Pakistanis angry over detentions in Times Sq. case Monday, May 24, 2010
ISLAMABAD – Relatives of three men detained by Pakistan for alleged links to the suspect in the attempted Times Square bombing say the men are innocent.
They
AFP - Thursday, August 6TAIPEI (AFP) - - Taiwan's Beijing-friendly government on Wednesday denied boycotting an Australian film festival amid a row over the e
BERLIN (Reuters) - Chancellor Angela Merkel suffered a double blow on Thursday as a senior party ally in east German
Minister seeks closure of anti-Berlusconi websites Wednesday, December 16, 2009
ROME (AFP) - – The Italian government moved Tuesday to close down Internet sites encouraging further violence against Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, who
By ELAINE KURTENBACH,AP Business Writer AP - Wednesday, March 18SHANGHAI - Asia's stock market rally seemed to be running out of steam Wednesday, despite an
My Profile
Top News
Reuters top ten news stories delivered to your inbox each day.
Subscribe
You are here:
Home
>
News
>
International
>
Article
Home
Business & Finance
News
U.S.
Politics
International
Technology
Entertainment
Sports
Lifestyle
Oddly Enough
Environment
Health
Science
Special Coverage
Video
Pictures
Your View
The Great Debate
Blogs
Weather
Reader Feedback
Do More With Reuters
RSS
Widgets
Mobile
Podcasts
Newsletters
Your View
Make Reuters My Homepage
Partner Services
CareerBuilder
Affiliate Network
Professional Products
Support (Customer Zone)
Reuters Media
Financial Products
About Thomson Reuters
Rising poverty weakens Mexico conservatives
Tue Apr 14, 2009 9:48pm EDT
Email | Print |
Share
| Reprints | Single Page
[-]
Text
[+]
By Jason Lange
TLALNEPANTLA, Mexico (Reuters) - The ranks of the poor are swelling in Mexico as fallout from the U.S. recession savages the economy, setting up President Felipe Calderon's party for possible defeat in July's congressional elections.
Mexico is tumbling into its deepest recession since the mid-1990s, hurt by a collapse in U.S. demand for its exports.
That has led families in slums surrounding Mexico City to cut back on items like meat. At a slaughterhouse in Tlalnepantla, a big industrial satellite town on the northern edge of the capital, the number of livestock killed every day has fallen by about a third since December as consumers buy fewer and cheaper cuts.
"Our money just doesn't go far enough," said Sirenia Vidal, 59, who picked up a small bag of ground beef from a butcher shop stacked with ribs, tongues and entrails outside the slaughterhouse.
Vidal's family income took a hit this year when her daughter lost her job at a television factory, forcing her to slash her monthly food budget to 600 pesos per person ($45) from 800 pesos. Now she is buying more potatoes and beans.
A slowing economy has probably pushed 4 million or 5 million Mexicans into poverty in the two years through August 2008, said World Bank economist Joost Draaisma, adding that higher food prices have also hurt the poor.
Opinion polls show Mexican voters are more worried about the stalled economy than any other issue, eclipsing concern over a surge in drug gang violence that killed 6,300 people last year.
The economy, which shrank over 9 percent in January from a year earlier, is leading voters to drop their support of Calderon's pro-business National Action Party, or PAN.
If current poll trends hold, the centrist Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI, which has trumpeted policies like a ban on private investment in state-run oil refining, could become the largest block in the lower house of Congress in the July 5 mid-term election.
Under that scenario, the conservative PAN would drop to No. 2, dealing a setback to Calderon who is trying to boost growth while holding Mexico's commitment to free trade and open markets.
PUBLIC ANGER
Leftist parties, formerly unified under ex-presidential candidate Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, could also lose many of their congressional seats, polls show.
"People say: 'Now that I've lost my job, I'm not going to vote for the PAN anymore,'" said political scientist Jose Antonio Crespo at Mexico City's CIDE think tank.
A poll by Mitofsky showed the PRI ahead of the PAN by 34 percent to 26 percent in February, though a recent poll by Universal newspaper had the PRI up by just 3 percentage points.
Mexico's economy began to slow sharply early in 2008 after the U.S. housing market collapsed and pushed the United States, which buys 80 percent of Mexican exports, into recession. Continued...
View article on single page
Share:
Del.icio.us
Digg
Mixx
Yahoo!
Facebook
LinkedIn
Next Article:
Guantanamo captive phones TV office, claims abuse
also on reuters
Blog: Paper or plastic? Oh, and 25 cents please!
Recession fueling right-wing extremism, U.S. says
Video
Video: Going beyond the game of Monopoly
More International News
South Korea set to curtail North arms trade
| Video
Russia says not selling missile system to Iran: report
Italy quake reconstruction to cost $15.9 billion: minister
Somali pirates seize two more ships
China newspaper urges government name quake dead
More International News...
Editor's Choice
Slideshow
A selection of our best photos from the past 24 hours. Slideshow
Most Popular on Reuters
Articles
Video
13-year-old boy accused of robbing Illinois bank
NBC recruits Blagojevich as reality star
Recession fueling right-wing extremism, U.S. says
Goldman wants to go back, but can it?
Guantanamo captive phones TV office, claims abuse
Obama set to name "border czar": report
More Americans wary of tax man this year
Yahoo to cut hundreds of jobs: source
U.S. planning to reveal data on health of top banks: report
Porn star Marilyn Chambers dead at 56
Most Popular Articles RSS Feed
Video
Demjanjuk deportation halted
Back to square one?
Bo makes White House debut
Obama predicts more job losses
Thai protests ends peacefully
Phil Spector convicted of murder
Peru strike hits Machu Picchu
Soldiers contain Bangkok protests
Patents rejected in software battle
Rugby scuffle turns nasty
Most Popular Videos RSS Feed
The Great Debate
World Affairs:
Arabia's knowledge gap
Bernd Debusmann
Education is a tempting target for budget cutters in times of financial distress, but in the Arab world an education drive without parallel is taking place. Commentary
Reuters Deals
The global destination for corporate leaders, deal-makers and innovators
Knowledge to Act
Reuters.com:
Help and Contact Us |
Advertise With Us |
Mobile |
Newsletters |
RSS |
Interactive TV |
Labs |
Archive |
Site Index |
Video Index
Thomson Reuters Corporate:
Copyright |
Disclaimer |
Privacy |
Professional Products |
Professional Products Support |
About Thomson Reuters |
Careers
International Editions:
Africa |
Arabic |
Argentina |
Brazil |
Canada |
China |
France |
Germany |
India |
Italy |
Japan |
Latin America |
Mexico |
Russia |
Spain |
United Kingdom |
United States
Thomson Reuters is the world's largest international multimedia news agency, providing investing news, world news, business news, technology news, headline news, small business news, news alerts, personal finance, stock market, and mutual funds information available on Reuters.com, video, mobile, and interactive television platforms. Thomson Reuters journalists are subject to an Editorial Handbook which requires fair presentation and disclosure of relevant interests.
NYSE and AMEX quotes delayed by at least 20 minutes. Nasdaq delayed by at least 15 minutes. For a complete list of exchanges and delays, please click here.