7 Color Lagoon

There are bad things in Mexico.  And elsewhere.  There is cruelty, violence and injustice afoot in the world.  Yet my cousin sent me a link to this wonderful, short film on YouTube that begs to be watched for its’ 4.5 minutes.  It is about compassion or advertising and it is Mexican unless it is partly American-made, partly financed by the National Film Board of Canada that has brought so many fine films to the world over the years.  I think it is finely-made, following the best example of the primary order of the world: less is more.

Pay homage to a Mexican talent in this award-winning short film:

Fourth annual Short Film Online Competition - Cannes 2008. The NFB, in association with the Cannes Short Film Corner and partner YouTube, is proud to announce that the winner of the NFB Online Competition Cannes 2008 is Alonso Alvarez Barreda for his short film Historia de un Letrero (The Story of a Sign) produced in Mexico/U.S.A.

The short film

Director : Alonso Alvarez Barreda
Running Time : 04:50
Year : 2007
Country : Mexico/ U.S.A
Category : Short film

With a stroke of the pen, a stranger transforms the afternoon for another man in this emotionally stirring short film by Alonso Alvarez.

Enjoy:

Historia de un Letrero/ The Story of a Sign (or sign-writer).

As I begin to think about a move to Mèrida or, at the least, some trips to visit again; I am interested in the phenomena of “medical tourism” that has moved beyond fringe activity into mainstream alternatives.

It is understandable in the world - such as America - where insurance policies cost $5000 a year and more for one person, unbelievably large amounts for couples and families.  My policy that finally needed to be dropped was over $5000 with a $10,000 deductible.  It is a fine company, Equitable, that always paid as much as they were supposed to or more and paid out hundreds of thousands of dollars over the years of by-passes, emergency surgeries and pacing devices.  But that is the problem that is destroying lives in the States where government has resisted more civilized health care for its citizens.  The costs of care have been driven up to astronomical and inhuman levels.

Medical care no longer costs a lot by normal standards.  It is now obviously based on play money since people do not, cannot have the astronomical sums that are used in the medical world.  That is only counting mainstream medicine.  Cosmetic surgeries, dentistry, alternative (non-reimbursable) techniques are seldom covered.  Dentistry comes to mind first since it is necessary but unaffordable in the US.  A visitor recently told me of the implants and dentures he needed in the States and the $48,000 estimate for the cost.  That would buy the Mexican dentist a pleasant house in many places.

Mèrida, for one, is gearing itself toward the medical tourism boom that is expected.  The economic downturn in the US, recession and the fear of the financial future will help as people flee the US for more affordable havens.

In my case I am looking for a place that has First World standards and Third World prices.  One of the alternatives for dentistry and other procedures is Mexico.

Living here I already have a dentist — actually a periodontist who does everything for me except the recent root canal when he sent me to another specialist.  He was quite painless, clean and professional with a charge of around $US120 for the root canal.  I seem to remember 10 years ago in upstate NY the same job was around $800.

There is finally a website guide to medical tourism called Pangea Medicine that acts as an online medical travel directory to help people find quality care outside the US.  Most of their Mexican referrals are similarly to dentists, often in the areas easily accessible to the West Coast but, by now, all the world is accessible by plane.  One dentist mentioned in Baja California is an American with a bi-lingual staff and photos of an amazingly modern and clean facility. Just to remind me how backward Chetumal is medically.  There are drawbacks to living on the edge of the jungle in a border area.

Another dental destination is Costa Rica which is highlighted on the Pangea Medicine site with a clinic in a town 15 minutes from San Josè which is described as:
Our specialized dental clinic includes dentist, doctors of dental surgery (DDS), orthodontics, pediatric dentistry, endodontics, periodontics, and aesthetic surgery all in one place. Along with these specialized dentistry services we also staff professional dental hygienists which help patients with Dental Clinic Prevention Programs. Our dentist and staff come from well known national / international universities and have been hand picked to provide patients with the best dentistry in this country. Dentist appointments are scheduled within travel packages for a nice and relaxing recovery. Get a dental solution, transportation, day tours and visit amazing places all at the same time. Take advantage of high quality dental services for much less than the United States cost. Make the most of your money and time off by touring amazing beaches and rainforests with Costa Rica dental tourism plans.

If you don’t already live here, it sounds great to me.  Costa Rica is said to be beautiful, democratic and peaceful.  The visiting American I mentioned had described a friend who had great luck with dentistry in Costa Rica.

Because health care costs have become so absurdly high in the US and,  the HMO alternative so unusable; the idea of combining tours to interesting and beautiful places while saving the cost of the trip is, indeed, a viable alternative for those who like to travel.

“A dentist with silver forceps and a necklace of large teeth, extracting the tooth of a seated man.”  Medieval print courtesy of commons.wikipedia.com.

Photo © Howard Dratch.

It has been nearly a month since I have posted.  My other blogs are languishing while I try to survive in my own changed environment, changed circumstances and interests.  However, I miss writing even if only a little.

The plan is to continue this blog, 7 Color Lagoon, with changes.  It is less about travel and living as an expatriate as it will be about global economics, photography, economic news and whatever happens to catch my eye and interest.  Links will slowly be checked and redone and the ads and Amazon store re-arranged to reflect the new subject matter.  Please support the advertisers as it helps continue the blog.

Here is a current (5/16) report from Canal Once, the Mexican news and TV network from the Polytechnic Institute in the capital city.  The 5th annual meeting of leaders of the Latin American states is being held in Lima, Peru under guard by 9000 police.  A major issue being discussed is global food supplies in light of diversions to biofuels, poverty and climatic changes.

This is an excerpt from Canal Once in Spanish,

Sumida en la pobreza sobrevive una tercera parte de la población de América Latina, son 220 millones de personas que carecen de lo indispensable. A este sector se dirigieron los trabajos de la Quinta Cumbre de Jefes de Estado de Latinoamérica, el Caribe y la Unión Europea en Lima, Perú, a la que acudieron 45 gobernantes.

Desarrollo sustentable, cambio climático y energía fueron otros de los temas principales. Se llegó a un acuerdo para analizar un posible gravamen al consumo de petróleo y gas licuado a fin de conseguir fondos que serían destinados a mejorar el medio ambiente.

The Lima meeting is concentrating on the poverty that continues to affect one-third or the Latin American population — 220 million people.  President Garcia opened remarks with the declaration that hundreds of millions of people are threatened with hunger in the midst of abundance.  The European Union is the primary donor in  humanitarian aid.

Garcia warned of the consequences of eyes closed against the food crisis and proposed increasing by 2% world agricultural production.  The Spanish president, Josè Luis Rodriquez Zapatero, lamented the impact of biofuel production on  rising food prices.  Besides Hugo Chavez, Venezuelan president, trying to turn the meeting to the political crises between his country and Columbia; the major themes were sustainable development, climate change, energy needs and funds to improve the environment.

The food crisis is not just a Market manipulation.  It may well be partly a result of what Robert Heilbroner called a “revolution of rising expectations”.  Like global warming that revolution gathered momentum slowly and is now breaking out in a rapidly ascending line.  People want things they didn’t have before nor even thought to have.  More meat in their diet (healthy or not), regular meals, cell phones, national infrastructure, TV, education, credit and consumer goods, etc.  The revolution has been won in that the world is more and more demanding that its expectations be met.  Providing those expectations may strain resources on an over-crowded planet and change the political face of many parts of the world.

Photo © Howard Dratch, 2008.  Pasta & tofu.

The world may not be waiting for this heart-healthy dish of tofu, nopal cactus, chaya leaf and zucchini but it is tired of waiting for 2 or 3 meals a day.  Now that everyone - almost - watches TV they are aware that the world has plenty of food and toys and they want a piece of the action, a slice of the pie.

Photo © Howard Dratch, 2007.

Fears of Food Shortages Rise

Rice stirs fears as the prices mounted ever higher and poorer populations rioted in anxiety over the coming famine. In the US some hysteria seems to have hit as people began hoarding rice from major groceries. The Bush people said “We have plenty of food in the U.S.” (U.S. Secretary of the Treasury Paulson reported to Reuters). He predicted food prices to rise but that the rise will be less “significant” that the rise in gas prices.

Rice has jumped to $1000 a ton which is said to be 3 times what it cost at the beginning of ‘08. Thoughts of social unrest in Asia are mounting with the cost of their staple. Africa and Haiti have seen riots as well. Here in Mexico where rice is a home-grown commodity (not that I wouldn’t like some Jasmine or Basmati before the cost the same as gas) there appears no shortage and prices remain relatively even.

“In Bangkok, some traders said Thai 100-percent B grade white rice, the world’s benchmark, could hit $1,300 a ton on demand from the number-one importer, Philippines.”

Read the CNBC report from Reuters HERE.

Look down just beneath that big ole state where Mr. President lives.  It is The United States of Mexico and it is emerging, showing signs of growth and, perhaps, even some independence from the domination of the dollar.

Not that pesos will soon become an internationally sought after currency.

Investors are watching CX, Telmex and AMX.

But my favorite tequila for the price is partly made so fine by its great label.  The fresh-faced cactus-fed all-Mexican beauty from the days of courtly Mexico.

Photo © Howard Dratch, 2008

Yahoo today reported on a newly proven link between male sexual hormone levels (testosterone strikes again) and market risk taking and success in financial markets.  This British study from Cambridge shows that elevated levels of testosterone in male traders boosts aggressivity and risk-taking and often supports success in the market.

Photo © Howard Dratch, 2006.

However, a continued hormonal rush finally backfires causing irrational risk-taking and behaviors that eventually compromise the success factor.  Those men with high testosterone in the mornings were “more likely” to make a financial gain during the day.

The second hormone involved — cortisol — is considered linked to “uncertainty, novelty and unpredictability” which, the researchers pointed out was “pretty much” what traders needed to be.

One comment was that the markets needed more women and old men to temper the excesses and irrationality of the financial alpha males.

The conclusions of the researchers were that:

“Cortisol is likely, therefore, to rise in a market crash and, by increasing risk aversion, to exaggerate the market’s downward movement. Testosterone, on the other hand, is likely to rise in a bubble and, by increasing risk taking, to exaggerate the market’s upward movement.”

And that, Coates and Herbert wrote, “may help explain why people caught in bubbles and crashes often find it difficult to make rational choices.”

Financial markets and expectations have spent months in turgidity.

As spring begins they have become turbid.

1 a: thick or opaque with or as if with roiled sediment <a turbid stream> b: heavy with smoke or mist2 a: deficient in clarity or purity : foul, muddy <turbid depths of degradation and misery — C. I. Glicksberg> b: characterized by or producing obscurity (as of mind or emotions) <an emotionally turbid response>

It was a fascinating day in the financial markets today.  Chicken Little made an appearance again to speak on the possibility that the sky may fall.  Or not.  The bankers spoke of this and that and were smiled upon by the man from the Fed who knows Mr. Little and seems a little fearful of his powers.  With some luck the sky could stay above the fray.

Just to remind us all of the reasons for the present turbidity I post this picture again:

Photo ©Howard Dratch, 2007.  (Credit to photographer and link to www.7colorlagoon.com/blog1)

The NY Times reported today in their World Business section about the future for commodities — the things we must consume. Wheat, corn, soy beans, mustard seeds with the other staples of life are rising in price, in demand and in scarcity.

There have been droughts and failed harvests here and there but the major culprit is demand. Global demand. Rising demand. Desperate demand. It is Dr. Heilbroner’s famous “revolution of rising expectations”. The world is growing richer and growing more aware from the dissemination of technology. The Times reports on a Nigerian man’s hunger for bread and tea for his breakfast, Italians want pasta as do the people of other cultures. The Chinese want rice and noodles and the port to flavor it. Americans want everything that can fit in a super-sized market the size of a city block. And they want ethanol for their cars along with corn on the cob for dinner, corn to feed the cattle and whatever proportion of real food is put into fast food.

Where once the then primitive populations who are now referred to as “emerging” wanted enough of their historic staples to survive; they want enough food to enjoy their lives, different foods and even America’s deadly exports of fast food. Here in Chetumal, Mexico on the edge of the jungle in a region just recently emerging from jungle poverty, we now have a McDonalds, Burger King, a few Dominoes and a Sam’s Club. Money is being made and people want that which was denied and that which, a few years ago, was not available here. Ten years ago when I came here it was hard to find olive oil let alone extra-virgen. There was aceite comestible (edible oil) or manteca de cerdo (pig fat) for cooking. Now the supermarket stocks 6-12 brands of olive oil and even oregano oil, pasta from Mexico, Italy, Spain and France, soy sauce from China and Asian noodles.

For farmers it is obviously a gusher or profits as they try to decide how to allocate their seemingly scarce acres to the most profitable crops. Investors vie to move money from stock equities into commodities and commodity-driven stocks.

There is more to the story than just the growing affluence and power of farmers and agri-businesses. There is more than the soaring profits of farm machinery and of agricultural chemicals.

Perhaps most important to the world (rather than just the investment community) is that revolution which is gaining momentum. Watch all the cooking channels and vlogs on cooking. China’s billion people continue to want rice and noodles, pigs and chickens, chiles and spices. They want more of the same and maybe a hamburger now and again. I would not be surprised that many pine for pine nuts to put in the pesto, black olives from Greece and truffles from France.

The most cogent comment in the excellent Times article is “Everyone wants to eat like an American on this globe,” said Daniel W. Basse of the AgResource Company, a Chicago consultancy. “But if they do, we’re going to need another two or three globes to grow it all.”

The next factor has been the demand for foodstuffs to be used for non-feeding of the world’s population — obese or hungry. Ethanol is a case in point. All that corn being used to power vehicles is hard to believe while living in a society that calls itself “the people of the corn”. When the Maya had nearly vanquished the Mexican/Spanish population from Yucatan during the Caste Wars in 1848-49 (which continued into the early 20th c.); the corn god announced the time for planting and the uprising failed when they all went back to their milpas to plant corn, beans and chiles.

Eating seems to be a basic desire that transcends even trade. It is doubtful that it will lose its importance in the near term. The revolution of rising expectations has raised the minimum in most places from bare survival to a full plate and the hope of another meal in the near future. The desire will not diminish but the supply could fall under the onslaught of demand.

For investors it could mean commodities and commodity-based equities will be a place to hide from the avalanche of bad news. It is probably a trend that will continue. But farmers learned long ago that the gods of agriculture are strong and fickle. For now the producers of foods (ADM, CAG, SJM and others), the purveyors of fast foods, convenience foods and the new staples (KO, YUM, KFT, HRL,DM, PAS, MCD) and the agri-chemical and agri-businesses are swinging the weight of rising food prices around.

When you go home the market realm will give way to the new prices for bread, pasta, milk, eggs. Buen provecho!

Photo ©Howard Dratch, 2008. Lunch buffet in a country club in the land of plenty.

Photo ©Howard Dratch. Market vendor in the state of San Luis Potosì.

The Times ran an interesting piece on another form of solar energy for the coming fossil fuel crisis — solar thermal power. Mirror farms focus desert sunlight onto pipes or towers that contain a liquid. The heated liquid powers a generator to produce electricity. Not new and not without its own dangers; but fascinating.

Check out their story about “Turning Glare Into Watts”.