Pemex Fuel Pricing Caught Red Handed

Here's another of those articles that shows up almost daily in the news and online. This says more than 2/3 or 71% of the world's population get a share of only 3% of the world's wealth. 0.7% of the world's population have almost half of all the money. The article has more to say - this is only part of it. So how do the people of Mexico - many of whom fit into the 71% sharing just 3% of the pie - afford to buy high priced fuel? And what does this say about the reality of opportunity in the world today?


A major investment bank broke down the world's astonishing, warped distribution of wealth

http://www.msn.com/en-us/money/personalfinance/a-major-investment-bank-broke-down-the-worlds-astonishing-warped-distribution-of-wealth/ar-BBnYyM0?li=BBnbfcN

The distribution of global wealth is getting more unequal every year, according to a huge study by Credit Suisse.

The bank has compiled statistics to show that just 0.7% of the world's adult population owns almost half of the world's wealth, while the bottom 71% have less than $10,000 (£6,500) each.

That poorest two-thirds of the population own a 3% sliver of the world's wealth, and inequality is rising, according to the analysts at Credit Suisse.

Here's what they had to say:

This year, the number of High Net Worth individuals fell for the first time since 2008. However, the share of wealth owned by HNW individuals continued to rise as it has done every year since 2002, except for the setback in 2007–2008.

. If you see a kid dressed in rags

I have to agree - we have seen kids coming out of mud huts with dirt floors and their clothes are immaculate and they are clean and well groomed. Never saw a kid going to school in rags.

We are not just sitting in an RV talking to people. We do get out and about and we do have eyes and ears. We are far from being even close to fluent in Spanish but we do understand a lot of it. We also talk with gringo residents who have lived in areas for a long time and are involved in community social projects - that is where the information we think is at least partially true comes from. We do not subscribe to rumors and gossip. We went by the administration offices in Oaxaca and saw the police in riot gear with our own eyes and heard the reports of the teachers corrupt union and teachers not showing up for their classes for many years.

In no way am I going to suggest that learning English is an education or any measure of education - but we have been in towns where the private school kids speak English even in the street but the public school kids do not understand English. A reality in today's world whether we like it or not is that English is the language the whole world tries to learn because so much of world commerce is done in English - you cannot be a commercial airline pilot or flight controller anywhere in the world if you cannot speak English - but one example. That is opportunity. At least one of them. If you travel the world no matter what country you visit you will find people speaking English - not all for sure - but it is the common language many the world over communicate in.

I think it is really true anywhere that those who can afford a better education get a better education which leads to more opportunity. The poorer and further off the grid the less education and the less opportunity. There are only so many openings in universities for those wanting to be doctors or lawyers or engineers or whatever. Only those who qualify with the best education background can qualify for the best universities etc. I truly believe it is a myth that there is equal opportunity anywhere.

Let's get back to the PEMEX topic!

It's not worth arguing. School buildings, furniture and teachers are supplied by the government including free books. Parents form associations which require parents pay an annual fee. These monies are used to maintain the school. Electricity is provided free by the CFE. Many state programs will provide computers, laptops or tablets. Uniforms are required and can be had for as little as $150 pesos at the local Soriana. Don't believe me, go check it out.

There are public schools with better reputations than private and that depends on the culture established by the school and the principal. If you have a bad principal you will have a bad school. Don't believe me, go check it and visit a school.

If you have a poorly organized PTA you will have a c@#$$y school. Mexico has to start somewhere and no system is perfect. If you see a kid dressed in rags or without school supplies talk to the principal and get the facts, don't listen to me, go talk to the principal and buy the kid what he needs.

Big difference walking around a town forming opinions and sitting in an rv park than living in a community and knowing what's going on. Most people just don't get. One reason is that people don't know the language.

In an effort to clear up confusion about Mexico fuel tax and OECD reports I found another OECD report that sort of explains. One report apparently has to do with direct tax at the pump and the other has to do as explained (sort of) below. They tax the fuel when it is sold to the retail franchisee. So - based on the following unleaded could be around $1.36US per gallon – premium around $1.66US per gallon – diesel around $1.13 per gallon. I continue to be confused. I think this is as of July 2015?

I am sure you know a great deal more about education in Mexico than the rest of us so certainly cannot or will not argue with you. But what you are saying is not what we are hearing from many other folks or on the news in Mexico. The current administration is trying to break the strangle hold the teachers union has on education in Mexico. They tell us the Pemex union is not even close to how corrupt the teachers union is. Teachers do no show up for class and nothing anyone seems to be able to do about it. We are in Oaxaca where the police are still seen in force outside the school administration building (or whatever it is called) to protect the administration from threats from the union. Those Mexicans with enough money send their kids to private schools. This sort of thing is true the world over - even (or maybe especially) in the US. We certainly do not know that much about what is going on here but all is not the peaches and cream you try to make it out to be. Based on what I have seen of this world today - no matter where we are - I think it is truly unrealistic to pretend that everyone has equal opportunity. That is a myth. That is not reality. There are those for whom there is opportunity and those who have little to no chance. I am not going to try to pretend that all can be saved by some miracle turn around some politician can come up with but there isn't a lot of hope if folks out there keep pretending there isn't a real problem.

So let's try to stay on topic and not wander off into the unknown. Try to explain to me why oil the government of Mexico owns and controls would vary in price when it is coming out of the same hole in the ground? Why the tax situation on the growing industry in Mexico is not being taxed to the benefit of the people . . . "The tax revenues, all together 19.6 percent of GDP in 2013, are the lowest among the 34 OECD countries." Quote from one of my posts above. Sure - I know some of the answers but as with many of the politicians in the US I cannot believe the people keep voting for those who do these things to them. (OECD - Convention on the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.)

But we lived in Puerto Rico for some years where the people are seriously involved in politics and turn out to vote in very high percentages. Yet they voted for things that could easily be seen to be ruinous to their future. Today we see they are over $75 billion in the hole with no hope of baling out. We more or less saw this coming which apparently the people of PR closed their eyes to. Is this what is going on in Mexico? Are all the eyes closed? Can so many really not see what is happening? With the little we know of all of this it does seem obvious to us. Seems we must really be missing something. Can anyone explain in coherent terms?

Trying to puts these charts in this forum never seems to work - but here is what I found about fuel tax in the OECD countries - note the Mexico is the lowest - don't know where the previous information came from - US is very low also - keep in mind US fed tax is 18 cents - the rest is combination state and local tax.

Lowest tax of these 34 OECD countries........

http://taxfoundation.org/blog/how-high-are-other-nations-gas-taxes

OECD Gas Excise Tax Rates (Per Gallon), 2013

Country Tax Per Gallon

Australia $1.40
Austria $2.46
Belgium $3.10
Canada $1.25
Chile $1.93
Czech Republic $2.50
Denmark $2.95
Estonia $2.12
Finland $3.26
France $3.07
Germany $3.29
Greece $3.37
Hungary $2.08
Iceland $1.97
Ireland $2.95
Israel $4.20
Italy $3.67
Japan $2.16
Korea $2.69
Luxembourg $2.31
Mexico $0.00
Netherlands $3.79
New Zealand $2.01
Norway $3.67
Poland $2.01
Portugal $2.95
Slovakia $2.57
Slovenia $2.76
Spain $2.35
Sweden $3.10
Switzerland $2.99
Turkey $4.32
United Kingdom $3.44
United States $0.53
Average OECD $2.62

I work in public schools including primary, secondary and cobachilleres, and opportunities for education have never been greater. Walk a mile in my shoes and then tell me there are no opportunities.

Prospera is the PRI's extension of Oportunidades that pays families to keep their kids in school in "poor" rural areas. Been there, know it, seen it.

There are scholarship programs abounding throughout Mexicans states both federal, state and private.

As I have said before, if you know of a child who is dirt poor and goes to school in rags, let me know.

Chris: Not every Mexican ( or any other nationality) has the opportunity to become a success. Have you ever been dirt poor? In your teaching jobs don't you visit schools where there are some that are too poor to complete their education? The parents need these kids to get out and bring in some pesos. Then there is the stigma of being poor. While the other kids are playing with X boxes the poor come to school dirty and in rags. Most of those do not attend regularly. Please don't give me that line about free education !

Moisheh

Not sure how Pemex cam justify its prices in Mexico.. Just came back from trip two Central and five South American countries and all had fuel less than Mexico.
I have been to a few Auto Zones in Mexico and their prices are not the same as here. Compare the price of auto batteries, oil etc.

Every Mexican has the opportunity to become whatever they want in life. In some cases it is more difficult than for others.

Maybe I am wrong but in my experience that is simply not true anywhere in the world - not Mexico - not the US. Some get lucky and others do not. Old saying - right place right time. Many dream and work hard all their lives doing everything right and still get nowhere. That is a fact I have seen over and over again wherever we go. There are certainly opportunities but not everyone can be in the right place or right time to take advantage of them. And not everyone has equal education opportunities. Opportunities vary wherever you go - in every town almost there are good schools and not so good schools. I do certainly know that it is not always education that provides success as their are any number of highly successful people who did not even finish high school - Richard Branson - Larry Ellison - Colin Firth - and people like Bill Gates dropped out of college early and never got a degree. While others with many degrees and high level of education still struggle. So I know it is not just education. It is many things. One of the most important seems to be luck. And there is greed and selfishness and taking advantage of others and all that stuff that provides a certain success to some people like Donald Trump - though I doubt I would trade my life for his to look back and think I could be that kind of person - sad excuse for a human being. To say it is more difficult for some than for others is the supreme understatement. Difficult does not begin to describe it. Here's the thing - let's do the pie example - there are so many pies and so many slices of pie - there is not enough pie to go around - not everyone gets a slice of the pie - simply not possible - can't be done - mathematically impossible. There are only so many CEO positions and so many taxi driver positions and so many airline pilot positions and so many truck drive positions and so on. It is ridiculous to think anyone can become anything they want. The same as being rich or being poor or being middle class - only so many opportunities. You can't create something from nothing. That is the reality of life as I have seen and experienced it. To say anyone can be anything is just not even remotely realistic.







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