Monday, April 14, 2014

How do you say 'it's the economy, stupid,' in Spanish?

(My new American Thinker post)


This is one of those stories that you do not want to believe. 

After all, how can President Pena-Nieto of Mexico be slumping in polls?  Isn't this the man who's just pulled off some rather amazing reforms?  Haven't pundits and columnists praised this man for his ability to tackle problems, specially the "sacred cows" of modern Mexico?

Yes, President Pena-Nieto is down in the polls, as reported by The Washington Post:
"Plenty of world leaders would be thrilled to have the kind of executive hot streak blazed by Mexico’s Enrique Peña Nieto during his first 16 months in office. 
In that short span, he and his administration have steered more than a dozen major new laws through congress, overhauling the country’s energy, banking and education sectors, among others.  
Peña Nieto has stood up to powerful interests from Mexico’s business world and underworld. He has locked up drug lord Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzmán, the world’s most-wanted trafficker, quieting doubters in the United States who questioned his crime-fighting mettle. 
Yet for all the praise he has won in Washington and elsewhere in the world, Peña Nieto’s opening act is getting panned in the only place it really counts: Mexico. 
After Time magazine put him on the cover of its international edition recently with the caption “Saving Mexico,” a flood of ridicule and derision followed. 
Peña Nieto’s approval ratings have fallen fairly steadily since he took office in December 2012, dropping to 37 percent in one recent poll, with other surveys rating him in the mid-40s.  
The biggest problem, analysts say, has been Mexico’s feeble growth. Last year the country’s economy expanded at just 1.1 percent, far below the goal of 5 percent growth Peña Nieto set when he ran for president. 
His most widely touted move, a constitutional amendment opening Mexico’s state-controlled energy sector to private and foreign investment, was advertised as a catalyst for faster growth, but it may take years for the benefits to materialize.  
According to Mexican economist Luis de la Calle, a bold legislative agenda doesn’t tend to favor short-term success.""
The good news is that President Pena-Nieto has a 6-year term and he will be around until December 1, 2018. 

In other words, he has time to turn this around and prove to Mexican voters that the changes will eventually be good for the country.

The bad news is that it's all about the economy for the modern voter, especially when the economy does not grow as promised.

P. S. You can hear CANTO TALK here & follow me on Twitter @ scantojr.


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