"Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn't pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same, or one day we will spend our sunset years telling our children and our children's children what it was once like in the United States where men were free." - President Ronald Reagan
We've been looking for a "sign" like this for years. It looks like Mexico is finally ready to "reform" PEMEX and get serious about leaving 1938 behind.
"PRI presidential candidate Enrique Peña Nieto proposes a constitutional amendment to allow private investment in Pemex, the national oil monopoly."
Why did Mr Pena-Nieto make a statement like that?
First, Mr Pena-Nieto is clearly trying to introduce himself to the business community. He needs to send the world's money markets a signal that Mexico is open to foreign investment. Unfortunately, too much of the news from Mexico these days is about violence!
Second, he is trying to set the table for the obvious.
PEMEX has to be reformed. PEMEX is something out of the 1930's and has no utility in the 21st century.
Last, but not least, PEMEX has institutionalize "corruption" in Mexico.
Mr Pena-Nieto is simply stating the obvious. Mexico can not turn into a first world economy as long as PEMEX is run by politicians rather than oil men.
Click here for our discussion with Patrick Corcoran:
Did the rate drop because employers created more jobs? Or did people stop looking?
According to news reports, it looks like a drop was a bit of both:
"The Labor Department said Friday that employers added 120,000 jobs last month. With that, the unemployment rate dropped to the lowest level in more than two and a half years.
But a key reason for the sharp drop was that about 315,000 people had stopped looking for work -- for the Labor Department's purposes, they were not counted as unemployed." (Fox)
So is this a report that we should cheer or cry about? James Pethokoukis is not very impressed:
"If labor force size was same as Oct., U-3 unemployment rate would be 8.9%; same as when Obama took office, 11%...."
We should always cheer when jobs are created and the unemployment rate drops. At the same, we are still living in an economy that is reluctant to grow, or at least grow sufficiently to employ all of those people who are looking for work.
