DIVIDED WE STAND: RICH GET RICHER, POOR GET POORER

The poor have largely been spared from the effects of recent phases of modest
economic expansion, which have occurred after cycles of boom and bust in economic growth.
Large inequalities in income between regions, industries, and economic groups, as well as
unchecked population growth, are viewed as some of the major obstacles to eradicating poverty.
The rich prosper while the poor deteriorate. So this aims to provide a comprehensive analysis of
the causes of poverty in the Philippines and give recommendations for accelerating poverty
reduction through sustained and more inclusive growth.

Inequality promotes political dysfunction and slows down economic progress. Because
wealthy households typically spend a smaller percentage of their income than poorer
households, concentrated income and wealth lower the amount of demand in the economy. The
economy may suffer if low-income families have fewer possibilities.

As wealth disparity increases, educational results for those whose parents have low
levels of education go worse. People with intermediate or high levels of parental educational
background, however, see little to no impact.

The rich do not as much work for money, but they make their money to work for
money. Most rich do not store their wealth as gold. They invest it, and their main source is
capital income: dividends, shares, derivatives, interests etc. The more you accumulate
wealth, the greater your capital incomes also are. And capital income is taxed by constant
percentage tax. This is the reason why the wealthy get richer (since the majority of their income
comes from capital gains, which are subject to constant taxation and exponential growth) and
the poor get poorer.

The poor are not literally getting poorer. The poor are getting richer, but just not as
fast as the rich are getting richer, so the gap between them grows. Although it fluctuates
periodically, the long term trend is steadily upwards for the poorest households. This is
where the poor usually get stuck. If you spend all of your income (or the profits of your
business) on yourself, then you aren’t investing it in ways that will increase it. Poor people
believe that the same way they get what they spend today is the same way they'll get
another one tomorrow, while rich people know that if they invest today, they'll reap the
benefits tomorrow.

Rich people are life-affirming. Poor people are life-negating . They act irresponsibly;
they repeat bad decisions. They don’t prepare to anticipate problems. They don’t research
their subject. They are ‘passive’ reactionaries. They externalize responsibility. They seldom
have any education; but it's always others' fault.
 To create a counterbalance to employers' monopolies, it is necessary to create cartels,
or trade unions. As a result, collective bargaining has helped the underprivileged avoid going
hungry and achieve the supply-demand equilibrium in the market. A "healthy" market is one
where cartel and monopsony balance each other out and the price agreed upon by two equally
powerful parties is always the appropriate one. And the only advice that we can give to the poor,
is for them to unionize.

Most of the time, we forget what we have and concentrate on what we don’t have.
Something that is worthless to one person might be very valuable to another. It all depends
on one’s perspective. Sometimes it takes the perspective of a child to remind us of what’s
important.When you care about the people around you and are thankful for what you have,
you may find out that money cannot buy happiness. Love, Unity, Care, Satisfaction is richer
than any comfort money gives.