Why don't we involve ourselves in politics?

We are always free to choose, but when we don’t decide anything, we’re letting others decide for ourselves. This might sound confusing but it’s true. If you don’t care about some decision you’re supposed to make, people will take that decision for you and your only option will be to accept and follow whatever they chose.

When the political debate took place on April 6th, I couldn’t believe that from almost 600 students only 18 were the ones who raised their hands to participate. The rest could’ve had a lot of reasons for not getting involved like: being afraid of speaking in public, or being afraid of doing it wrong, or stammering there, etc. But most of those who didn’t participate didn’t do it just because they had no interest. They had no interest in participating nor in investigating and debating about political topics.

This is what happens also during major and important elections. There are people that don’t vote because they have specific reasons for not doing it, but most of them don’t do it just because they have no interest on choosing who will be leading their communities. Moreover, even people that don’t search to participate in politics (I mean, like getting involved with a political party) and limit themselves just to vote, are letting others choose for them. It is true that when a good man doesn’t care about politics, his punishment will be to be ruled by some man who isn’t as good or as smart as him.

I think that people should get much more involved in politics because right now they are in a “comfort zone” and they really like being there, not moving a finger but complaining about the wrong decisions that their leaders are making. It’s time for everybody to speak out but not only to speak, to do something. It’s true that it’s really comfortable to watch others struggle with our complicated issues, but commodities are gone when the results are evident. What worries me the most is that, since people are not eager to participate, power is always centered in the same small circle of people. The worst part is that most of them don’t work for the benefit of their communities but for themselves. So why are we letting this happen?

It was amazing for me to see that this conformism starts practically since we’re toddlers and it continues in high school and up until our adulthood. I saw the conformism in the tec students when they said: “que flojera”. “Que flojera” search for information, prepare for the debate, involve in politics, make an effort to do something good, do something extracurricular. Or simply “I just have much more important other things to do”.
Well, we ALL have a lot of things to do, our parents too, but we can always make a space in our agenda to participate with our community because if not, our punishment will be three times greater than the sacrifice we need to make in order to raise our voices. Think about it and please, get out of your “comfort zone”.

Touristic Places

Playa del Carmen is a beach located close to Cancun, the most touristic place in Mexico. “Playa” as most people call it, is also a very touristic spot where Mexicans and foreigners spend their vacations and relax whenever it’s necessary. One of my best friends had to move to that beach when her dad was promoted, and she had to start a new life there. I talked to her in the past days and I realized that life can be so different depending on where you live, no matter your social or economical status.

When I asked her about her school, she told me it was really cool and that she loved the people who was there because they were all very different from everybody she had met before. What caught my attention was that she told me that since their first year of high school they must study the subject of “Tourism”, even if they’ve already decided they want to be something else in life. She told me that they had several classes a week from that subject and they studied how to be hotel receptionists, captains of waiters, restaurant managers, tours sellers, nightclub managers, tour guides, etc. She later told me that although it was only a subject, teachers we’re always trying to convince the kids that being a hotel receptionist was the world’s coolest job and the one they were all born for. Those teachers always tried to push the young residents of that beach to choose the career of tourism and specialize in that area.

I was really shocked to hear those words, first of all because I finally realized the differences between cities just because of their locations. It is very remarkable that these people live from tourism. They have a whole different life from us because all they see is tourists and all they do is serve them and satisfy their needs. That’s what their lives are based on. Second of all, I couldn’t believe the culture these people have. I know we must be tolerant and respect others opinions but, why do they want their kids to conform to those jobs? I’m not saying they are worthless of course not, but there are young people with such a potential to be directors of huge companies, or doctors, or widely recognized executives, or market experts, etc. And all they want them to do is run small businesses that won’t even belong to them. All they want them to do is say hi to tourist and with a wide smile do whatever they ask them to do.

I think it isn’t fair because they’re being taught that this is the world’s greatest thing to do since they are really young and they don’t even have the ability to decide by themselves. I know I can’t change this because that is the way they live and perhaps that is what they NEED to do in order to preserve their beach as that touristic place it is, but they shouldn’t decide for their kids. Finally, I think that this is an example of how economy affects society, by changing their behaviors in order to survive in a world that’s driven mainly by the economic principles and the need to have the enough supply for the demand that’s always present in the planet.

Gasoline Prices

Last Saturday, gasoline prices increased, again. The magna gasoline increased 8 cents, the Premium 4 and the Diesel 8. Juan Pablo González, President of Amegas, stated that they had requested the authorities no more raises in the Premium’s prices because people was no longer eager to buy it.

When I read this news I immediately related it to the economics class because of several reasons. First of all I remembered that we discussed in class that we, as Mexicans, don’t have the freedom that other countries have when it comes to choosing the type of gasoline we consume. We pretty much confine to what our government gives us and this is a very strong determinant of our country’s economy. If we had several companies producing gasoline for us, I think a lot of things would be different. In my opinion, it would be better to have more firms and the freedom to choose because when the prices increase we have no other option than to accept it and move on, but with other alternatives we could still have our chances to find the best deal for us as consumers.

Second of all, I related the news article to everything I’ve learned about supply and demand. What the President of the Amegas stated is just another form to say that since the price is increasing so much, demand is falling due to the laws we’ve studied. I think this is something so logical that the government should already know what the consequences of their acts will be and maybe they’re willing to pay for them. But another option is that perhaps they haven’t realized how much customers they’ll lose because of the decisions they’re taking, and seeing it from another point of view, they haven’t realized how much Mexicans will be affected.

Applying the supply and demand laws, I think that the government should pay attention to what Juan Pablo González says and stop raising the prices. Why? Because if they’re increasing the prices that means they need to make more money. But if they lose the incentive in people to consume, they won’t get the money they need. I think they’re going the wrong way and they should know that lowering or maintaining their prices will attract much more customers and hence, more profit than if they stay with a few clients that are willing to pay that exaggerated amount of money.

Anyway, I hope that soon we have much more reforms that will improve Mexico and its economy, now that we’re finally getting out of the terrible crisis. By now, we must conform with our only gasoline provider and with its raising prices, until someone decides to try something different and hopefully better.

Political Negotiations

During the last days of March, several suicidal attacks in Russia took place. The first ones occurred in Moscow and the next ones in the region of the North Caucasus. In that week there were 51 deaths and at least two dozens of injured people. Authorities believe that these attacks were carried on by Moorish rebels that are seeking their independence. The same authorities that stated this are also afraid that this might turn into an “attacks wave” that will lead to a semi-war inside the Russian country.

On the other hand, it’s nothing new to hear that Mexico is also going through something similar to a war because of the “narcos” and their interests. I want to relate these events to politics, since we’re currently studying them.

First of all, I think that if a country isn’t unified, then it isn’t strong enough to go through hard times or to cope with though situations. It is sad to hear how countries have civil wars and so many differences inside them, but at the same time it’s normal because of the different opinions that we as unique individuals have. However, I’d like to analyze the cases of Russia and Mexico as possible inner-war countries.

I observe that minorities are the ones who start all this mess. Groups that are somehow relegated want to raise their voices and be heard (like the Moorish, for example). So we can relate politics to this by realizing that the government or other authorities should be smart enough to relax the relationships with these minor groups or at least negotiate something with them. I know most governments hate the idea of negotiating with criminals or terrorists, but I think they should reconsider this when talking about saving hundreds of human lives. I’m not saying that negotiating means giving them all they want, but perhaps stating an equilibrium point where both of them can win something and save everybody regrets from the pain and the disaster that they might carry on.

I hope the situation in Russia gets better, but unless someone powerful changes their rigid point of view and realizes that something needs to be done with the suicidal, there won’t be much of a change. About Mexico, I guess I don’t have much to say. I hope that our government realizes that the plans they’ve come up with haven’t worked and that they need to seek for better solutions. Negotiating with them is something drastically, I know, but that is just my point of view, and I’m free to express it.

Let’s start using politics and the distribution of power as something positive and helpful for the people who need it, not just for those who have that power. Let’s realize that we depend on human relations and we need people that understand this and that are able to give the ones who believe in them peace and protection.

Are there opportunities for the young in Mexico?

Are there opportunities for the young people today in Mexico?

Some institution dedicated to the regulation of elections in the state of Sonora, has been organizing for several years now a debate between high school students. This debate revolves around political topics in order to create or increase an interest for this area. I was interested and inscribed myself for the event that took place on Tuesday April 6th. The topics and the stands we had were decided by chance; people from the institution made a raffle and came up with the results. The topic I was assigned was “Are there opportunities for the young people in our contemporary Mexico?” and I had to firmly defend that there are opportunities.
I think this is not an easy topic because opinions are divided and, badly for me, most people believe that there are no opportunities. So I decided to blog about this because I found it amazing that everybody I asked about this topic told me that Mexico can’t provide what’s necessary for the young ones to develop, and because I want to give my point of view about it. Because, well, I think they’re wrong.
Are there opportunities for the young people nowadays in Mexico? That’s my question. My question isn’t, are there opportunities for EVERYBODY nowadays? And it makes a huge difference when we learn to separate these two approaches. First of all, there is no society that can provide complete opportunities for everybody. It’s like saying, are there opportunities for everybody to win a thousand dollars in vegas? Of course not! Not everybody who goes to vegas will win that amount, but there are still the opportunities for some to achieve this. The opportunities are for those who fight for them, for those who look for them, for those who defend them and mostly, for those who really WANT them.
We just have to read the next sentences to believe there are possibilities in my country: There are 6 million students with scholarships provided by the government, plus those provided by the non-governmental system. In Sonora, in the last 6 years, more than 4130 companies have been created, which at the same time develop in 128,000 jobs, whose required profiles fit to those of young people. At a national level, in only this 3 months of 2010, there have been 138,000 jobs created.
What does this data tells us? That of course we have opportunities, but we have to look for them and prepare for them. A lot of people say: “There’s no employment, there are no jobs in Mexico”. But I’m just going to tell you one thing: there ARE jobs today, the only thing is that they’ve become more demanding and for people that’s more competent. If you want something, work for it.
I’m not going to deny that Mexico has a lot of problems, but I’ll always remember this phrase: “A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty” - Winston Churchill.

The Novillo Dam

“You have been invited to the march against the construction of the Novillo dam”. This is what I read in my Facebook page and I was amazed to see that they were around 8,000 confirmed people to assist in the city of Obregon, Sonora to march against this cause. And I have heard a lot about “El Novillo” but I had never been interested until I saw this event on my favorite website.
I started to research deeper and I found out several interesting things. The main problem here is, obviously, water scarcity. We know that we’re running out of water in Hermosillo and the authorities have been searching for new methods to obtain it, coming up with the idea of constructing a channel that will allow us to have the water that’s stored in the Novillo dam. But what does this imply? There are supporters and critics of this strategy but the facts are being mixed up. There are two opposite versions of the story, so I’ll just narrate both of them and later make a judgment.
People from Hermosillo support this plan, arguing that the Novillo water is being wasted. With statistics they say that the water wasted in the Novillo dam in one year, would be enough to satisfy the Hermosillo needs for 15 years! Could this be possible?
On the other hand, people that enjoy the privileges of the Novillo dam don’t want to give up their water. They say that their water isn’t wasted, that it goes to the Ochiviachic dam and it’s later used to irrigate some parcels. They also say that it will be more expensive to convert the Novillo water into potable water than the Abelardo L. Rodriguez’s water. They suggest desalinization as the proper way of getting out of this issue.
Honestly, I don’t know what to believe. At the beginning I had only heard the first version of the story and was convinced that the Novillo dam should be constructed because desalinization is pretty expensive and our government can’t afford it, in fact, I don’t think that any country in the world is starting to see desalinization as a feasible method because of the cost it implies. However, later I saw that on my Facebook, and some complains that powerful people wrote in the renamed newspapers of Sonora, and I realized that maybe they had a point, that it would be unfair for them to take away their water.
I can’t be sure of what the statistics are. I don’t know what the real numbers are because nowadays the Internet and every media are able to manipulate information. All I can say is that we desperately need water and that the authorities that have under their concern the whole state, can’t be focusing only in one city and leaving the other unprotected. I think they must have measured the marginal benefits and marginal costs of this operation and that they found equilibrium. Otherwise, they wouldn’t be supporting this idea. So I’m mostly inclined for the construction, but I hope that the media will give clear and real information, and not one sprinkled by the opinions of the opposite parts.

Crisis and Unemployment

It was not until my first day of school in Hermosillo Sonora, about a semester ago, that I realized that the economic crisis had reached me. What was I doing here? I mean, I had a perfectly good life in my previous city and I didn’t want to move. But it all started in 2007, when the crisis began hitting the United States and as a consequence, Mexico.
Huge firms and corporations have had lots of trouble since this all started. My dad worked at a very important firm in Latin America which is called Femsa. Today, another executive kept my dad’s job, his own job, and the one of another man, remaining with the same salary and now a job that’s supposed to be done by three.
It was sad to know my dad wouldn’t work anymore for a company that had been his life for about 20 years, but I couldn’t stop feeling relieved about him not being so stressed anymore. It’s true that the last years were full of heavy tasks and stressful projects, and I was glad that it all ended. But what is the remaining executive going to do with that triple stress charge? Is it healthy that companies cut their expenditures with the salaries of employees and let the ones remaining suffering the consequences? I guess they don’t have any other option. I guess this crisis didn’t leave a good variety of options for anybody, at least that, as in the picture, they had a super high degree of studies completed.
Unemployment was the most tangible effect of the crisis. All over my country I listen to situations related to this, and I think that this topic isn’t just about losing a job, having less money, and later finding another one; it is something way more serious and deep, and my case could be one example. Losing a job can imply moving from one city to another, losing a house, gaining debts with a bank, the frustration of future plans, etc.
Some people say that this crisis is heading towards stability, but I don’t think so. I’ve heard in the past weeks about several people that are still losing their jobs because firms just can’t handle this. I have no idea when this is going to end, but I think that the Mexican state should, at least in this stage, interfere a little bit more with projects and actions, and not just wait for the United States to be stable again and enjoy that.
So my dad got another job here in Hermosillo and my family and I moved. Therefore, me being here is a direct consequence of this crisis and its high rate of unemployment, and I can’t stop thinking how it changed my life.

Iraq's Elections

The Council of Representatives of Iraq is the main elected body of representatives in this country. It is currently composed of 275 seats. These are the head of the country, the main decisions or crucial issues are discussed in their area.
Yesterday, March 5th 2010, the Iraq’s elections took place. It’s an event that’s present in every news report because I believe that it will cause a revolution or at least a radical change in the world’s politics and (since they're so linked) also in the economy. The election’s full results will likely be published on March 18, according to the UN. The final outcome, certified by Iraq’s Supreme Court, is due about two weeks later.

There are 6,218 candidates including 1,801 women. I believe that this will mark world’s history because the people who used to make up this council of representatives have left them such an interesting and complicated job. We all know that Iraq has issues with the United States of America, which is the most powerful country in the world (at least, the last time I checked it was, but we must watch out for China). So I came up with the conclusion that the way these people manage the relationships with this important country and with much others that have commerce treaties with them (mainly for their oil) will be determinant for the scenario that’ll constitute our world.

I think everybody gave the Obama election such a great importance because we all know that whoever leads the United States has a big weight on the way our world functions, but nobody has taken the time to realize the real importance on the change of power in such a controversial country. Sincerely, I expect for the best, but I’m insecure about which path these leaders might follow: perhaps revenge, perhaps forgiveness. However, any of these decisions will influence our way of living, and the 21st century history, will never be the same.

Nationalism and its effect on Politics

Nationalism was one of the factors that triggered WWII. This feeling of being so proud about your country, made everybody think about themselves no longer as individuals but as a collective entity. Those were the times when nationalism reached its highest expression and Germany is the best example we can have. There’s no better example to use in order to explain why they were so convinced about them being the “pure” race and the only one that should’ve been left in Earth. Today, I am pretty sure that Mexico is one of the countries with the highest level of nationalism; we love to be Mexicans and to take our flag around the world, despite of the negative aspects our country has.
I think we all want to believe that we’re the best. We all like to think that we have the best opportunities; that the best decisions are taken within our borders, etc. But is this good or negative? How are we supposed to manage these emotions that interfere with our important decisions whenever we need to take them?

Nowadays, multiculturalism is a way of life. We have such a great example here in Tec, with foreign teachers that provide a rich diversity to our High School. But I wonder if any of us is being objective whenever we say “this country is better than that one”. In my opinion, no country can be better than other, it just might be better in some aspects, but at the same time it might be worse in others. But are we truly taking this into consideration? Do we have evidence under our judgments that can support us whenever we compare the different ways of life?

Politics is determined by the relationships between sovereign entities. Several advances have made possible the interaction between countries all over the world. This is what makes our world spin. So I can’t stop thinking that when powerful leaders of different countries meet, they can’t avoid that pride they have, and they can’t take decisions 100% effectively. They are just so proud and defenders of their nationalism that what they say is partially headed towards their prestige and not about what the best option for everybody as part as the human race would be.
And let’s not go that far. We can see this often if not in our daily lives, at least in the news report. We see people from different cultures fighting against each other in the streets, or discussing religious topics, or defending their economic system, or yelling to each other about who is better. Why can’t they just be neutral and compare positive and negative alternatives? Because of that inherent emotion of belonging to a group.

So, should nationalism be encouraged in any country? Should it be banned? I think that the key is in being in the middle of excess and defect. Don’t be so blind about your identity as if it were the best one, but don’t think either that it’s not worth anything. Learn to be proud of your nationality but at the same time value the other ones, because tolerance is a key word in our globalized world. This would be an optimal point in our personality because our life is determined by our relationships. We, as humans, are supposed to co-exist in society, so we should learn to do it in a world that has so many different opinions and above all, learn not to be guided by feelings and emotions but by positive statements. Let’s find that equilibrium point.

The Human Value in a Firm

Thursday, at my “Professional Orientation” class, we read some articles about what a company ought to have in order to be considered good. The main article suggested that it must have five elements: care for humans, creativity, innovation capacity, proper use of technology and generation of profit.
I thought that it was great to have a human focus but the more important were the other four, since creativity and innovation will keep you in the market, technology will help you develop your way of working and efficiency, and the generation of profit is simply essential for a company to stand still.
It was only when I watched a video about the ‘google’ offices that I realized how important the human focus is in any workplace. We saw in that video that google employees have lots of facilities and an amazing environment for working! They have an office designed for them to explode their creativity, with several activities they can do throughout the day. They’re able to take their pets to their office, they can go to the cafeteria and eat and drink whatever they want for free! They also have buses (kind of like the Expresso Tec here) that take them from the Silicon Valley to the surrounding areas (like San Francisco), so that they can go and come back whenever they have the need. They have bikes they can all use to transport themselves inside the “campus” and they just have to leave them wherever they please, so that others can use them. They have a blackboard in the lobby of every building and everyone that goes in must write something in there, whatever they want. This is one form of fomenting creativity. There are also places to go and relax, practice yoga, etc., so that when you’re stressed you can take a break and later come back to work.
After watching this we all wanted to work there! Why? Simply because it’s different from any other job we’ve heard of and it makes feel those who work there happy with what they’re doing. I think that people have a better disposition to work when they are given certain freedom and they’re not as pressured as in a regular office. This is the factor that makes production better, because with tired and bitter employees, a firm could have all of the other factors but it still wouldn’t be a good firm.
I found this interesting for blogging because it involves society and economics. It’s important for an economy to identify how the human being works and responds to certain stimuli so that with that psychological profile, we can design the way of using our resources with a maximum efficiency (like in the PPC). We learned in class that any point inside the PPC curve is possible but it’s not having the maximum efficiency, and I think that if employees don’t have such a good disposition to work, we’ll place ourselves inside the curve. And none of us want that, right?
So I end up with the conclusion that having a great workplace, a nice office, a flexible schedule and facilities everywhere, is a huge determinant in the production of capital, although it doesn’t seem as important if you don’t analyze it deeply. So please, let’s analyze everything a little more deeply!

Holidays

Holidays.

I know what you’re thinking. This isn’t a topic to talk about in the “Economics, Politics and Society” class. But it is somehow related, because holidays (or bank-holidays in England) are based in legends or true events that happened in the past, leaving a mark in our world. This holidays, therefore, have 2 interesting approaches: they are reflected in the culture of certain societies and they represent a major market explosion. In this post I’ll analyze both of them.

As part of the society, holidays vary around the world. The national holidays are obviously different regarding the country, and the ones that are the same in several countries might be celebrated in very different forms. For example, Halloween is a whole event in the USA, while in México we also celebrate the “Día de Muertos”, but two days later and in a very different way. While the American kids go fooling around with a costume asking for candy, Mexicans built altars for the beloved that have already passed away. It’s amazing for me how we’re able to have so many holidays around the world and how much weight and importance they have on our society’s way of living.

Talking about the second approach, the economy of a certain country is extremely changed because of these holidays. For example, Valentine’s Day. Have you any idea of how much candies, chocolates, flowers, balloons and gifts are bought? It’s all about marketing. This holiday specifically, has nothing to do with a country’s culture, it’s just something someone invented in order to make this revolution happen, although it’s possible only one time per year.

And what about Christmas? Isn’t it a day to celebrate Jesus’ birthday? Aren’t we supposed to congratulate him and buy HIM presents? I know this is a very catholic point of view, but I think that no matter which religion you follow, you’ll agree that Christmas wasn’t created (at least at the beginning) to make every family exchange gifts between them. It’s marketing again who’s doing his job. It’s marketing again who’s moving the whole country’s economy, and in some cases, the whole world.

I know my point of view may sound a little critic but I just criticize how people forget what the essence of something is about and they just go following what everybody else does. Besides that, I have nothing against holidays. Actually, I’m really glad that these days exist in order to join entire families or even entire countries, and that an economy that might be going towards recession is a little bit saved by these phenomena. Besides, who could not love Holidays? We don’t have to work those days =)!!

Evading Taxes

Evading Taxes
I want to blog about taxes in this occasion, because I think this is a very polemic topic due to the increase of the I.V.A.. As we all know, the I.V.A. percentage over everything we buy has increased from 15% to 16%, reflecting on the discontent of most Mexicans. But why is this happening? I don’t want to talk about how angry Mexicans are, or what negative or positive consequences this raise is about to bring; I want to talk about one of the major causes of this change: evading taxes.

Huge companies, specially national and transnational companies, have managed to evade a considerable amount of the percentage they must pay to the government. They do this by having an excellent lawyer, who’s aware of the discrepancies that our constitution has. By analyzing the established laws, those attorneys find ways to justify themselves and the companies for not paying those taxes; the worst thing about this is that IT’S LEGAL!! And, of course, that bright man gets like 20% of the money that would’ve been paid to the government. Therefore, many lawyers focus on this area, because there’s where the bills are.

What’s my point? Well, I just want to say how unfair this is. How is it possible that the Mexican government complains of those companies but it doesn’t do anything at all to avoid this situation? How come they haven’t thought about changing those laws to fill up those holes that let rich people make themselves even richer. The WORST of all this, is that they want to compensate that money they’re not gaining by taking it from the citizens again, who are already paying a high percentage. Where’s fairness here?

I thought governments were made to establish order, justice and fairness in a community, but my government has disappointed me with this issue. I hope the leaders of this country get together and manage to create another constitution, or at least make the necessary arrangements to stop this from happening.

Narcotraffic

I used to live in the state of Chihuahua before coming to Sonora. Specifically, I lived in the capital city which name is also Chihuahua. Like three years ago, a small war started, but somehow it was like a controlled war. The “Narcos” (people who sell and distribute drugs) started killing each other because of the rivalry that two bands of the country have. Apparently, these two bands are fighting for the market and because so many border cities have been closed for them, Chihuahua is the only state left and they want to own it no matter what.

So the war started, and you could hear now and then about two or three people murdered per month, but that was it. And I don’t know when or how, but suddenly everybody was so scared of going out; there were so many street fights with guns and heavier weapons; there were not only dead men but their families sometimes had the same luck.

Parents started to freak out, and the number of parties and social gatherings each weekend started decreasing. But it was not until they killed my best friend’s dad, that I was really sick of all this. He wasn’t even a “Narco”, he was just in the wrong place at the wrong moment. I mean, this is not possible! It’s not possible that each time I speak to someone in Chihuahua they only talk about how ugly things are going, how quiet is the city because everyone’s afraid of going out.

It’s sad to know how a lot of families are losing their members, or how some others have chosen to move to another city. I know that in the first case it’s somehow fair because they chose to get into that business, and they knew what the consequences could be, but it’s extremely unfair for their families and above all for their kids. Why in the world would they want that huge quantity of money if they don’t have a dad to talk with? It’s deplorable to even think that this business is still running and how thousands of people are involved in it. I think this issue isn’t just affecting those states that have a major environment of Narco war (like Sinaloa, Baja California, and Chihuahua): it is also affecting the whole country.

I don’t know what the solution to this problem is, perhaps the legalization of drugs, but I just want it to be over. I’m outraged because I have somehow experienced it, and it’s sad and frustrating. I hope those who are the leaders, reflect upon their mistakes and stop thinking only about themselves, and open their mind to see what they’re doing to my dear México.

Venezuela's Government

Venezuela’s Government

When I thought about which topics I wanted to blog about, I thought about governments, because it’s something we’re discussing in class and it’s very linked to economics (my favorite topic). But, what could I possibly talk about? We all know what governments are for, and although communism is something I’m not a very huge fan of, I didn’t want to blog about it. Instead, I found a type of government that’s sort of communist but with other perspectives that can only be seen in one country of this huge world: Venezuela.

Hugo Chávez was elected President in 1998 with a campaign centering on promises of aiding Venezuela's poor majority, and was reelected in 2000 and in 2006. Chávez's policies have evoked controversy in Venezuela and abroad, receiving everything from vehement criticism to enthusiastic support.

I’m one of those vehement critics. Although I’m not an expert in the subject (I don’t even get close to that), I have heard enough from this man to be against his point of view. My best friend’s dad was born in Venezuela and studied there before coming to Mexico. He has talked about how bad his country is falling, he talks about how poor people are going, he talks about the fear that citizens are experiencing, and about how the media is controlling everybody.
Chávez “promotes” a political doctrine of participatory democracy, socialism and Latin American and Caribbean cooperation. He is a critic of neoliberalism, globalization, and United States foreign policy.

I don’t think a country can be powerful and fully developed if its government doesn’t believe in globalization because it is the latest tendency and perhaps the most important to be fully inside the best market. What can a country do without a universal policy for importing and exporting products? What can a country do if it's against the world's most powerful contry? I think Chavez is mostly interested in his own benefits (like most politicians) rather than on his country’s progress. I believe that he’s starting with a dictatorship that will last decades and decades, maybe following Fidel Castros’ example. I don’t think that a dictatorship is something good for a country, but neither have I thought that changing from leader too often is the best thing to do.

As a conclusion, I’d like to say that I think somebody or some organization should stop Chávez from what he’s doing to his people. I think that there are numbers and statistics that can prove that the country is going worse and worse with each year that passes. I think that people shouldn’t be afraid of him because, although he has powerful weapons, he’s just a man like all of us, and they should demand a non-reelection policy to stop him from continuing ruining this beautiful place.

Globalization

Globalization: nowadays, the world is a huge shopping mall.

Since very remote times, civilizations started with commerce and the exchange of products. In the Middle Ages, Europeans started a market characterized by long-distance trips that sometimes ended up in tragedy because of the pirates that were in the middle of the way, waiting anxiously to keep the treasures that were transported.

Today we have a totally new way of commercial interaction. We have means of delivery that nobody would have imagined 50 years ago. We have means of paying the products that nobody imagined even 30 years ago. So why is this all happening?

In the present post, I'd like to analyze the factors that have taken us to this point in history (that I'm sure will continue its evolution), and the consequences or the impact that it has in us as human beings.

So why do I refer to the world as a shopping mall? Well I think it's an easy analogy to do. But I think that the world is now even more simple than a shopping mall because nowadays we don't even have to walk 3 hours in order to get what we want, we can just click several times on a website and the package will be delivered at home in a certain lapse of time. Cool, huh?

While in my analysis, first of all, I believe that the factors that have lead to the world's globalization are: the development of technology, the improvement of transportation means, the new facilities we have in credits, transferring money from virtual accounts, the new means of marketing, the massive media that reaches every single point of the planet, and the government's policy of capitalism.

However, I actually think this ought to have it's negative approaches. Nothing in this world can be so good to be true. For instance, a lot of people who are ignorant in the uses of technology have lost their jobs in banks or in renamed companies because the knowledge they had has now become obsolete, and they have been replaced by younger people with better training. I know this is sort of natural but we have enough with the crisis cutting out jobs for this to be happening too.

However, it has more possitive approaches than negative, and I think this topic may lead to discuss other interesting global issues, because this shopping mall is also based in the principle of supply and demand, scarcity of resources, etc. So now, with this view of our world as a huge market, I think there's nothing that can stop us from being connected to whichever country we want, and from succeeding in the environment of selling.

Of all the topics we'll cover in this course, I'm specially interested in Economics. I love how the distribution of goods moves our world, and how it stimulates everybody's lives, even in the minimum way. I love to see the planet now as a shopping mall, building in my mind an image that will keep me from feeling fear towards international commerce and market, because now I see that it will become easier with each day that passes.