Is there a middle class in DR??

[mondongo]

ILD, thats a good interpretation of what I meant.

Pib, I did not mean that there was no middle class in the DR, just that because the income distribution is much more unfair in the DR....and because the average salary in the DR does not allow for investment and savings....then the middle class has less power to effect change in the DR.... the amount of money, both in absolute DR$ and as a percentage of DR GDP, controlled by the middle class, is a lot less in the the DR than in the USA...and with the latest muggings by your esteemed PRD, you have even less money left over to create a better future.

In the USA, the term "middle class" is often meant to portray a married couple with children. This "family" earns about 3X the per capita income. The adults are more likely to be college educated. In about 1/3 to 1/4 of the families, both the parents now work. The problem in the DR, as well as many other poor countries, is that the money always ends up in the hands of a very select few.

http://www.census.gov/prod/3/98pubs/p23-196.pdf

The Golden Rule: she who has the gold makes the rules.

 

[Pib]

I think that what have made the middle class so little important in the DR (from the politicians point of view) is that we actually a minority, the largest minority in fact. We do not have the voting power (as a group) nor the economic power. We are the cheese of the sandwich. And the government, specially this one, ignores or doesn't care that the middle class is actually indispensable for the development of this country. We are the country's piggybank and get nothing but aggravation in return.

We feel used.

 

[Porfio_Rubirosa]

Pib,

That's my point exactly. A list of the 500 wealthiest individuals came out last week. None were Dominican. With the exception of the Saudi oil sheiks, most were from countries with developed middle classes.

The point is that countries with developed middle classes obviously produce more real wealth. And this didn't happen overnight, but resulted from a concerted effort to create policies to encourage a middle class.

In the DR, the politicians merely want to steal as much as possible as fast as possible. Could they steal more were the country wealthier? Sure, but that would take brains that they don't have and time that they don't care to spend. Again, it's all about plucking the low hanging fruit.

This goes for the Dominican elites too. Traditionally, being an elite meant owning land and collecting rents. Not much incentive there to create anything of substance. More low hanging fruit.

Is there hope? Yes, because the DR does have a democracy (well, sort of). But I see two forces working against advancement: ineffective public education and the development of a limited few "oligarchs" that control banking, insurance and, most importantly, media.