Gringos Invading Mexico, For Gas
Picture by {the infonaut} at FlickrSombrero tip to The Latin Americanist for this article from the Dallas Morning News:
CIUDAD JUÁREZ, Mexico – With gasoline prices hovering near $4 per gallon, Texans along the U.S.-Mexico border have discovered a cheaper alternative: Mexico.As nativists continue to falsely claim that "illegal aliens are stealing from U.S. taxpayers", it looks as if U.S. citizens have found a way to steal from Mexican taxpayers. While gas prices continue to soar in the U.S., residents are crossing over to Mexico where the gas is significantly cheaper. Why is the gas cheaper?
Mexican service stations all along the border report brisk sales in recent weeks as fuel prices in Texas continue to climb.Angela Kocherga - Dallas Morning News (10 June 2008)
In Mexico, gasoline is about a dollar cheaper a gallon because the government subsidizes it.I encourage people to read that excerpt twice. U.S. residents are not only taking advantage of a huge Mexican government subsidy with these scheme, but the Mexican government is actually buying half of that gas from the U.S.! Mexicans get hit coming and going by this while U.S. citizens laugh all the way to the bank.
Mexico's state-owned petroleum company, known as Pemex, is the sole supplier of gasoline for the country's gas stations and buys nearly half of it from the U.S. because of a lack of Mexican refineries.Angela Kocherga - Dallas Morning News (10 June 2008)
So the next time nativists shout from the top of their lungs about how migrants are leaching off of social services in the U.S., which again is not true, remember the gringo hordes invading Mexico for gasoline.
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The only US citizens who can take advantage of Mexico's gas are the people living on the border. The vast majority of them don't live on the border. Why not open new gas stations and provide jobs and opportunities for Mexicans? Why not take advantage of the situation, instead of looking at it as a problem?
Hey Gringa,
Welcome to Citizen Orange. Introduce yourself. I'm interested to know why this issue matters to you and how we can come to an agreement on some issues.
I don't see this situation so much as a problem, as much as it is an illustration of how there's two sides to every story. I do agree that the solution is to give migrants jobs in their own countries so perhaps this is a good way to do that.