Mexico amends its constitution to cut the maximum workweek from 48 to 40 hours by 2030 and gives 13.5 million workers the legal right to ignore their boss's
This doesn’t mean anything because a lot of work in Mexico is informal and done in cash, and so these changes won’t have an effect on the people who need them the most.
Besides, the country is going through an existential crises right now with the cartels ripping the country apart. A lot of people are already criticizing her for not focusing on the most pressing problems, and they’re right. This is nice in theory, but things like crime and violence have gotten so out of hand that parts of the country are unlivable for the average folk. She’s being increasingly regarded by Mexicans as another cartel stooge in office.
the thing is, if i understand this correctly, taking the US approach to security (send in a lot of soldiers, hurt everyone in the way, find nothing, leave) doesn’t work. it just doesn’t make sense to send in more soldiers. ironically, giving up the war on drugs would probably do more to improve the situation than trying to win it; as it would put a permanent end to the violence and bloodshed. and i see her doing that.
The only way to address systemic problems like crime and violence in any meaningful way is addressing the underline problem that pushed people to commit crimes. That underline problem is quality of life which is directly related to income.
Taking people out of the informal job market is another problem to tackle that can be helped with having better work laws. Having good working laws stimulate people to get jobs in the formal market and avoid offers for informal work even if with better pay. That is not a problem that would be solved in the short term but this laws will help with that. The same approach was used in other countries and together with more government enforcement and fiscalizaton of the companies you see great improvement over the years and decades migrating people to the formal job market and reduction in crimes and violence.
You would be right if we were talking about normal crime and violence, but we’re not. The cartels aren’t made up of poor people who are committing crimes out of desperation. The people who are in the cartels do the most horrific things just to join, and once they join, they’re in for life. They have very organized hierarchies that keep a strict order, that’s why they’re massive crime syndicates.
They abduct people from their houses, they assassinate politicians, they hold public executions, burn down businesses who don’t pay extortion fees, they torture people they kidnap, they rig elections, they put their corrupted judges and politicians in power, and the list goes on and on. They’re even starting to control the country’s biggest industries. For example, there’s a good chance that the avocadoes you buy from the store came from a cartel controlled farm. Things were bad before, but they’re especially bad now with the Sinaloa cartel being fractured. There’s a lot of cartels competing for the top spot and things are ugly, really ugly. Some of the cartels are especially brutal just for the sake of it like Jalisco New Generation.
Mexico is a very unequal country. The nice areas are very nice. They’re safe, peaceful, have tourists, and are relatively wealthy. But the bad areas? They’re not even controlled by the government, they’re ruled by the cartels. They have so much violence that Mexico as a whole is considered a major war zone by the ACLED. You would think that president would prioritize something this pressing, but she gets offended at the very thought of her doing something about the cartels. Her predecessor, AMLO, did the same thing and he is widely regarded as a cartel stooge. She’s now being increasingly viewed in the same light.
In the abstract sure, but in reality context is everything. Would you celebrate countries like Israel or Russia passing similar labor reforms? Probably not, and rightfully so, because those countries clearly have much bigger, more pressing problems going on… like active wars and genocides. Mexico is not that far off, the cartel situation is truly something that is that disproportionate and bleak.
Yes. Improvement no matter how small is still improvement. More importantly, improving conditions can have sideways impacts on those big problems. Cartels (and Putin, using your Russia example) feed off desperation. Improving material conditions tends to make things harder for the bad guys, which is why the bad guys work so hard to make materials conditions worse (/wave MAGA). In reality, most problems are multi-faceted so we’d be fools not to see the big picture and do what we can where we can. The alternative, hyper focusing on the big problems, lets other problems grow which ultimately ends up feeding the big problem.
I don’t think we necessarily disagree on principle, we just disagree in our conclusions. I don’t think what I’m calling for is hyper fixation. The cartel issue by far the biggest and most pressing issue in the country to the point where it’s existential threat, and yet it is completely neglected at the cost of the common people. Again, I don’t have an issue with laws like this, you’re right that any improvement is better than nothing. However, it does highlight the fact the president is tone deaf. She’s been in office for 2 years now, and she has largely followed in the footsteps of her predecessor, AMLO, in going soft of cartels, which is a mistake costing the country dearly.
You talk about improving material conditions makes things for the bad guys, but the bad guys here are not the government. Cartels directly worsen material conditions with their operations, they obviously don’t follow labor laws, and there’s nothing to counter their influence in the country. There’s shootouts in the streets that are akin to active warzones. The people who are saying I’m letting perfect be the enemy of good are delusional. This is like having a bear chewing on your leg in a national park while you scream in agony for a park ranger to help you, only for one to arrive and tell the good news that he’s revoking your parking ticket before leaving.
You can’t have this all or nothing approach. You’ll never get anything done. This should be celebrated as a step in the right direction and further actions be encouraged.
This the problem with the more radical leftists on here. They want these massive sweeping changes to happen or nothing at all. And that’s just not going to happen. Change is incremental. So they never get what they want because they never show up to vote.
This doesn’t mean anything because a lot of work in Mexico is informal and done in cash, and so these changes won’t have an effect on the people who need them the most.
Besides, the country is going through an existential crises right now with the cartels ripping the country apart. A lot of people are already criticizing her for not focusing on the most pressing problems, and they’re right. This is nice in theory, but things like crime and violence have gotten so out of hand that parts of the country are unlivable for the average folk. She’s being increasingly regarded by Mexicans as another cartel stooge in office.
the thing is, if i understand this correctly, taking the US approach to security (send in a lot of soldiers, hurt everyone in the way, find nothing, leave) doesn’t work. it just doesn’t make sense to send in more soldiers. ironically, giving up the war on drugs would probably do more to improve the situation than trying to win it; as it would put a permanent end to the violence and bloodshed. and i see her doing that.
The only way to address systemic problems like crime and violence in any meaningful way is addressing the underline problem that pushed people to commit crimes. That underline problem is quality of life which is directly related to income.
Taking people out of the informal job market is another problem to tackle that can be helped with having better work laws. Having good working laws stimulate people to get jobs in the formal market and avoid offers for informal work even if with better pay. That is not a problem that would be solved in the short term but this laws will help with that. The same approach was used in other countries and together with more government enforcement and fiscalizaton of the companies you see great improvement over the years and decades migrating people to the formal job market and reduction in crimes and violence.
You would be right if we were talking about normal crime and violence, but we’re not. The cartels aren’t made up of poor people who are committing crimes out of desperation. The people who are in the cartels do the most horrific things just to join, and once they join, they’re in for life. They have very organized hierarchies that keep a strict order, that’s why they’re massive crime syndicates.
They abduct people from their houses, they assassinate politicians, they hold public executions, burn down businesses who don’t pay extortion fees, they torture people they kidnap, they rig elections, they put their corrupted judges and politicians in power, and the list goes on and on. They’re even starting to control the country’s biggest industries. For example, there’s a good chance that the avocadoes you buy from the store came from a cartel controlled farm. Things were bad before, but they’re especially bad now with the Sinaloa cartel being fractured. There’s a lot of cartels competing for the top spot and things are ugly, really ugly. Some of the cartels are especially brutal just for the sake of it like Jalisco New Generation.
Mexico is a very unequal country. The nice areas are very nice. They’re safe, peaceful, have tourists, and are relatively wealthy. But the bad areas? They’re not even controlled by the government, they’re ruled by the cartels. They have so much violence that Mexico as a whole is considered a major war zone by the ACLED. You would think that president would prioritize something this pressing, but she gets offended at the very thought of her doing something about the cartels. Her predecessor, AMLO, did the same thing and he is widely regarded as a cartel stooge. She’s now being increasingly viewed in the same light.
Someone always thinks something else is more important. Doing that and making (wishfully) perfect the enemy of good are solid recipes for no progress.
In the abstract sure, but in reality context is everything. Would you celebrate countries like Israel or Russia passing similar labor reforms? Probably not, and rightfully so, because those countries clearly have much bigger, more pressing problems going on… like active wars and genocides. Mexico is not that far off, the cartel situation is truly something that is that disproportionate and bleak.
Yes. Improvement no matter how small is still improvement. More importantly, improving conditions can have sideways impacts on those big problems. Cartels (and Putin, using your Russia example) feed off desperation. Improving material conditions tends to make things harder for the bad guys, which is why the bad guys work so hard to make materials conditions worse (/wave MAGA). In reality, most problems are multi-faceted so we’d be fools not to see the big picture and do what we can where we can. The alternative, hyper focusing on the big problems, lets other problems grow which ultimately ends up feeding the big problem.
I don’t think we necessarily disagree on principle, we just disagree in our conclusions. I don’t think what I’m calling for is hyper fixation. The cartel issue by far the biggest and most pressing issue in the country to the point where it’s existential threat, and yet it is completely neglected at the cost of the common people. Again, I don’t have an issue with laws like this, you’re right that any improvement is better than nothing. However, it does highlight the fact the president is tone deaf. She’s been in office for 2 years now, and she has largely followed in the footsteps of her predecessor, AMLO, in going soft of cartels, which is a mistake costing the country dearly.
You talk about improving material conditions makes things for the bad guys, but the bad guys here are not the government. Cartels directly worsen material conditions with their operations, they obviously don’t follow labor laws, and there’s nothing to counter their influence in the country. There’s shootouts in the streets that are akin to active warzones. The people who are saying I’m letting perfect be the enemy of good are delusional. This is like having a bear chewing on your leg in a national park while you scream in agony for a park ranger to help you, only for one to arrive and tell the good news that he’s revoking your parking ticket before leaving.
If there was an easy solution to the cartels someone would have done it already. Take obtainable wins.
You can’t have this all or nothing approach. You’ll never get anything done. This should be celebrated as a step in the right direction and further actions be encouraged.
This the problem with the more radical leftists on here. They want these massive sweeping changes to happen or nothing at all. And that’s just not going to happen. Change is incremental. So they never get what they want because they never show up to vote.