New Gas Stations Are Opening

moisheh wrote:
Daniele: Please tell me just what in that quote you posted is outdated. I see the poverty every day and work with organizations that are trying to make change. For 7 years I ran a charity that provided food for the needy every Xmas. Some of those people live in cardboard shacks with no running water. Kids and dogs everywhere. They get next to no help from DIF. So my posts are based on what I see in my Mexico. There are hundreds of villages along the coast that are the same. This is in sharp contrast to the wealth that prevails in many large cities. There is more than one Mexico! So just what is outdated in my post?
Foundation


Moisheh

Let me explain: after my service during Vietnam in the USAF I joined the Peace Corps and was sent to West Africa, after my PC tour I worked for USAID designing appropriate technology for developing economies. I have lived in truly poor countries that make Mexico look like Switzerland including Egypt, Cambodia and Nigeria to say nothing of Sierra Leone, Senegal and Liberia.

I know poverty well probably much better than you. And I can tell you without a doubt that you could go to any of those countries and empty out your entire bank account on some poor beggar in the street and it would have absolutely ZERO effect on the problem.

The problems of poverty are structural at a very deep level and some are in fact cultural. I came to the conclusion long ago that the money that is spent by tourists, whether they are driving RV's or flying in is one of the most important factors in raising the standard of living for so many in truly poor countries.

Further there is nothing that irritates me more than the expats who claim the moral high ground because they "live" in a place that is poor and smugly think they are better than the tourist or the visitor.

Read Paul Theroux's book Dark Star Safari for a real look at this issue.

The way to cure the issues of poverty is to create jobs. I did that with my businesses overseas. And in one country alone my one hundred employees were conservatively speaking, supporting 400 people. With the good salaries they EARNED by working for me. They didnt do it with handouts.

So please do not lecture me on poverty in the developing world. It is good that your intentions are in the right place but I think as far as Mexico goes you are a bit out of date overall.