Yes, I realize the socioeconomic reality that people of color are traditionally more likely to have low paying jobs, and that that economic reality is changing somewhat, but try to defend what he implied in his statement is pretty low. It’s a pretty shitty thing to say. His border hypocrisy has really pissed me off for a while, then he goes and says something like this. Why exactly are we dealing with Mexico in a diplomatic way?
You’re right. It was a bad thing to say. But then, I can think of another North American leader who has said plenty of stupid things.
I’m not here to defend Fox, but this occurred to me: I wonder if Fox has an inaccurate view of race relations in the U.S.? Judging by some of the posts on these boards, I think that there are people in other countries who think the majority of people here drive around with Confederate battle flags on their cars. Heck, I’m from here; and my experience and upbringing (i.e., race is a non-issue) is wildly different from people in other parts of the country, and even parts of the state and cities where I lived.
We imported Africans for a couple of centuries to do our shit work. We imported the Chinese to build our railroads. Now we import Mexicans to process our Chicken McNuggets and pick our lettuce. While black/white economic par may never be reached I’m not sure Fox’s remark is highly inaccurate.
What? Why is that guy running the country? He’s basically saying “god Mexico sucks, please let us all into the U.S., because we lack dignity,” instead of doing something to, I don’t know, improve the situation in Mexico!
AUGH MY BRAIN
Well duh, maybe if HIS people are taking such shit jobs, it’s because HIS government hasn’t lifted a finger to correct things in their own back yard. Maybe? I’m pretty pro-immigration. I sincerely believe there should be a way for people who want a better life to have a chance, though I have no idea what would be practical. I generally know the difference between “should be” and “can be”. But it’s not our job to take up his slack in dealing with his internal problems. We should not have to absorb so many people day after day, year after year, by the tens of thousands to “cover up” his country’s problems. People tend to go where they think things will be better, where they might have a chance. (I almost said they leave places that suck, but I didn’t.)
As far as jobs even black people wouldn’t take, what is he saying? I don’t even know if I want to go there.
I think he’s feigning indignation, to cover up the possibility that he is a worthless fuck-up.
He wants the millions of dollars sent home by the workers each year.
You want to stop them from coming?
Stop the dollars going out.
That could be a very very good idea. I understand several other countries do limit how much of their currency is allowed to leave the country. I wonder how much Mr. Fox would scream then. I like your way of thinking here.
Well, what he said was pretty dim, but i’m wondering what your alternative to diplomacy would be? Sanctions? Bombing?
Well, they are godless foreigners who only understand force.
It was a stupid and tactless thing to say, but I think it’s also true that some people are going to kick and scream “racist!” unnecessarily.
Is there a negative effect in Country A, economically speaking, to have money leaving Country A to be spent in Country B?
Let’s find out. Are any people around from Canada, England, Germany etc. who might have these limits in place? If so, what were the effects? Anyone?
Thanks for posting that article Yeticus, it was very educational. It supports some of what I said earlier in post number 5 about no incentive to improve conditions, and showed me a few cans of worms I didn’t know about. So, then Mexico profits from it, in the form of “almost free” money, and as long as they ignore their own problems, the money keeps flowing in. The “checks cashed fast” places such as Western Union, the banks and ATM people profit, with their fees and charges, and exchange rates. It sounds like there are more hands in this than I would have ever guessed. It sounds like a giant industry revolves around separating the “undocumenteds” from whatever money they make. It sounds like they have every reason to ensure Mexico always sucks, so they can keep their money factory going.
No problem, Steve. Here is the second half of the article.
Hmm. It was inappropriate for him to add the racial flair to his comments that he did. But it is more or less a fact that Mexicans do jobs that Americans simply would not do (especially for the extremely low under the table wages.)
Here’s a few things though:
-
We’re still going to deal with Mexico because they share quite a large border with us, they are a huge trading partner, and they are a fellow NAFTA member. To throw all that away with diplomatic asshattery simply because their leader said something stupid is retarded.
-
In Mexico many many people have family working in America and sending money back home. To a politician like Fox it would really hurt his political capital (wouldn’t really hurt his reelection chances since, IIRC, Presidents in Mexico are one term) to try to talk down the emigrants. Mexico is so relatively bad economically (compared to the United States) that no policies enacted by the current Mexican president or the next 3 Mexican presidents is going to bring about such change that large numbers of Mexicans don’t find it preferable to emigrate north. Migrant working is part of a certain culture for many Mexicans. Fox is doing the best he can with the situation and trying to get them fair treatment while abroad, eventhough they are illegals they’re trying to improve their lives and it’d look very bad for him to try to punish Mexicans that were trying to improve themselves in a way most Mexicans support ideologically.
I will have to agree with you here. It was a stupid thing to say, but not more irresponsible than his own stand on the immigration subject.
My country is an exporter, and also an importer of illegal inmmigrants. Last week a couple, owners of a small shop, were brutally murdered by a band of Haitian criminals. The govenrment (under the guise of protecting them from retaliation) repatriated some thousands of **illegal **inmigrants living in the area. The reaction of Haitian politicians? To close the border, saying they will not accept them back, and screaming at the top of their lungs something akin to Fox’s position. So you see, it is an easy strategy, all you have to do is blame the other one for you own’s innability and unwillingness to improve the standards of living of your population.
In our defense, our politicians, stupid as they are (and they can’t hardly be any more stupid) have always condemned illegal emigration (at least publicly).
A politician is a politician is a politician. A politician by any other name would smell as foul. No matter where they are, they all use high sounding fine words, full of principle and false goodness, and all the while they are picking someone’s pocket.
SteveG1: *We should not have to absorb so many people day after day, year after year, by the tens of thousands to “cover up” his country’s problems. *
True, but bear in mind that a lot of our own policies (agricultural subsidies plus NAFTA free-trade and lax environmental/labor rights rules, for example) are significantly exacerbating his country’s problems.
We want to sell our cheap corn to Mexico, for instance, and we don’t care if it hurts the livelihood of Mexican corn farmers. At least, not until Mexican ex-farmers start streaming over the border to work in the US illegal labor market. (And note that our own leaders aren’t particularly concerned about this—witness Bush’s proposals for a new amnesty program—because their chief political allies are the business class who benefit from cheap labor.)
Basically, both countries are trying to gain their own economic advantage by shifting burdens onto their neighbor’s economy. This “mutual anti-cooperation” strategy is definitely counterproductive in a lot of ways, but we shouldn’t point the finger at Fox as though it’s all his fault.
And while the “even black people” remark is open to misinterpretation, I don’t think it necessarily implies racism. It has to be obvious to anybody that the lousiest jobs in the US (excluding the Latino immigrant labor force) are largely, and disproportionately, held by black people.
I hope you’re not expecting me to disagree with that. 
In my opinion, the reason why our politicians condemn illegal emigration is because we also get a lot of illegal inmigrants (many more than we export). They don’t want to be seen as encouraging ours to be eaten by sharks and our neighbors to the west to continue their peaceful invasion.
Our politicians are as sleazy or more than the worst you can think of.