Word: mexicanization
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...Mexico's battered economy stabilized after President Clinton -- backed by congressional Republicans -- said the U.S. stood ready to help. The American offer: as much as $40 billion in loan guarantees. Mexican stocks, which had fallen early in the week, rose after the announcement. Still, Mexicans remained anxious about their country's fiscal health. Said a Mexico City electronics dealer: "This is a time bomb. People will take to the streets." Hundreds of upper-middle-class housewives did, marching on the presidential residence with their cellular phones in hand and their maids alongside waving banners demanding TRUTH AND DEMOCRACY...
...Administration sold NAFTA to Congress by arguing, among other things, that locking in low tariffs would boost the American trade surplus by making U.S. products cheaper in Mexico. Thanks to the peso's plummet, American-made goods could now be as much as 50% more expensive for Mexican consumers. Products from herbal shampoos to frozen desserts sold south of the border will be hard hit. "The peso has been devalued," says Texas A&M trade specialist James Giermanski, "to the point where it really wipes out your expected tariff advantage...
...impact may not be as great as it seems on the surface. But the fears that the devaluation has raised add ammunition to the arsenal of free-trade critics who warned that Americans would be hurt more than helped by NAFTA's close entwining of the U.S. and Mexican economies. In a blistering op-ed article in the Los Angeles Times, Ross Perot, NAFTA's most vocal adversary, declared the devaluation would cost the U.S. thousands more jobs and as much as $20 billion in lost investment capital...
...Administration's political headache is made worse by the specter of increased illegal immigration. Although soft-pedaling the issue, Clinton officials are deeply worried that the drop in income for Mexican workers could seduce thousands to cross the border. Even if an influx does not materialize, the possibility is raising hackles in California and Texas, regions increasingly intolerant of illegal immigration, but crucial to Clinton's re- election hopes...
Perhaps the biggest benefit of the devaluation is the opportunity for large- scale U.S. investors to establish a cheap foothold in the Mexican economy. That, however, has little effect on ordinary Americans. For the moment, the issue is being ignored by Washington as the city adjusts to new political realities there. But once the Republicans settle in, they could realize the political gold mine offered by Mexico's potential drain on the U.S. That could force Clinton to take his cue from the Mexican Finance Minister and plead forgiveness, on bended knee, before American voters next year...