Mexican Economy

The peso fairy-tale: Did it live happily ever NAFTA? BOBBI THOMPSON Arroyo Grande

Re "Congress, rethink that wall," Opinion, April 29 Former Mexican President Vicente Fox has spent much of his political career trying to convince us that shipping the poor from Mexico to the United States is a good thing. I wonder what would have happened if he had spent his six-year presidency improving the Mexican economy so that his citizens did not feel the need to flee their country. Additionally, it is hypocritical to condemn our security measures while Mexico stations law enforcement and military personnel on its southern border to prevent illegal immigration from Central and South America.

On Monday night, the always-opinionated director Oliver Stone paid a visit to “Piers Morgan Tonight” to promote his latest film, “Savages,” which tells the story of two pot-growing Southern California friends who clash with a Mexican drug cartel. Not surprisingly, the conversation turned to the subject of the war on drugs, which Stone opposes. “Fifty percent of our prison system is victimless crimes,” he claimed. “People who've never hurt anybody, they're in for marijuana and it has nothing to do with punishment.

MEXICO CITY - They elected a youthful president, a self-styled defender of democratic principles who promised to bring the country up to 21st century standards. But many Mexicans suspected that an old-fashioned dinosaur heart was beating beneath Enrique Peña Nieto's smartly tailored suits, an inheritance from his Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI, whose top-down, quasi-authoritarian rule defined much of Mexico's 20th century history. On Sunday, after 100 days of living under Peña Nieto's rule, the Mexican people have a better idea of the ways in which their 46-year-old president, and his vintage political party, plan to manage the future of the United States' southern neighbor, a country rife with promise and peril.

Strong gusts of well-intentioned but ill-informed rhetoric about Mexico's growing significance as a trading partner for California can be expected this week when President Ernesto Zedillo makes an official visit. Many economists will cite numbers indicating that California's exports to Mexico have more than doubled since the North American Free Trade Agreement was implemented five years ago.

Mexico's economy reached the edge of disaster Tuesday and then took a giant step back toward normalcy as stock markets and the peso rebounded dramatically on news of a $49.8-billion international loan package, fortified by $35 billion in new credits. The sagging stock exchange index soared more than 10% for its biggest one-day gain in seven years, and the peso gained 55 centavos to close at 5.80 after traders learned that the new rescue package had been put in place, circumventing the U.S.

Mexicans, long shellshocked by economic crisis, may have begun to fuel growth by spending money again, according to a government report released Thursday. The Finance Ministry said the economy grew 7.4% in the third quarter, compared with the previous year, a higher figure than most analysts had expected. It was the second consecutive quarter of year-on-year growth, and analysts said it showed the economy was on the mend after suffering its worst recession in half a century in 1995.

When the U.S. economy sneezes, according to common wisdom, Mexico catches pneumonia. With two-thirds of its exports sold in the United States--and one of every eight manufacturing jobs in plants that market nearly all their goods north of the border--Mexico traditionally has been hit hard when the United States suffered an economic downturn. Yet during the current U.S. slump, Mexico's economy has grown. Trade between the two countries is increasing.

In stark contrast to the financial turmoil in Brazil, the government here reported Tuesday that the Mexican economy powered ahead in the third quarter at a rate of 8.1% and is on track for its highest annual growth in 16 years. And while Mexico's own fiscal crisis of 1995 rattled markets elsewhere in the world, this fast-recovering nation has continued to largely withstand the ongoing contagion of currency devaluations and market slumps in Brazil and Asia.

MEXICO CITY - They elected a youthful president, a self-styled defender of democratic principles who promised to bring the country up to 21st century standards. But many Mexicans suspected that an old-fashioned dinosaur heart was beating beneath Enrique Peña Nieto's smartly tailored suits, an inheritance from his Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI, whose top-down, quasi-authoritarian rule defined much of Mexico's 20th century history. On Sunday, after 100 days of living under Peña Nieto's rule, the Mexican people have a better idea of the ways in which their 46-year-old president, and his vintage political party, plan to manage the future of the United States' southern neighbor, a country rife with promise and peril.

Even though Kyra Sedgwick and her husband Kevin Bacon were among the hundreds of investors swindled by Bernie Madoff, on Tuesday night she told CNN's Piers Morgan that she doesn't harbor any ill feelings toward the Ponzi schemer. However, that doesn't mean she was eager to discuss the subject. “God, are we still on that, is that still a topic of interest?” the actress, who was promoting the upcoming final season of her long-running drama, “The Closer,” asked wearily in response to a question about Madoff.

On Monday night, the always-opinionated director Oliver Stone paid a visit to “Piers Morgan Tonight” to promote his latest film, “Savages,” which tells the story of two pot-growing Southern California friends who clash with a Mexican drug cartel. Not surprisingly, the conversation turned to the subject of the war on drugs, which Stone opposes. “Fifty percent of our prison system is victimless crimes,” he claimed. “People who've never hurt anybody, they're in for marijuana and it has nothing to do with punishment.

Your neighbor needs your help. Do you have it within you to lend a hand? Will you book yourself a week on the beach in Cabo or Puerto Vallarta, or explore Mexico City or one of the colonial cities in the heart of Mexico? You know, for the common good. This has been a banner decade for empathy tourism -- many Americans flocking to New York after 9/11 and to New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina did so with a sense of public service. Mexico now needs a similar surge.

The Mexican economy will contract between 0.8% and 1.8% in 2009, the central bank predicted Tuesday. Mexico sends 80% of its exports to the United States, and it has been pummeled by the U.S. recession. The bank estimates that Mexico will lose as many as 340,000 jobs this year. The bank's forecast is in contrast with the government's prediction of zero growth, which central bank President Guillermo Ortiz has called optimistic. He said Tuesday that he expected the economy to shrink between 0.

The money that Mexicans living in the U.S. send home, a lifeline for both the economy here and millions of families, has suffered its steepest decline on record, dragged down in large part by the American financial crisis. The bad news, announced Wednesday by the Bank of Mexico, follows government assurances that the U.S. crisis would not have a severe effect on Mexico. Remittances fell to $1.9 billion for August, a 12.2% drop from the same month last year, the bank said.

After repeatedly taking shots at Republican John McCain over the past few days, Barack Obama denied Thursday that he was taking victory over Democratic rival Hillary Rodham Clinton for granted and pivoting into the fall presidential campaign. "To the extent that he's initiating this debate a little early -- maybe a little bit prematurely, that is -- that's something we don't want to leave unanswered," Obama said of McCain during a flight between campaign stops in Texas. "But Sen.

The sale is part of a plan to reduce heavy subsidizing by Mexico's federal government, the Budget and Programming Ministry announced. Among companies slated for the auction block are record companies, television and movie film distributorships, hotels and an insecticide factory, the ministry statement said. In recent years, complying with demands from the International Monetary Fund, President Miguel de la Madrid has called for reducing heavy government subsidies in the Mexican economy.

Mexico's economy in the third quarter expanded at the fastest clip all year thanks to homegrown industries such as services and construction, a sign that the nation may be better prepared than in the past to weather a U.S. economic slowdown. Mexico's gross domestic product grew by 3.7% in the three months ended Sept. 30 compared with the same period last year, according to government figures released Friday.