PEMEX And CIR

Immigration to the US is a multi-faceted subject, and touches on
an increasing number of issues, both at home and abroad. A
critical connection that many Immigration Daily readers should
know about is between PEMEX and Comprehensive Immigration Reform
(CIR). PEMEX is Petroleos Mexicanos, the state-owned oil and gas
company in Mexico. From its website "Petroleos Mexicanos was
established by a decree of the Mexican Congress, effective on
July 20, 1938, as a result of the nationalization of the foreign-
owned oil companies which were operating in Mexico ... PEMEX is
the largest company in Mexico and, according to the Petroleum
Intelligence Weekly, in 2003 it was the ninth largest oil and gas
company in the world. In the same year, it was the third largest
producer of crude oil in the world." Any which way you crunch the
numbers, PEMEX is the single largest economic entity in Mexico,
and it affects the Mexican economy more than any other single
factor. To the extent that immigration from Mexico to the US is
driven by economic factors, especially the poor performance of
the Mexican economy over the decades, the blame lies squarely on
PEMEX's shoulders. This should come as no surprise given the
abysmal record of state-owned companies throughout the world over
the last century. If the oil and gas assets of Mexico were
properly managed, the resultant wealth would result in the
creation of opportunity in Mexico sufficient to significantly
ameliorate some of the pressure on our southern border. Efficient
management of PEMEX is possible by privatization - for example,
by giving every person in Mexico an equal share, and then letting
those shares trade freely in the international stock markets. A
privatized PEMEX would result in wealth flowing to all ordinary
Mexicans, unlike the situation over the last 80 years, when
Mexican oil wealth has lined the pockets of only PEMEX's workers
and the Mexican oil elite. While what to do with PEMEX is
certainly a sovreign Mexican decision, the US could, as part of
CIR, encourage our neighbor to the south to move toward
privatization, and perhaps make some elements of CIR contingent
upon this. To the extent possible, CIR should address both long-
term and short-term issues. If improving the Mexican economy is
part of the CIR equation, privatizing PEMEX has to be on the
table.

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