Crisis Update: Mexican Impressions

During my time here, I have tried to get a sense for how the global economic crisis is affecting Mexicans. The anecdotal evidence I have cobbled together does not lend itself to dramatic nor universal conclusions, but it nevertheless adds perspective to my understanding of this still unfolding drama. The overwhelming reaction to my prodding about life in Mexico during this period has been one of indifference. Most people I've asked, from a taxi driver in Mexico City to a vendor at Teotihuacan to a workless peasant in San Cristobal de Las Casas, have asserted that things are not all that different now than before. The one exception has been a consistent sense of shock and fear regarding the rapid plunge in the value of the peso versus the dollar. A gynecologist from Ciudad Juarez, a city smack on top of the U.S. border, recounted with dismay his realization that his significant peso-denominated savings have plunged in dollar value by almost 35% since September (not to mention market losses). He pointed out, as have others here, that it is a cruel and frustrating twist of fate (or financial markets) that the dollar has surged despite the crisis being centered in the U.S.

The vendor at Teotihuacan pointed out that things are not all bad, however. He claimed that the surging dollar has increased, if only slightly, American travel to Mexican tourist sites as well as the amount of money they spend on souvenirs. The taxi driver in Mexico City claimed that things are business as usual. "I know this is a business that has ups and downs," he said matter-of-factly. Likewise, the unemployed peasant in San Cristobal told me that things are more or less normal for simple laborers like him. "If you want to get work you can get work," he told me. He did say that wages for labor have been decreasing slightly, but when pressed to cite signs of more deeply-rooted trouble he could not.

Some say that when the U.S. sneezes, Mexico catches a cold. With the U.S. vomiting and in cold sweats, you might think Mexico would have already perished. A general sentiment has been that the worst is yet to come. It should also be noted that I'm not reading the newspapers here or watching the news as I was in the States, and so am not inundated with crisis coverage. Nor have I interacted much with the "professional" corps, which is likely reeling from the increasing pressure on global corporate earnings. In the conversations I have had, however, a sense of urgency or exceptional concern hasn't revealed itself save for worry about the peso.

My take-aways are as follows: a)The consequences of the crisis are still radiating outwards from the centers of commerce and finance, and while seemingly at doomsday proportions in the States, they have not fully manifested themselves elsewhere. b) many basic laborers have lived for years in difficult circumstances; as such the change in fortunes may not be as salient for them. Further, the indifference of Mexicans with whom I've spoken, largely of the lower-classes, leads me to wonder if this crisis, here and elsewhere, might be more accurately described as one of the upper and middle classes, at least for now. I am convinced that much of the media attention in the U.S. is due to the fact that so many previously well-off folks are suffering such huge losses in personal wealth and security--the harder they fall, the better the story. (Would welcome any thoughts on that interpretation. I certainly do not have a good sense of lower-class life in the U.S.)

Latest sign that the Crisis does indeed speak Spanish, and has followed me here to maake life difficult: I have not been able to sublet my room in NY after 8 weeks of trying, and after having lowered the rent by $300. It's in the West Village for christ's sake. If that's not a sign of the apocalypse, I don't know what is. Cross your fingers for me.