A post I saw on Facebook gave me an idea for this blog. A lot of people are worried at the moment because things don’t seem as good as usual in Ajijic, Lake Chapala.

The post said that although things are not so good here in Ajijic, Lake Chapala it is the same worldwide and this too shall pass.
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THE NEW GLOBAL ECONOMIC REALITY

First: A reality check on Mexico

Mexico is in a unique position to reap many of the benefits of the decline of the US economy. In order to not violate NAFTA and other agreements the U.S.A. cannot use direct protectionism, so it is content to allow the media to play this protectionist role. The U.S. media – over the last year – has portrayed Mexico as being on the brink of economic collapse and civil war. The Mexican people are either beheaded, kidnapped, poor, corrupt, or narco-traffickers. The American news media was particularly aggressive in the weeks leading up to spring break. The main reason for this is money. During that two-week period, over 120,000 young American citizens poured into Mexico and left behind hundreds of millions of dollars.

Let’s look at the reality of the massive drug and corruption problem, kidnappings, murders and money. The U.S. Secretary of State Clinton was clear in her honest assessment of the problem. “Our insatiable demand for illegal drugs fuels the drug trade. Our inability to prevent the weapons from being illegally smuggled across the border to arm these criminals causes the deaths of police officers, soldiers and civilians,” Clinton said. The other large illegal business that is smuggled into the U.S.A. that no one likes to talk about is Human Traffic for prostitution. This “business” is globally now competing with drugs in terms of profits.
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The world is a scary place financially at the moment which is affecting Europe, Asia and, of course the United States.

Surprisingly enough as we watched the Dow Jones Index plummet 512 points yesterday we still find the economies in both Canada and Mexico are growing and even flourishing in many parts.

Real Estate is booming in Toronto and Vancouver, Canada and we are lucky enough to be busy here in Ajijic, Lake Chapala even though it not the “busy season”.
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Now I can’t speak for all Canadian Banks but I can speak for mine.

I thought this was supposed to be a global economy an international market, if you will.

Today I wanted to extract some money from my Canadian checking account and tried to do it from two different credit cards from my bank and from my “Client Card”. I was told by my ATM that they could not connect with my financial institution and/or my PIN was incorrect.

When I returned home, frustrated from trying to access my money there was an urgent call from my bank to call them immediately. I did so forthwith and was told there had been some suspicious activity on my account. After a series of security question to prove I was, indeed, who I said I was I told them the “suspicious activity” had been me trying to get the ATM to spit out some money on some card.
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This letter is worth reading.

Go to www.newamericamedia.org and enter the above title in search. Very interesting and positive information about our country.

First: A reality check on Mexico

Mexico is in a unique position to reap many of the benefits of the decline of the US economy. In order to not violate NAFTA and other agreements the U.S.A. cannot use direct protectionism, so it is content to allow the media to play this protectionist role. The U.S. media – over the last year – has portrayed Mexico as being on the brink of economic collapse and civil war. The Mexican people are either beheaded, kidnapped, poor, corrupt, or narco-traffickers. The American news media was particularly aggressive in the weeks leading up to spring break. The main reason for this is money. During that two-week period, over 120,000 young American citizens poured into Mexico and left behind hundreds of millions of dollars.

Let’s look at the reality of the massive drug and corruption problem, kidnappings, murders and money. The U.S. Secretary of State Clinton was clear in her honest assessment of the problem. “Our insatiable demand for illegal drugs fuels the drug trade. Our inability to prevent the weapons from being illegally smuggled across the border to arm these criminals causes the deaths of police officers, soldiers and civilians,” Clinton said. The other large illegal business that is smuggled into the U.S.A. that no one likes to talk about is Human Traffic for prostitution. This “business” is globally now competing with drugs in terms of profits.

It is critical to understand, however that the horrific violence in Mexico is over 95% confined to the three transshipping cities for these two businesses, Juarez, Tijuana and Nogales. The Mexican government is so serious about fighting this, that they have committed over 30,000 soldiers to these borders towns. There was a thoughtful article written by a professor at the University of Juarez. He was reminded of the Prohibition years in the U.S.A. and compared Juarez to Chicago when Al Capone was conducting his reign of terror capped off with The Saint Valentine’s Day Massacre. During these years, just like Juarez today, 99% of the citizens went about their daily lives and attended classes, went to the movies, restaurants, and parks.
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One’s Personal “Energy”

Being a family of dog lovers when were first introduced to Cesar Millan (The Dog Whisperer) we absorbed avidly all the information and training he was teaching us about the problem with any dog is the “energy” of the human.

All any dog gets from us is our smell and our “energy”. Cesar teaches us to be calm and assertive so our dogs will be calm and submissive and reach the balance that will make their lives happy. If we are nervous, frustrated, angry, weak, sad or any other negative emotion our dog will pick up on this and reject us as a suitable pack leader and take over that role themselves. This is not something they want to do or are comfortable with but our negative energy leaves them no choice.
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It is almost Easter (April 24th this year) which traditionally means the exodus of the “Snow Birds”. There are many things that this exodus means to permanent residents. Some are good and some bad.

The first good thing is that we will be able to make a turn onto the carretera without waiting several minutes. Parking in Ajijic, Lake Chapala will be easier and we are left to enjoy our magnificent ‘rainy season’ in peace.

This is also a good time for the real estate market for several reasons. One is that some vendors feel that they might have missed their chance to sell so prices may be more flexible. Also buyers who come in the “off-season” are generally serious and not just kicking tires as it were. Realtors may be a little less busy and, therefore, able to spend more quality time with potential buyers.
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THE NEW GLOBAL ECONOMIC REALITY

First: A reality check on Mexico

Mexico is in a unique position to reap many of the benefits of the decline of the US economy. In order to not violate NAFTA and other agreements the U.S.A. cannot use direct protectionism, so it is content to allow the media to play this protectionist role. The U.S. media – over the last year – has portrayed Mexico as being on the brink of economic collapse and civil war. The Mexican people are either beheaded, kidnapped, poor, corrupt, or narco-traffickers. The American news media was particularly aggressive in the weeks leading up to spring break. The main reason for this is money. During that two-week period, over 120,000 young American citizens poured into Mexico and left behind hundreds of millions of dollars.

Let’s look at the reality of the massive drug and corruption problem, kidnappings, murders and money. The U.S. Secretary of State Clinton was clear in her honest assessment of the problem. “Our insatiable demand for illegal drugs fuels the drug trade. Our inability to prevent the weapons from being illegally smuggled across the border to arm these criminals causes the deaths of police officers, soldiers and civilians,” Clinton said. The other large illegal business that is smuggled into the U.S.A. that no one likes to talk about is Human Traffic for prostitution. This “business” is globally now competing with drugs in terms of profits.

It is critical to understand, however that the horrific violence in Mexico is over 95% confined to the three transshipping cities for these two businesses, Juarez, Tijuana and Nogales. The Mexican government is so serious about fighting this, that they have committed over 30,000 soldiers to these borders towns. There was a thoughtful article written by a professor at the University of Juarez. He was reminded of the Prohibition years in the U.S.A. and compared Juarez to Chicago when Al Capone was conducting his reign of terror capped off with The Saint Valentine’s Day Massacre. During these years, just like Juarez today, 99% of the citizens went about their daily lives and attended classes, went to the movies, restaurants, and parks.

Is there corruption in Mexico? YES !!! Is there an equal amount of corruption related to this business in the U.S.A.? YES !!!. When you have a pair of illegal businesses that generate over $300,000,000,000 in sales you will find massive corruption. Make no mistake about the Mexican Drug Cartel; these “businessmen” are 100 times more sophisticated than the bumbling bootleggers during Prohibition. They form profitable alliances all over the U.S.A. They do cost benefit analysis of their business much better than the US automobile industry. They have found over the years that the cost of bribing U.S. and Mexican Border Guards and the transportation costs of moving marijuana from Sinaloa to California have cut significantly into profits. That is why over the past 5-7 years they have been growing marijuana in State and Federal Parks and BLM land all across America. From a business standpoint, this is a tremendous cost savings on several levels. Let’s look at California as an example as one of the largest consumers. When you have $14.2 billion of Marijuana grown and consumed in one state, there is savings on transportation, less loss of product due to confiscation and an overall reduction cost of bribery with law enforcement and parks service people. Another great savings is the benefit to their employees. The penalties in Mexico for growing range from 5-15 years. The penalties in California, on average are 18 months, and out in 8 months. The same economic principles are now being applied to the methamphetamine factories.
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Living in Mexico

When you live in Mexico you can truly enjoy the good life.

Just across the border from the U.S. , Mexico is now “closer than ever” – that’s a motto used by the Mexican Tourism Association – and as many expats are choosing to live in Mexico, we couldn’t agree more.

What does that mean exactly? Well, in terms of physical proximity, Mexico is the closes southern neighbor to the U.S. and a NAFTA partner, with all the good roads, high-speed communications, and top notch health care that you’d expect up north. Those who move to Mexico find living and doing business there to be very easy.

Mexico is served by a large number of international airports with regularly scheduled flights from all over the world. But imagine having the option of driving from the U.S. or Canada to explore this magnificent country in your own car, at your own pace. Imagine returning to the U.S. and not having to worry about skyrocketing airfare or – perish the thought – disrupted air service caused by strikes, weather or other delays.

By living in Mexico you will be ble to enjoy its rich culture and customs.

Previous administrations did little in the way of infrastructure improvements, but President Filipe Calderon seems committed to allocating funds for new and expanded road, ports and telecommunications infrastructure. This goes hand in hand with increased privatization, which will allow concessions in the national airport network and the telecommunications sector. The idea is that all of those improvements will further encourage and facilitate commerce.
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