A devalued or depreciated peso, yen, won, dong, ringgit, rupiah, dollar, etc. is NOT a strong indicator of poverty worsening today than decades ago.
Take access to information. Even the super rich
in the 1930s did not have a computer, no internet, no fb, etc. The poor now
have smart phones, can do fb, enjoy youtube, etc.
Or access to modern transportation, even
the super rich in the 30s did not or could not ride commercial airplanes, no comfortable aircon
buses. The PH Airlines (PAL), Asia's first airline, was created only in 1941. Now even the poor can ride budget airlines (Cebu Pac, Air Asia, etc.) and travel in comfort with
aircon vans and buses.
Or take life expectancy. In the 1930s, even the super
rich Filipinos would be lucky to live up to 65 yrs old, now even the poor can
expect to live up to 70, 80, 90 yrs.
That claim of "minimum wage was P4/day" in the
1930s, what % of the
workers were receiving that much? I bet the majority of workers would be getting P1/day or less during that time.
The poor now have
access to more information, more modern education, healthcare, etc. than
even the super rich could enjoy in the 30s or 40s or 50s.
A devalued peso, devalued ringgit,
devalued rupiah, devalued won, devalued yen, devalued dollar (HK, Taiwan, Ca,
US, etc.) is NOT indicator of more poverty.
Better indicators that "poverty is worse today than
the 1930s" would be:
1. Average life expectancy is falling, from 70 to 60 to 50 yrs
old.
2. Poor riding more carabaos and horses instead of more
motorcycles or e-bikes or 2nd-hand cars.
3. Poor going back to using typewriters because they
can't afford computers and tablets.
4. Poor using smoke signal or doves flying long distance
to send messages and letters because they can't afford smart phones with yahoo
or gmail or fb accounts.
No comments:
Post a Comment