> I don't believe this is completely true. How does an economic disparity happen? Colonialism, originally, then maintained due to the geopolitical interests of

> I don't believe this is completely true. How does an economic disparity happen? Colonialism, originally, then maintained due to the geopolitical interests of the wealthier power. I mean, sure "material factors or cultural, ideological, or philosophical factors" play a part in there somewhere. But the main cultural factor is that New Spain was set up as a colony of extraction for the Spanish empire, with the majority of the population as "conquered" indigenous people. The U.S. was a colony of settlement, populated by mostly Englishmen who were by far the first to obtain any sort of citizenship rights in the U.S. This gave rise to dramatically different political and legal institutions, that after independence gave quite a leg up to the U.S. vis a vis Mexico. The U.S. leveraged that leg up to: annex one third of the Mexican territory (including some of its currently richer areas, like California), intervene in Mexican politics (see. Monroe Doctrine, and Cold-War Era support for single party rule). Sure, the crony politicians and cartels are Mexican, but the U.S. also had clientelism and Mafia just about a hundred years ago, and is not like the cartels' weapons and the government logistic support doesn't come from up north (not to mention the market for drugs...). What the U.S. didn't have to go through, in the same period: Conquest (unless you are Native American), Encomienda/Exploitation (unless you are African American), Dictatorship, Two foreign interventions, 70 years of single party rule...