Tuesday, January 05, 2016

Corruption is still “problema numero uno” in Mexico

Let me paraphrase Mark Twain.   He once said that everyone talks about the weather but does nothing about it.
Twain could have speaking about corruption in Mexico.    In other words, everyone talks about corruption in Mexico but no one does anything about it.
Alfredo Corchado of The Dallas Morning News reported about corruption in his latest post from Mexico:
Mexico isn’t falling apart. The economy is humming along, expected to grow by 3 percent in 2016. Foreign investment keeps trickling in. Gas prices are expected to fall in January, something unheard of here, and even phone bills are declining, thanks in part to the growing presence of Dallas-based AT&T.But for a country with one of the biggest economies — 15th in the world — Mexico’s deep-rooted corruption continues to limit the nation’s vast potential, including the energy sector and its largely undeveloped assets along the Texas border.Strengthening the country’s weak rule of law will be key in 2016 and beyond, analysts say.
Corruption is like  a bad personal habit.   It is hard to break and has all kinds of consequences in the country, from the rule of law to employee productivity.
Let’s hope that Mexico can clean up its corruption problem.   It will make Mexico into an international power house.

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This is not LBJ’s Texas Democratic Party

Texas Democrats have quite a history.
In 1948, a young LBJ performed a miracle to win the U.S. Senate election.    
In 1960, Texas Democrats voted for the Kennedy-Johnson ticket in a controversial election.   
In 1976, Texas voted for Carter in another very close contest. Texas gave then Governor Carter the 26 electoral votes that helped him get to 290 and victory.
What a difference for today’s Democrat Party.    
On one side, the GOP is dynamic and some may say fighting with each other. Yes, the GOP fights and disagrees but it’s the kind of disagreement that keeps a relationship healthy and interesting.
On the other hand, the Democrats are boring, as we saw in the Dallas Morning News:
Matt Angle, director of the Lone Star Project, a political action committee that supports Democratic candidates, says the ideological divide in the GOP doesn’t exist with Texas Democrats.
“On our side, most incumbents are center-left, and when you have challenges, it involves personal ambition or the politics inside that particular district,” Angle said. “On the Republican side, you have an outright war between what’s seen as the center-right against the far right.”
Jones added that Republican incumbents have to deal with conservative groups such as the tea party and political advocacy nonprofit Empower Texans. Those groups often actively support candidates running against the establishment and relish taking down a big-name incumbent.
“There’s much less internal struggle in the Democratic Party,” Jones said.
Relative calm.
It’s more boring than calm.
Texas Democrats all sound alike. There is no ideological diversity as you see in the GOP. There are no conservative Democrats just very liberal Democrats who subscribe to the same message of income redistribution and identity politics. They are Obama Democrats rather than Texas Democrats.
Where are the Texas Democrats calling on the party to be more centrist? They don’t exist, and that’s why the party is so boring and can not compete statewide in a dynamic state.
Yes, there is calm in the Democrat ranks. The kind of calm that happens when nothing is going on.  
P.S. You can listen to my show (Canto Talk) and follow me on Twitter.
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2015: The big stories of Europe



Tags: Thee election in France 2015  To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the My View by Silvio Canto, Jr. Thanks!
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