Celebrating death. Plenty of cultures do ancestor worship. But who else turns the commemoration of their dearly departed into an annual fiesta of art, food and community? On November 1, aka the Day of the Dead, Mexicans put together ofrendas shrines for loved ones who have passed away. Every ofrenda includes pictures of the deceased, food, drinks, skull-shaped candies, candles and cempasuchil, the Aztec marigold or flower of the dead.
The belief is that souls of children come back to earth to visit family and friends on November 1 and the souls of adults do the same on November 2. Day of the Dead festivals take place across Mexico. Double entendre Albur. Called "albur" in Spanish, double entendre isn't just a linguistic trick for Mexicans, it's an art form requiring a nimble mind and the ability to convey smart but subtle messages, often laced with sexual or R-rated undertones. Many languages, of course, employ veiled connotations and witty wordplay.
But albur is so important in Mexico that there's a national tournament to crown the best alburero. The "Queen of Albur" is Lourdes Ruiz, who's dominated the competition since , defeating men and women.
She even teaches albur courses. Still not convinced Mexicans take double entendre more seriously than anyone else? What other country has a day devoted to the subtle intricacies of its language? In Mexico, Albur's Day is celebrated on March 1. Vatican City does a pretty fair job as the center of the faith and it has some decent paintings on its ceiling.
But its population of souls isn't exactly staggering. Mexico, by contrast, ranks second in the world for number of Catholics Brazil is first, the Philippines third and, according to the National Institute of Statistics and Geography of Mexico, Nothing says "Mexican Catholic" like a reverence for the country's seemingly endless manifestations of the Virgin Mary.
That may be why the priest Miguel Hidalgo carried a symbolic flag of Guadalupe when he led the opening stages of the Mexican War of Independence in Our Lady of Guadalupe is the most venerated Virgin in Mexico, maybe the world.
The Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico City is also one of the most important pilgrimage sites in Mexico, reportedly the most visited Marian shrine in the world. Each December 12, about 5 million pilgrims from across Mexico visit the Basilica to thank the Virgin for her favors or to ask for a miracle. Contraceptive prevalence rate Democratic Party , Donald J. TRUMP Per capita income is roughly one-third that of the US; income distribution remains highly unequal.
Mexico has become the US' second-largest export market and third-largest source of imports. Mexico's current government, led by President Enrique PENA NIETO, has emphasized economic reforms, passing and implementing sweeping energy, financial, fiscal, and telecommunications reform legislation, among others, with the long-term aim to improve competitiveness and economic growth across the Mexican economy.
Since , Mexico has held public auctions of oil and gas exploration and development rights and for long-term electric power generation contracts. Mexico has also issued permits for private sector import, distribution, and retail sales of refined petroleum products in an effort to attract private investment into the energy sector and boost production.
Growth is predicted to remain below potential given falling oil production, weak oil prices, structural issues such as low productivity, high inequality, a large informal sector employing over half of the workforce, weak rule of law, and corruption.
US firms are at or near the forefront in technological advances, especially in computers, pharmaceuticals, and medical, aerospace, and military equipment; however, their advantage has narrowed since the end of World War II. Based on a comparison of GDP measured at purchasing power parity conversion rates, the US economy in , having stood as the largest in the world for more than a century, slipped into second place behind China, which has more than tripled the US growth rate for each year of the past four decades.
In the US, private individuals and business firms make most of the decisions, and the federal and state governments buy needed goods and services predominantly in the private marketplace. US business firms enjoy greater flexibility than their counterparts in Western Europe and Japan in decisions to expand capital plant, to lay off surplus workers, and to develop new products. At the same time, businesses face higher barriers to enter their rivals' home markets than foreign firms face entering US markets.
Long-term problems for the US include stagnation of wages for lower-income families, inadequate investment in deteriorating infrastructure, rapidly rising medical and pension costs of an aging population, energy shortages, and sizable current account and budget deficits.
But the globalization of trade, and especially the rise of low-wage producers such as China, has put additional downward pressure on wages and upward pressure on the return to capital. Since , dividends and capital gains have grown faster than wages or any other category of after-tax income. Crude oil prices doubled between and , the year home prices peaked; higher gasoline prices ate into consumers' budgets and many individuals fell behind in their mortgage payments. Because the US economy is energy-intensive, falling oil prices since have alleviated many of the problems the earlier increases had created.
The sub-prime mortgage crisis, falling home prices, investment bank failures, tight credit, and the global economic downturn pushed the US into a recession by mid GDP contracted until the third quarter of , the deepest and longest downturn since the Great Depression.
The government used some of these funds to purchase equity in US banks and industrial corporations, much of which had been returned to the government by early In , the Federal Government reduced the growth of spending and the deficit shrank to 7. US revenues from taxes and other sources are lower, as a percentage of GDP, than those of most other countries. Wars in Iraq and Afghanistan required major shifts in national resources from civilian to military purposes and contributed to the growth of the budget deficit and public debt.
In March , former President OBAMA signed into law the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act ACA , a health insurance reform that was designed to extend coverage to an additional 32 million Americans by , through private health insurance for the general population and Medicaid for the impoverished. Total spending on healthcare - public plus private - rose from 9. In July , the former president signed the DODD-FRANK Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, a law designed to promote financial stability by protecting consumers from financial abuses, ending taxpayer bailouts of financial firms, dealing with troubled banks that are "too big to fail," and improving accountability and transparency in the financial system - in particular, by requiring certain financial derivatives to be traded in markets that are subject to government regulation and oversight.
The Fed ended its purchases during the summer of , after the unemployment rate dropped to 6. In December , the Fed raised its target for the benchmark federal funds rate by 0. With continued low growth, the Fed opted to raise rates several times since then, and in December , the target rate stood at 1. The new taxes took effect on 1 January ; the tax cut for corporations are permanent, but those for individuals are scheduled to expire after For example, we could add new areas like e-commerce where the U.
We could get better treatment for U. We could eliminate nontariff barriers that add costs at the borders and could strengthen labor standards. Why should Mexico have to pay for a wall that it does not think is needed and when more Mexicans are returning to Mexico than heading north? Where is the cost-benefit analysis that demonstrates that a full wall is the best way to assure border security?
What will the real cost be? Is it really needed or even feasible? I visited the border a good number of times — including during the surge in migrants from Central America — as ambassador and talked regularly with our homeland security personnel and border business and political leaders.
He argued for a layered defense with sensors and patrols and emphasized the need for cooperation with other governments. Alienating the Mexicans over who pays for our wall puts that cooperation at risk. We need Mexican aid to stop undocumented immigrants , to confront drug traffickers and other criminals and to have the best defense against any potential terrorists trying to enter via Mexico.
Most of my Mexican interlocutors agreed that border security could be improved and we should work better together to stop illicit trafficking of drugs, guns, money and people as well as potential terrorists — in both directions. Current U. Mexico is also already seriously cooperating on migration. Both countries have agreed upon and implemented protocols for smoothly handling deportations from the U. The Mexicans are stopping many Central American migrants before they even reach the U.
In , Mexico deported over , migrants apprehended along its border with Guatemala , more than the , that U. They bridle at the public characterizations of Mexicans during the campaign as criminals and shudder at talk of mass deportations. Mexican officials tell me that if the U. Trying to force Mexico to pay for it, however, is rekindling resentment about past U. When Trump publicly tweeted that Mexican President Pena Nieto should not visit Washington if he will not pay for the wall, he painted his counterpart into a corner with the Mexican public, forcing him to cancel his trip.
Subsequently, the two presidents spoke by phone — with Trump reportedly suggesting he could help by sending the U.
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