1 ---- The relevance of this policy is evident when Sheinbaum, in her
campaign, maintained that she would like to be defined as the "presidentof shared prosperity" (Sheinbaum, 2024a). Likewise, as president-elect
she stated before the International Monetary Conference that shared
prosperity will be "the central axis" of her government (Sheinbaum,
2024b). ---- The concept of shared prosperity is not new and has been
used by various international financial organizations, notably the World
Bank, for more than a decade. Sheinbaum takes up this term and
incorporates it into the project of her next government.
The World Bank argues that shared prosperity "contains two key
elements, economic growth and equity, and will seek to boost the income
of the poorest 40% of a country" (World Bank, 2013). This does not mean
reducing inequality by redistributing wealth. By increasing the income
of the poor, "we are not suggesting that countries redistribute an
'economic pie' of a certain size, or take from the rich to give to the
poor." The financial institution adds: "Rather, we are saying that if a
country can increase the size of its pie and, at the same time, share it
in ways that increase the income of the poorest 40% of its population,
then it is moving towards shared prosperity."
A country must increase the size of the "economic pie" and,
at the same time, share it so that "the income of the poorest population
increases." However, in market economies, it is the workers in the land,
industries and services who, with their daily work, increase the size of
the "economic pie." Likewise, the World Bank does not expect the rich to
distribute part of their wealth among the needy. Consequently, it is up
to the workers to generate economic growth and prosperity, so that this
increased pie can be shared and the income of the poor can improve.
In short, it is about generating greater economic surpluses
that increase the size of the "economic pie," which will be shared to
increase the income of the most needy population. Where will the
increased economic surpluses come from? As always, they will originate
from the exploitation of other people's labor, the plundering of common
goods, financial speculation and the various rents generated by the
monopoly of activities and knowledge. The socioeconomic content of
shared prosperity is that of contemporary capitalism, even if it
manifests itself as a good-natured Samaritan capitalism that shares a
portion of the increased "economic pie" with the poor. Indeed, shared
prosperity is a new disguise for the capitalist hydra.
II
Now, Claudia Sheinbaum asks herself: "What is our vision of shared
prosperity?" And she answers as follows: "Well, Mexico has great
development potential for several reasons: one, obviously, because of
the economic, political and social strength of our country, but also
because of the phenomenon of the relocation of companies." These
companies, especially the American ones, would generate "value chains
with national companies and that we generate well-being and
sustainability." (Sheinbaum, 2024c).
The president-elect continued: "To make Mexico a country
with shared prosperity, which were the words I always used. There cannot
be prosperity if only some prosper, there must be prosperity for
everyone and particularly for those who have the least. Economic
development must be inclusive development, with well-being, not only
economic growth or foreign direct investment, but there must be shared
development."
However, in our country, wealth, income and prosperity are monopolized
by the economic oligarchy and its business groups. In fact, the
prosperity of the ultra-rich registered favorable growth. According to
Forbes Mexico, the fortune of the ten richest people in the country went
from 121.7 billion dollars (mdd) in 2018 to 176.8 billion dollars in
2024, which is equivalent to a growth of 45.2% (Forbes, 2024). According
to these results, the government of Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO)
has been a "golden six-year period" for the increase in wealth of the
mega-rich, who have done very well, as the president himself has stated.
Likewise, the "ultra-rich hide more than 200 billion dollars abroad
(about 3.6 billion pesos ), equivalent to 15 percent of the country's
gross domestic product (GDP)" (Editorial, 2024). The billionaires,
businessmen who have wealth exceeding one billion dollars, are between
20 and 30 people in Mexico. "The concentration of wealth in these
individuals is so savage that only 14 of them own 8 percent of the GDP."
Eleven of these billionaires have benefited from the privatization of
public companies, the dispossession of common and national assets, as
well as from concessions and permits. Additionally, in the last four
decades, "the fortunes of the ultra-rich grew at a rate of 7 percent
annually, while in the same period the economy as a whole only increased
0.5 percent per year."
According to the World Bank, approximately 95% of the 50
largest private companies in the country are owned by the richest
families and earn revenues equivalent to a quarter of GDP (Villanueva,
2024). When considering the physical assets of corporations, 93% of
these are owned by 10% of them, which allows them to control various
economic sectors and their corresponding markets (Oxfam, 2024). The same
phenomenon is reproduced in the financial system: multiple banks have
obtained real annual increases in their net profits, discounting the
income tax, of 6% in real terms, equivalent to 273 thousand 314 billion
pesos in 2023. 82% of these profits are "concentrated in only seven of
the 49 multiple banking organizations" (Rojas, 2024).
On the other hand, the richest 10% of the population earned
57% of the total national income and owned 78.7% of the country's wealth
in 2021. The billionaire 1%, the ultra-rich, concentrated 26.1% of the
income and monopolized 46.9% of the wealth. In contrast, the poorest 50%
of the population earned 9% of the national income and had -0.2% of the
wealth, that is, they lacked wealth and had more debts than assets
(Chancel, 2022: 207-208). This makes Mexico one of the most unequal
countries in the world.
During AMLO's government, foreign direct investment (FDI)
registered a comparatively greater growth compared to previous six-year
terms, placing Mexico among the 10 countries that attract the most
foreign investment. Likewise, as four decades ago, FDI is mainly
oriented to the manufacturing-export sector (automotive, aerospace,
medical devices, etc.), a specialized manufacturing sector with a high
capital composition. Nearshoring fits into this trend, with its specific
technological and organizational characteristics, as well as developing
in a specific global geopolitical situation.
According to the president-elect, one of the factors to
increase economic growth and, with it, prosperity is the relocation of
foreign companies. Now, the specialized manufacturing companies that
have been established in Mexico and those that will relocate soon seek
to take advantage of the various advantages that the country offers,
including the existence of a young, cheap and specialized labor force,
which allows them to exploit the great human mine of hundreds of
thousands of workers who work in these transnationals. In effect, the
Mexican labor force is subjected to overexploitation that generates
enormous economic profits for the companies. Certainly, the salaries
paid by these companies are higher than the national average and, also,
it is worth keeping in mind that the minimum wage registered an increase
of 117% in real terms, between 2018 and 2024. However, despite this
increase, Mexico is the country with the lowest minimum wage among the
nations that make up the OECD (Orozco, 2024). Likewise, Mexico was
ranked 50th in the world ranking of minimum wages in 2023, despite
having risen 31 positions from 81st place in 2020. A similar favorable
change was registered in Latin America, moving from 16th to 7th place,
with an average monthly salary of 321 dollars. However, this was still
lower than the salary in Uruguay (615 dollars), Costa Rica (554),
Ecuador (425), Chile (385), Guatemala (384) and Belize (322).
(Secretariat of Labor and Social Welfare, 2022).
It should also be noted that transnational corporations,
specifically manufacturing-exporting corporations, are the most
productive in Mexico, since they operate with cutting-edge technology.
Therefore, transnational corporations pay lower wages to Mexican
workers, compared to other OECD countries, and have high productivity,
which allows them to overexploit the Mexican workforce and obtain
extraordinary profits.
The improvement of the working conditions and salaries of workers has
not affected the increase in the fortunes of the Mexican mega-rich or
the increased profits of the transnationals; consequently, the gap
between the wealth monopolized by national and foreign businessmen and
the wealth obtained by wage earners continues to widen. However, this
situation is sought to be alleviated by the government's social and
labor policy. In effect, salary increases, the recognition of various
labor rights and social policy, among other measures, have favored the
improvement of the living conditions of the population. This has allowed
the population to go from 51.9 million poor people in 2018 to 46.8
million in 2022, with more than five million individuals emerging from
poverty. Likewise, income poverty, the inequality index and labor
poverty have been reduced, although 46.4 million people are still in the
latter condition in 2024. Likewise, 46.8 million Mexicans still remain
in poverty and, of these, 9.1 million in extreme poverty. Of the total
Economically Active Population (EAP), the population in formal
employment was 27.2 million people, 45.6% of the total, and in informal
employment 32.5 million people, 54.4% of the total, in May 2024 (Inegi,
2024). That is, the majority of the EAP is not favored by salary and
labor improvements. Finally, girls, boys and adolescents from 5 to 17
years old who perform child labor went from 3.3 million in 2019, 11.4%
of this population, to 3.7 million in 2022, 13.1% of children, which
represented an increase of 1.7% (Inegi, 2023).
Salary increases allow the minimum wage to cover 1.5 basic baskets of
goods, and Sheinbaum proposes a nominal increase of 11% per year that
will allow the purchase of 2.5 basic baskets by the end of her term (an
amount equivalent to that which existed in 1976). This increase,
however, does not affect the growing concentration of wealth, assets and
profits among businessmen and bankers, national and foreign.
Consequently, they will continue to monopolize the largest part of the
"economic pie" and, with it, prosperity. What they will share will be a
micro-piece of the pie increased by economic growth and that will not
affect their enormous wealth. And this is not the result of anyone's
Manichaeism, it is simply a product of the internal dynamics of Mexican
capitalist accumulation - an accumulation subordinately integrated into
global value and surplus value chains - as well as a post-neoliberal
State at the service of the capitalist system and representing the
general interests of the bourgeoisie, which does not prevent it from
protecting and promoting the specific interests of the business and
financial oligarchy.
Shared prosperity, although it claims to seek equity, does not prevent
the economic oligarchy from increasing its wealth, nor does it seek to
distribute it among the most needy. Indeed, the widening gap between the
wealth possessed by the ultra-rich and that to which workers and the
poor have access derives from the intrinsic process of the Mexican
capitalist hydra.
III
As anarchists, we libertarians have always fought to improve the living
conditions and the working situation of Mexicans, as our greatest
Magonists did during the strikes of Cananea and Río Blanco (1906-1907)
who, among other things, demanded better wages and an 8-hour work day.
But we have always articulated these struggles with the aim of having
the sources of wealth appropriated by the producers, that the land be in
the hands of the peasants and indigenous people, and manufacturing and
services in the hands of the workers. In other words, that the sources
of wealth be for everyone and for the well-being of all Mexicans. From
our perspective, this would allow us to end poverty, not just reduce or
alleviate it, and make inequality disappear. Is this a utopia? Maybe,
but if, as some say, utopia serves to move forward, then it will
continue to be the beacon of the rebellious walk of the Mexican people
in their struggle to achieve economic freedom.
Ruben Trejo
Mexico City, July 17, 2024
References
World Bank (2013), "Shared Prosperity: A New Goal for a Changing World,"
May 8, at
https://www.worldbank.org/news/feature/2013/05/08/shared-prosperity-goal-for-changing-world
Chancel, Lucas, et al. (2022), World Inequality Report 2022 , at
https://lucaschancel.com/en/books/world-inequality-report-2022/
Editorial (2024), "Growth, for whom?", July 6, La Jornada , Mexico.
Forbes Mexico (2024), "Mexican millionaires 2024: a golden six-year
period", April 24, at
https://www.forbes.com.mx/millonarios-mexicanos-2024-un-sexenio-dorado/
Inegi (2024), "Indicators of occupation and employment", June 27, at
https://www.inegi.org.mx/contenidos/saladeprensa/boletines/2024/IOE/IOE2024_06.pdf.
___ National Child Labor Survey (2023), October 5,
https://www.inegi.org.mx/contenidos/saladeprensa/boletines/2023/ENTI/ENTI_23.pdf
Orozco, Mariana (2024), "Mexico will occupy the place in the OECD with
the lowest minimum wage, despite the increase", January 4, in
https://www.debate.com.mx/economia/Mexico-ocupara-el-lugar-de-la-OCDE-con-el-salario-minimo-mas-bajo-pese-a-incremento-20240104-0092.html
Oxfam (2024), The monopoly of inequality , January 23, at
https://www.oxfammexico.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/El-monopolio-de-la-desigualdad-Davos-2024-Briefing-Paper.pdf
Rojas Nieto, José Antonio (2024), "On heterodox thought: the fourth",
June 23, La Jornada , Mexico.
Ministry of Labor and Social Security (2022), "In 2023, Mexico will
exceed the average minimum wage in Latin America", December 11, at
https://www.gob.mx/stps/prensa/en-2023-mexico-superara-el-promedio-de-los-salarios-minimos-en-america-latina?idiom=es
Sheinbaum, Claudia (2024), Nation Project 2024-2030, at
https://claudiasheinbaumpardo.mx/proyectodenacion
____ (2024a), Café Milenio, March 3, at
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oNghc65Mua8
____(2024b), "Annual Meeting of the International Monetary Conference
(IMC)", July 9, at
https://claudiasheinbaumpardo.mx/comunicado/845/reunion-anual-de-la-imc
____ (2024c), "Claudia Sheinbaum meets with the Business Coordinating
Council", June 19, at https://www.youtube.com/live/smW0JGFWGjc
Villanueva, Dora (2024), "BM: in Mexico, the greatest concentration of
wealth in a few families", April 15, La Jornada , Mexico.
https://www.federacionanarquistademexico.org/index.php/claudia-sheinbaum-la-prosperidad-compartida-o-el-nuevo-disfraz-de-la-hidra-capitalista
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