Comments on: Delusions of Grandeur

By: Toddy Cat

Toddy Cat — Fri, 10 Jan 2014 16:05:52 +0000

Yes, it’s probably true that more Third-world countries could learn from Mexico. One thing that seems to be unusual about “Development” experts is that they seldom seem to actually look at success stories, like Japan, or Thailand, or Mexico, because the way that they achieved relative prosperity does not accord with current developmental dogma. Although, to be fair, Mexico did have some advantages that would be hard to duplicate. Being right next door to the most prosperous and powerful country on earth, being able to export the poorest portion of its population, a vast and rich resource base — these advantages would not be replicable in every country. But yeah, all of Fehrenbach’s writing deserves to be better known than it is.

By: Bruce

Bruce — Fri, 10 Jan 2014 00:38:47 +0000

Honest politics is rare, sure. Fehrenbach's history of Mexico, Fire and Blood, suggests it may well describe Mexico's 1920-1970 successful effort to build a middle class. That's a rare success. I can't think of many other successful efforts to build a middle class. I'm not accusing Carlos Slim of personal integrity.

By: Congo Sam

Congo Sam — Thu, 09 Jan 2014 12:52:30 +0000

Bruce, I’ve heard the rulers of Mexico called a number of things, but “honest” is a new one.

By: Bruce

Bruce — Wed, 08 Jan 2014 23:28:59 +0000

Mexico has a pretty solid “no permanent friends, only changing interests” foreign policy. It’s got a solid middle class — after about fifty years of honest hard work by the whatever they call the permanent political party nowadays. We underestimate that in America because 1) they want us to, 2) they send us the poorest third of their population, 3) racist arrogance.

By: Alrenous

Alrenous — Wed, 08 Jan 2014 16:40:16 +0000

Strongly agree.

Nitpicks: Boot has an obvious pro-scholar bias. (Anti-merchant anti-warrior.) Second a blindness to non-Jesus sources of meaning; he sits on a false dilemma between modern materialism and Abraham’s scions.