Some $7 billion that is not in the budget

The budget, as we know, goes mainly to pay for a train, a refinery and the payroll of government workers.

There will be approximately 8 trillion dollars that President López Obrador will have available to distribute to the national economy during 2023, according to what he has asked the deputies and you, who pay for the spending.

But there is a similar sized sum that will begin to be distributed to businesses on the other side of the northern border, which may have more impact on the growth of your business or your career.

The Budget, we know, goes mainly to pay for a train, a refinery and the payroll of government workers; their pensions, or the official companies they work for.

Much of it stays in Mexico City. This allows, among other things, Walmart, Chedraui or La Comer to continue selling groceries and the banks to continue charging commissions and interest. Good for all of them.

In view of government austerity, all of the above contributes to the economy maintaining its size, but not to its growth, according to the experience of this six-year term.

That is why workers, but also entrepreneurs and business owners from Cuautitlán, Querétaro or Monterrey, should go to Twitter and give a “follow” to John Podesta.

On the other side of the border, he will open an extraordinary suitcase with a content similar in size to that of the annual budget of the Mexican treasury, but this one will have a different purpose than the usual government spending. This money, which Podesta will administer, will be destined to businesses whose future size we can only imagine today.

It is 369 billion dollars that the White House will hand out to Americans on the condition that they exchange it for things like stoves, electric cars or photovoltaic systems for their homes and businesses.

Consider, for example, the case of Solarever, a Mexican firm with facilities in Hidalgo and Colima, which produces and exports solar panels to California and Texas, and which has been planning to list on the Nasdaq for some time now in order to capitalize itself, according to its director, Simon Zhao.

Also, consider what will happen to Ford’s workers and employees in Cuautitlán, who produce the Ford E Mustang.

Among Podesta’s plans is the delivery, on behalf of the U.S. government, of a check for 7,500 dollars (approximately 150,000 dollars) to help anyone who wants to buy this electric vehicle made in Mexico, which sells for approximately 47,000 dollars (a little more than 900,000 pesos).

The future of Solarever and of plants such as this one of Ford and other assemblers installed in the Bajío and northern Mexico, will dance to the rhythm played by the orchestra of this project called Investments in Energy Security and Climate Change in the Inflation Reduction Act.

Podesta’s official title is Advisor to the President for Clean Energy Innovation and Deployment in the United States.

Who is this man? He was born in Chicago and is of Greek and Italian descent. He founded a lobbying company to help companies in their negotiations with the government and then created the Center for American Progress, an NGO that attacks inequality.

He recently chaired Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign, prompting animosity between Republican Party groups and those sympathetic to former President Donald Trump.

He was previously an advisor to President Barack Obama, with whom he was responsible for coordinating the climate policy and initiatives of that administration, which strongly supported the founding of Tesla, Elon Musk’s company.

Today, Podesta is for all practical purposes the man with access and decision-making power in the largest investment fund for renewable energy in the United States.

He has under his supervision the equivalent of more than 7 trillion pesos, which for purposes of comparison, is an amount similar to what President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador will be guarding next year.