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Comment by mc32 | Hacker News Reader

It's interesting that Mr Romero didn't decide to want to build this city on the Guatemala-Mexico border to grant Guatemalans access to the benefits of the Mexican economy.

For reals though, Mexico needs better government. Dirt poor countries with a quarter the resources are beating them badly, Korea, Malaysia, Chile. They have squandered opportunity after opportunity, Venezuela is catching up though.

Activists would do quite a lot more good by demanding better from their own government. I mean better management and governance.

It reminds me of people saying if Trump wins they'll flee to Canada... That's the worst thing you can do, if you actually care for outcomes.

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> Activists would do quite a lot more good by demanding better from their own government. I mean better management and governance.

I think this is something most people agree on, but disagree on how to get there.

One thing not often discussed is the role that illegal immigration to the U.S. plays in all this. In some ways, the sheer amount of illegal immigration provides a release valve for the political "pressure cooker" that is Mexico - and by keeping that valve open, there's not enough of a force for change. Those who migrate to the U.S. often send as much money as they can back to their relatives in Mexico - which isn't a lot, but again serves to placate and distract from the real problems.

I'm not suggesting "building a wall" is the right solution - but I do think it's fairly obvious that illegal immigration has real costs for the U.S., and plays a key role in keeping a corrupt/ineffective Mexican government in power.

What also gets lost on people is that middle class Mexicans do alright. It's mostly the rural poor, the uneducated, underserved, unskilled who get the short shrift and get bowled over by the Mexican mainstream who are more than happy to see their poor underclass go elsewhere for their grievances and leave the middle and upper middle class alone to continue their classism.

To be honest, many of the problems of the rural poor are America's fault. We subsidize the hell out of already efficient farmers to the point that rural Mexican farmers can't compete. And our policy on drugs creates an alternate power structure that the poor can't afford to go against.

I dont think so, at least not to a great extent. Before Nafta it was not much different. The mex fed gov't doesn't care and knows those dissatisfied enough will rather jump the border than revolt.

You dont see the same in Chile or Columbia(!) or Argentina. I mean Mexico has squandered its natural resources beyond comprehension. Imagine what Korea or Japan would be like with the natural resources Mexico has.

Net Mexico-USA immigration is roughly zero though. [1]

Most people who enter the USA by illegally crossing the border are from other Central & South American countries.

[1] http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2015/nov/...

> It reminds me of people saying if Trump wins they'll flee to Canada... That's the worst thing you can do, if you actually care for outcomes.

Those who say that for sure won't actually do it.

In Poland, we had half of the country declaring they'll swim to Sweden if PiS (a political party) wins. They won, nobody left. Fast-forward few years, we had prominent people proclaiming they'll leave the country if PiS wins. They won again, nobody left.

I mean, those waters must be super cold.

I was born there, butI said I'd leave the UK if UKIP got too many votes.

Now I live in Denmark.

Admittedly, I'm the only person I know who did this.

I don't think this is entirely true. It's probably rhetoric for most, but Trump is the most extremist politician we've seen in the US since Andrew Jackson. It's not just that Americans want nothing to do with him...its that they want nothing to do with a nation that elects him. I'm relatively reassured that he won't win though [0].

[0] http://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/2016-election-forecast/

> Dirt poor countries with a quarter the resources, ... Korea

Are you talking about North Korea?

South Korea's Human Development Index is 17 (over Mexico's 74th) and their GDP is 13th (behind Mexico's 11th) and their per capita GDP is 36,612, over Mexico's 18,430.

The last time Mexico's per capita GDP exceeded South Korea's was before 1980, or three and a half decades ago.

But yes, seeing have progress like South Korea has progressed would be fantastic.

I'm talking about where they stood post WWii. They (along with Singapore, Chile, Argentine, etc.) went somewhere (achieved success) whereas Mexico is behind (at least as it pertains to income disparity and opportunity). I mean, that despite their natural resources, they lag these other places which don't all have the benefit of vast natural resources and rich soils.

>Activists would do quite a lot more good by demanding better from their own government.

Easier said than done.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/aug/10/mexican-activi...

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