Baby bori mentions that if people in DR have made money we ALL know how they made it? Yes we do, many through hard work, other's through education and other's by way of luck! I won't compare the DR to the US, so I won't compare social classes or their incomes either when speaking about both countries. It' just not fair, I believe the study I see many Dominicans whose families made or have had money since the day's of the founding of the Republic. The social circles are cliques and they are hard to get into. If you are in, they help each other alot and you won't let your compadre go down like that, especially in lieu that many of the upper class dominican' are cousins or are intermarried in some way. So the same way the poor dominican goes to his relatives to pedir pretao, the riche do the same. They just call it something different.
A middle class Dominican family that I know, the mother and her 25 year old son.
House in a very good neighborhood: Paid off
Also owns a condo in the Anacoana as an investment, plus an apartment in Juan Dolio
She is retired/divorced and she used to work for a corporation where she gets a retirement check and alimony from her ex I think I haven't really asked, she say's recibo una entrada fija, I would say $1000USD
she has her savings,
Also, she has her own little brand new toyota startlet.
Her son works in a bank and earns $800USD a month.
He drives a two year old Lexus IS sport.
Parties like a rockstar
They live very comfortably and are members of El club Naco.
That to me is comfortable middle class here in DR,
My cousin who is a public school teacher and earns about maybe $300USD, lives in my grandma's house way out in el KM29, with her 4 children and her brother my cousin in another house they built in the back, he has 3 kids and he delivers merchandise to stores and he makes probably another $400-500USD a month. He drives an old dihatsu mini van which he uses for work and transportation.
Too me, they are poor but comfortable. He is even saving to buy a larger truck and he says that then he will double his money. I looked into the truck and nope no drug bundles, sorry guys!!!!!! I looked real hard and I just saw soda bottles, water bottles and womens beauty products.
Then I have another cousin who is neighborhood president association (he used to be a plumber), wife, 3 kids and his wife works in a bank , the oldest is going to Intec or Apec University and they have two cars and a nice house not many other frills a simple family middle class or lower middle class.
Three humble examples of a good cross section of society that I have observed.
Lando Calrisian