This caught my eye this morning. In the morning newspaper, there was the following paragraph, in which I made a couple of edits for the moment:

If [I’ve omitted the name] rhetoric is full of class conflict that rattles business owners and the middle to upper class, there is a reason for it. Poverty, job creation and wealth distribution are the most urgent issues facing modern [omitted the country]…

That would properly be a good description of what is happening in the U.S. but I doubt The New York Times would ever use the phrase “class conflict” to tell its readers about the assault on working people here. And any politician who might use that phrase would certainly be flayed by the press and even members of his or her own party.

So, here’s the full paragraph:

If Mr. López Obrador’s rhetoric is full of class conflict that rattles business owners and the middle to upper class, there is a reason for it. Poverty, job creation and wealth distribution are the most urgent issues facing modern Mexico, and the failure to address them has driven some 12 million Mexicans north to the United States.

It was a piece on Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, the populist candidate for the presidency in Mexico.

The added interesting observation is something I’ve argued in the context of the immigratio debate here. In fact, the U.S. has caused illegal immigration because of its foreign and economic policies–not the least of which is the promotion of so-called “free trade” and, in particular, NAFTA, which has impoverished millions of Mexicans.