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living.boondockingmexico@yahoo.com
Over the last several months, a few old hang on members of the Rving In Mexico and Central South America forum have been posting some false information regarding Mexico.
They are doing quite a bit of damage to the image of Mexico and rving in the country. This affects any newbies who would like to rv in Mexico and use the forum as a place to glean information.
Please do not guide prospective rvers or those who would like to live in Mexico to Rv.Net.
I find it very hard not to post there as it is an injustice to Mexico, its people and those of us who love rving in Mexico.
Two recent posts involve the use of ULSD in the country and the recent hacking of the transfer system (SPEI) which the Bank of Mexico (Fed) uses to for inter and intra bank transfers. Very false information which would make anyone who wanted to visit Mexico shy away for fear their cards would be hacked at an ATM or Mexican bank.
Very unfortunate.
I gave up on that forum a long time ago. Then, the "On the road in Mexico" forum on facebook became a waste of time as well. That's why I started my own. I don't allow any stupidity there.
ReplyDeleteChris, I have to agree with you on that one. I think it was about a year back, someone mentioned that Mexico did not have a currency agency under the Bank of Mexico governing local currency and foreign currency exchange like the United States has under its Federal Reserve banking system. Both Moisheh and I shot that down. If I remember correctly, the subject came up as a result of someone complaining about some counterfeit Peso bills floating around the country. My undergraduate degree is with a double major in economics and finance, and we made a short study of Mexico's banking system. But, of course, that was a l-o-n-g time ago. Getting to the point, I knew his statement was absolutely false; so, we questioned the guy as to where he got his information and received no answer.
ReplyDeleteIn 1999 Mexico established the Banking Deposits and Savings Act or Ley de Protección al Ahorro Bancario (LPAB) and works the same as the U.S. FDIC. In addition, with the banking technology, online banking, Mexico created the SPEI ( Sistema de Pagos Electrónicos Interbancarios) or the Electronic Interbanking Payment System. The SPEI was the system that was hacked and it involved three banks; Banamex, Banorte, and Bancomer. The hacking was 300 million pesos (roughly 16 million dollars U.S., really a paltry sum) and that money has been or is in the process of being paid back to account holders. We know of one case in Monterrey of 400,000 pesos. Most of the "old-timers" on the Mexico forum speak of days gone by and have little to no current education, savvy or knowledge outside of small beach resorts, rv parks, or rural communities. This hackeo or attack only makes the Mexican banking system stronger. As for ULSD, it does exist in Mexico and can be had at over 3000 stations. It is only logical as most of Mexico's refined oil is being imported. Pemex is a wreck and with only 3 refineries at less than 70% capacity, we cannot compete. Electric cars are here in Mexico, being sold in dealerships with charging stations just about everywhere. The "real Mexico" is the one that most rvers don't know. We're here, we are competitive, modern, a burgeoning middle class and a country with more than $186 billion U.S. dollars in reserves in foreign banks. Now with the U.S. hitting the Middle East again, oil prices will jump to $100 a barrel, and Mexico will continue to put money in it's caja chica (petty cash box).
DeleteYou and I both (as said here in South Carolina) are "preaching to the choir." But I'm a little worried about what is going on with the Peso; it should not be as low as it is. However, as far as international trade goes, the low Peso is good because, as you know, internationally Mexico sells and other countries buy a hell of a lot of goods and services when those countries purchase Pesos to pay for those goods and services. However, at what point does Mexico's highly successful trade with other countries bid up the value of the Peso? The value has been down a while, and the Mexican citizen, so far, has not seen a more highly valued Peso so that they, themselves, can buy more goods and services. The economy is booming; everything looked great when we were there in January this year, but I couldn't believe how cheap everything was in spite of gasoline prices. The only thing I can think of is that there is some suppression of the Peso by the Mexican government to keep trade with other countries operating at a high level. RVers should not complain about fuel prices because the difference is offset by other Mexican goods and services and the low Peso.
ReplyDeleteI like Morgan Stanley's explanation of the U.S. dollar versus the Canadian dollar and the Mexican peso. Inflation in Mexico is running at 4.4% https://www.investing.com/news/forex-news/morgan-stanley-says-nafta-risks-still-lie-mostly-in-mexico-peso-1453629
DeleteChris, let me state this as direct and frank as I can; the US is on an isolationist course as long as we have this person (I can't bring myself to even say his name) in the White House. The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) is just a toy he is playing with. Let us pray that 1) the mid-term elections on November 6 results in a "changing of the guard" in Congress or 2) Special Counsel Mueller issues his report indicating collusion with the Russians in the election (an impeachable offense) and money laundering (a criminal offense) against Trump or 3) he loses the next election as an incumbent. Now that I have that off my chest, let's go forward.
DeleteThe Morgan Stanley article you cited, in essence, states that part of vulnerability of the Mexican Peso lies in the lack of stability of the NAFTA Agreement among Mexico, US, and Canada. Both of us need not discuss further why that instability exists. And we are discussing here strictly currency and international trade which affects a currency's value. Since the value of the Peso is floating in "global" trade, why is Mexico not cultivating better trade relations with countries in Asia, Europe, and South America? Why depend so heavily on a "one trick pony" like NAFTA? When trading with so many more countries, a cushion is provided to Mexico's Peso when its next door neighbor is having, shall we say, difficulties. In economic theory, pure free trade exists, but not in the real world because of political factors. That is why heavy dependence on NAFTA is not a good thing. When investing your hard-earned money for retirement, you would not invest it all in one stock; you would diversify your investment. The same goes for working hard to make good trade agreements with a multitude of countries around the globe.
Great discussion you two. We are sitting here with a fixed income in Canadian dollars that are losing value against the US dollar. In 2007 when we bought the motorhome in El Paso, the Canadian dollar was at par. Today it is worth only 77 cents, not the lowest it has been (I remember 65 cent dollars) but low enough.
ReplyDelete