# Mexican economy **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [August 24, 2000, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mexican-economy/30648 "2000-08-24T22:20:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Necros](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/necros/32/11086_2.png) [@Necros](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Necros)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2000, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mexican-economy/30648/41 "2000-08-28T20:00:00Z")
**oldscratch** said: > [@](#): > > Why are Koreans in Japan so poor (about the same level as blacks in the US) and Koreans in the US are generally middle class? Did the culture change so rapidly when going between two countries? Um…this has very little to do with culture, and a whole lot to do with the entrenched and institutionalized racism against Koreans in Japan. ---
**Author:** ![DougC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7feea3/32.png) [@DougC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DougC)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2000, 5:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mexican-economy/30648/42 "2000-08-29T05:41:13Z")
- - - I have read many acounts of people coming to the US from foreign nations and becoming sucessful - starting their own businesses and all that. I can’t recall ever reading of anyone leaving the US to go to (for an example) Mexico and starting a business and getting rich. Many _corporations_ have done it, but not many individual people that I know of except for possibly the narcotics trade. The only types of foreign businesses I most commonly read of US citizens starting abroad are travel related: hotels and tour companies and the like. - From reading, I gather that the US has two things most other countries don’t: (relatively) low taxes and other related costs and (relatively) low regulatory barriers to entry in most areas. A pool of wealthy consumers is another big advantage but in time the first two would lead to the that, I’d suppose. This might sound like narrow-minded jingoism but it’s not intended; I’ve just never heard of anybody rafting _back_ to Cuba to get rich picking bananas. To those of you who’ve traveled the world, what would you say? Is this basically correct or not? - MC ---
**Author:** ![labdude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/5fc32e/32.png) [@labdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/labdude)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2000, 7:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mexican-economy/30648/43 "2000-08-29T07:00:57Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Necros \* > \*\ ***oldscratch** said: > > > [@](#): > > > > Why are Koreans in Japan so poor (about the same level as blacks in the US) and Koreans in the US are generally middle class? Did the culture change so rapidly when going between two countries? > > Um…this has very little to do with culture, and a whole lot to do with the entrenched and institutionalized racism against Koreans in Japan. \*\* So its not culture that causes poverty it’s entrenched and institutionalized racism. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![labdude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/5fc32e/32.png) [@labdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/labdude)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2000, 7:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mexican-economy/30648/44 "2000-08-29T07:09:17Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by sailor \* > \*\*Cuba has been a success??!! HUH? Have you been there? I have. Those people will risk their lives to flee that place. Some success! I know what I am talking about. Two guys I know just recently managed to escape Cuba and the wife of one of those is next. You go and tell them Cuba is a success. > \*\* Of course people in a 2nd or 3rd world nation want to go to a first world nation. I was saying that Cuba is better today than the other “free” caribbian island nations. Cuba is a much better place to live than Haiti or the D. Republic. ---
**Author:** ![Necros](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/necros/32/11086_2.png) [@Necros](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Necros)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2000, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mexican-economy/30648/45 "2000-08-29T15:23:01Z")
**labdude** said: > [@](#): > > So its not culture that causes poverty it’s entrenched and institutionalized racism. I was just countering **oldscratch** ’s specific argument about Koreans in Japan vs. Koreans in the US. I wasn’t attempting to attribute one cause to all poverty in the world. I was just pointing out in this one case, other factors come into play. If he had compared, say, Koreans in the US with Koreans in Canada, I wouldn’t have opened my big yap. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![oldscratch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ed655f/32.png) [@oldscratch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/oldscratch)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2000, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mexican-economy/30648/46 "2000-08-29T16:00:34Z")
But you didn’t counter my argument. You supported it. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Necros](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/necros/32/11086_2.png) [@Necros](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Necros)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2000, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mexican-economy/30648/47 "2000-08-29T18:49:12Z")
Dang it, don’t make me do that! I hate it when I have to reread the entire thread to see if I’ve fundamentally misunderstood the line of reasoning. 🙂 Actually, I’m not sure I _did_ support it. You’re making the case that culture is not what creates differences in circumstances within populations. I’m not necessarily arguing one way or the other on that issue. I was simply addressing one of your specific examples in saying that the disadvantages Koreans suffer in Japan has nothing to do with their culture. So, in one sense, I supported you with an example where culture makes no difference, and other factors are responsible. It was more my aim, though, to show that your contrast between Koreans in the US and Koreans in Japan wasn’t really a good one, because of many extenuating circumstances in the Japan situation. A fine distinction, I know. TTTT, I don’t agree with the OP, either. I think that anyone who believes that one ephemeral cause, such as “British” or “non-British” culture, is the key to undersdtanding poverty and disadvantage the world 'round needs to spend a little more time out in it. The world, that is. This placve we live be complex, and to not recognize that is little short of foolish. If you want to take that as a stament of support, **oldscratch** , feel free. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![tracer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tracer/32/20578_2.png) [@tracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tracer)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2000, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mexican-economy/30648/48 "2000-08-30T01:12:32Z")
“Mexican economy”! Jumbo shrimp! Military intelligence! Christian science! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mexican-economy/30648.md?page=2)