| | | Editorials | Opinions | August 2009
The Battle of the Budget The News go to original August 19, 2009
Mexico has undergone radical changes over the past decade. During the 20th Century, one man, the president, who was virtually a dictator, ruled the nation.
The president determined matters pertaining to municipalities and states, budget allocations to cities, communities, and determined the construction of public works.
Decision making changed radically as of the year 2000 when necessity demanded that central power be diminished so that it trickled down to state governments and from there to municipalities, the way it was thought that things ought to be.
Decentralization became a key word in budget redistribution and the powers that be even took on a different form such as the National Confederation of Governors, where governors as a bloc presented the president with their monetary needs from the federal government. The idea was to spend where it was needed, and not where the whim of the president demanded.
And indeed, just a couple of years ago, in times of plenty, the federal government gave the states the money left over from oil sales at prices unseen before. The problem was that the money was issued without proper accountability or management transparency.
Now, in lean times, decentralization is proving to be damaging. A recent study shows that most of the nations' municipalities are bankrupt, and the states are in big financial trouble.
There is no turning back to the old days of an iron-fisted president. However, a balancing act must be attained to distribute a reduced budget fairly. |
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