By Al Lewis -- A DOW JONES NEWSWIRES COLUMN
FOXBusiness



This Mexican guy crosses the border, ends up in Phoenix, and goes on a rant: Legalize drugs, open the borders, liberalize lending laws, and quit calling his people illegal aliens.

"It's like a monster from space," he complained. "A green guy with antennas. You should get over that."

Mexicans, meantime, should legalize weed to attract more U.S. tourists.

"Potheads come to Mexico!" he continued. "I've discussed this idea many times, with our president and with our leadership."

I'm not writing about a drug dealer, an illegal immigrant or even a monster from space.

His name his Ricardo Salinas Pliego. At 54, the ranks among the world's richest people with a family fortune worth $10.1 billion, according to Fortune magazine. He may be the one of the richest tycoons in Mexico, but he acquired his fortune the American way: He inherited it.

Salinas Pliego took charge of his family's retail chain, Grupo Elektra, in 1987. He grew it into one of Latin America's largest retailers of electronics, Chinese cars and motorcycles.

He also controls TV Azteca SA, Mexico's second-largest broadcaster, Grupo Iusacell SA, Mexico's third-largest cellphone provider, and Banco Azteca, one of Mexico's largest microlenders.

Perhaps we should keep the border open because some of us may end up working for him, or hunkering down in his country with our meager retirement checks.

"Mexico is already the No. 1 destination for U.S. citizens retiring abroad," Salinas Pliego smiled. "Who knows? Ten years from now, some of you might be living in a beautiful, affordable beachside community in Mexico."

Not all of Salinas Pliego's ideas are brilliant. In 2008, he upped his stake in Circuit City, just as the electronics retailer filed for bankruptcy and closed all its stores.

Salinas Pliego also made headlines in 2006 when he paid more than $7 million to settle fraud charges with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The SEC alleged that he covered up related-party deals between a subsidiary of his broadcasting empire and a firm he secretly co-owned.

"What happened to me with the SEC was...an incredible situation," said Salinas Pliego, who did not admit guilt in the settlement. "They were trying to apply U.S. law to a Mexican citizen and to a Mexican company that was not even listed in the U.S."

How's that for open borders, Amigo?

I met Salinas Pliego briefly after he spoke at the Society of Business Editors and Writers' annual conference. I think he was trying to be an ambassador for a country whose economy shrunk 7% last year because it is hopelessly tied to ours.

"What will prompt your colleagues to take a better look and see Mexico as a country that is not merely a haven for drug lords?" he complained. "Much more than drugs and violence and illegal immigration, there are many other things that Americans ought to learn about Mexico."

And then he went right on talking about drugs, violence and illegal immigration.

"It's not only a one-way street in which drugs flows to the North," he said. "Money flows to the South from U.S. addicts. And worse, high-powered armament is flowing from the North to the South, and it's killing thousands of people in my country.

"In January and February, the run rate is 30 people per day. What's that costing us as a country?

"The War on Drugs: We can continue this thing and get the same results: Drug use in the States is up, the market is expanding, the money flows to Mexico, it corrupts everything, it generates violence with drug lords and gangs."

Drugs, including cocaine, should be legalized and treated as a medical problem to destroy the monetary incentives for illegal trafficking, he said.

"Addicts need counseling. They need help. They don't need the sheriff putting them in jail."

Americans also need to rethink immigration policies with a neighboring country that shares a 2,000-mile border and should be considered an economic partner.

"Instead of building fences, we should be building bridges," he said. "Hysterical voices, racists and isolationists who want to close the U.S. border, are best met with reason.

"Mexico is not challenging the United States in the way that China and other countries are doing.

"What's so bad about a person crossing a line and going to work for somebody who wants to employ him?

"Why is it OK to import zillions of tons of merchandise from China--which is really labor in the form of goods--and it's so bad to accept your neighbors for a temporary service job?"

Salinas Pliego would like to cross the U.S. border more often to do more "microlending," or what many Americans call "subprime lending" and even "loan sharking."

"Many people think of the U.S. as a very rich country," Salinas Pliego said. "But...the bottom of the pyramid in the U.S. is very big. We're talking about 80 million people who are unbanked.

"One of the big problems that we have is the do-gooders," he said. "They don't want the poor consumer to pay exorbitant interest rates.

"The problem is that the interest rate is not comparable over hugely different capital amounts. If I loan somebody $300, the interest rate needs to be about 100%.

"Any loan has a fixed cost," he explained. "Just processing the application costs $20 to $30. Any loan also has servicing costs. Doesn't matter if the payment is $10 or $10,000. You've got to service that.

"That's why interest rates are higher on smaller loans. And who needs smaller loans? The people at the bottom of the pyramid.

"When do-gooders enact interest rate caps...they outlaw small loans...so only rich people with big loans can have access to credit. It's a totally a counterintuitive and paradoxical result."

It was a marvel to hear how paradoxically a Mexican billionaire can think. But 100% interest? Wouldn't you have to be on drugs to pay that?

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