Latin America
Despite predictions of the
worst, Latin America has managed to survive the aftershocks sent by the Asian Crisis. With
a regional GDP of 81.6 billion, the Americas are economically stable. But do these numbers
really translate stability?
Last year, its member country employment rates at a high
with almost everyone employed, with minimum inflation on its respective currencies. Yet
37% of the population in the region is living below the poverty line, while 16% in extreme
poverty. With the cities littered with street children, a crime rate of nearly 69% and an
infant mortality rate of 20 per 1,000, one can almost see the living conditions. Why is
that?
It depends on how one defines poverty. Economic-wise, the
Latin Americas are faring much better than it's Asian counterparts. Export, which the
countries rely heavily on, never goes lower than 60%, depending on the size of the
country. Multi-national companies are opening instead of leaving.
But these MNCs are mostly foreign owned, and take up the bulk of
businesses in the region. A virtual wonderland for investors, Latin America offers cheap
labor, minimal government interference, and almost no environmental laws. Each member
country also faces its swelling IMF debt, with Mexico, who borrows after every
presidential term, highest. With no labor and environmental policies, and a government too
busy paying up debts to impose social reforms, it is vulnerable to exploitation.
Simply
enforcing new rules and passing new laws is not the answer. If the government decides to
hike up the minimum wage, upgrade the working conditions, and impose new environmental
laws, these MNCs will immediately pack up and move to a place where business is cheaper.
Without these companies, the region will collapse, with neither a strong industrial or
agricultural base to fall back on.
The problems started when the Latin Americas dictators
fell and the region gradually lapsed to democratic rule. The transition was not an easy
one to make. Some countries, after years of being colonized, fell into mismanagement by
the next government, others found their treasuries left almost penniless, cleaned out by
the previous tyranny.
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