Monday, November 21, 2011

Mexican business warms to AMLO

On the one hand, the Consejo Coordinador Empresarial (CCE), the major business council in Mexico, and its president Mario Sánchez Ruiz declared that AMLO is not a "danger" to private investment and business in Mexico - quite a different tone from 2006.

On the other La Jornada has a very interesting article based on interviews with former PAN and PRI-backing businessmen who are now pro AMLO. Anecdotal, yes, and impossible to know how representative, but I found it interesting to hear their narrative, how they have grown disillusioned with the free-market model in Mexico -or perhaps, the poorly functioning free market model. Perhaps they have come to realize that a leftwing government, with an obligatory reference to Lula, may actually not be damaging to growth, but rather quite the contrary?

The tithe is alive and well at the Universal Church of the Kingdom of God

La Jornada has gone "undercover" in an investigation of what in Mexico is known as the Iglesia Universal del Reino de Dios, or the Universal Church of the Kingdom of God. Of Brazilian origin and of the theology of prosperity, the UCKG probably ranks around 13 million members world wide, and is absolutely and stunningly filthy rich, and under investigation for fraud and tax evasion in multiple countries.

The article is well worth a read. The manners in which the UCKG is trying to extract a tithe - yes, the tithe, or the 10-percent-of-all-your-income tax, from its congregation is simply stunning in its cynicism. Read for yourself.

What charlatans.