Thread: Remittances down for 6th time in 7 months....

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid= ... evHwm6a47M

Mexican Worker Transfers From U.S. May Decline: Week Ahead

By William Freebairn

Sept. 1 (Bloomberg) -- Mexico may report that workers' transfers of funds home from the U.S. declined for the sixth time in seven months as the world's biggest economy slows, boosting expectations that Mexican consumer spending will drop.

Worker remittances from the U.S. fell 2.2 percent in the first half of the year to $11.6 billion, Mexico's central bank said last month. The central bank has said remittances may decline as much as 3 percent this year.

Remittances have dropped as employment in the U.S. construction industry, where many Mexican workers find jobs, has declined. Transfers totaled $24 billion last year, or about 2.7 percent of gross domestic product, and are the second-biggest source of dollar flows to Mexico after revenue from oil exports.

``It's money that goes directly into consumption, and it's a significant amount of money,'' said Rodolfo Navarrete, head of research at Vector Casa de Bolsa, a brokerage in Mexico City.

Growth in Latin America's second-biggest economy has been reduced as much as 2 percentage points by a global financial crisis, Finance Minister Agustin Carstens said Aug. 28.

Mexico's economy grew 2.8 percent in the second quarter, the central bank said Aug. 21, less than the 3.1 percent average forecast of 25 economists in a Bloomberg survey. The central bank will announce July remittances on its Web site as soon as today.

To be sure, U.S. government reports last week on growth and employment in the world's biggest economy may help Mexican workers in the U.S., economic analyst Carmen Alcibar of Bursametrica in Mexico City said in a phone interview.

Gross domestic product increased at a 3.3 percent annual pace in the second quarter as exports surged, the U.S. Commerce Department said Aug. 28. On the same day, the Labor Department said the number of workers collecting unemployment insurance dropped 10,000 to 425,000.

Markets

Mexico's benchmark Bolsa index fell 2.2 percent last week to 26,290.99, the biggest weekly decline since July 25. Controladora Comercial Mexicana SAB, a Mexican supermarket operator, fell 13 percent to 25.67 pesos as consumer spending in the U.S. declined and local officials said economic growth in Mexico may slow.

Yields on the government's benchmark 10 percent bond due in 2024 fell 5.9 basis points to 8.49 percent. The bond's price rose 0.56 centavo to 113.25 centavos per peso, according to Banco Santander SA.

The peso fell to the lowest since mid-July this week, weakening 1.4 percent to 10.2852 per dollar, on speculation the central bank will stop lifting interest rates, reducing the spread with U.S. rates.

The following is a list of events in Mexico this week:

Event Date
Consumer confidence Sept. 4
Wal-Mart de Mexico August Sales Sept. 4

To contact the reporter on this story: William Freebairn in Mexico City at wfreebairn@bloomberg.net
Last Updated: September 1, 2008 01:00 EDT

Well just sue me Mexico . Your little scam has hurt Americans for years .
It will do Mexico some good to hurt and hurt bad for the invadsion the Illegals came with .call it pay back

Worker remittances from the U.S. fell 2.2 percent in the first half of the year to $11.6 billion, Mexico's central bank said last month. The central bank has said remittances may decline as much as 3 percent this year.

I won't be happy until it's 98%

On the same day, the Labor Department said the number of workers collecting unemployment insurance dropped 10,000 to 425,000.

These are bogus stats. They call people who have topped out on their unemployment a success!! So when you stop getting any money, your stat drops off the unemployment stats. Therefore the unemployment rate drops and people believe it. Great way to fool many people out there.

We need to tax these remittances at a very high rate. While these leaches are costing the American taxpayers billions in medical, education etc. they're busy sending money to prop up Mexico. It's time for Mexico to pay the piper.

It looks to me like you are still getting a substantial amount of money out of the United States economy! money that could be helping American workers and our economy!!

BUT as usual WHINE, WHINE, WHINE!! Never a thought for Americans....gimmie, gimmie, gimmie!

If I wire Fed funds through my bank, I cost me a minimum of $30. I have never in my life sent any sort of remittance overseas, so I have no clue if there is even a fee charged for the services providing our precious tax dollars to Mexico, etc. Yes, ReggieMay, they should be taxed like about 70 cents on the dollar, which would probably slow down this remittance stuff to a near grinding halt, and hopefully put a stop to illegals crawling over here. Mexico has to learn the lesson the US has already learned in re: the oil crisis and with more than 40% of our Treasury debt obligations being owned by the Chinese: One nation cannot put its economic reliance on countries all over the world, especially when those nations are out for their own interests in accruing money and power.

As bad as our economy is, and as much as a bad economy should first effect illegals, I was surprised as to how little our poor economy is effecting the remittances to Mexico.

However, on thinking about it, only a small percentage of illegals are the day laborers hanging out in front of Home Depots, and on the streets of our cities. Most illegals, who have been here for a lengthy period of time are part of our work a day world with full-time jobs, and not as easily identifiable, and they would be less effected by slowdowns in our economy. A 3% reduction in remittances isn't much as compared to the total amount remitted.

Here's how I see it.

HOW MANY ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS ARE THERE IN OUR UNITED STATES???

There is endless speculation about how many illegal immigrants there are in our United States. Our politicians, especially the pro-illegal ones, love to use the number 12 million. They have been using that same number for the last four years, all while, each year, millions more illegals have invaded our United States.

Illegals have been swarming across our border ever since 1986, when amnesty was granted to the estimated 1.3 millionillegal immigrants, who were here at that time, which turned out to be 3.5 million.

In 2001, before any real concentrated border enforcement effort, it was estimated that the Border Patrol apprehended 1 out of every 7 illegal immigrants, attempting to cross our Southern border. Now, with a increased Border Patrol effort, and 300 miles of fencing, plus some vehicle barriers, along the almost 2,000 mile Southern border, it is estimated that the Border Patrol now apprehends 1 out of every 4 illegal immigrants, attempting to cross our Southern border.

So, realizing that we could grossly guestimate how many illegals came into our country each year, by multiplying available statistics on Border patrol apprehensions, by as much as 6, in the early years, and by 3 in the last couple of years, how many illegals do you think we now have in our country?? To say the least, it seems quite ludicrous to continue to use the same 12 million number, when acceptance of reality presents a far higher number.

-------------SOUTHWEST BORDER PATROL APPREHENSIONS----------
----1999-------2000-------2001-------2002-------2003-------2004-------2005-------2006------2007------2008
1,537,000-1,643,679-1,235,718--929,809--905,065-1,139,282-1,189,108-1,071,972-858,638-611,721

Let's stop believing, or accepting, that there are only 12 million illegals in our United States. There are probably much closer to 40 million, if not more. We can even assume that as many as 20 million former illegals have since become legal over the past 22 years, and the numbers of illegals, here now, could still be well over 30 million.

What is your best guess on the number of illegals in our country??

Support E-Verify for ALL employees, and let's begin taking our country back!!!