MercoPress, en Español

Montevideo, April 20th 2024 - 11:25 UTC

 

 

Privatized services plus health, education and pension's costs, the right blend for Chile's social explosion

Saturday, November 2nd 2019 - 09:50 UTC
Full article 5 comments

It is not poverty that is driving Chile's middle class into the streets to join massive protests: it is debt, brought on by sky-high private health and education costs that have created an economic fragility many find unbearable. Read full article

Comments

Disclaimer & comment rules
  • Think

    In honour of all those that Think that “Nothing ever changes”...
    Viña..., 1993...
    https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ly7qPTh_K-c

    Nov 02nd, 2019 - 10:32 am - Link - Report abuse -1
  • Enrique Massot

    Think

    What a treat to listen and watch our unforgettable Mercedes on a Saturday morning! Thanks.

    Chile also has began to be part of the “todo cambia.”

    The above story sheds a bit of light on a key issue, that is, the success of an economy is not only measured by its GDP growth, but by its fairness index -- that is, the way in which the national income gets distributed.

    Chile's “sky-high private health and education costs” as well as privatized water, health care and pensions has created a continued transfer of resources from the poor and the middle class towards the wealthy sectors of society.

    The Gini Index, which measures income distribution among individuals or households, places Chile number 23d most unequal in a list of 158 countries.

    In 2015, Chile featured a Gini Index of 47.7 (A Gini index of 0 represents perfect equality, while an index of 100 implies perfect inequality).

    By comparison, Argentina got an index of 42 in 2014, South Africa championed inequality with an index of 63, and countries such as Netherlands show an index of 28.

    Nov 02nd, 2019 - 03:23 pm - Link - Report abuse -1
  • Think

    My pleasure...

    Nov 02nd, 2019 - 05:19 pm - Link - Report abuse -1
  • Chicureo

    The demographics are definitely changing. Half of my full time employees are from Venezulea and we expect well over half of our seasonal workers to be originally from Haiti. Unemployment in the Aconcagua valley is conservatively estimated to exceed 9%.

    Like I've said, little changes really occur in South America, what you see in the news is “smoke and mirrors” as the underprivileged continue to suffer.

    Nov 03rd, 2019 - 03:39 pm - Link - Report abuse 0
  • imoyaro

    Kamerad/Komrade Rique and Gauchito Drink, the “Torturer's Tango Duo,” can laugh it up all they want. I am looking forward to the entertaining headlines when the Chino supermercados get looted across the country, just like they did last time under La Asesina's Narcokleptocracy.
    :)

    https://www.scmp.com/news/china-insider/article/1378897/chinese-shop-owners-argentina-arm-themselves-guns-amid-violent

    Nov 04th, 2019 - 05:00 am - Link - Report abuse 0

Commenting for this story is now closed.
If you have a Facebook account, become a fan and comment on our Facebook Page!