Am Mittwoch, 26. September 2007 07:16 schrieb Biju Chacko: > On 9/25/07, Srini Ramakrishnan <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > Oh boy :) > > This seems an accurate description of the lives of the > poorest-of-the-poor. However, the socialist cliche "The rich are > getting richer and the poor are getting poorer" never seems to be > tested -- it always seems to be accepted as an axiom. > > Are there statistics to show that the percentage of poor people in > the Indian population is increasing?
That is not what is meant with that statement. It only says, that the poor are getting poorer, i.e. their income decreases in relation to actual cost of living, that increases faster than their "income". Whether there are more or less poor people, is not part of the statement. With regard to the rich, it's the same thing: The number of truly rich people isn't changing much, maybe it's even decreasing, but their wealth increases faster than the cost of living. These are facts that have been statistically proven. How exactly that is in India, I can't say, however. > I don't know enough to believe in trickle-down economics or not. > But in Bangalore (where I live) which has huge amounts of money > flowing around more seems to be reaching the lower rungs than used > to. The guy that irons my clothes, for example, recently left his > mobile number with my wife "in case of emergency" [1] to use his > phrase. Well, in Germany, most "poor" people (i.e. those who depend on public aid) have cell phones. There were times when I thought of this as an indication that they are better situated than I always had believed, because I didn't have a cell phone at that time, but the contrary is the case: they just can't afford to get a fixed connection (regular costs are too high). A cell phone with a prepaid card and SIM lock costs them just one Euro or is available for nothing. Somethimes, the card contains even a 10 Euro bonus which they can use up. I don't know how that is in India, but I guess it's similar. Anyway, people who have a regular income (like the one who irons your clothes) may be in the lower rungs, but they are not poor, not really. Martin -- Dr. Martin Senftleben, Ph.D. (S.V.U.) http://www.drmartinus.de/ http://www.daskirchenjahr.de/
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