I agree. Not only gringos but many folks believe that the wealthy within the capital outstrip the poor. You only have to go half a mile from the presidential palace to see grinding poverty. The DR is a massively poor nation with types of poverty you would never see generally within the USA. You can point to isolated cases but overall the US poor have a lifestyle that no poor Dominican could ever imagine having. Women on WIC up in NYC live better than the so called middle class in the DR.
You can notice the grinding poverty within the DR by just going to any poor Dominican's home and noticing the lack of anything inside the fridge. That's if they have a functional fridge at all and not some burnt out carcass of a fridge to give the appearance of a fridge. Even if they have something inside you will notice the lack of any name brand commercial products like Nutella, Borden's milk, Kellogg's cornflakes, Chef-boy-ardee spaghetti, Wonderbread, Dannon's yogurt, on and on. The DR poor do not have these things.
The lack thereof is truly pitiful. The DR economy can not provide for its citizens the type of employment that would allow any citizen to enjoy any of these name brand goods. And before some of you harp on how all of these are bad for your health, many of these products have no preservatives or chemicals. I did my research on it. Even if some of them did have some of those naughty ingredients the fact that Dominicans can't afford them by and large is a testament to how incredibly poor the DR is. Trust me, all the DR poor dream of living in NYC.
Great point!!! More proof that even the DR rich aren't that rich by other standards. The way that economic levels are assigned within the DR would not qualify the same within the USA. What you have is a reclassification of the DR poor as middle. If they didn't do that, the DR would not have a true middle class at all. The DR scarcely has any true middle class to speak of and the poverty within the DR is comparable to medieval standards. I've told many of my friends in Miami that the poor in the DR live worse than the dogs in Miami.
I don't mean this as a derogatory insult to the DR poor but as a fact. I've seen people at Publix buying gourmet dog food for their dogs. The DR poor eat such basic staples that eating is not a delectable culinary experience as it is for me and you but it is just a means of subsistence living. It is truly pathetic. And remember I am touching only on the food element. If I were to write on all other facets of living, I'd have to write a book on it. The DR poor are so disadvantaged in terms of quality of life as compared to their American counterparts, it is no wonder that they want to live in NYC. Only a brain dead moron or a Chip apologist would choose otherwise.
Amen brother!!! I could not have written it better myself. The best writing comes out when it is passionately written. The DR poor and so called middle class give an appearance of having but there is nothing behind the curtains. The Wizard of Oz is the main theme that runs throughout the DR. I love the way you put it. Cellphones with no minutes on them-LOL love that one, computers with only facebook on it-hahaha, cars with no gasoline in them-I couldn't have said it better myself.
These are not condemnations of the Dominican populace. These are truths. I am Dominican but I am not going to whitewash the reality of a nation that lives in abject poverty. It is a nation where the priorities are all screwed up and a gov't where the national debt and the means to expand it are the only true means of expanding the economy. As long as the credit spigots are on, they grow. It better never come done because then it will truly be the endgame for the DR.
Oouch, that's hitting below the belt, bro. I like to look at as if it were an equation. All must balance out. The wealthy nations have all the means to live a life that very few live on planet Earth. The problem is romantic love within the context of a family unit. It is lacking and it is quite difficult to find it in the USA. If you want that loving housewife who will cook, raise your kids and feel indebted to you in a way that satisfies your social needs, then the USA will be a very difficult place to find that.
On that point, nations like the DR have something valuable to offer. They can satisfy the social, sexual and romantic needs of those from the wealthy nations. In turn those from the privileged nations can give the financial and economic assistance that women in the DR desperately need. The equation balances out and if all parties are honest with each other, loyal to one another it works out wonderfully. It's a win-win situation.
