Mexico's strong economy has helped and will continue to help El Paso's
economy, the head of the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas said during a speech in
El Paso on Wednesday.
Dallas Fed Chief Executive Officer Richard Fisher also blamed Congress and the
Obama administration for holding back the nation's economic progress by their
inability to agree on a budget and tax policies.
"Mexico has a significant impact on the fate of the El Paso economy, and this is
fortunate because the Mexican economy is being transformed to a greater degree
than people understand" in other parts of the United States, Fisher told two
packed rooms in the Undergraduate Learning Center at the University of Texas at
El Paso.
Mexico recovered more quickly from the worldwide recession than did the United
States, and its economy grew 3.3 percent last year compared with 1.7 percent in
the United States, Fisher said.
Mexico, which had hyper-inflation in the past, has seen an inflation rate of
less than 3 percent in the past few months, he reported. The peso is holding
steady and the Mexico banking system is growing while the United States banking
system is contracting, he said.
Mexico's Congress is responsibly managing the country's fiscal affairs while the
U.S. Congress "kicks the can down the road," he said.
Mexico's new president, Enrique Pena Nieto, has the nation talking about
possible structural reforms in the country's nationalized energy and
telecommunications sectors, he said.
If Mexico can reform its "woefully underperforming" oil industry, Mexico's
economy will only grow stronger, and again, that will only help El Paso, Fisher
said.
While Mexico has taken steps to improve its economy, Texas has been showing the
rest of the United States how to create jobs and improve prosperity, with a
"highly diversified economy," Fisher said.
In the past 22 years, Texas has outgrown the nation by a factor of 2-to-1 in job
creation, Fisher reported.
"Here's what is holding back economic progress for El Paso and Texas" and the
rest of the nation, Fisher said. A photo of the U.S. Capitol flashed on the
screen behind him.
"Yep, Washington," he said, bringing laughter from the audience.
"The Federal Reserve has provided plenty -- if not too much -- high-octane fuel
in the form of cheap money" for loans "to propel the economy forward," Fisher
said. "Yet Congress and the executive branch cannot agree on a budget. We have
not had one for five years. Nor can they agree on a path forward on taxes" and
ways to incentivize businesses so that jobs can be created, he said.
Fisher also told his audience that they are not completely innocent in the
nation's fiscal debacle.
"Look in the mirror," he said. "You put these people in office."
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(c)2013 the El Paso Times (El Paso, Texas)
Distributed by MCT Information Services
