Memo to the APEC ministers who met in Cebu
The finance ministers of the twenty-one economies ( it is not called ''countries'' because China considers Taiwan as a mere province, and Hong Kong is a member even if it is a mere territory inside the People's Republic of China) play so many draconian roles in influencing and implementing fundamental policies that guide these economies on matters that directly impact on wealth-making and wealth distribution involving no less than 1.5 billion people. Decisions made by these ministers have -serious and far-reaching implications on the national and social development of the 21 economies.
Having stated the foregoing as premises, it is apropos to ask these finance ministers to what extent have they influenced the thrusts of too much financial growth for governments and for big businesses, and yet, their growth continue to be all non-inclusive because more than 80% the out of more than 1.5 billion people inside the APEC economies have remained poor. In fact, they have become even poorer, and their number keeps on rising. More than 19% belong to the middle class, and less than one per cent is rich. On the global scale, the socio-economic inequity is even more serious and wider in scope and breadth. The APEC, EU, and perhaps even the ASEAN have become instruments of perpetuating these disparities.
An American socio-economic expert, David C Korten, wrote the latest edition of his international best seller, WHEN CORPORATIONS RULE THE WORLD. It is a denunciation against the unholy alliance between big government and big business and AEC, like other regional alliances perpetuate this. Korten used the UNDP's Human Development Report which says that the whole world's population is divided into five levels in economic hierarchy. The highest 20 % in the global totem pole controls 82,7% of the world's wealth, resources, and income. The second 20% has 11.7%, the third 20% has 2.3%, the fourth lower 20% has a small 1.9% and the lowest 20% a mere 1.4%. This highly inequitable socio-economic structure is duplicated in all countries that do not belong to the first world.
Korten stressed that ten years ago, the whole world had only 365 billionaires, with Bill Gates on top having 12.9 billion as net worth in 1995. In 2014, there were already 1,645 billionaires, with Bill Gates, still on top, having 76 billion. These are all in US dollars. And these include the Philippines' own Henry Sy, Lucio Tan, and John Gokongwei. There is nothing wrong in being rich, especially if their wealth had been the result of hard work and honest enterprise. But if the extremely wealthy controls too much of each country's, or economy's total wealth, then the hundreds of millions of poor people are being denied of access to the earth's goods, services, and opportunities. This is even more true in the Philippines. Economic growth here is only for the tycoons, the moguls, and the magnates.
The finance ministers have formulated and enforced the economic and finance policies of their respective governments. They, therefore, should be mainly held responsible for perpetuating the highly inequitable socio-economic strata in every poor nation in the world. These finance ministers abetted low wages and contractualization as instruments to lower the poor's opportunities to move upward in the social and economic ladder. The ministers are the ones pushing for the global standards and regulations of the World Bank, the IMF, the AFTA, which continue to cater to giant corporations and conglomerates and ignore the masses. Their decisions and actions exacerbate the ceaseless marginalization of the world' poor.
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