Prepare Yourself For 16% Tax Added Onto Food And Medicine

"Mexico Is Doing Better"

Well shucks, I would have hoped to read the Mexican PEOPLE are doing better.

You know those homeless guys standing on USA freeway ramps holding signs? Well they make about TWENTY TIMES the amount of money as hardworking poor farmers in Mexico. I could care less Juan Fulano can now afford a 42" flat screen to replace his 36" flat screen TV in Monterrey. That's "how" they manage to say "Mexico Is Doing Better".

115,000,000 people here eat every day. They now pay 16% tax for that privilege. That's a lot of money. Instant money for the government. A month passes. A huge storm hits endangering a lot of people. What does the government do? They did not send out messages saying the army was bringing food and the government was going to fall all over itself to try and help. No. The president goes on TV, radio and cell phone text messages ASKING FOR DONATIONS.

The movie star, and her husband el presidente, are going to depart their sexenio (6-year term of office) wealthy beyond their dreams. So will all the secretarias.

When you have a government official who has a claimed salary of say 35,000 US dollars worth of pesos with a stable of 4 luxury cars, five luxury homes all over the country, something stinks. Can't ask his wife - she's in Europe shopping.

Look the problem here is gringos DO NOT SEE THE POOR when they come here. They see Jose the owner of the RV park and Juan the fugitive from East L.A. working the blender to prepare your Cuba Libre. The hammock or sunglasses sales people hit the beach then disappear. Your environment is sterilized. Gringos tend to congregate with other gringos and not blend into a Mexican fraccionamento, Colonia, or barrio where you get to see "Where The Other 99 Percent Live".

When you go to the Mega, or Soriana, or Wal-mart you are seeing 3% of the population who can shop these stores. Go to an honest tianguis, an open air market and see the real Mexico. Where people still discuss the price or goods and arrive at a solution that satisfies everyone.

When I drive back across the border next month, it's going to be with a trunk packed with heavy winter blankets for unheated houses. No I am not going to declare them and no, the buyers are not going to pay 16% sales tax so someone in Mexico City can buy another 7 series BMW. The retail price will be lower. The 16% slashed and a hell of a lot of the profit margin markup normally charged by a USA store. The poorer folks around here will have a comforter instead of dressing in everything they have before going to bed. I would have neither the guts nor the stomach to prey upon the poor. Sorry, I don't have what it takes.

Any ideas about what these taxes are going to support or pay for? If they can use the money to pay for things the people need would it be worth it? That does seem to be a very high sales tax. And I do know about the corruption that the politicos in MX may be using to skim money from the people.

No one wants to pay taxes. If we know specifically where the money is going we don't mind. But if the purpose of the tax is not specified we would be concerned. But no matter where or what it is for the 16% does seem more than a little excessive.

As everyone is well aware there have been excessive tax cuts in the US over many years and they still want to cut more - cut spending - and no one wants to pay for anything - even though many can well afford it. We do understand that many in MX cannot afford this kind of tax. Cuts in the US have hurt so many things but mostly education which has set the US behind much of the rest of the world. While the US once was a great nation and a world leader we continue to slide down in many areas. Here are some recent test results showing where the US now stands in education.

Web address will have much more but I took a few selected quotes from several articles on these websites to compile a very brief overview of where we are and where we are headed. Mexico is doing better and the US is just getting worse. We need to get it together to return to the US former glory. Come on patriots - lets turn it around and pay up to get our education system back on track........

http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/american-adults-out-performed-by-many-global-peers-on-workplace-skills-assessment-test/2013/10/07/d66b09b4-2f9b-11e3-9ddd-bdd3022f66ee_story.html

http://money.msn.com/business-news/article.aspx?feed=AP&date=20131008&id=16975494

http://www.oecd.org/site/piaac/publications.htm

http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/10/08/20869527-us-in-a-real-state-of-crisis-education-secretary-says?lite&ocid=msnhp&pos=4

Researchers tested about 157,000 people ages 16 to 65 in 24 of the 196 countries in the world – much of the industrialized world – but did not include China or India.

As the American economy sputters along and many people live paycheck-to-paycheck, economists say a highly-skilled workforce is key to economic recovery. The median hourly wage of workers scoring on the highest level in literacy on the test is more than 60 percent higher than for workers scoring at the lowest level, and those with low literacy skills were more than twice as likely to be unemployed.

"It's not just the kids who require more and more preparation to get access to the economy, it's more and more the adults don't have the skills to stay in it," said Anthony Carnevale, director of the Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce.

Among the other findings:
—Americans scored toward the bottom in the category of problem solving in a technology rich environment. The top five scores in the areas were from Japan, Finland, Australia, Sweden and Norway, while the U.S. score was on par with England, Estonia, Ireland and Poland. In nearly all countries, at least 10 percent of adults lacked the most basic of computer skills such as using a mouse.

—Japan, Finland, Canada, Netherlands, Australia, Sweden, Norway, Flanders-Belgium, Czech Republic, Slovak Republic, and Korea all scored significantly higher than the United States in all three areas on the test.
—The average scores in literacy range from 250 in Italy to 296 in Japan. The U.S. average score was 270. (500 was the highest score in all three areas.) Average scores in 12 countries were higher than the average U.S. score.

—The average scores in math range from 246 in Spain to 288 in Japan. The U.S. average score was 253, below 18 other countries.

—The average scores on problem solving in technology-rich environments scale for adult ranged from 275 in Poland to 294 in Japan. The U.S. average score was 277, below 14 other countries.

Some economists say that large skills gap in the United States could matter even more in the future. America’s economic competitors like China and India are simply larger than competitors of the past like Japan, Carnevale said. Even while America’s top 10 percent of students can compete globally, Carnevale said, that doesn’t cut it. China and India did not participate in this assessment.

The U.S. was ranked near the middle in literacy and near the bottom in math and technology.

Not only did Americans score poorly compared to other nations, the findings reinforced how hard it is to get ahead when one's parents aren't educated.

In both reading and math, those with college-educated parents did better than those whose parents did not complete high school.

"We have to make college more accessible and more affordable," Duncan said. But, he added, "Education is the best investment we can make. If you think education is expensive, try ignorance."

"Getting our babies off to a good start is often the best investment we can make. There's nothing political to this," he said.

Wandered off-topic. Buy lettuce, cheese, or beef to shred for a taco, and 16% will be added on to the total. Fully a quarter to a half of a household's expenses are for food. I am not talking about Mexicans who drive BMW's or Lexus, I'm talking about 90% of la gente. Now they have GOT to do something or meat will no longer be a twice a week event, more like once a week. Wages and prices are going to go up. Just be prepared for it. Personally I do not find a SEVEN DOLLAR JAR of made in Mexico mayonnaise to be attractive. Nor a TWO AND A HALF DOLLAR loaf of bread. Gasoline is already three dollars forty cents a US gallon. And 1 November toll road rates are due to increase.

And helllooooo emigration. Two guesses where they are headed...

Remember what ex-president Carlos Salinas de Gotari's brother said when the Swiss found a hundred and eighty million dollars in Swiss bank accounts under various names.

Señor Raul, where did all this money come from?

"Shrewd investments"

Absolutely bonafide quotes...

The American medical system is SCREWED UP because everyone except the customer treats it like a CASH COW. Remember, politicians are failed lawyers. They and the not yet failed lawyers are steering the USA medical system.

Brian Sue wrote:
So why can't people in the US afford healthcare? Where does all the money go?

Are we in a health care crisis?
Marcia Angell, MD; Editor-in-Chief
New England Journal of Medicine says:

" If we had set out to design the worst system that we could imagine, we couldn't have imagined one as bad as we have. Here's a system in which we spend over twice what the next most expensive country spends on health care -- that's Switzerland. We spend roughly $4500 for every American, whether they have insurance or not. Switzerland spends maybe $2500 for every citizen. Canada spends maybe $2,000. Great Britain, poor little Great Britain, spends about $1,000 for every British citizen. And what do we get for it? What do we get for that $4500? Well, we certainly don't get our money's worth. We have roughly 43 million people with no insurance whatsoever, and among the rest of us, many of us are underinsured. That is, we have shrinking packages. This might be covered, but that won't be covered.
Our life expectancy is shorter. Our infant mortality is higher. Our childhood immunization rate is lower."

....read the rest of the sad catastrophe, here-->

Mexico wandered: Nothing like telling it like it is!!! Iguana07: One of my wife's friends showed us the scar from her C section. Could have given birth to a horse. Cut from one end to the other. As for the tax: Mexico has never worried about the poor and this is more of the same.

Two winters ago my wife had a heavy object drop on here foot, we were in Troncones, we went to the hospital in Zihuatenejo. We had to wait quite a while to be seen in the emergency room. People were lined up outside and sitting in cars could not find a place to park for about 10 minutes. When we were finally admitted we entered an office by the emergency room. My wife was a little concerned. Blood on the bed and floor, sheet was dirty. The doctor finally came in and I told him the problem he glanced at her foot and sent us for an x-ray. Now we were taken down a hall and to another section of hospital which appeared to be under construction. What we saw of the rest of hospital had us feeling sad for the people there.
X-ray negative and Dr. told her to elevate and ice. Gave us a RX and off we went. If I remember all of that cost less than $200 pesos

I hope that we never have to depend on a hospital like that anywhere in the world again. Now that being said I have also seen some great hospitals in Mexico. I have had family that live in Mexico use them. But if you believe Mexico's health care system is better than the U.S. of A I want to smoke some of your stuff!

I am certainly no authority on health care in MX - or the US for that matter. But things have improved considerably all over MX from what it used to be. When I first went to San Miguel de Allende in 1971 there was a small building with 6 beds and a Nun nurse. The doctor came maybe once of twice a week - if he wasn't too busy elsewhere. At that time the population of SMA was about 25,000. Now many doctors get their education in Mexico City or Guadalajara for free at world class universities. We have met well trained doctors and dentists who did not and do not charge a lot because they do not seem to be totally consumed with the idea of getting rich. They seem to be thankful to be able to help - which is the way it should be. But that does not mean by any stretch that the system is perfect. Just that it is better and has been getting better and hopefully will continue to get better.

I have been to doctors and dentist in the US who are great and doctors who just care about making a buck. We are very fortunate to be able to use the Mayo Clinic in both AZ and FL - though we have not been to the one in MN we are Mayo patients and can go to any facility. We are also fortunate to have very good insurance due to our work experience and retirement benefits in the US. We know very few people who are as fortunate as we are so we cannot say our experience has been poor. But we do know many people who have had horrible experiences and have been bankrupted by having to pay so much to stay alive - without insurance - and even some who had insurance but not enough.

We do not have enough experience with doctors in Mexico personally but we do know several people who have. We have been going to dentists in Mexico for many years because we simply cannot afford US dentist. We also get our eyeglasses in Mexico because we get them for about 25% of what we would have to pay in the US. All our experiences with these doctors have been great - or we would not keep going back. We got crowns made in a lab in El Paso that makes the same crowns for dentists in the US but we paid 20% of what we were quoted in the US just be crossing the border. We still love the US and live in the US most of the time but unfortunately we cannot afford to pay for everything in the US.

Got news for you ALL...

Being a ciudadano Mexicano (that means Mexican citizen) I watch what the prices do as I am helping out in a large tienda (for free) trying to get stuff in the USA for the lowest possible price (best value) para la gente.

NUMBER ONE. You do not have to wait. The tax is here, and it has been in force for more than a month. Go to a Similares and it will be ADDED onto your ticket. Go to Soriana or Leyes, or La Comerical, look at your ticket receipt. It's tough to argue with that.

qtla9111 Who in the HELL wants to get stuck eating frijoles, tortillas y sal? None of the campesinos I know. The poor are being robbed of 16% of their food and medicine budget. This is basic social studies grade information. You want them "satisfied" on a diet of beans and tortillas?

When MIGUEL hit EPN gets on Carlos Slim's TelCel and appeals for DONATIONS a month after the hurricane tropical storm destroyed thousands of homes AND LEFT THE POOR PAYING SIXTEEN PERCENT MORE FOR FOOD ITEMS. Eggs, mayonnaise, bread, even chicken is not part of the "basics" package. APOYO means paying television companies revenue to tell the public that "Gobernacion Is On The Way" They never show.

You are disconnected from reality to believe this new tax raises a wart on the *** of the upper class and is not devastating to the poor. You know the poor don't you? I live in a neighborhood that as an aggregate total probably does not make as much as your gross income.

Merchants are doing what merchants ALWAYS DO IN A RECESSION in Mexico. They are raising prices. It happened in 1972, 1982, during the Christmas Surprise and it's happening now. Disposable income has DROPPED. Remember milk? Now a freakin' QUART of fresh milk costs almost two dollars. Sixteen percent of very little leaves a hole instead of a starvation budget.

So buckle up pardners, I just paid twenty two pesos more for a container of laundry detergent than I did in late September.

MRI in EVERY hospital? Drs Molina, and Quintero offered a formula to me. If a city does not have an official population of a MILLION or an expensive private hospital, forget MRI. The brand new six story Seguro Popular in La Paz had ONE electrocardiograph for the entire hospital and 2 of 3 X-ray machines were broken. Need medicines? You'll have to send out for it.

But then I live Mexicano. I have not spoken Ingles in weeks if not months. And no I did not vote the Movie Actress or her husband in as presidente.

qtla9111 wrote:
Great, and what do you call Moisheh's post, a testimonial? A little bit of the truth wouldn't hurt. Sorry you feel that way. I'm just stating it the way it is.

You guys get all bent out of shape when someone bashes Mexico but when one of you decide to bash Mexico, I guess it's okay.

I told you not to get your nose all out of joint. We know that Mexico is not the perfict paradise on earth, nor is the United States the embodyment of all evil. Your experiences are different than moisheh, but to say he is wrong, wrong, wrong, is kind of out there. There are shXX hole hospitals in Mexico, Canada, and the US. I get somewhat, but not "all" bent out of shape when someone bashes the US WRONGLY!!!

Well, it's not all black and white. Poor country, low-paid doctors and nurses, some public hospitals and IMSS clinics are sh-t holes, and some are better. Some private hospitals are 1st class and some are just clinics for non-important or elective surgeries.

Here is a collection of feedbacks on both public and private system, though a little dated, about 2 years old. http://rollybrook.com/health.htm#Voices
Some reviews are funny, i.e. when somebody is biyatching about 8 months wait for free MRI in Canada, and same day service in private lab in Mexico. Don't know under what kind of rock they lived :). Of course there is a wait in Canada for MRI with non-threatening conditions, and there is private same day MRI if you can pay $900. In Mex it's probably $300, still a lot of money for local people. Speaking of Mex public hospitals, I don't think they even have MRI in every hospital.