Juarez, Mexico

Despite the presence of many federal police and military troops the death toll from the drugs violence keeps rising. There have been 2,000 people killed in Juarez so far during the year 2009.

The violence keeps accelerating. Beheadings have become routine news.

I have travelled all over Mexico, and I have been watching the country’s decline for more than 60 years. I have come to the conclusion that two main factors are responsible for this country going down hill so rapidly.

The country’s tax system allows a part of society to maintain fabulous wealth and power, while millions of people remain on the threshold of starvation. The large disparity in wealth between the super-rich and the vast majority of all other Mexicans is highly detrimental to societal cohesiveness.

Fraudulence and corruption among governmental workers, including the various law enforcement agencies, has become routine. A small bribe to the government man is considered completely normal in any transaction or interaction with the government.

I find the similarities between what I see in Mexico and what I see in the USA distressing. There appears to be more and more corruption among law enforcement agents here in America. The gap between the super rich and the middle classes has grown significantly during the last 40 years. The top 1% of wealthiest individuals in America now earn more than the entire bottom 95% of the people combined.

Neither bodes well for America’s future.
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