The Gospel of Chile
I don't have the paper in front of me but I think it was last Thursday's La Tercera, which informed us that not only is Bachelet satisfied with Chile's reduction in poverty (hyperlink meant to denote irony), but this weekend she meant to traverse the country far and wide in order to proclaim the good news of poverty reduction.
Poverty went down 5% in three years, but the poverty line itself is USD$90 a month. Meaning that if you you make more than USD$90 you ain't poor. I'm interested to hear how the weekend went. Where she went, and who needed to be convinced. How do you convince someone earning USD$100 that he's not poor?
I flipped over the paper to find another article about Bill Clinton and billionaire Carlos Slim starting a campaign to battle poverty in Latin America. Okay, sure, Chile isn't the first country that comes to mind.
But why not?
The article noted that 25% of Latin Americans live on 2 dollars or less a day. Which is bad, but is Chile really that much better off? I don't know percentages, but if you note that in order not to be poor in Chile you can get by with $100 a month, $25 a week...a little over three dollars a day. Better than two dollars a day, but still.
The article about Clinton and Slim's initiative, published in a Latin American newspaper, the second largest circulation in Chile, doesn't mention Chile at all. Much of their material has the feel of being taken and translated from N. American media, which is just fine for the apparent narrative they create: we are in no way connected to regional problems, we're a slice of Europe or the States.
So the obvious point is that while Chile works hard at beefing up its image to foreign investors and the rich get richer (again, Chile is one of the most unequal countries in the world according to the World Bank), it ends up screwing over its own population by ignoring their reality.
When speaking about the anti-poverty initiative Clinton said, "we won't go anywhere we're not invited."
Don't expect an invitation from Chile.
Poverty went down 5% in three years, but the poverty line itself is USD$90 a month. Meaning that if you you make more than USD$90 you ain't poor. I'm interested to hear how the weekend went. Where she went, and who needed to be convinced. How do you convince someone earning USD$100 that he's not poor?
I flipped over the paper to find another article about Bill Clinton and billionaire Carlos Slim starting a campaign to battle poverty in Latin America. Okay, sure, Chile isn't the first country that comes to mind.
But why not?
The article noted that 25% of Latin Americans live on 2 dollars or less a day. Which is bad, but is Chile really that much better off? I don't know percentages, but if you note that in order not to be poor in Chile you can get by with $100 a month, $25 a week...a little over three dollars a day. Better than two dollars a day, but still.
The article about Clinton and Slim's initiative, published in a Latin American newspaper, the second largest circulation in Chile, doesn't mention Chile at all. Much of their material has the feel of being taken and translated from N. American media, which is just fine for the apparent narrative they create: we are in no way connected to regional problems, we're a slice of Europe or the States.
So the obvious point is that while Chile works hard at beefing up its image to foreign investors and the rich get richer (again, Chile is one of the most unequal countries in the world according to the World Bank), it ends up screwing over its own population by ignoring their reality.
When speaking about the anti-poverty initiative Clinton said, "we won't go anywhere we're not invited."
Don't expect an invitation from Chile.
posted by Chileno @ 3:00 AM
Share on Facebook
Search This Blog:
6 Comments:
Clearly this is a joke. . .right?
Isn't $100.00 USD about 47thousand Chilean pesos . . . Seriously can't imagine how those people can live off with that amount of money. Most middle class people can spend that amount alone on buying the bare basics at the supermarket for a family of five. This is not figuring in the cost of shelter, utilities, school, etc. Just rent in a so so part of town is about 100 to 150 Chilean pesos.
Why doesn't Bachelet test it out for herself? If she were to live with that poultry amount for a month, she would not say the conditions are improving. That article is insulting to my intelligence and am astounded at how some people are so bird-brained to believe this askew article. It is one of the suttle yet blatant case of insensitivity towards the poor.
But you have to remember something...Chile doesn't want to be a latin american country. It's like when a kid is unpopular at school, his parents move him across town...Chile doesn't get on so well with its peers so it wants to move...in this case all the way across to the shiny new shool called APEC. Next time Clinton starts talking about battling poverty in the Asia-Pacific region, you might see Chile mentioned...!
>>>Chile doesn't want to be a Latin American country
What's "Chile"? Which Chile?
Do you think it's a mentality among destitute people, even they buy the narrative that Chile's better than the rest, etc. Could be, I just don't know.
Yes, I have read about this and I asked friends about it. Tha gap between CEO and the real people.
Chile is the poor.
The other Chile has no identity.
Goya
I once heard that what a CEO makes in Chile is on par with what a CEO makes in the US, but what a construction workers makes in Chile is something like 1/20th ofwhat a Chilean construction worker makes.
I think what Matt was trying to say is that upper class Chileans don't want Chile to be considered as just another country in America Latina. They prefer to believe that they're way above it all.
>>>1/20th of what a Chilean
-- you mean "U.S." I think.
Anyway, your point's clear as day and it's more or less true. The minimum wage is about a dollar an hour and I think that's what construction workers here make, while in the US $20+ is quite normal, especially when you're working on a government site where all the union compliance measures come into effect. High school kids can make bank over the summer if they get the right jobs. Meanwhile in Chile a guy fucked over by mesothelioma (i only know that word because i've been working online way too long now;) it's the asbestos condition, anyway, he burned himself alive, in front of the Moneda I think, because his lawsuit wouldn't go thru a few years ago. That on top of years of even less than a buck an hour.
But that CEO's make the same, certainly. TV execs and anchormen are rolling in it - 8 million pesos a month minimum I heard - while their reporters barely get by a MAXIMUM of a million per month. In dollars that's about $16k monthly for the big boys, $2k a month for the reporters. Although again this is a minimum:maximum contrast so it could be a lot worse yet.
Remember, Mamacita Chilena, that according to a World Bank study Chile is one of the most unequal countries in the World, the worst twelfth of all countries. It's more unequal than places like Nambia and Bolivia and on par with a bunch of other African countries, if I remember correctly. It's pathetic. According to the study rich people make up to 40x what poor people do.
Nevertheless, there is no shortage of dumb illiterate and poorly educated Chileans who come here in droves defending their "rasca" country, or Pato's who've made it out, and work at Disney in the U.S. and defend this glorious land of freedom and functionality...from afar.
Post a Comment
<< Home