The Market at Work

A wonderful development is happening in the market for retirement home services. With the price of care in assisted living facilities skyrocketing in the United States, many American and European retirees are taking their dollars to Mexico and making them stretch a lot further.

With cheaper Mexican caregivers now competing in the market this may also have the effect of slowing down the price inflation of American assisted living centers, therefore helping those who stay behind in the U.S.

American pundits will of course come up with some terrifying stories of dirty Mexican retirement homes and how there's no regulation in the industry. Perhaps a story of one or two Americans who recently died in a Mexican retirement home prematurely will appear. Just observe the hand-ringing over the Chinese toy crises of the past week for a primer.

Then there will be some who eventually get around to suggesting that Americans who slink across the border for a better life are traitors for taking their dollars away from the Homeland.