A popular saying goes: "When America is cold, the other countries have pneumonia."
This applies not only in the most acute economic crisis that the world has known, as are those generated under the leadership of Presidents Herbert Hoover in 1929 and George W. Bush in 2008, it also applies to situations such as terrorism and immigration, where what happens in the US seems to be reflected as a mirror image to other countries.
Indeed, the crisis known as the crash of 1929 was in global scale. The lack of production, widespread shortages, the explosion of unemployment, mass bankruptcy of large factories and the disappearance of famous trademarks were the main features of the crisis.
USA being the main producer and exporter, expected that global trade would decline significantly, and thus economic activity in general.
So, an improvement of Economy, framed in theories of John Maynard Keynes English, were necessary to steer the market activity in the world again.
These theories simply justified the intervention in monetary and fiscal policy in the US, which came expressed in different measures taken by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, known as the "New Deal" and among them were the creation of Social Security and the establishment of the minimum wage, that over the years have served as an example for many countries.
In situations of international terrorism, attacks in other parts of the world have increased, after the US has suffered a similar action. The slaughter of the Twin Towers in 2001, known as 9/11, seems to have generated a shock wave around the world.
After many aftershocks followed, for example, the night club in Bali, Indonesia, 2002, 202 people; Madrid train, 2004, 191 people; London Underground, 2005, 52 deaths; attacks in Mumbai-India, 2008, 164 dead, and a few days ago, the attacks in Paris, 129 dead.
9/11 genocide was painful to an entire nation, seems to have woken up in a macabre sadism in terrorists to attack public places with large public attendance.
In turn, 9/11 caused a dramatic change in security measures around the world. New technologies made their appearance and inspection at ports and airports reached new levels.
Also, the immigration problem in the United States has had its foreign repercussions.
In recent years it has been emphasizing formalize a comprehensive immigration reform that would contemplate a solution, not only for those who have come to the US, but for those who have yet to do so.
The United Nations defines as migrants who for more than a year have lived outside their country of origin; Under this concept, in 2013, 232 million international migrants were recorded.
Of that number, nearly half have migrated only to ten countries, although the US is the favorite with 46 million registered.
US immigrants have doubled from 1990 to 2013. That meant other countries have followed US doubling its foreign population in the same period, including Germany, UK, Canada, Australia, Spain and the UAE.
The theme around immigration reform in the United States was reflected in the increase of migrants crossing the Mediterranean, which grew from 50,000 in 2011 to over 225,000 in 2014. Most of them are from African countries and their destination Home is Italy.
People displaced by the civil war in Syria are almost half the population and have taken refuge in neighboring countries such as Turkey, Lebanon, Iraq and Jordan, although Syria still remain 8 million people homeless.
Still, the most important immigrant corridor in the world remains the border between Mexico and Texas. Indeed, they are currently trying to reach this border over 1,000 Cubans who come from Ecuador in a long journey that has been truncated in Nicaragua, a country that has refused to continue their march that group.
A country has the choice to accept or not to give shelter to refugees, but should not deny a pass to cross its territory. That is inhuman.
As the world mourns for other nationalities, so they should do also for suffered Cubans, who have endured a dictatorship of 56 years, the longest in modern history.
As we see, we have the honor of living in the world's most important country, one that dictates the guidelines then imitated by other countries.
Help him with ideas like creating American civic universities in other countries, which not only offer classes in business and technology, but also give a sample of our way of life in America, our values and our constitutional democracy.
This will also propagate all the positive aspects that the US has to offer and, therefore, would be imitated by those who have not yet done.
Undoubtedly, it is a smart investment.
BENJAMIN F. DeYURRE
Economist and journalist.
