THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA
An Online Journal of Political Commentary & Analysis
Volume X, Issue # 132, May 25, 2008
Dr. Almon Leroy Way, Jr., Editor
Government Committed to & Acting in Accord with Conservative Principles
Ensures a Nation's Strength, Progress, & Prosperity
MEXICO IS SOON TO BE A BIGGER PROBLEM
By Alan Caruba
MEXICO AS A GROWING PROBLEM FOR THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: THE CONSTANT FLOW OF ILLEGAL
ALIENS & DRUGS FROM MEXICO INTO THE U.S.A. -- MEXICO'S DWINDLING OIL RESERVES, MISMANAGEMENT OF ITS
NATIONALIZED OIL INDUSTRY, & THE VERY REAL POSSIBILITY THAT MEXICO, WHICH ACCOUNTS FOR ELEVEN PERCENT
OF U.S. OIL IMPORTS, WILL, WITHIN LESS THAN A DECADE, STOP EXPORTING OIL
FULL STORY:
As if the constant flow of illegal aliens and drugs from Mexico were not already a huge problem for the United States, the
problems associated with Mexico are about to get worse. When Business Week took notice of Mexico’s dwindling
oil reserves and failed national oil company, Pemex, in its May 5, 2008, edition, it signaled a problem whose significance is
as great as the one involving an invading population.
“A Slippery Moment for Mexican Oil” was the title, followed by “Output is tanking, but there’s fierce opposition to a plan
that could reward Big Oil for helping find new reserves.” You have to read through most of the article before you discover:
“Oil output in Mexico, the world’s No. 6 producer of crude, is
plummeting. At the Cantarell field, the country’s main source
of oil, production is declining 15% annually…Unless new
reserves are found quickly, Mexico — which accounts for
11% of U.S. oil imports — could stop exporting within a
decade.”
It takes at least a decade between the discovery of new reserves and the infrastructure required to extract it, transport it to
a refinery, and then distribute it to consumers.
The May, 2008, issue of Energy Tribune applauded the efforts of Mexican President Felipe Calderon to free up
Pemex sufficiently to encourage exploration and production. “Under the reform, Pemex would be freed from stifling
oversight,” noted Energy Tribune, but which also noted: “Its approval is far from certain, and the proposal wouldn’t
turn Pemex’s fortunes around any time soon.”
Allan Wall, a U.S. citizen who lives in Mexico, writes some of the most penetrating and accurate commentaries about our
neighbor to the south. In May, his Memo from Mexico, provided notice of how bad the problem is and, while not
saying so, also reminds us that America, with its own vast known and undiscovered reserves of oil, has been wasting time
and thwarting access to our oil resources.
Wall begins by reminding us that Mexico is not “poor.” Its citizens are not starving and it’s home to at least ten billionaires,
one of whom is the world’s second wealthiest man. It’s not that Mexico doesn’t have “vast economic potential,” but that,
“It’s just been spectacularly mismanaged.”
“Mexico has one of the world’s most closed petroleum markets,
controlled by the state oil company, Pemex (Petroleos Mexicanos),
which is protected from all competition. It enjoys a legal monopoly
on the exploration, processing, and sale of petroleum.”
Pemex has long been the Mexican government’s piggy bank, providing up to 40% of the Mexico’s revenues. If any nation
could be said to be “addicted” to oil, it’s Mexico. You would think that it would have taken steps to explore for more, but
you would be wrong. You would be wrong if you thought it had bothered to build new refineries as well. The United
States has 150 oil refineries (and needs more), but Mexico only has six and they are aging.
Pemex has been spectacularly mismanaged. In this respect, it is not much different from the rest of the world’s nationalized
oil operations, which include petroleum industries owned and operated by unstable governments, like those in Africa, and
include South American operations, like that of Venezuela’s Communist dictator, Hugo Chavez. What this means is that the
United States and other oil importing nations are literally at the mercy of governments that do not have to answer to their
citizens.
The United States has depended heavily on imports from Canada and Mexico, but the latter nation is a governmental
basket case. With ownership of its oil written into its Constitution, the prospect of privatizing its oil industry is off the table.
Permitting other oil companies to explore for oil is difficult, at best, under these circumstances. It is a costly and high-risk
enterprise, at best. Any new discovery would cost in excess of a billion dollars. And you don’t hit oil every time you drill.
If oil were not enough of a problem, the billions in drugs that are controlled by the Mexican cartels and purchased by
Americans constitute an entire column by itself. We have a narco-army on our border that poses a major threat.
Meanwhile, Mexico has been “solving” the problem of a lack of jobs and opportunities for its people by exporting them to
America. The U.S. taxpayers are picking up the bill for these uninvited workers through our education, health, and legal
systems to the tune of billions. Congress has been reluctant to close our border with Mexico and the three candidates
seeking to be our next President have no plans to slow or stop the invasion.
These are solvable problems, if sensible people make sensible changes and encourage investment in their energy sector,
but neither the United States nor Mexico appears ready to do that. Instead, out of sight of U.S. citizens and Congress, the
two governments, in concert with Canada, are re-writing U.S. trade regulations to create a socalled Security and Prosperity
Partnership of North America, undermining the sovereignty of all three nations.
Earlier this month, a lot of people in America celebrated Cinco de Mayo, but a lot of them were not legal citizens.
LINKS TO RELATED TOPICS:
Political Environmentalism Versus Human Progress & Prosperity:
Policy Issues Relating to Energy, Environment,
& Natural Resources
United States Immigration, Assimilation, & National Security Policy:
Immigration into the U.S.A., Legal & Illegal Aliens,
& U.S. Border Control
Latin America -- Economics, Politics, Political Regimes,
& Relations with the United States of America:
Problems & Opportunities for the U.S.A.
Political Economy -- Philosophies, Systems, & Public Policies:
Government, the Economy, & Economic Prosperity
Alan Caruba is a veteran business and science writer, a Public Relations Counselor, and Founder of the National Anxiety Center, a
clearinghouse for information about media-driven scare campaigns. Caruba writes a weekly commentary, "Warning Signs," posted
on the Internet website of the National Anxiety Center, which is located at
www.anxietycenter.com.
Caruba has a daily blog at http://factsnotfantasy.blogspot.com.
Caruba’s new book, Right Answers: Separating Fact from Fantasy, has been published by Merril Press.
© Alan Caruba 2008
Published with Permission of Alan Caruba
ACaruba@AOL.Com
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THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA
An Online Journal of Political Commentary & Analysis
Dr. Almon Leroy Way, Jr., Editor
Conservative & Free-Market Analysis of Government, Politics & Public Policy, Covering Political, Legal, Constitutional, Economic,
Cultural, Military, International, Strategic, & Geopolitical Issues
Conservative Government Ensures a Nation's Strength, Progress, & Prosperity