One Journalist’s View

By Linda Ellerbee


Sometimes I’ve been called a maverick because I don’t always agree
with my colleagues, but then, only dead fish swim with the stream all
the time. The stream here is Mexico .

You would have to be living on another planet to avoid hearing how
dangerous Mexico has become, and, yes, it’s true drug wars have
escalated violence in Mexico , causing collateral damage, a phrase I
hate. Collateral damage is a cheap way of saying that innocent people,
some of them tourists, have been robbed, hurt or killed.

But that’s not the whole story. Neither is this. This is my story.

I’m a journalist who lives in New York City , but has spent
considerable time in Mexico , specifically Puerto Vallarta , for the
last four years. I’m in Vallarta now. And despite what I’m getting
from the U.S. media, the 24-hour news networks in particular, I feel
as safe here as I do at home in New York , possibly safer. I walk the
streets of my Vallarta neighborhood alone day or night. And I don’t
live in a gated community, or any other All-Gringo neighborhood. I
live in Mexico . Among Mexicans. I go where I want (which does not
happen to include bars where prostitution and drugs are the basic
products), and take no more precautions than I would at home in New
York; which is to say I don’t wave money around, I don’t act the Ugly
American, I do keep my eyes open, I’m aware of my surroundings, and I
try not to behave like a fool.

I’ve not always been successful at that last one. One evening a friend
left the house I was renting in Vallarta at that time, and,
unbeknownst to me, did not slam the automatically-locking door on her
way out. Sure enough, less than an hour later a stranger did come into
my house. A burglar? Robber? Kidnapper? Killer? Drug lord?

No, it was a local police officer, the “beat cop” for our
neighborhood, who, on seeing my unlatched door, entered to make sure
everything (including me) was okay. He insisted on walking with me
around the house, opening closets, looking behind doors and, yes, even
under beds, to be certain no one else had wandered in, and that
nothing was missing. He was polite, smart and kind, but before he
left, he lectured me on having not checked to see that my friend had
locked the door behind her. In other words, he told me to use my
common sense.

Do bad things happen here? Of course they do. Bad things happen
everywhere, but the murder rate here is much lower than, say, New
Orleans, and if there are bars on many of the ground floor windows of
houses here, well, the same is true where I live, in Greenwich
Village, which is considered a swell neighborhood — house prices start
at about $4 million (including the bars on the ground floor windows).

There are good reasons thousands of people from the United States are
moving to Mexico every month, and it’s not just the lower cost of
living, a hefty tax break and less snow to shovel. Mexico is a
beautiful country, a special place. The climate varies, but is
plentifully mild, the culture is ancient and revered, the young are
loved unconditionally, the old are respected, and I have yet to hear
anyone mention Britney Spears, Lindsay Lohan, or Madonna’s attempt to
adopt a second African child, even though, with such a late start, she
cannot possibly begin to keep up with Anglelina Jolie.

And then there are the people. Generalization is risky, but— in
general — Mexicans are warm, friendly, generous and welcoming. If you
smile at them, they smile back. If you greet a passing stranger on the
street, they greet you back. If you try to speak even a little
Spanish, they tend to treat you as though you were fluent. Or at least
not an idiot. I have had taxi drivers track me down after leaving my
wallet or cell phone in their cab. I have had someone run out of a
store to catch me because I have overpaid by twenty cents. I have been
introduced to and come to love a people who celebrate a day dedicated
to the dead as a recognition of the cycles of birth and death and
birth — and the 15th birthday of a girl, an important rite in becoming
a woman — with the same joy.

Too much of the noise you’re hearing about how dangerous it is to come
to Mexico is just that — noise. But the media love noise, and too many
journalists currently making it don’t live here. Some have never even
been here. They just like to be photographed at night, standing near a
spotlighted border crossing, pointing across the line to some
imaginary country from hell. It looks good on TV.

Another thing. The U.S. media tend to lump all of Mexico into one big
bad bowl. Talking about drug violence in Mexico without naming a state
or city where this is taking place is rather like looking at the
horror of Katrina and saying, “Damn. Did you know the U.S. is under
water?” or reporting on the shootings at Columbine or the bombing of
the Federal building in Oklahoma City by saying that kids all over the
U.S. are shooting their classmates and all the grownups are blowing up
buildings. The recent rise in violence in Mexico has mostly occurred
in a few states, and especially along the border. It is real, but it
does not describe an entire country.

It would be nice if we could put what’s going on in Mexico in
perspective, geographically and emotionally. It would be nice if we
could remember that, as has been noted more than once, these drug wars
wouldn’t be going on if people in the United States didn’t want the
drugs, or if other people in the United States weren’t selling Mexican
drug lords the guns. Most of all, it would be nice if more people in
the United States actually came to this part of America ( Mexico is
also America , you will recall) to see for themselves what a fine
place Mexico really is, and how good a vacation (or a life) here can
be.

So come on down and get to know your southern neighbors. I think
you’ll like it here. Especially the people.


www.bajainvestment.com

The Oldest Boomers Are More Set for Retirement Than Thought

by Robert Powell Friday, January 11, 2008provided by


Breathe a sigh of relief. The nation's leading-edge baby boomers -- about 3 million strong -- are turning 62 this year and, contrary to popular opinion, they are not in desperate straits.
In fact, Americans born in 1946 are in relatively good financial shape and seemingly entirely different from other boomers. Maybe that's because only 2% of them report that they attended Woodstock.
Consider, for instance, some highlights from MetLife's Mature Market Institute just-released study of boomers turning 62. The majority are in good health; 77% report being in good to excellent health. They have relatively good income, $71,400, which is a tad more than the average household income in America.

They have a decent net worth; $550,000 including the value of their homes. (The average retiree, by the way, has just about $254,000, excluding the net present value of Social Security, in net worth, according to a Boston College Center for Retirement Research study.)
Nearly half have a traditional pension plan, 50% have a 401(k) and 50% have an IRA. Nearly 70% have employee or retiree health insurance. And about a third have long-term-care insurance.
But what's especially telling about this group's financial health is this: While roughly 80% of Americans take Social Security at age 62, this group -- which includes such well -known Americans as Jimmy Buffet, President George W. Bush, former President Clinton, Sally Field and Diane Keaton -- will not. Just one-third said they plan to take Social Security when they turn 62; the rest plan to take Social Security at age 65 or later.
In the past, those who took Social Security early did so for health reasons. (At least one study has established a correlation between a person having a high body mass index and taking Social Security early.) But the leading-edge of boomers will take Social Security early for different reasons.
"They feel they're entitled and would rather have the money than let the government have it," according to MetLife's study. Those who will take the payouts now said they fear there will be nothing left in the Social Security system if they wait.
Lots of positives at 62
But even though the majority of leading-edge boomers don't plan to take Social Security early, they do say the best things about being 62 are "retirement" and "not having to work." When asked to use one word to explain the best aspect of being 62, those surveyed also answered: being alive, freedom, health, Social Security, wisdom and independence. "As one person put it, 'I'm glad to be on the planet, rather than in it,'" the survey said.
As for the worst aspects of being age 62, those surveyed answered: illness, disability, wrinkles, aches and pains, discrimination, underappreciation, memory loss, mortality and generally getting older.
The leading-edge boomers also seem different from other boomers in other ways. For instance, they have lots of grandchildren upon which to dote. Nearly eight in 10 have grandchildren. In addition, Republican presidential candidates should take note of this: Conservatives outnumber liberals by 2-1.
Health and beauty and fitness industries should take note of this: Most of these leading-edge boomers don' t think they will be old until they are 78, unless of course they are in good health, in which case old is 83. And the builders of retirement communities should take note of this: One in four say they plan to move to another area for retirement. By contrast, other studies suggest that nine in 10 elders want to age in place.
To be sure, this may be as good as it gets for baby boomers. After this, surveys will likely find that fewer and fewer boomers have traditional pension plans, fewer and fewer boomers will have retiree health care and fewer and fewer may be as secure in retirement. But for 62-year-olds, Camelot may have arrived.