More on the Influenza...and on Obama

Classes in Mexico have been ordered to restart on May 7th for colleges and high schools, and on the 11th for elementary and junior high after a forced closure for sanitary reasons (you may want to read the post below). With this, and the opening of restaurants, etc. life is ging back to normal in Mexico (particularly in Mexico City). Nonetheless many schools have ordered their students to stay home if the feel any flu-like symptoms and to use surgical masks in their facilities. Apparently, Mexicans will have to learn to live with the swine flu (I insist its a joke to call it human influenza, as many Mexican media have begun to call it to avoid using the term refering to pigs or the more scientific term A/H1N1).

Fortunately, the alarm has gone down. People should not panic, they should only continue to follow the instructions that avoided its spread. Although at times annoying and exagerated, these measures are a small price to pay (if not, you may check the story on Manuel Camacho, a renowned polititan who seemingly caught the virus, check www.eluniversal.com.mx for coverage on this story and on the whole pandemic).

The virus is real. It's no coverup story for the legalisation of personal drug use in Mexico, it is not the new Chupacabras, it is any of these weird stories you may hear about on Facebook or Twitter. For instance, Google caught a significant rise in the searches for influenza related words in Mexico two weeks before the alarm was given. This usually happens because when people begin feeling the symptoms they search for them on the net.

And I'd like to comment on the first of the silly stories you hear on Facebook that I mentioned and with this pass to the second topic of this post, Obama. a week before the alarm on this new strain of influenza was give, President Obama visited Mexico, closing one of its hottest neighborhoods, Polanco. The allegation I read on Facebook was that he would have suggest the use of this flu as a story to avoid the headlines of the legalisation of the carrying of personal doses of drugs such as mariguana, cocaine, heroine, etc. and thus lessen the problem of drugtrafficking (we should keep in mind that El Chapo Guzmán -the most important druglord in Mexico, and ostensibly the world- is now one Forbes' richest men and one of Time's most influential leaders). Yes, drug use was depenalized in Mexico, but so far this reform has had (and will have) no impact on the power of druglords because it doesn't change incentives to move drugs in any case it encourages them to keep on doing buisness, but not to lower their prices; as long as the supply side remains as a black market operation, druglords will not lose their power.

On another issue, Obama has been US President for over 100 days. Is he doing well? Democrats in the US and left-winged intellectuals are extatic with his presidency. He has become a kind of JFK, an American President with whom everybody has fallen in love. To these people I say, watch the US government spending. The monetary supply has already more than doubled (seniorage) to cope with the government spending to help the country not fall into a bigger crisis. The flu epidemic has only brought, yes, more spending. If China should stop buying US bonds two great effects would hit the US economy: hyperinflation and a smaller aggreate demand, which would mean a smaller GDP. So Obama could be endangering the US economy, and could eventually not be remebered as a good-looking African American statesman but as the man that left the US broker than what it was. Nonehteless this is just my humble opinion.

The US's fault?

According to Hillary Clinton the US is to blame for much of Mexico's violence?

http://www.reuters.com/article/vcCandidateFeed1/idUSN25429486

Is she right? Probably so, if the US could control its demand for drugs then probably Mexican druglord would not have the power they do. Moreover, drugs being a black (i.e. illegal) market present a great price markup from the marginal cost of producing them. If they were made legal then they could be regulated and drug lord would lose their monopolic power.

Maybe drug legalization should become an issue in both Mexican and US political agendas...

The land of the free

The US (I'm one of the ones that don't like to call it America that much) is certainly a great country. It is the land of the free, the land of oportunity, a place where today we can truly say that "all men are created equal, and are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable right. That among these are life, liberty, and the pusuit of happiness". I'm not much an Obama supporter, nonetheless I find it truly amazing that a Hawaian, son of an immigrant from Kenya, that struggled in his youth can now be the most powerful man on Earth because he has recently taken office of the Presidency of the US.

The American Dream is true. It has become true. The life struggles of people such as Jefferson, Lincoln, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Malcom X, César Chávez has rendered fuits. It has created the most free country; yes, it is imperfect, but again it was created by humans and hence it it bound to be imperfect; and yes, it has become overregulated, bureaucratic, corrupt in many of its institutions; but the US is alas the closest thing we have to the Classical Liberal ideal of a free society, where everything is questionable, where the Rule of Law is a truth (instead of personalitic regimes).

I would just like to mention an example that should make Mexicans think. Recently, Governor Blagojevich of Illinois was accused of corruption because he wanted to sell Obama's seat in Congress. He'll probably set foot in jail. In Mexico, several video tapes were aired by the media showing various government officials (in particular from the Mexico City government), being paid off for political favors several years ago. Today they continue to be our policy-makers!

Another example, could you ever imagine a Mexican President being the son of let alone an African country, but Guatemala? Many lessons are to be aquired from the US.

Is Mexico a failed State?

According to Max Weber, a State is the legitimized monoply of physical violence. Increasingly, the Mexican State is loosing such monopoly. The growing power of drug cartels, the augmenting wave of violence, and a generalized violation of the Rule of Law makes us think that the Mexican State is overwhelmed. A recent Pentagon-endorsed study compares Mexico to countries such as Pakistan.

There are even those that believe that a US military intervention might be necessary in the near future. Putting aside nationalistic concerns of sovereignity and autonomy, this is worrysome in the sense that Mexico is begining to be seen as a country that cannot protect its own citizens.

You may read more about the topic at the following links:
http://www.theweek.com/article/index/92337/3/Mexicos_failed_state_threat
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123206674721488169.html

More than anything, this fact should be an eye-opener for Mexico's government officials for them to sit down and do their job.

Good-bye Mr. Bush, hello Mr. Obama

Next Tuesday, Jan. 20th, Barack Obama will de sworn in as President of the United States. This will conclude the eight year Republican presidency of George W. Bush (who finishes with a very low 24% of approval), and begin a new era in world politics.

When Mrs. Rosa Parks decided to sit in a white-only seat in a bus, and thus begin we the end of racial seggreation in the US, she never imagined that just a few decades later, an African-American would be the most powerful man on the face of the Earth. When Obama was elected last November, this became a reality.

Evidently, Mr. Obama is faced with an enourmous task. It is well said: "with great power, comes great responsability." Much is expected from him, from his Ivy-League education, from his enormous charisma, from his party, from his superstar cabinet... It will take a great leader to lead the US out of a series of crises it has never experienced: fighting a war on two fronts (one of which is highlydisliked by an important part of the population), facing the biggest economic crisis since the Great Depression, a growing power of drug lords just south of the border, and a long etcetera.

Will Mr. Obama keep his campaign promises? Will he choose the right economic/military/social/security decisions? We can only hope that he is up to the task. Hopefully he will not listen to the chant of the sirens who would wish him get into large deficits to bail-out the economy, hopefully he will take US troops out of Iraq cautiosly, hopefully he will declare war on the State threatening drug lords....hopefully we'll remember him as we remeber Lincoln, Kennedy, Jefferson, and the great leaders the US has had.

The importance of humility

I've been reflecting during the past days about the importance of humility. I've realized its importance goes beyond moral and religious grounds into the more profane world of politics and science.

Recently, on January 8th, 397 years of Galileo Galilei's death were celebrated. Today Galileo is considered the father of modern science; nonetheless this would not have been possible if he wasn't humble. Humility is, at the end, recognizing the fact that we may be wrong in what we think, believe, and state. By recognizing this we acknowledge the fact that our counterpart (whoever we are debating or dicussing with; be it the Church, the opposing political party, our fellow peers at school or work, etc.) may be indeed right.

If we are humble we may exercise tolerance, and hence in recognizing the possibility that we may be erred (as humans, imperfection is part of our nature) we will not want to impose our view (religious, scientific, political, or whatever) over others, but wish to discuss it and in any case try to convice them (not through coercitive methods). As we can see, humility is not only a Chrisitian value, but a Classical liberal one.

Humility is indeed the motor for progress. It makes us open ourselves to doubt and to discussion, which lead to the development of knowledge. But don't listen to me, I may wrong.