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El Hoyo de Dinero
 Rob McGregor
It was late 2004 when my wife and I stood in front of a vacant lot in a growing tourist town on Mexico’s west coast. A light breeze off the sea was against our backs, unbroken by the chain of beachside hotels across the street. In front of us was a golf course, dotted with palm trees, gently swaying. Next door was a half-finished two-story home being constructed laboriously with thick walls of ladrillo – the soft red brick of old Mexico – painstaking laid course by course by underpaid shirtless young men.   [view full item]
  
Realizing the Dream... Making the Move
 Ricky Arce
So, two weeks of timeshare just wasn't enough, and even the two months in a rental left you lusting for more. Puerto Vallarta can get to you that way, and then the only thing to do is move here - trade the house up north for one with a view of the sea framed by scarlet bougainvillea! But before you embark on your idyllic new life by the bay, there are some details to consider.    [view full item]
  
Business Costs and Compliance
 Ernie Osmond
It's remarkable that anyone owns a business at all. You figure a well-run business will net 10% of sales so to earn $100,000 you have to sell $1M worth of stuff!   [view full item]
  
"No Blood For Oil" Still Makes No Sense
 Rob McGregor
I never gave the No Blood For Oil slogan much credence when it was confined to the extremes of the internet and screaming adolescent web blogs. However, when Alan Greenspan wrote one short sentence linking oil to the Iraq war in his just-published biographical book The Age of Turbulence, the press was all over it. Chris Matthews, a vocal and consistent Bush critic, seized on it as the rhetorical question on his show: Was the Iraq War all about oil? If Alan Greenspan said so, then there must be something to the accusation.   [view full item]
  
How American Women Are Seen in Ecuador
 Leah Fisher
We asked Maria how Ecuadorian women perceive North American women. Her response was a textured, delightful and astute description   [view full item]
  
A Brown Man's Praise of American Culture
 Navin Kadaba
My parents taught me all about the Hindu religion and many other traditions. But I learned that the color of our skin doesn’t shape who we are, it only gives us an indication as to who our ancestors were. In the end, we were all part of American culture. However, I learned the hard way that some people didn’t quite see it in the same way.   [view full item]
  
Freedom and Wealth Inseparable
 Diane Raub
The simple truth is that no limited number of people can keep track of all of the intricate demands of the market at one time. Consumer demands are constantly and quickly changing, for reasons that no one fully understands. Yet no one has to, if the government lets the market run freely.   [view full item]
  
The Revolution of 1800 and the USA Patriot Act
 William Watkins
In this election year, there are significant parallels between the USA PATRIOT Act of 2001 and the Alien and Sedition Acts of 1798. Enacted in the aftermath of the September 11th attacks, the PATRIOT Act has augmented the power of federal authorities to pry into the affairs of innocent Americans.   [view full item]
  
Popular Intellectuals and Popular Myths: a Response to Noam Chomsky
 Rob McGregor
One popular intellectual writes that poverty in the developing world is the result of US exploitation. Actually, poverty in the developing world has many causes, most of which are internal: authoritarian government, state manipulation of the economy for the benefit of privileged groups, an under-educated workforce, and overpopulation… to name a few.   [view full item]
  
Why I Am Going to Quebec
 Grahame Russell
Until discussion about the global order honestly addresses the environmental destruction, poverty and accompanying repression, and until serious changes are implemented, then more and more people are going to travel to Quebec City, Seattle, Prague, Washington, Davos, etc, to protest how our global political and economic systems work.   [view full item]
  
The Government of St. Peter and St. Paul
 Juan Carlos Morales Mejía
Religious processions in Ecuador are prodigious events. In the province of Manabí, on the Pacific coast of Ecuador, there is one such festival that is unique. It is the procession of San Pedro and San Pablo’s Government. It is a celebration of the faithful who have commended themselves to these two saints so the saints will protect them. The first from drought, and second from snakes.   [view full item]