Monday, July 06, 2015

Sobre "Desigualdad extrema en México"

Algunos artículos o columnas en la prensa nacional que aluden al estudio "Desigualdad Extrema en México. Concentración del poder económico y político":

  1. Salvador Camarena: "Hablemos de los ricos" (El Financiero, 25-junio)
  2. Consuelo López Zuriaga: "La desigualdad en México" (Reforma, 25-junio)
  3. Carlos Puig: "El mayor fracaso del Pacto por México" (Milenio, 25-junio)
  4. Consuelo López Zuriaga: "La trampa de la desigualdad" (Excelsior, 25-junio)
  5. José Fernández Santillán: "Desigualdades sociales y liberalismo" (Crónica, 26-junio)
  6. Enrique del Val: "Más y más desigualdad" (Excelsior, 27 de junio)
  7. Rolando Cordera: "Empezar a redescubrirnos" (La Jornada, 28 de junio)
  8. Héctor Aguilar Camín: "Desigualdad" (Milenio, 29 de junio)
  9. Denisse Dresser: "Telepresidente apagado" (Reforma, 29 de junio)
  10. Denisse Maerker: "El muro de la desigualdad" (El Universal, 30 de junio)
  11. José González Morfín: "Por una educación de calidad" (El Universal, 1 de julio)
  12.  Blanca Heredia: "Nuestra desigualdad (extrema) bien gracias y ¿nuestra democracia?" (El Financiero, 1 de julio)
  13. José Woldenberg: "Desigualdad Extrema" (Reforma, 2 de julio)
  14. Lorenzo Meyer: "Si el 1% tiene el 21%, ¿hay nación?" (Reforma, 2 de julio)
  15. Jaime Camil: "16 mexicanos" (El Universal, 3 de julio)
  16. Gerardo Esquivel: "Desigualdad extrema en México" (El Universal, 3 de julio)
  17. Vidal Llerenas: "La falla del Estado como origen de la desigualdad extrema" (La Silla Rota, 3 de julio)
  18. Juan Villoro: "Espejo distante" (Reforma, 3 de julio)
  19. León García Soler: "A la mitad del foro: Poder y Dinero" (La Jornada, 5 de julio)
  20. John Ackerman: "Liberalismo: izquierda y derecha" (Proceso, 5 de julio)
  21. Jesús Silva-Herzog Márquez: "Democracia y desigualdad" (Reforma, 6 de julio) 
  22. Denise Dresser: "Cansados de reyes" (Reforma, 6 de julio).

2 caricaturas relacionadas con el documento:

1) Carreño (El Universal)


2) Brozo (El Universal)


Thursday, June 25, 2015

Desigualdad Extrema en México

Ayer se presentó el documento que elaboré para Oxfam-México titulado: "Desigualdad extrema en México: Concentración del Poder Económico y Político en México". El documento está disponible de manera gratuita (tanto en español como en inglés) en la página: www.cambialasreglas.org.
En dicha página también pueden sumarse a la campaña IGUALES de Oxfam-México.



Monday, February 16, 2015

El Colegio Nacional: ¿Misoginia institucional?


Mi artículo de esta semana en El Universal es sobre El Colegio Nacional, una de las instituciones que contribuyen a hacer invisible las aportaciones de las mujeres mexicanas a la cultura y al saber. Aquí el artículo. "El Colegio Nacional: ¿Misoginia institucional?"

Aquí pueden ver el ensayo original de Lucía Melgar titulado "Invisibles: Breve recorrido en busca de las___ausentes (llénese al terminar la lectura)", que inspiró mi artículo. 

Acá pueden ver la relación de todos los miembros de El Colegio Nacional, incluyendo fechas de ingreso y egreso, así como las especialidades de cada uno de ellos.

Monday, December 22, 2014

Sobre el aumento al salario mínimo


Sobre el aumento al salario mínimo para 2015. Una entrevista que me hicieron en el programa "Así las cosas" de W Radio:

 

Sunday, December 14, 2014

¿Por qué leer a Piketty?




Mi artículo de hoy en Confabulario, suplemento cultural de El Universal: "¿Por qué leer a Piketty?"

En el mismo suplemento se incluye una breve entrevista con Piketty ("No hay que dejar los problemas económicos a los economistas") y otro breve artículo titulado "El efecto Piketty". 

Monday, December 08, 2014

El revuelo por Piketty


Una breve reseña del libro de Thomas Piketty ("El capital en el siglo XXI") que escribí para el diario Milenio: "El revuelo por Piketty".

Friday, December 05, 2014

El presidente errático




El presidente errático

Se menciona con frecuencia que el presidente Peña Nieto está como pasmado ante las circunstancias actuales. Difiero de esa interpretación. El presidente no se ha quedado pasmado, ni atónito, ni mucho menos estático. Se ha vuelto más errático, eso sí. Un día el presidente aparece con un tono regañón y acusa intentos de desestabilización a su gobierno y a su proyecto de nación y al otro día aparece más moderado y se dice consternado por las circunstancias actuales por las que vive el país. Un día anuncia que será el vocero presidencial el que dará información relacionada con la llamada Casa Blanca y al otro día informa que será su esposa quien nos hará el favor de explicarnos cómo se hizo de sus bienes. Un día anuncia que finalmente visitará Iguala (más de dos meses después de la tragedia) y unas horas después anuncia la cancelación de esa visita. Un día el presidente avisa que hará un anuncio muy importante y cuando llega el esperado momento nos anuncia que será hasta la semana siguiente cuando apenas enviará algunas iniciativas legislativas. 

El presidente sin duda parece confundido. No es claro si sus asesores también lo están o si la fuente de la confusión se debe más bien a que le recomiendan estrategias diferentes y que el presidente no está seguro de qué consejo seguir. En cualquier caso, es evidente que su gente cercana no le está dando al presidente toda la información que requiere para tomar decisiones oportunas, y mucho menos acertadas. Es sabido que el presidente escucha a poca gente, que parece vivir en una burbuja en la que se encuentra rodeado (encerrado, quizás) por un grupo de colaboradores muy pequeño (en más de un sentido). Este grupo parece haber convencido al presidente de que todos los problemas vienen de fuera, que son transitorios o que son otros los responsables de ellos. 

Es por eso que el presidente se da el lujo de regañarnos o de enviar a su esposa a hacernos el favor de explicarnos cosas que, según ambos, ella no tendría por qué hacerlo. Este grupo es el que lo ha convencido de que el mal desempeño económico viene de fuera (sin reconocer, por ejemplo, el elevado costo del uso político que le dieron al presupuesto en 2013), que le sobrevendió el éxito a corto plazo de las reformas económicas, que lo convenció de que la crisis de inseguridad y violencia es el resultado del fracaso y la incapacidad de los municipios (sin asumir la responsabilidad federal correspondiente), y que hay intereses oscuros que pretendían orillarlo a renunciar antes del 1 de diciembre (sin otorgar ningún valor a la genuina protesta ciudadana).

Son esos asesores los mismos que pretenden ahora dar por cerrado el caso de la Casa Blanca, quizá la principal fuente de confusión que vive el presidente. El presidente cree que evitando hablar del tema es suficiente y que la gente eventualmente lo olvidará. No parece darse cuenta de la mancha que eso representa en su legitimidad y credibilidad, ni de las crecientes sospechas que tanto interna como externamente han generado sus relaciones con un grupo empresarial que se ha beneficiado enormemente de contratos otorgados durante su gestión como Gobernador y como Presidente.  En su discurso de la semana pasada el presidente quiso hacer suya la frase “Todos Somos Ayotzinapa”. La repitió tres veces tratando de convencernos de su genuina preocupación e indignación por la inseguridad, la violencia y por el destino de los estudiantes normalistas. Sin embargo, en el fondo, su comportamiento y su discurso parecían querernos convencer más bien que “Todos Somos el Grupo Atlacomulco”. El presidente cree que evitando el tema de La Casa Blanca (ese elefante en la sala), todos los mexicanos estamos dispuestos a darle vuelta a la página y a disculparle por lo que a todas luces parece un acto no sólo de conflicto de interés sino incluso de corrupción y de obtención de beneficios personales y familiares. El presidente se equivoca rotundamente por partida doble: ni él es Ayotzinapa, ni todos somos el Grupo Atlacomulco.

Friday, November 21, 2014

Más que un conflicto de interés





Aquí les dejo la versión en inglés de mi artículo de esta semana en El Universal: "Más que un conflicto de interés". 

El artículo original en español lo pueden ver aquí





 More than a conflict of interest

Mexican officials often deny the existence of conflicts of interest, that situation in which private interests can affect the decisions of a public servant to the detriment of the public interest. They often consider that if they do not feel conflicted about it, then it is not a conflict of interest. This is incorrect. The conflict of interest is generally well defined and punishable under the law. In fact, this issue is mentioned in section XII of Article 8 of the Federal Law of Administrative Responsibilitiesof Public Servants, which states their obligations (emphasis added):

"Abstain in the exercise of their duties, to seek, accept or receive, directly or through an intermediary, money, real or personal property by sale at a price well below that of the ordinary market, gifts, services, money jobs, charges or fees (...) arising from any person or entity whose professional activities, commercial or industrial are directly linked, regulated or supervised by the public servant (...), that involves conflicting interests."

The most recent case of conflict of interest in Mexico involves President Peña Nieto in relation to the house of hiswife, Angélica Rivera. The house of Mrs. Rivera was built and is still owned by a government contractor, which reveals a relationship that could have some influence on the President, who has the capacity to decide on issues related to that company. The conflict of interest is obvious and it is something that should have been avoided in the first place. However, it is likely that the problem is even more serious than that. This is because since 2009, when the real estate deal started, the company that owns the house (Grupo HIGA) has received numerous contracts by governments led by Peña Nieto, both as Governor of the State of Mexico and as President. In this sense, the conflict of interest is not only potential but it becomes real, and it could even be linked directly with issues of corruption and/or bribery (see the Mexican Federal Penal Code, art. 222).

This leads us to ask ourselves not only about the motivations that might lead to such real estate transaction, but also about the conditions agreed. Why is it that a company suddenly decides to create a real estate firm only to buy the land that someone like the President’s wife wants  (conveniently located behind her other house), built a house designed according to her own taste and with the architect she choose, and at the end, and only then, sells the house to her without a down payment (yes, that is correct, without a down payment), with a three-year grace period for payments of capital, and all of that with a preferential interest rate (9% vs. 11%, which was the market average)?

The President and his wife want us to believe that getting rid of the house solves the problem. Not so. If anything, it makes it more obvious. According to the contract released, from 2012 to 2014 Ms. Rivera has only paid interests on the transaction, so that the current value of the debt is the same as that in the original agreement, i.e. $54 million pesos (around $4 million dollars). The house was recently independently valued at $86 million pesos. Suppose that Ms. Rivera sells the house at an intermediate price: 70 mp. With these resources, Mrs. Rivera could pay her outstanding debt and get an immediate profit of $16 million pesos or around $1.2 million dollars (this should not be mixed with the 14 million pesos that Mrs. Rivera has already disbursed, since most of that would be just what it was due for the usufruct of the house, that is, for the house’s rent). Thus, this gain would follow strictly from the advantageous conditions of the original arrangement, which seems to support the idea that the President and his family benefited from a relationship with a company that in turn has made huge profits via numerous public contracts. Quid pro quo?

Therefore, the creation of a special prosecutor to investigate the President and his relationship with a business group that has received numerous government contracts is required. Until this is clarified, and despite the video of Mrs. Rivera and the release of the patrimonial statement ofthe President, the shadow of doubt on possible corruption and exchange of favors between a private company and the President will be there.

Saturday, November 08, 2014

El Capital en el siglo XXI de Piketty

"El Capital en el siglo XXI" de Thomas Piketty, publicado en español por el Fondo de Cultura Económica, estará disponible en librerías de España y de toda América Latina a partir del 24 de noviembre.

Aquí la portada:


Sunday, October 26, 2014

Tlatlaya and the Parallel World of the President

My article of this week in El Universal. 

La versión en español la pueden ver haciendo clic aquí

Tlatlaya and the Parallel World of the President

The country is going through its worst crisis in human rights in recent years. With a few weeks apart, two different agencies responsible for protecting the population, the army and a local police, perpetrated acts of harassment and violations of human rights against it. In the first case, the Mexican army is accused of having carried out extrajudicial executions of at least 15 people in the community of Tlatlaya, State of Mexico. In the second, the municipal police of Iguala and Cocula are accused of involvement in the murder of 6 people and the disappearance of 43 students from the Rural Teacher Training School (Normal) of Ayotzinapa in Guerrero.

The first of these cases has already been the subject of an investigation and a first report of the National Commission of Human Rights. This report, released on October 21st, concluded that "the elements of 102 Infantry Battalion of the Ministry of National Defense violated the right to life." Moreover, according to the report, "this violation is compounded by the fact that the arbitrary deprivation of life was made in a deliberate way, according to the victims’ recount, i.e., intentionally and with no justification whatsoever. In addition, the victim’s vulnerability must be assessed, since they had surrendered, and they witnessed how some of their teammates were put to death, before themselves losing their lives." 

Finally: "The National Commission cannot fail to note the particular gravity of this case, given that three of the victims of the violence are adolescents (...). In this sense, the behavior of the responsible authority not only violates the right to life, but many international instruments (...) which places a duty on the State to adopt special measures of protection and assistance for children and adolescents under their jurisdiction." 

On October 22, i,e,, the day after the submission of the report of the National Commission of Human Rights, in a relatively unusual event, the President held a public meeting with senior army commanders. The justification of this meeting was, to say the least, unconventional. It was nothing less than the opening of a branch of the Military bank (Banjercito) in Apatizngán, Michoacán. There, the President made a glowing tribute to our armed forces
"To the Chairman of Banjercito, whom I thank for his message, which he has just now delivered, and that certainly leaves accredited how our Mexican army, our armed forces are loyal and devoted to good causes in our country."

"They are important to sustain the democratic institutions of our country. And they have been working precisely to support the work of the Mexican State in favor of Mexicans in various fields."

"And so, today, as President and Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces, this space gives me occasion to let faithful testimony of the gratitude, recognition and pride that we Mexicans feel of having armed forces which are loyal and devoted to Mexico."

 "Congratulations." 
So, at the stroke of a pen, the President reiterated his confidence in the Armed Forces, recognized his loyalty and his contribution to good causes in the country and even its role in sustaining democratic institutions (whatever that means). Of course, in his speech the President did not make the slightest mention of the issue of human rights or the Tlatlaya case. No one should be surprised by this speech. On the issues of security, violence, and respect for human rights, the President seems to be living in a parallel world where nothing happens, where everything is under control, and where the army is a force loyal and devoted to the best causes of the country. It is a pity that not everyone lives there.

Sunday, October 12, 2014

Iguala, Responsibility of the State

Iguala, Responsibility of the State

Some media and local authorities have tried to present the issue of the killing of 6 and the disappearance of another 43 Ayotzinapa’s students as something attributable to organized crime. They have even given names of the cartel that could have killed the students (“Guerreros Unidos”) and of the leader who gave the order to stop and kill them (“el Chuky”). This version, however, obscures reality. This is not another crime of the organized crime. No. The first student killings, the detention and subsequent disappearance of the other students, were the work of local commanding officers that were under the control of a local authority and, ultimately, of a state authority (in May, Iguala and other municipalities of the state of Guerrero signed an agreement, “Mando Único”, with the state government in order to unify the command of their local police forces). 

       Let's recap some of what happened that fateful September 26th. That day, the normalistas (students that are being trained to become basic education teachers) arrived in Iguala, where they seized some buses that were going to be used to travel to Mexico City to participate in the march on October 2nd (a march that is held every year in order to commemorate the student massacre of 1968). At some point, one of the buses was intercepted by a patrol and some students got out of the bus to try to remove it. Suddenly, a student was shot in the head. So fell the first student, cunningly shot by police. That student is still alive but in coma; if he survives he will be permanently impaired. The other students tried to escape, and several were arrested. One of them, Julio César Mondragón (20 years, father of a 2 months old baby), was arrested by policemen, witnesses said. The next day, the body of Julio César was lying in the street, with his face flayed and with the eye sockets empty. The image was chilling. That is, paradoxically, the face of violence in the country, senseless violence, full of cruelty and brutality. Worse, that repugnant murder was committed by police or by someone in collusion with them. It was an extrajudicial execution. The other deaths that occurred that night (there were six in total) and the disappearance of the other students are also attributable to policemen. These are, therefore, cases of abuse of authority and enforced disappearance and they should be treated and judged as such

      The tragedy of Iguala can only be explained in a context of impunity and state neglect of its most basic tasks. In this municipality, it was more than obvious the violence that existed in recent months. In March 2013, a PRD local representative (a Síndico), Justino Carvajal, was killed. A month later, Arturo Hernández Cardona, another member of the PRD and leader of the social movement Popular Unity (UP), declared in front of the mayor José Luis Abarca that the crime of Carvajal had been political and he blamed upon the mayor if something were to happen to him or to any member of his group: "the crimes of politicians do not occur as loose crimes, these crimes are authorized by another power, equal or greater, but political too." He added, "if we do not say anything now, we run the risk of being deprived of our life and then you are going to say that it was the same mechanism previously used, that it was the organized crime, and then there is going to be no investigation at all." Weeks after making these accusations, the social leader and several of his colleagues were kidnapped, tortured and killed. A survivor testified in front of a notary that it was the mayor himself who killed the social leader of two gunshots.
       
     The most amazing thing about this situation is the failure of state and national authorities as well as the passivity of the leadership of the PRD, who did not even react against the killing of members of their own party and that were unable to ask for a thorough investigation of what had happened in that municipality. That is why the governor as well as the hegemonic fraction of the PRD are also responsible (at least politically) of the tragedy that took place in Iguala.
 
    At the federal level there are no valid excuses either. The situation in the country has become very complex. Peña Nieto’s agenda was suddenly Calderonized. He can no longer avoid talking about security and violence issues and he cannot keep sweeping the problems under the rug. Extrajudicial executions in Tlatlaya by the Army and the abhorrent acts of Iguala should teach him that not talking about problems is not equivalent to solving them. The President should leave the ostrich policy that has characterized his government on these issues. It is complicated and sad, yes, but that is the reality that must be faced.

Iguala, Responsabilidad del Estado


Mi columna quincenal en El Universal: "Iguala, responsabilidad del Estado".

Tuesday, September 16, 2014

Sunday, August 17, 2014

Sobre los salarios mínimos en México

Mi artículo de esta semana en El Universal: "Salarios mínimos: debate mezquino".

Muchos de los argumentos de mi artículo anticiparon elementos planteados este domingo por Luis Rubio en su columna del diario Reforma: "El salario de Ambrosio".

Wednesday, August 06, 2014

Friday, August 01, 2014

Pemex, la renta y el funeral

Mi columna de esta semana es sobre los pasivos laborales de Pemex y la renta petrolera: "Pemex, la renta y el funeral". 

Como lo digo en el artículo, esta discusión ha estado impregnada de mucho ruido, de muchos prejuicios contra los trabajadores y de mucho uso político de ambos lados. Por lo general, el nivel de la discusión ha sido lamentable.


Saturday, July 26, 2014

Sobre la jornada laboral de Slim

Mi comentario en CNN-Dinero sobre la propuesta-ocurrencia de Carlos Slim de reducir la jornada laboral a 3 días de 11 horas y de alargar el tiempo de jubilación más allá de los 70 años.

Saturday, July 19, 2014

Sunday, July 06, 2014

La obra de Piketty en español




A fin de este año aparecerá la versión en español de la ya famosa obra de Thomas Piketty: "El capital en el siglo XXI", la cual será publicada por el Fondo de Cultura Económica (FCE). Como adelanto de este acontecimiento, hoy se publicó la Gaceta del Fondo de Cultura Económica correspondiente al mes de julio, en la cual se incluye un anticipo de la introducción a la obra, las reseñas de Krugman, Solow y Rodrik, así como un artículo de este su bloguero servidor sobre el posible impacto del libro en el debate público en México. 





Sunday, June 22, 2014

Reformas: Por eso no funcionan

 Mi artículo de esta semana en El Universal: "Reformas: por eso no funcionan" sobre el desaseado proceso legislativo para aprobar las leyes secundarias de la reforma energética y de sus posibles implicaciones en la efectividad de la reforma.