wasted! And they want you gambling and spending your money right up until you get on the plane for home. Airport slots, anyone?
I don’t gamble. Never have. Never been interested. The house always has the edge, so it’s not even odds. That’s not a gambling it’s a losing proposition. They know that and the gamblers know that. But it becomes a religion and as we know sometimes an obsession. Isn’t it odd how there are those that make gambling out to be a disease? It’s no disease: it’s simple greed. We love the idea of getting something for nothing, though in the case of gambling, it’s the risk of winning the gambler buys. I guess…
Keno was invented so we could gamble when eating. True gamblers go non stop and that’s just what your local casino wants. With the newer technologies, you can bet a hundred dollars on a Keno game. Now that is progress, no?
I’ve heard from many sources that my old professor, B.F. Skinner, helped put Vegas on the map through his concept of variable or random reinforcement. Whether it’s a pigeon, rat or human, we’re pretty much the same. Skinner found that animals will go wild over variable reinforcement because they know the reward is coming but they just don’t know when. Sound like slot machines or roulette? You laugh, but why are the ball games being replaced by poker tables on ESPN? Poker a sport? Ha! How about slots next?
By the way, there aren’t many of the old one armed bandits left. The only ones left are those for the few purist holdouts that think pulling the lever has something to do with it. Other than being a physical action, it doesn’t. But then again nothing much is rational in gambling, especially after twelve daiquiris. Hey, they’re free, no? Ha!
The corridor from the airport to Henderson is stunning. I hadn’t been in several years and I was floored. It rivals Silicon Valley and there is no doubt that in the coming decades Vegas-Henderson will probably surpass Silicon Valley. Many of us in California have become jaded and think terms such as business and upward mobility are evil. Not the pro-business folks in Nevada.
Like some of our locals not wanting a Wal-Mart because the jobs aren’t union with lots of benefits. That’s why for the past decade Nevada has been the recipient of corporate California flight. Business tends to go to regions where it is wanted and Nevada wants business. Those good workers leave too, bringing their California education, skills and dreams to Nevada. My California taxes paying to upwardly mobilize Nevada. Great.
If you care about people improving their lives and upward mobility, Nevada is for you. California used to be that way. Or at least a lot more than it is now.
Hoover Dam is undergoing a facelift too. In the not too distant future there will be an overpass. That’s kind of too bad. I always like the curvy roads and driving over the top of the dam. It won’t be the same speeding through one of the world’s top engineering feats. When it becomes a blur does it lose its identity? Do we?
There is so much room in the desert American West that it could support a half billion people with the right technologies. It is getting developed. The barren, remote lands the Indians were given that no one wanted are now being developed into rancho estates. Rancho estates are large, 3000 square foot plus homes on 2-40 acres of land. The idea is to combine the town and country and make a new hybrid heaven. And just hope the water table doesn’t drop…
The high desert is perfect for that type of development. The summers are not as hot and the winters are nice. In rural settings the haze and smog of desert cities is non existent. But that changes with development.
I first saw Vegas almost 50 years ago and it sure has changed. I’m sure the next 50 will bring lots of changes too. Want to bet on it?
Bakersfield has sprawled more than I remember and there was a haze over the city. And lots of signs in Spanish. Coming across the desert and then looking down on Vegas is quite a sight – makes me wonder how the pioneers did it. And we complain about the long drive!
Las Vegas supposedly got started in the 1940’s by some east coast gangsters. What they have built is a world class tourist destination designed to service millions of visitors a year. Out of the desert sands they created an oasis and a way of life. That is, if you like that sort of thing. The only thing vintage in Vegas are the older hotels! Ha!
We are staying at the Sahara and they have the state from which their employee comes on the employee’s nametag. Angelica saw ‘Arkansas’ on a name tag and thought that was the waitress’ name; ‘odd name Arkansas’. She was from Little Rock and came to Vegas for the work, opportunity and new experiences. She loves it! Would she be called an internal immigrant?
And of course the Spanish. The waitresses speaking to each other in Spanish and to the customers in accented English. I am reminded again that upward mobility is not just moving up to the upper class but also moving from dishwasher or ‘busgirl’ to waitress. My friend Juan, who is a chef in Santa Cruz, says some can’t get out of the busboy jobs because to cook and wait on tables requires English and how can one learn English working two or three jobs?
Angelica strikes up a conversation in Spanish with our waitress. The waittress had to learn English for her job and it was very hard for her. But she had no choice. She went to night school and practiced everyday for two years. She has a heavy accent but can converse with patrons and take their orders in English. A waitress in a busy restaurant can make pretty good money if she works hard – more than bussing tables or washing dishes. Those are the hardest and the lowest paying jobs.
Now speaking in English and at double her initial income, our waitress still struggles to make ends meet. She feeds her kids and makes sure they go to school and don’t have to work. She will work tables the next 20 years to raise them and send them to junior college. Right now she knows the hard 60 hour weeks wear her out but still her kids will be able to take advantage of opportunities she did not have and they won’t have to do what she does for a living.
Funny how all my people were German and they were that way too. Immigrants sure tend to be like that, no? Why are immigrants always so inclined to sacrifice for their children? And what happens to the succeeding generations?
Jack D. Deal