The Disadvantages of Mexico’s Economy
The United States of America has many advantages such as natural resources, a stable government, and advanced technology. Its southern neighbor, Mexico, has not had as much luck. Mexico’s unfortunate terrain and unstable government has hindered its ability to gain any significant amount of wealth as a nation. In his novel, All the Pretty Horses, Cormac McCarthy shows us the difference in the wealth of these two nations through the travels of John Grady Cole and Lacy Rawlins. McCarthy gives readers an example of Mexico’s economic status when he writes,
“How much they pay you?
We was getting two hundred pesos a month.
In Texas what do they pay for this work.
I dont know. Hundred a month.
Hundred dollars.
Yessir.
Eight hundred Pesos.
Yessir. I reckon” (McCarthy 164).
By writing about how much one would be paid for working on a ranch in Mexico compared to working on a ranch in America, McCarthy shows his readers the difference in the wealth of the two nations. An article from Time Magazine also gives readers an idea of what the Mexican economy is like by saying that, “The average Mexican worker makes 1 peso and 25 centavos an hour. At that rate, he has to work ten hours to buy lunch fro a family of five, 72 hours to pay an average rent in the center of the city, and 160 hours to buy a suit of clothes” (Time). Despite the close proximity of the United States and Mexico, the United States is the wealthier of the two nations due to the value of the Peso compared to the value of the dollar, the corrupt status of the Mexican justice system and government, and Mexico’s lack of natural resources.
The value of the Mexican peso is significantly less than the American dollar. According to Jose Alvarez-Ramirez, the value of approximately fourteen Mexican pesos is equivalent to the value of one American dollar. In All the Pretty