South of the Border

Won't it be amazing if the U.S.-Mexico border stops demarcating a division between an northern economy that functions and a southern one that does not?
On Thursday, Mexico's Congress passed what could be the most transformative economic legislation there in a century.  The members had a few fist fights and some screamed "treason," but the lower House still voted to expose the state oil company, Petroleos Mexicanos, to the free market.  And at 354-134, the vote wasn't close.
It brings to mind the scene in that silly global-warming-causes-catastrophic-freeze movie in which millions of Americans try to pour over the border into Mexico.

1 comment:

Gringo said...

Given the iconic status that PeMex has had, this is mind-blowing. The PRI, the party which controlled Mexico for 70 years, and under whose rule oil was nationalized, voted for this.

Mexico faced up to economic realities: 1)Onshore and easily exploitable onshore reserves are declining, and relatively quickly these days. 2) There appear to be ample reserves deep offshore which require capital which PeMex doesn't have, but which foreign oil companies do.

I never thought Mexico would do it, but reality finally collided with national myth. But since the final peso collapse in the 1990s, Mexico's economy has been fairly well run.

Mind-blowing.