Mexico's economy gets slammed by flu epidemic
Political Science Professor James Hollifield, director of the John G. Tower Center for Political Studies in SMU's Dedman College, talks about the tight connection between Texas and Mexico in a story about the flu's impact on Mexico's economy.
By Carolyn Lochhead
Chronicle Washington Bureau
WASHINGTON — The potentially deadly H1N1 flu virus is delivering a harsh blow to a Mexican economy and millions of poor workers already crushed by an economic contagion from the United States.
The paradox of Mexico's plight is that its government has been doing everything by the book, from exemplary economic policy to cracking down on drug cartels to reacting quickly and vigorously to the first clusters of flu cases. . .
The United States and Mexico are becoming more tightly bound. Some experts now believe the flu may actually have originated in California's border region. In Texas, Dallas is closing schools.
"Texas is certainly not an island," said James Hollifield, director of the Tower Center for Political Studies at Southern Methodist University in Dallas. "We share a huge border with Mexico. If anything, this demonstrates how much as countries we're joined at the hip. We have to work together on health issues, migration issues, development issues, border issues, drug issues. We're in this together."
# # #