Mexico growing despite violence, increasing potential as US ally

In another sign of just how vital a neighbor and ally it is, Mexican economic growth continues to grow exponentially despite the bloody drug war in the north. US as well as Asian tigers such as Taiwan and South Korea are increasing their investments in Mexico, not reducing them. These factories, known as maquiladoras in Mexico, were a staple of the early mid 1990s post-NAFTA economic boom south of the border. That was quickly put in check when US manufacturers saw that they could turn that 1$ an hour they paid in Mexico could easily be turned into 1$ a day or less in China and SE Asia. With the dramatic rise in the cost of oil recently, the resultant increase in transportation costs has made Mexico appealing again, even for the Asian industrial powers. Unlike China, Mexico has an economy very similar to the US, with a burgeoning middle class and one whose fortunes are inextricably linked to ours. The future continued growth of Mexico is at once tied to our own. They are not vying for their 'place in the sun' as a potential global superpower as is China. They simply are looking to modernize and advance.

Any followers of my blog know very well that I am pro labor, pro union and pro american jobs. That being said, if jobs which half left the US for Asia never to return now begin to come back but to Mexico they are at least less of a threat. Mexican laws, while pale compared to ours, are downright New Deal-ish when compared to those of China. These halfback jobs (making it back only half way) will serve to enhance the US economy and hopefully grow our closest neighbor into what we really need in this decade, a close natural ally, with similar values and one who, in an increasingly hostile world, will at least not be actively working against us.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/11/world/americas/11matamoros.html?nl=todaysheadlines&emc=tha2