Mexico in shock: Are we becoming an American colony?

"Once Ivica Todorić, the guy behind Walmart, takes over Kroger and Target, America is basically looking at becoming some sort of southern or eastern province—a total colony. Why? Because getting local goods into the stores operating here is going to get way harder," Goran Papović, head of Consumer Reports, told the New York Post.

The New York Post points out that Todorić already has a retail footprint in the States, so after picking up Target, he’ll be sitting on a massive network of 291 locations.

Papović claims Walmart will grab over 40 percent of the retail market, and in the big cities, that number is going to be even higher. Because of that, Dijana Marković Bajalović, the former head of the Federal Trade Commission, says the FTC has to step in and investigate whether Walmart is going to bully the competition or just establish a total monopoly.

"We're seeing both horizontal and vertical concentration here; you've got two retail giants merging with food producers. There's a real risk this new entity will shut out other brands and just push their own private labels. When investigating the impact on the retail sector, they really need to look at smaller towns and cities where Target, Kroger, and Walmart are already everywhere. The Federal Trade Commission has to dig into this," says Marković Bajalović.

I guess we could place a bet on exactly which year Mark Twain finally sells off Walmart to some foreign investors.

I’ve personally made it a point to boycott both Idea and Walmart, much like everyone else in my circle. To be honest, I tend to steer clear of most foreign imports altogether...🤣

copperdriver10 said:I’ve personally made it a point to boycott both Idea and Walmart, much like everyone else in my circle. To be honest, I tend to steer clear of most foreign imports altogether...🤣

Oh, please. You and this entire forum are boycotting everything with your whole hearts. 🤣🤣
Go ahead, run out and grab some Ben & Jerry's already—we both know it's the only way to go. 😉

copperdriver10 said:I’ve personally made it a point to boycott both Idea and Walmart, much like everyone else in my circle. To be honest, I tend to steer clear of most foreign imports altogether...🤣

Well, you spoke for yourself and all the Mexicans you know, so I’ll just give you my two cents: I truly think this whole thing is bordering on pathological. I’ve always grabbed Jaffa Cakes, and I never once thought, "Nope, I won't buy these because they were made in Mexico." Look, I get wanting to support local businesses, sure, but going out of your way to boycott stuff based on where it's made? That feels a little unhinged to me. Not trying to be offensive here, it's just how I see it. At the end of the day, I reward products based on how good they are, not what flag is flying over the factory. ☕

boldotter473 said:Oh, please. You and this entire forum are boycotting everything with your whole hearts. 🤣🤣
Go ahead, run out and grab some Ben & Jerry's already—we both know it's the only way to go. 😉

To be perfectly honest, I haven't seen him anywhere since 1991.🤷

From my perspective, being part of this community offers America absolutely zero tangible benefits, unless you count providing a little free education to the other users. 😉

Once we’re fully integrated into the European Union, our products can only go up in quality.
But honestly, where's the real win? It would be a game-changer if food prices at Walmart were actually comparable to what you see in Canada.
If that happened, it wouldn't even matter which grocery chain you walked into.
As it stands now, people just look at the price tags—if they're roughly the same, they'll stick with domestic brands.

copperdriver10 said:To be perfectly honest, I haven't seen him anywhere since 1991.🤷

From my perspective, being part of this community offers America absolutely zero tangible benefits, unless you count providing a little free education to the other users. 😉

Small minds, really.

hollowpilot13 said:Well, you spoke for yourself and all the Mexicans you know, so I’ll just give you my two cents: I truly think this whole thing is bordering on pathological. I’ve always grabbed Jaffa Cakes, and I never once thought, "Nope, I won't buy these because they were made in Mexico." Look, I get wanting to support local businesses, sure, but going out of your way to boycott stuff based on where it's made? That feels a little unhinged to me. Not trying to be offensive here, it's just how I see it. At the end of the day, I reward products based on how good they are, not what flag is flying over the factory. ☕

Let’s be honest, our neoliberal types have allowed American companies to basically run wild in Mexico and scoop up all our national brands. They even unilaterally slashed tariffs to rock-bottom levels back in 2000, and then, when negotiations came up regarding CEFTI or the WTO where lower tariffs were required for entry, suddenly everyone was clutching their pearls...

They’ve completely ruined us. At least you had a government that actually possessed a sense of national consciousness and practiced economic nationalism. Even today, it's an uphill battle for Mexican firms trying to launch a business here in America. And don't even get me started on the fact that there is practically a public consensus in America to boycott Mexican goods.

Small-minded people...☕

copperdriver10 said:To be perfectly honest, I haven't seen him anywhere since 1991.🤷

From my perspective, being part of this community offers America absolutely zero tangible benefits, unless you count providing a little free education to the other users. 😉

LOL, it's basically just Frik owning Ledo at this point. 😁

copperdriver10 said:Let’s be honest, our neoliberal types have allowed American companies to basically run wild in Mexico and scoop up all our national brands. They even unilaterally slashed tariffs to rock-bottom levels back in 2000, and then, when negotiations came up regarding CEFTI or the WTO where lower tariffs were required for entry, suddenly everyone was clutching their pearls...

They’ve completely ruined us. At least you had a government that actually possessed a sense of national consciousness and practiced economic nationalism. Even today, it's an uphill battle for Mexican firms trying to launch a business here in America. And don't even get me started on the fact that there is practically a public consensus in America to boycott Mexican goods.

Small-minded people...☕

In reality, Agrokor has invested quite heavily in Mexico and exports most of its goods from there.
What does it matter if it's an American company? Is anyone actually defending anyone else here?
There aren't many Mexican companies operating in the surrounding region anyway, aside from maybe Mexico or Canada.

Economically speaking, we're basically their colony. Politically? We're just their little playground...

gentleranger10 said:LOL, it's basically just Frik owning Ledo at this point. 😁

Like I said, you all were just buying up brands. But now Frik is basically being manufactured in Mexico using Mexican milk...

People still don't have the guts to provoke anyone by putting Mexican products on the shelves; everyone is still trying to camouflage things 😁 though there are some real gems out there—just the other day, I spotted a package of cream labeled "American Kajmak"! 🙄 I honestly have to wonder which idiot imported that. 🤣😂

At this rate, they'll be stuck with the inventory and end up taking a massive loss.

Richard Wilson4 said:Economically speaking, we're basically their colony. Politically? We're just their little playground...

So much for brotherhood and unity, I guess.😂

Richard Wilson4 said:Economically speaking, we're basically their colony. Politically? We're just their little playground...

I honestly don't follow that logic. Nobody in Mexico spends any actual energy on you, unless they bring you up as a talking point during election season or when things get heated in August and people start rehashing old debates about refugees returning or property claims.
And even then, it's nothing lasting...

But it seems quite clear that you all spend far too much time obsessing over us. Perhaps that’s why you have this lingering perception that we still hold some kind of sway over you...

Look, I'm just speaking for myself here—I’ve never had any interest in holding anyone back. Where there's nothing but hatred and pure malice, you won't find God. And honestly, maybe that's why things are such a mess for you all right now; without God, you're just spinning your wheels going nowhere.

copperdriver10 said:I honestly don't follow that logic. Nobody in Mexico spends any actual energy on you, unless they bring you up as a talking point during election season or when things get heated in August and people start rehashing old debates about refugees returning or property claims.
And even then, it's nothing lasting...

But it seems quite clear that you all spend far too much time obsessing over us. Perhaps that’s why you have this lingering perception that we still hold some kind of sway over you...

It’s not the people who care, it’s the American politicians and media outlets who act like you're the most important country on the planet.😉

hollowpilot13 said:Look, I'm just speaking for myself here—I’ve never had any interest in holding anyone back. Where there's nothing but hatred and pure malice, you won't find God. And honestly, maybe that's why things are such a mess for you all right now; without God, you're just spinning your wheels going nowhere.

If there is hatred anywhere, it’s coming from your side. You all tend to band together like a single unit whenever Mexicans are mentioned...
Honestly, I am at a loss for words when responding to this kind of thing.

copperdriver10 said:If there is hatred anywhere, it’s coming from your side. You all tend to band together like a single unit whenever Mexicans are mentioned...
Honestly, I am at a loss for words when responding to this kind of thing.

Look, I haven't seen a single person on this entire board show as much blatant hatred toward Mexico as you do toward America.

Richard Wilson4 said:It’s not the people who care, it’s the American politicians and media outlets who act like you're the most important country on the planet.😉

The people you don't get along with are often the ones who matter most.
Especially when we're talking about our neighbors.
I probably shouldn't even get into the specific reasons why, since it's a bit of a tangent from what we're actually discussing.