The Mexican Peso: A Century of Currency Debasement (Part 3 – Nationalization and Public Works “For the People”)
Civil conflict and counterrevolutions resulting from religious restrictions set forth in the Constitution of 1917 continued in the following decade. A cessation of hostilities resulted, not from changes to the laws, but rather a non-enforcement policy on the part of government officials.
After a consolidation of political power, the federal government proceeded with expropriation of private assets. In 1925, Mexico’s central bank, Banco de Mexico, was established with the main objective being to “achieve stability in the purchasing price of the national currency.”
Now the floodgate was opened and the central state’s access to easy credit combined with the “legal authority” to tax and confiscate at will would set the debt trap like a golden silk spider’s intricately weaved web.
The election of Gen. Lazaro Cardenas in 1934 changed the politics of the nation. Cardenas…developed a vigorous six-year plan to modernize the country. He redistributed more land than did all of his predecessors combined, built rural schools, nationalized the petroleum industry and strengthened the unions.
Miguel Aleman Valdes, president from 1946 to 1952, was responsible for massive public-works projects, including irrigation schemes in the northwest and hydroelectric power in the south.
Source
1947 – Peso coin is debased to .500 fineness with 5.4 grams silver to the Peso (ASW .225 oz) - A 40% decrease in silver content from previous Peso coins and a 71% decrease from the Peso coins minted at the beginning of the century!
| 
Whatever the “benevolent” bureaucrats give with one hand they take much more with the other. The recipients of those public works contracts, along with the bureaucrats and creditors, are enriched with plunder stolen from the original producers of wealth. The freedom to choose how to dispose of the fruits of one’s own mind and labor is partially or totally destroyed.
Up Next: The Mexican Peso: A Century of Currency Debasement (Part 4 – “The Economic Miracle” or Merely Illusion)
Click here for Part 1 – Independence
Click here for Part 2 - The Constitution of 1917
*All coin photos are from my personal collection
Historical Source 1
Historical Source 2
Coin Info Source