Tag Archives: politics

en español

La maldición mexicana

Es interesante ver que algunas de las semillas de la presente situación en México fueron plantadas durante el llamado “milagro mexicano” de 1940-1971.  Clientelismo, monopolios y falta de valor agregado en las actividades económicas  son vicios que se hicieron fuertes durante esa época.  Algunos otros se fortalecieron más tarde, especialmente el narcotráfico, el descuido del sistema educativo y el enfoque exclusivo en Estados Unidos.

En las últimas semanas han llamado mi atención una serie de artículos en los que se manifiesta la preocupación de algunos sectores dada la situación actual de México, especialmente en comparación con nuestros vecinos latinoamericanos.  La diferencia nace, a mi parecer, de la decidia de la clase política y de la falta de una cultura democrática en la sociedad que complemente nuestro sistema político.  Somos buenísimos para quejarnos y para asistir a manifestaciones, pero díganme quién le ha llamado a su diputado o senador para pedirle que rinda cuentas.

Viendo desde fuera el número de oportunidades perdidas en los últimos 10 años por el exceso de politiqueros y la falta de verdaderos estadistas, y el estado de nuestra inversión en el desarrollo de recursos humanos a través de la educación, por desgracia no me sorprende el estado del país.

Por desgracia, como es más fácil armar mitotes que ponerse a trabajar, no soy tan optimista como quisiera. Espero estar equivocado.

in english

#InternetNecesario

Mexican public finances are not in the best of shapes given the economic crisis and the extremely difficult year so far for the country, so in their budget proposal for the next year Congress has proposed to raise taxes on pretty much everything instead of trimming down public spending further and closing useless ministries and bureaucratic institutions.

One “small detail” that has gotten pretty much every Mexican netizen riled up is a raise of 3% on telecommunications, including the use of internet, as Congress considers it a “luxury good”.  Great way of stifle the development of the nation even further, especially when comparing it to what is going in in places like Finland where brodband access is a right (which doesn’t mean it’s subsidised by the state).  Here in Finland it is understood that connectivity brings economic advantages and growth, unlike our prehistoric Mexican politicians.

in english

Finnish politicians seem stuck in the past

According to the Finnish media, politicians seem stuck in the past with their antiquated language competences (the videos are priceless, click on the names) and lack of understanding of the immigrant situation.

I wonder what would they do if the had disgraceful politicians like this one. If you want to understand why a country with 5 million people, in the middle of nowhere, with terrible climate for a big part of the year and with no natural resources is developed while others are not, please notice that here they invest in their human capital.  That’s what they have and it makes all the difference.

in english

Recommended book: The age of the unthinkable

You know that the times are a-changin’ when terrorists armed with paper cutters are a serious menace to the world’s largest superpower, unpaid networks of developers can build an operating system that is now used in enterprise-grade IT solutions and when strategies designed to erradicate a problem such as terrorism or poverty add more fuel to the fire.  While this book is geared towards an American audience and focuses on the ramifications  of this phenomenon in foreign policy, I have been thinking about what kind of lessons this can provide business.

The author introduces in this book the concept of resilience, where instead of trying to have grand monolithic strategies to anticipate every single scenario we should instead focus on having different approaches towards a problem, “gardening” our way to ride the ever-coming waves of change and take advantage of them.  This idea resonates on many levels with many concepts I use as part of my daily life, which I will make a list of (and no, I’m not Chinese =P):

  • One of the main lessons in aikido, which is using the forces of others to your own advantage.  You don’t oppose a force with another force, you channel it so that it goes where you want to.
  • Systems intelligence, where an individual accepts that life is a set of interdepentent relationships where there are feedback mechanisms that can be tweaked to one’s own advantage with huge effects due to the non-linear character of the system.
  • Social media,  technological convergence, creativity and other related professional interests of mine.

The interesting conclusion to which the author arrives, which I also find very appealing, is the need for empowering diverse change agents who can drive different approaches to solving a problem to work as a sort of “immunity system” for an organisation, be it a country, a company or the world.

It’s not a complicated book (in reality, I found it a little bit too light as I would have wanted a few more examples from other fields and more detail on the conceptual framework) but definitely a recommended read.

in english

Recommended book: Why your world is about to get a whole lot smaller

You might have heard of peak oil, the idea explaining the point in time when we have reached the maximum amount of oil produced, after which starts a decline that affects the world as we know it (and yes, I’m using this phrase on purpose).  Jeff Rubin, a Canadian economist, took the issue head-on in this book, explaining not only why in his view the current economic crisis is at its source one huge oil price shock, but also how will the world economy change once oil is not so plentiful, more expensive and there are more economies hungry for it.

Basically, what he predicts is an end to the current version of globalisation, where you have distributed value chains, cheap travel and products from all over the world at your doorstep.  I don’t know about you, but even if I live more or less ecologically, use renewable energy where possible and don’t have a car, such a future would wreak havoc with my lifestyle as it would be impossible for me to find the food I want and be able to visit my family over the holidays.  The subtitle of this blog is “musings from a child of globalisation” after all, isn’t it?

I think it is time to sweep this issue under the rug every time it is brought up and start thinking about what kind of innovations are needed.  Who’s with me?

en español, in english

Elecciones locales en México

A summary in English of this topic in this note from AP.

Nos tocó estar en México justo antes de que tuvieran lugar las elecciones para el Congreso de la Unión, presidentes municipales y uno que otro gobernador.  Además de la contaminación visual, por lo que pude ver la calidad de las propuestas era francamente patética.  Para la galería del horror teníamos varios ejemplos:

  • Un partido autodenominado Verde que proponía la pena de muerte (WTF?).
  • Un candidato delegacional del PRI cuyo lema de campaña era “Seguridad o Renuncio” (¿para qué votaría por tí, si vas a hacer las maletas inmediatamente?).
  • Una ex-deportista sin experiencia, con poca educación  pero aún así se postulaba a una delegación del D.F. (Me caes muy bien Ana, pero no es suficiente para que votara por tí).
  • Un partido de derecha sin liderazgo, con pocas propuestas creíbles y que no supo movilizar a sus simpatizantes.

Con semejantes alternativas, no me extraña en absoluto que se haya registrado un crecimiento tan fuerte del voto nulo.  Como dice el siguiente afiche:

Y sí, trágicamente para muchos fue su mejor opción.

Como todos sabemos, el gran ganador de estas elecciones fue el PRI.  Tanto cacarear durante años con sacar al PRI del poder para terminar regresando a lo mismo.  Sólo espero no le hayamos terminado de dar en la torre a nuestra naciente democracia.

in english

European elections

1 Comment


European elections

Originally uploaded by Chiva Congelado

I am very disappointed in the level of the campaigns for the European Parliament elections this year. Since the average Finnish voter knows very little about the EU (they may have not explained it to you, but the European Parliament has broader powers than the Eduskunta in some matters, but not as much as certain politicians would have you believe) and is naturally very sceptic of the unknown, the themes of the election have been mostly domestic issues such as immigration and social security.

Most parties (including those in government) use the cheap trick of blaming everything that’s wrong on the European institutions to the tone wherever the European Union is present there will be problems, forgetting completely the advantages of being part of the EU and being in the decision-making process. You know, small things like access to a huge market for Finnish products and services, huge agricultural subsidies for Finnish farms, a strong, stable currency (just ask the Icelanders or the Swedes if they wouldn’t want that at the moment) and the fact you don’t need to show a passport to go to Greece or Spain are forgotten by most. Shame on them.

Regardless of that if you haven’t done so already, please vote by the 7.6. Any vote that doesn’t go for the Perussuomalaiset is a plus (I mean, do you really want people like them to represent Finland in Europe?).