Inequality lurks under facade of prosperity

ASIA-PACIFIC

Inequality lurks under facade of prosperity

Published: 19 Feb 2013 at 00.00
Newspaper section: News

What if the gap between the rich and poor grew and grew in Asia, and no one noticed?

Avendor pedals past a Louis Vuitton store —an image of contrast that captures Thailand’s widening income gap between the rich and poor. NATTHITIAMPRIWAN

Amidst skyscrapers and shopping malls from Bangkok to Beijing, that's a question worth pondering given an increasingly affluent and growing middle class often far removed from the poverty that persists across the Asia-Pacific region.

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Renaissance
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Discussion 5 : 19 Feb 2013 at 07.355
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I doubt very much that this government has a policy to reduce the gap more than a cosmetic fraction because politicians need to keep people poor and dependent on their (populist) handouts, so that they take their vote-buying contribution with a grateful and indebted attitude. The rich get richer while the poor stay pretty well where they have always been. Does Thailand really need politicians? Isn't there a better way?
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whatajoke
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Discussion 4 : 19 Feb 2013 at 07.324
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I can sense a barrage of comments deriding Thailand for being 'among the most unequal places on the planet' but you need to be philosophical. Communists countries have a low rating since everyone is equally poor, Singapore's is high but does this matter when the average wage is the world's highest. Thailand's poor are relatively well off compared to the developing world, what matters more to them is the lowering percentage beneath the poverty line. It's a damning failing of policy makers, yes, but it's an unfortunate side effect of the otherwise effectiveness of capitalism to pull people out of poverty, which is the priority in Asia.
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Eric
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Discussion 3 : 19 Feb 2013 at 07.323
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Really comes down to the equality of opportunities which will help narrow the income gap. Attracting Investments and creating job outside the traditional zones to the rural will creat income. Better infrastructure, village funds, promoting OTOP, raising minimum wage country wide, rice pledging, defending agriculture prices, universal health care are positive steps. Still more must be done especially in education, making it compulsory, inexpensive, better quality teaching, more schools and ensuring education meets the needs of the industry.
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johnb
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Discussion 2 : 19 Feb 2013 at 07.002
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Nui #1; Regarding Thaksin's populist policies; "Thailand's Gini coefficient, a measure of income inequality, fell from .525 in 2000 to .499 in 2004 (it had risen from 1996 to 2000)" "Income in the Northeast, the poorest part of the country, rose by 46% from 2001 to 2006." "Nationwide poverty fell from 21.3% to 11.3% from 2001 to 2006."
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nui
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Discussion 1 : 19 Feb 2013 at 04.231
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The populist policies of this government in Thailand will widen the gap between rich and poor. A high percentage of low and middle class people are deeply indebted because of these policies and government banks report non performing loans of 40 percent. During the economic crisis in 1997, we had NPL of 59 percent. Thailand is heading again towards a big write-off and governments will burden the debts on government banks and finally on the Bank of Thailand. But this time, the ordinary citizens cannot run away from their debts.
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Inequality lurks under facade of prosperity | Bangkok Post: opinion