<http://www.SovereignMan.com>
Sovereign Man
Notes from the Field
Date: March 8, 2011
Reporting From: Merida, Mexico
I'm leaving Mexico.
No, it's not because I've been robbed, beaten, or kidnapped by the drug
cartels. And it's not because some corrupt policias tried to shake me
down, because I contracted swine flu, or that beheaded bodies were left
in the street outside of my hotel.
Honestly, I'm really enjoying it down here and would like to stay, but I
have some important meetings in New York later this week, so I will
unfortunately be headed north to brave the cold weather and even colder
reception at US immigration.
Before I leave Mexico, though, I want to address the elephant in the
room: Mexico's infamous drug war, probably the most sensationalized,
misunderstood issues played out in North American media, right between
Charlie Sheen and Lindsay Lohan.
The bottom line is that two governments decided long ago that drugs are
a problem and that they need to do something about it. On one hand, the
Mexican government expects the US to reduce demand, and on the other
hand, the US government expects Mexico to curtail supply.
There are three major problems with this logic.
First is that the governments think they can force the reduction of
something that literally grows on trees. Marijuana and cocaine are more
easily grown than Ben Bernanke's balance sheet-- they'd have better luck
reducing the supply of stupidity and hypocrisy in Washington.
What most people don't realize is that they've carpet-bombed half of
Colombia with herbicides so nasty (thank you, Monsanto) that they make
Agent Orange look like a stick of deodorant. And yet, the cartels still
find plenty of land to increase their productive capacity.
Fighting a multi-decade war against plants is just a dumb idea, ranking
up there with other such gems as spending our way out of recession,
borrowing our way out of debt, and invading other countries to reduce
hatred against America.
The second problem is that these governments actually expect to be able
to suppress demand. This is nonsense.
There will always be certain personalities who will seek out the high of
recreational drugs despite the consequences. Similarly, there are
certain personalities who will gamble despite the losses, seek
adrenaline rushes despite the risks, or eat Big Macs despite what the
bathroom scale says.
To those personalities, their desires are as natural as the instinct to
breathe.
There's no great mystery in the world about the effects of recreational
drugs. As dealers say, 'drugs sell themselves'. Drug users accept the
risks because they think the benefits are greater, or they're
psychologically and/or chemically addicted to the product.
This is no different than people who've become addicted to aspartame
(Diet Coke), prescription pills, sex, booze, exercise, cigarettes, work,
shopping, anger, pain, video games, junk food, etc. The chemical and
psychological dependencies don't vanish just because the government
decrees it.
The third problem is that the governments even began with the false
premise that recreational drugs are a problem and should be prohibited.
This is intellectually dishonest: governments sanction all sorts of drug
use.
The US government says, for example, that nicotine, high fructose corn
syrup, partially hydrogenated soybean oil, alcohol, Viagra, aspartame,
Prozac, and Yellow #5 are OK, but raw milk, Cuban cigars, marijuana,
human growth hormone, and chocolate Kinder eggs are not OK.
Look, I'm not trying to be anti-alcohol or pro-Kinder egg, but the
notion that government agencies should be able to choose which
substances we grown adults are and are not allowed to buy and ingest is
rather anachronistic. And they do a horrible job at it anyhow.
The FDA is constantly having to recall products that it had approved,
frequently reversing its own GRAS (generally regarded as safe)
decisions. Remember Vioxx? Stevia? Avastin? Ephedra?
The agency is filled with pencil-pushing bureaucrats who endlessly
circulate position papers, dragging on the approval process for
potentially life-saving drugs so that someone who's already dying of
cancer won't have an adverse reaction.
It's a fundamental injustice when a corrupt bureaucracy swayed by
powerful lobby groups is able to decide what we can put in our own
bodies, and then fails miserably at enforcing its own vacuous regulations.
The end result of this fallacy has been playing out in Mexico. Yes,
there is violence and crime in Mexico related to the business of
transporting and distributing recreational drugs. The violence is often
portrayed in the media as 'turf wars' between competing cartels.
This sounds good, but it's not really true. There are far more customers
out there than the cartels can possibly supply. Fighting for demand is
not the issue... it's getting supply to the customers.
As such, cartels are either duking it out with each other over key
supply routes (which is why most of the violence is in the border
towns), or they're battling the government forces trying to interdict them.
Funny thing, Pfizer and Lily don't shoot it out in the streets over
shelf space for Viagra vs. Cialis. War is bad for business; it's
prohibition that induces armed defense of logistics hubs and production
facilities.
The real scourge on Mexican society isn't 'turf war' shoot outs, but the
de facto police state that now exists.
In daily life, the chances of the average Mexican coming into contact
with drug-related crime or violence is very low. The chances of being
harassed or disrupted by government paramilitaries brandishing automatic
weapons in full combat gear is extremely high.
To give you an example, I woke up at our beach home in Tulum last week
to a squad of Mexican military patrolling the beach in formation, their
weapons 'at the ready.' Later in the day they set up check points on the
road to harass anyone who wasn't white.
Airports are even worse-- multiple baggage searches, pat downs, drug
dogs, roving infantry squads... all making it more difficult for
tourists and legitimate travelers to get in and out of the country.
This is the fundamental issue in Mexico-- billions of dollars from the
US are fueling a war on plants and human nature fuels violence and
creates a police state.
The violence (mostly localized in border towns) will continue until
these countries finally go broke, capitulate, and begin the embarrassing
process of reexamining their policies.
I'd love to hear your thoughts
<http://www.sovereignman.com/expat/mexicos-biggest-problem-is-the-us-government/>
on this.
Simon Black
Senior Editor, SovereignMan.com
Did you receive this email from a friend? Sign Up
<http://www.sovereignman.com> to receive Notes From The Field.
Neither this email communication nor content posted to the website
SovereignMan.com is intended to provide personal financial advice.
Before undertaking any action described in this letter, financial or
otherwise, you should discuss your options with a qualified advisor--
accountant, financial planner, attorney, priest, IRS auditor, Tim
Geithner... Also, nothing published in this letter constitutes
encouragement to avoid or evade tax obligations in your home country.
Furthermore, you should understand that SovereignMan.com may in some
instances receive financial compensation for products and/or services
which are mentioned in the letter, and in other cases, SovereignMan.com
receives no compensation. The needs of the community come first, and
the presence or lack of financial compensation in no way affects the
recommendations made in this letter.
If you no longer wish to receive our emails, click the link below:
Unsubscribe
<https://iman.infusionsoft.com/opt?o=0&i=61312&s=11039294&e=35c21930>
20 CECIL STREET Singapore, SG-X1 047905 SG
Newborn babies are tested as soon after birth as possible.
http://click.lavabit.com/1pt1j4fpjwkcsk3pn1c9o478q5cnmauhad4aew15s6i9b7h3wcby/
--
Thanks for being part of "PoliticalForum" at Google Groups.
For options & help see http://groups.google.com/group/PoliticalForum
* Visit our other community at http://www.PoliticalForum.com/
* It's active and moderated. Register and vote in our polls.
* Read the latest breaking news, and more.
