How Mexico Can Benefit from the US' Weakness

Silently, quietly, Mexico is starting to look like a rapidly developing nation that has promise and potential (notice I said POTENTIAL, not HOPE). GDP is growing at a faster rate than the US. Work ethic seems to be more embedded in the culture than their American counterparts,

but above all else they have both lower corporate


and overall taxes.

And while they certainly have some corruption issues, they are rapidly forming the perfect cocktail to start to catch up to their Gringo counterparts.

However, let me also add two items into the mix, so that if President Calderon is listening, he may avail himself and the Mexican people of some great economic opportunities and not have to suffer the same economic fate as the US;

1. With Barack Obama and the socialists now about to take over the US, the rich, the productive and the entrepreneurial classes of the US are going to be looking elsewhere to invest. The US has higher corporate taxes rates (which are bound to go up) and higher overall taxes (which are bound to go up) not to mention socially, it's just going to be a hellish time to be a productive citizen in the US. Mexico because of its lower tax structure can profit from this by doing some kind of promotion or advertising in publications like the Wall Street Journal and poach not only investment from the US, but entire corporate headquarters. Ford very recently decided to put its aptly named Fiesta plant in Mexico, I can foresee this happening 20 fold with other firms as well.

2. Mexico, is frankly, warmer than the United States. It could just be me in that I live in Minnesota and it's November already, but when I think about where I want to live, an igloo in Brainerd, Minnesota versus and nice small little hacienda on the ocean, the hacienda wins. This is a big draw for the richer classes, not to mention middle and poorer classes because who wants to deal with shoveling snow all this time when you can sit and soak up some rays, or heck, just not have to worry about a heating bill?

The only real problem Mexico faces is its corruption and crime issues. If these can be resolved or at least contained, and the government can guarantee it doesn't pull off an Argentina circa 1999 or 2008, it will attract capital more so than ever before as the potential for capital flight out of the US has never been so great.

It's simply a matter of whether Mexico wants to reach up and institute the policies to pluck this low hanging fruit.