Such are some of the results of two Pew Global Attitudes Surveys* at http://pewglobal.org. Below Lorimer Wilson, editor of www.FinancialArticleSummariesToday.com, presents further reformatted and edited [..] excerpts from both surveys for the sake of clarity and brevity to ensure a fast and easy read. (Please note that this paragraph must be included in any article reposting to avoid copyright infringement.) The surveys’ findings are as follows:

Mexicans Continue Support for Campaign Against the Drug Cartels
Since President Felipe Calderón took office in December 2006, more than 25,000 people have been killed in drug-related violence. However, Mexicans overwhelmingly continue to endorse Calderón’s campaign against the drug cartels. Most also believe the Mexican military is making progress in the drug war, although they are less likely to hold this view now than was the case one year ago.

Fully 80% of Mexicans support using the army to fight drug traffickers, essentially unchanged from 83% in 2009. Opposition to using the army has increased only slightly, from 12% to 17%.

Just over half (55%) of Mexicans say the army is making progress against the traffickers, while only 22% think it is losing ground and 21% believe things are about the same as they have been in the past. However, assessments have become somewhat less positive since last year, when 66% felt the army was making progress and only 15% said it was losing ground.

Majorities in Central (60%), North (56%) and South (56%) Mexico believe the army is making progress, while residents of Mexico City (45%) are somewhat less likely to offer a positive assessment.

Mexicans Continue Support for American Involvement in Drug War
The survey also finds continuing support for American involvement in the battle against drug cartels – at least in terms of training and financial support. Fully 78% favor the U.S. providing training to Mexican police and military personnel, unchanged from the 2009 poll.

A smaller majority (57%) favors the U.S. providing money and weapons to Mexican police and military personnel, down slightly from 63% last year. Meanwhile, the share of the public that opposes this idea has grown from 28% to 37%. Opposition to the deployment of U.S. troops in Mexico has also increased, from an already high 59% last year to 67% in the current survey.

Support for American assistance to Mexican forces tends to be strongest in North Mexico, parts of which have been especially hard hit by drug-related violence. For example, 67% of those in the North favor the U.S. providing money and weapons to Mexico’s military and police, compared with 56% in the South, 53% in the Central region, and 52% among residents of Mexico City.

Arizona Immigration Law Turns Mexican Views of U.S. Negative
Prior to the recent passage of Arizona’s immigration law, 62% of Mexicans had a positive opinion of the U.S., compared with 44% after the law. However, the Arizona controversy had a lesser impact on views about U.S.-Mexican cooperation in the drug war. Still, those surveyed after the law’s passage were slightly more likely than those surveyed before to oppose U.S. training of Mexican police and military forces (16% before the law, 24% after the law).

Most Mexicans Believe Life is Better in the United States
57% say that people who move from Mexico enjoy a better life in the U.S., up from 51% in 2007 and the vast majority of those who are in regular contact with friends and relatives living in the U.S. say those friends and relatives have largely achieved their goals.

A substantial minority of Mexicans say that if they had the means and opportunity to go live in the U.S. they would do so, and more than half of those who would migrate if they had the chance say they would do so without authorization.

Close Ties Remain Between Both Nations
The close ties between people in the U.S. and Mexico are reflected in the survey’s findings – 39% of Mexicans have friends or relatives in the U.S. 18% of Mexicans say they receive money from relatives living in another country, although this represents a slight decline from 2007, when 23% said they received money from outside.

Survey Methods
Results for the survey were based on face-to-face interviews conducted April 14 to April 20, 2010 and May 1 to May 6, 2010. The survey in Mexico is part of the larger 2010 Pew Global Attitudes Survey conducted in 22 nations from April 7 to May 8, 2010, under the direction of Princeton Survey Research Associates International.

*http://pewglobal.org/2010/08/12/mexicans-continue-support-for-drug-war/
*http://pewglobal.org/2009/09/23/most-mexicans-see-better-life-in-us-one-in-three-would-migrate/

Editor’s Note:
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In further edited excerpts from the original article* Peter Schiff (www.europac.net) goes on to say:

Those who do cling to the absurd belief that, absent exponential productivity gains, the economy can expand while workers are being laid off will undergo a massive test of their convictions now that it’s clear the employment picture is bleak.

There is no question, however, that the sense of panic has temporarily subsided. In recent interviews, Treasury Secretary Geithner has been almost giddy in his descriptions of the recovery – all the while crediting his own policies for averting disaster. Americans are once again taking the government’s bait by spending money they don’t have to buy things they can’t afford.

To really recuperate, however, the government must allow market forces to restructure our economy. The government and individuals must rein in their spending; we must replenish our stock of savings, allow interest rates to rise, asset prices to adjust to economic reality, insolvent businesses to fail, and wages to reflect productivity. To accomplish these goals, subsidies that distort market forces must be removed and regulations that undermine our competitiveness must be repealed.

None of this can be accomplished without a degree of short-term economic pain. However, if we endure it, the payback will be a real recovery with plenty of new jobs that don’t rely on government stimulus money. If we refuse to allow the economy to experience a real recession, we will never have the benefit of a real recovery. Instead, we get the “jobless recovery,” a veneer of apparently positive indicators that merely obscures the underlying rot.

Over the last few decades, our industrial job market has atrophied while service- and public-sector jobs have grown unsustainably. We must restore balance. New jobs will have to come from areas that produce goods; bloated service and government sectors must be allowed to shrink. By propping up the sectors that need to contract, and running staggering budget deficits, the government cuts off the capital necessary to fund sectors that need to expand.

In truth, many of the service-sector jobs that exist today, such as real estate sales, mortgage finance, home improvement, and auto sales, were created in an environment of ever-increasing home equity, rising stock prices, and almost unlimited access to cheap consumer credit. With home equity gone, stock markets flat, and credit depleted, Americans find themselves needing to save rather than spend. Unfortunately, Washington has put through policies that have counteracted our good instincts.

While we were focusing our economy on consumer spending, much of the rest of the world was saving for the future. As such, we must begin to produce more for export, so that we can sell goods to those who have the savings to pay for them. That is the only way we can repay our debts, replenish our savings, repair our infrastructure, and rebuild our industrial base.

Another prerequisite to any real economic expansion is the potential for business owners to earn profits. With increased regulation and higher taxes on the way, these incentives are being diminished. In fact, via a phenomenon called ‘regime uncertainty,’ our current policy path is actually encouraging businesses to contract in order to prepare for a more hostile business environment.

Robust economies utilize all spare capacity, or restructure it for better use. As such, there is no “jobless recovery,” only senseless cheerleading.

*http://www.campaignforliberty.com/article.php?view=253

Editor’s Note:
- The above article consists of reformatted edited excerpts from the original for the sake of brevity, clarity and to ensure a fast and easy read. The author’s views and conclusions are unaltered.
- Permission to reprint in whole or in part is gladly granted, provided full credit is given.
- Sign up to receive every article posted via Twitter, Facebook, RSS feed or our Weekly Newsletter.
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