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Gringos turn tide crossing border
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| Parent(s) |
Issue
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| Contributor | RP |
| Last Edited | RP Oct 17, 2006 10:04pm |
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| Category | Analysis |
| Media | Newspaper - San Francisco Chronicle |
| News Date | Monday, October 16, 2006 04:00:00 AM UTC0:0 |
| Description | What few people -- at least, outside of Mexico -- have bothered to notice is that while all the nannies, cooks and maids have been heading north to tend the luxury lifestyles of irate Republicans, the gringo hordes have been rushing south to enjoy glorious budget retirements and affordable second homes under the Mexican sun.
Yes, in former California Gov. Pete Wilson's immortal words, "They just keep coming." Over the past decade, the State Department estimates that the number of Americans living in Mexico has soared from 200,000 to 1 million (or one-quarter of all U.S. expatriates). Remittances from the United States to Mexico have risen dramatically, from $9 billion to $14.5 billion in just two years. Although initially interpreted as representing a huge increase in illegal workers (who send parts of their salaries across the border to family), it turns out to be mainly money sent by Americans to themselves to finance Mexican homes and retirements.
The extraordinary rise in U.S. sunbelt property values gives gringos immense economic leverage. Shrewd Baby Boomers are not simply feathering nests for eventual retirement, but also increasingly speculating in Mexican resort property, sending up property values to the detriment of locals whose children are consequently driven into slums or forced to emigrate north, increasing the "invasion" charges. As in Galway, Corsica, or, for that matter, Montaña, the global second-home boom is making life in beautiful, natural settings unaffordable for their traditional residents.
Many wealthy Southern Californians evidently see no contradiction between fuming over the "alien invasion" with one's conservative friends at the Newport Marina one day and flying down to Cabo the next for some sea-kayaking or celebrity golf. |
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