rich, getting richer?

[jpdm]

[SIZE=3][SIZE=2]From Business Mirror 8-8-2007[/SIZE]
[/SIZE][SIZE=3]
Rich getting richer faster than the poor[/SIZE] By Cai Ordinario Reporter
THE rich get richer at a pace much faster than the poor are improving their lot in many developing countries in Asia, like the Philippines, according to Key Indicators 2007, the latest report from the Asian Development Bank (ADB).
Using the Gini coefficient, the report concluded that the poor in Asia could not catch up with the rapid development in their countries despite significant declines in poverty rates.
“Both relative and absolute inequality have increased in most parts of developing Asia,” the report adds. “While relative inequality is concerned with proportionate differences in incomes, absolute inequality is concerned with actual dollar differences in incomes,” the report said.
In the Philippines, the report said inequality has been high. From 1994 to 2003, the country’s per capita gross domestic product (GDP) grew by an average of 1.9 percent a year, similar to the 1.8-percent average shown in the government’s Family Income and Expenditures Survey (FIES).
Despite this, the ADB said the growth in expenditures was higher among richer individuals. The ADB noted that urban households with highly educated heads have higher per-capita expenditures and per-capita expenditures growth. The ADB also noted that female-headed households have higher per-capita expenditure levels and have seen faster growth trends. However, growth in per-capita expenditures has been higher for households with heads employed in agriculture.
The report identified education, location of the families and individuals’ employments as major variables in the study. However, in the Philippines, only education-related differentials are important in accounting for changes in inequality.
The report said the increasing differences in mean expenditures of households with better-educated heads relative to less-educated households account for as much as 60 percent of the increase in inequality in the Philippines.
“Not surprisingly, education of the household head turns out to be the single most important observable household characteristic explaining inequality. Education accounts for almost half of explained inequality in 1994,” the ADB said.
In a statement, the ADB said countries in Asia with high inequalities should adopt policies that counter negative distribution impacts of market-oriented reforms, such as well-designed social protection mechanisms and skills training programs.
It made a pitch for a concerted effort involving a partnership between the public and private sectors to develop new economic activities and industries to create better employment opportunities.
“Policymakers [also] have to focus on radically improving the quality of basic health care and education available to Asia’s disadvantaged,” the ADB said.
The report said absolute inequality has increased everywhere between the 1990s and 2000s, which has led to more well-off Asians experiencing considerably larger increases in their standards of living than the least well-off.
The ADB said the expenditures of the “rich” have increased much more than those of the “poor.” This has happened even in countries such as Indonesia and Malaysia where relative inequality declined.
“In a region as dynamic and vibrant as developing Asia, low growth in incomes of the poor is reflective of weakness in the pattern of growth. Growing inequalities can weaken social cohesion,” ADB chief economist Ifzal Ali said.
The report warns that in societies where wealth is concentrated in the hands of a few, there is a danger of policy levers being captured by the rich for their own benefit and a weakening of the institutional foundations of the growth process.

[uls]

Like the article above says --- education makes the difference.

People with resources are better able to provide their offspring with quality education... giving their offspring better chances of success... so that maintains or further improves their socio-economic status.

[theveed]

The rich spend less time complaining about others on issues about money.

[niwde11]

The rich spend less time complaining about others on issues about money.

nasapul mo theveed.

[uls]

kakatawa ung title ng article -- Rich getting richer faster than the poor

Syempre. Ano ba dapat? Poor getting richer faster than the rich?

[Eismann]

Seriously now, this is a dangerous situation.

The ideal is to convert the poor into middle class - majority of the society should be middle class who could provide better education for their children and their childrens' children too.

How do we do this? Invest in the poor. Get them out of their quagmire and make them productive members of the society. Oh wait, I think GK is doing this.

But we can do our part by supporting their initiatives or those that are similar to this.

..... just my two cents on this.

[uls]

ok seriously... when u have a large population of poor, miserable, angry, and desperate people, u get serious social instability.

The last thing the rich want is a mass uprising (and resulting anarchy) that would totally screw up their lifestyle. Imagine an environment so dangerous that the rich have to restrict their movements. What's the use of all that money when u cant go out?

A strong middle class will serve as a buffer between the rich and the very poor. Sana ma-realize yan ng mag richies.

Kaya lang dito sa atin, the poor are having a very difficult time trying to break into middle class level.

While the middle class is having difficulty sustaining their lifestyle. The cost of living a middle class life keeps on rising while income has remained stagnant.

[boydapa]

sa isang nabasa ko sabi nga "this is a country where the rich gets richer, the poor gets poorer and the middle class stays the same unless they win the lottery."

kaya napakalaki ng poor 80% ata ksi yun iba dyan imbis na iinvest sa mga poor na tao by creating more jobs na may reasonabe na sahod ay iniinvest sa pagkamahalmahal na oto na puro depreciation lang naman.

[badkuk]

sa isang nabasa ko sabi nga "this is a country where the rich gets richer, the poor gets poorer and the middle class stays the same unless they win the lottery."

i've heard some horror stories about "poor" people winning the lottery squandering their wealth, and ending up where they started. i think somebody did a survey some years ago; only about 2 out of 10 people were still rich a few years after winning the lotto

[cutedoc]

why lottery, why wowowee, kdond, raffles hits big and patronized my filipinos...poverty

when host interviews nurses, the first question would be "when are you going abroad?" its not why you take up nursing, simply because developed countries offers a bigger salary for them, not only nurses to all odd jobs, including house helper, driver, maid, construction worker.

but if philippines is poor, wy does SM clicks, maybe because they got the power and focus to be up, education may not only the sole factor to achieve success, somehow connection matters more in some cases.