Hispanic Kids Most Likely to be Uninsured

I haven't had a ton of time lately, I'm still in the process of moving. So in the meantime, if I find interesting articles, I'm just going to make quick posts!

From HispanicBusiness.com, an article discusses insurance and children. Hispanic children are the most likely to be uninsured. This is a problem for many reasons, including:

"Childhood obesity is not being treated in many cases, and it's leading to diabetes, which is going to affect all of us," she said. "These people are going to be expected to support the economy as adults, but they are much more likely to have a limited ability to work."

We've discussed diabetes and childhood obesity in the past.

40% of Mexicans Would Move to US

This article lays out the results of a study conducted by the Pew Hispanic Center.

Basically:
Over 40% of Mexicans say they would move to the US if they could, and 20% would do it, even if it meant crossing illegally.

What's interesting is that the numbers don't change as significantly as you would think for college graduates. Over 33% want to come to the US, and 12.5% would do so illegally.

Once you think about it, though, the results can't be that surprising. The thing is that even people that are in the US illegally are making so much more money than they would in Mexico. The minimum wage in Mexico is about $4 USD a day...here it's almost $7 USD/hour. Many college graduates in Mexico get about $12,000 USD / year in Mexico for a job that would pay about $40,000 USD / year in the US.

Talking about the corporate level, a few years ago when the economy was super hot in the US, it was so easy to get a work visa sponsored by a company because there just weren't enough people to do the work in the US. When the economy busted and unemployment was high, you couldn't find a soul to sponsor you.

One last quote from the article:

More immigrants come to the United States from Mexico (population 106 million) than any other country.

This is one trend I don't see going out of style!

25 Most Influential Hispanics in America

Time Magazine's article is out. I'm still reviewing it, but please check it out!

TIME.com: The 25 Most Influential Hispanics in America

Cheap Flights in Mexico: Coming Soon!

The International Herald Tribune reports that an end is coming to the outrageous airfares within Mexico. This is great news considering that it normally costs over $350 USD to fly from Monterrey to Mexico City, a flight lasting less than 1 hour and 30 minutes. I'm ashamed to say that I was not aware that Aeromexico & Mexicana are state-owned airlines. The story reports that basically the two airlines will be privatized and sold individually, and an additional 5 budget/discount airlines are going to be arriving soon.

Because flying is so expensive in Mexico, most people resort to taking the bus. But don't think that you get off cheap by doing this! My husband & I once took the 11 hour bus ride from Monterrey to Mexico City...and it cost $75 USD ONE-WAY...each! Now I have to admit that this was the high-end bus, not the cheapest...but still! If I have to suffer 9.5 extra hours of travel, I would expect to save more than just 50%!

I wish luck to the new airline industry in Mexico and encourage everyone to get traveling!

Technorati tags: Mexico, Air Travel

Spanish language music mixed in!

Hi everyone! I’d like to welcome you back to the “fall season” of Trendy Tendencias! I took quite a long break that we’ll call summer vacation, but there was no resting involved whatsoever!

So here we are. First post of the season! (I guess it’s my Season Premiere?) I was recently driving from Mexico to Miami with my husband…the 2,150 miles took us 4 days. When we arrived in Texas, we stopped into Best Buy and purchased the “NOW 19” CD to add to the music that we brought along with us. And with this, I came up with my first post!

Most of you know that these “NOW That’s What I Call Music” compact discs are filled with current popular singles – mostly pop and rap music. I was amazed to see that mixed in with all of the songs in English was “La Tortura” in Spanish with Shakira and Alejandro Sanz!

Many Latin singers have broken into the US market in the past such as Ricky Martin, Thalia, Enrique Iglesias and Shakira. (I guess one of the first would have been Julio Iglesias?) All of these singers have had hit songs in the US…but traditionally these songs have been in English.

The fact that “La Tortura” was released in the US in Spanish indicates a shift in the level of acceptance by the American culture. In almost any other country in the world you will hear songs in various languages, one of them almost always being English…because many popular songs come from places such as the US and the UK. However in the US, if anyone has ever wanted to break into the American market, the song had to be in English.

Congrats y Felicidades to Shakira & Alejandro Sanz. Also check out Daddy Yankee’s “Gasolina” and duet with Puffy Daddy at this year's Billboard Latin awards.