Interesting Stories from the Past Week

Three guys were arrested for spying on the family of Genaro García Luna, the federal director of public security. I can't think of too many jobs that would be more anxiety-inducing, both in terms of the potential harm to your family and the microscope under which you constantly labor, than García Luna's.

Calderón announced that in the first four months of this year, nearly 382,000 new jobs were created. Before you prorate that out to determine annual job creation, much of that is just bounce-back from last year that will not be repeated. Along those lines, Labor Secretary Javier Lozano says that by 2012, the Mexican economy will be generating 800,000 new jobs per year. Judging by the Calderón government's recent prognosticatory performance, that is likely an optimistic estimate, and it's still well short of the 1 million needed each year. Although predicting job growth years down the line is a tricky business, so it's possible that, despite the tendency to exaggerate good news, they are underestimating the number.

Moody's (not to mention Mexico) is worried about Pemex's high tax burden and the importance on the fluctuations of oil prices to the health of the company at any given time.

Cuernavaca is one of the most popular places in the world for Spanish immersion programs, but no one wants to go there anymore because of the recent surge in violence in the town.