Wealth Gap
The widening wealth gap in Mexico is fueling a massive exodus of Mexicans to this country. We’re aware of poverty in Mexico, but "Forbes Magazine" insists that it has more billionaires than Switzerland. Policy analysts say with Mexico’s natural resources, its leaders can do a lot more to create opportunities within Mexico, thus ending the incentive for its citizens to come to the United States illegally.
According to Reuters, Carlos Slim a Mexican businessman has a bigger fortune than Microsoft’s Bill Gates, making him the richest man in the world. He is said to be worth more than $60 billion.
There are two Mexicos, one of abject poverty and the other Mexico is thriving. Figures from a United Nations report that twenty percent of the population in Mexico live below the poverty line and nearly 10 percent live on less than a dollar a day. Billionaire Carlos Slim represents an elite class, which provide a glaring example of the lopsided distribution of wealth in Mexico.
Carol Graham of the Brookings Institution has stated: “In Latin-American where inequality has been so deep and persistent, inequality signals to most people, at least according to my research persistent advantage to the rich and persistent disadvantage for the poor. It's not a signal of equal opportunity.”
The North American Free Trade Agreement led to farmers leaving for factories in the north. Those job opportunities soon evaporated, when the jobs moved to lower wage countries like China.
Roy Beck a spokesman for NumbersUSA calls it exporting poverty. Beck claims: “What we saw in the Senate last month was that workers in the working neighborhoods in the United States rising up and saying, no more. We are not going to pay the cost of Mexico’s mismanagement of their economy. You’re not going to be able to offload forever.
Mexico’s President Felipe Calderon has recently instituted new anti-poverty programs. However, policy experts say until Mexico takes charge of its own future with structural changes, reforming its education system and ending corruption, Mexico will continue to be divide by the enormous gap between the oppressed poor and wealthy elite.
According to Reuters, Carlos Slim a Mexican businessman has a bigger fortune than Microsoft’s Bill Gates, making him the richest man in the world. He is said to be worth more than $60 billion.
There are two Mexicos, one of abject poverty and the other Mexico is thriving. Figures from a United Nations report that twenty percent of the population in Mexico live below the poverty line and nearly 10 percent live on less than a dollar a day. Billionaire Carlos Slim represents an elite class, which provide a glaring example of the lopsided distribution of wealth in Mexico.
Carol Graham of the Brookings Institution has stated: “In Latin-American where inequality has been so deep and persistent, inequality signals to most people, at least according to my research persistent advantage to the rich and persistent disadvantage for the poor. It's not a signal of equal opportunity.”
The North American Free Trade Agreement led to farmers leaving for factories in the north. Those job opportunities soon evaporated, when the jobs moved to lower wage countries like China.
Roy Beck a spokesman for NumbersUSA calls it exporting poverty. Beck claims: “What we saw in the Senate last month was that workers in the working neighborhoods in the United States rising up and saying, no more. We are not going to pay the cost of Mexico’s mismanagement of their economy. You’re not going to be able to offload forever.
Mexico’s President Felipe Calderon has recently instituted new anti-poverty programs. However, policy experts say until Mexico takes charge of its own future with structural changes, reforming its education system and ending corruption, Mexico will continue to be divide by the enormous gap between the oppressed poor and wealthy elite.
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