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A Nation on the Brink - Mexico's July 5 Legislative Elections
By Michael Collins (about the author) Page 3 of 3 page(s)
END This article may be reproduced in whole or part with attribution of authorship and a link to this 
Gross inequities in the economic system present a fearsome burden for the nation.
The wealthiest 20% of Mexicans control nearly 60% of the nation's wealth while the lowest 50% has only 12%. This is somewhat better than the U.S. where the top 10% control 71% of the wealth. But Mexico has a Gross Domestic Product of $1.1 trillion compared to the $14.3 trillion for the U.S. There's less to spread around.
What's left for the vast majority and what is their incentive?
Year after year, the poor see their job opportunities and wages drop while the cost of food, energy, and other essentials rise. For them, it's not a matter of giving up their medicine to eat. Simply having that choice would be a luxury.
Mexico has an annual outbound migration of 800,000, mostly workers. That's three times the annual outbound migration of India and four times that of China. An estimated 12 million Mexicans live out of the country. This reduces the population on Mexican soil from 107 to 95 million and the active work force from 45 million to 33 million, less than a third of the total population. Workers left at home are placed in the increasingly arduous position of coming up with the revenues that run local, state, and federal programs.
Mexicans 19 years old and under comprise 40% of the population (ILO Laborsta). Will the state be able to educate and train this resource to capture the creativity of the people or will it squander this valuable opportunity as it has Mexico's oil wealth.
The winners may end up as the ultimate losers as these imminent dangers reach maturity over the next few years?
Part 3 of this series will accurately predict the winner of elections and comment on an irresolvable inconsistency in the PAN war on drugs.
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