The countries of the rich are undergoing some interesting upheavals. Not long ago, OECD (or rich countries) were considered standard bearers of development and by implication wellbeing. After the last major crisis of the global economic system, which goes by the common name of Global Financial Crisis (GFC), inequality between citizens (of a given country in the OECD) rose sharply. Such an unprecedented level of polarization within and between the rich countries has never been witnessed in modern times. Even the heady days of the 1920s were not as polarized economically as today. Here are some numbers from OXFAM illustrating the prevailing reality between the Davos boys and the Deplorable. A year and half ago 43 individuals had more wealth than half of the world’s population (3.8 billion people). Today it is no more 43, but rather 26. In 2018, half of the world’s poor lost 11% of their wealth, while in 2017, 82% of the annually accrued global wealth went only to the top 1%!
The deplorable in the western countries are losing ground and are trying to lose themselves, in stuff that are not healthy. Opioid death is now higher than death from auto accidents in the USA. Life expectancy amongst the middle class white male in American is declining! Family formation is also on a downward spiral, in almost all the rich countries of the world. About half of working Americans (48%) make only $30,000 per year, which cannot be considered a living wage. Pension funds are also in serious trouble. Meeting their obligations to pensioners in OECD/USA has become increasingly difficult. Nonetheless, many pensioners are completely oblivious to this impending life-changing crisis. So far, all kinds of gimmicks were/are implemented to hide the crisis afflicting almost all states of the union in the US. One way or the other, the pension crisis is going to implode. These and other issues are bound to bring the sheeple (human mass) in the so-called rich countries of the world system to the streets. The ‘yellow vests’ in France might well be the precursor of things to come!
After the 2008 financial crisis inequality and polarization accelerated across the globe. The parasitic financial cabals of the world system who run the economic show with their paid politicos, rigged the global system after 2008. The result, the majority actually lost big time, while the very few (less than 1%) prospered. After 2008, crony capitalism became the modus operandi of the system from north to south, from Africa to South America, etc. Ill-gotten wealth and unearned income were celebrated, while hard work was/is maligned. Developing countries like Ethiopia, willy-nilly endorsed such a distorted form of capitalism, where tenderpreneurship, outright embezzlement and all sorts of criminal activities are/were non-chalantly accepted by the ruling elites. The formal state was there only to hoodwink the gullible sheeple into thinking that its voices actually matter. But the naked truth was/is, the ‘Mafiosi States’/Gangsterism became the real governing entity all over Africa and helped implement perverted policies across the continent. The new dictum of the ‘Mafiosi State’ became; wealth is to be stolen not acquired through work and innovation. Thanks to these regimes, extreme poverty is on the increase in Sub-Sahara Africa, yet again. If truth be told, such distortions in Africa have yet to solicit vigorous reactions from the disgruntled sheeple! What we are witnessing on the streets of Zimbabwe, Tunisia, The Sudan, etc. might well become regular occurrences on our continent! Here are more numbers from OXFAM showing the deep divide between the Davos clan and the Deplorable.
‘Mukesh Ambani ranks 19th in the Forbes 2018 billionaire list and is the richest Indian. His residence in Mumbai, a towering 570-foot building, is worth $1bn and is the most expensive private house in the world. 6 Pratima, who lives in a slum in Patna, eastern India, lost both her twins due to delays and scarce resources in her nearest clinic. Poor women like Pratima have to give birth without proper maternal healthcare, leaving them vulnerable to complications, neglect and stillbirth as a result.
Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon, is the richest man in the world, with a fortune of $112bn on the 2018 Forbes list. Just 1% of his total wealth is the equivalent of almost the whole health budget of Ethiopia, a country of 105 million people. He recently said that he has decided to invest his fortune in space travel, as he can’t think of anything else to spend his money on.
Zay is a shrimp processing worker in Thailand. The shrimp Zay peels is supplied to large retailers like Whole Foods supermarkets, now owned by parent company, Amazon. At the end of a shift, the exhaustion Zay feels after peeling shrimp for 12 or 13 hours can leave him almost immobile. Zay is lucky if he earns more than $15 in a day.’
“To be hopeful in bad times is not just foolishly romantic, it is based on the fact that human history is a history not only of cruelty, but also of compassion, sacrifice, courage, kindness – and if we do act, in however small a way, we don’t have to wait for some grand utopian future. The future is an infinite succession of presents, and to live now, as we think human beings should live, in defiance of all that is bad around us, is itself, a marvelous victory.” Howard Zinn. Good Day!
DAVOS VS. DEPLORABLES
MoTI to review licensing process for exporters
The Ministry of Trade and Industry (MoTI) announced that it would review the licensing for exports to tackle illegal activity and establish a harmonized export business, in addition to stopping unethical people from abusing the sector.
Misganu Arega (Amb), State Minister of MoTI, told Capital that the ministry will establish criteria for giving export licenses. “We have to review our way of giving licenses to exporters,” he added.
In the past the government claimed that the number of exporters was growing, but export earnings failed to grow significantly. The government says that some unethical people have become exporters with the intention of selling products below invoice to get foreign currency and then turn around and purchase items to import into the country in order to earn huge profits.
For instance, the number of agricultural exporters in the past budget year has grown from 546 to 9,396, but export revenue went down.
“One of the actions we will be reviewing is the licensing process. We will work with those who are mainly engaged in the export business and are not subsidizing another business,” he said.
“The traditional exporters working with established international brands who were employing people are leaving the profession because of these unethical practices so we will work to put a stop to this,” Misganu explained.
Recently MoTI accused exporters of escalating the price of export commodities at the Ethiopian Commodity Exchange (ECX) while others were buying crops outside of ECX, which is illegal.
Even though products like sesame seeds are sold for a high price at ECX people were selling the commodity at a lower price than the trading floor rate which MoTI claimed was under invoiced.
They also cautioned sesame seed and white pea bean exporters that they would prosecute them, while other ethical exporters complained that the government was not taking action. Misganu told Capital that his office is working prudently to take measures.
“We have secured relevant documents from Ministry of Revenue and the National Bank of Ethiopia to identify the contract, export volume and revenue of the exporters in the first three months of the budget year and then during the next three months as well,” Misganu explained.
“Regarding viewing the document we have identified those engaged in illegal activity,” he added.
“We want an ethical exporting regime so this has been affected by some illegal and irregular activities. We are cautious not to affect the country’s hard currency revenue. As a result, we are working carefully to undertake actions that are sustainable,” he explained.
“We never ignore prosecuting illegal actions,” he strongly stated.
“It may take some time since we are highly prudently but since we have been working on it the price has gone down at ECX and the export trend in terms of price is now improving,” he concluded.
Mandatory national service makes sense now
What is patriotism? To me, it is a genuine love for, caring, and understanding of country, and a willingness to sacrifice for, be appreciative of, and thankful for our nation and fellow citizens.
Patriotism is not wrapping oneself in a flag, nor walking around with a gun or a blade, but being responsible for your family, your community and nation, in short, helping your country do better.
As Ethiopia faces a growing ethnic divide, political and economic split, we need to find ways to inspire our young people to realize social acceptance, ethnic tolerance, conciliation, cultural appreciation and cultural adaptation through some sort of national service, if not in the military, then in a national volunteer organization to provide services to poor people, the elderly and disaster victims.
Of course, young Ethiopians themselves would also benefit from such national service. How then does a democracy cultivate civic responsibility and shared identity? With taxes governments can fund common purposes, but it does not provide common experiences. A practice in which young people rich and poor, men and women, of every ethnic background work side by side to address public problems would create, at least, a vivid, lifelong memory of shared national purpose.
Now, we shouldn’t introduce a national service just because it’s a ‘nice’ thing to do, but rather because it can be a means to strengthen the ties that bind us as a nation; and because it can create bridges across groups in our society that have little to do with each other on any given day, and because it can be a pathway to a stronger sense of citizenship. Plus, the idea of introducing a national service will not only help the country how to solve public problems but also appreciate what we owe our country and each other. In fact it may provide the common ground that seems to have gone missing in Ethiopia for some time now.
Meanwhile, with economic times tough, especially among the young, the idea of a national service can be very attractive. There are a lot of kids who would join in to work on a program, say, of Greening Ethiopia. The fundamental evidence for national service is built on cost-benefit analysis, and studies show that the economic value of national service far exceeds its costs. This conclusion is valid for participants, for taxpayers, and for society at large.
I believe this is an idea worth exploring which can contribute to furthering our nation’s and our young people’s interests.
Call for Mandatory National Service NOW!
By Kebour Ghenna
Rent is too high, FCH tenants argue
The Federal Housing Corporation recently changed their rental prices, setting a floor of 509 birr per square meter at the shops and offices it rents.
Now tenants are asking the Corporation to revise its prices and lower the rent to 71.50 birr per square meter.
Tenants made this argument at the meeting last Wednesday at Global Hotel. They pointed to an eight year old study conducted by the Corporation.
They argued that the Corporation is not taking into account a realistic view of the economy and market. 
A woman who came from US doing business with her father in Piassa said she will shut her shops if the Corporation does not revise the new price.
“They asked us to pay 70,000 birr per month but we can’t make a profit at this price, for me it is not a problem. I can return to the US to work but what about the 43 workers who have built their lives on our company’s work,” she said.
Other tenants said the corporation’s new price will aggravate rental prices of private shops across the city.
“After setting the new price some private shops in the city have started increasing rental prices which will ultimately hurt consumer’s pockets. The corporation should have looked at the impact of the new prices before they set them,” a young tenant said at the meeting
Abrham Arega who is the member of the tenants’ committee said the corporation set different prices on the same offices in a building which demonstrates that the price increases were not properly studied.
Under the new revision 477 shops are set to pay 1,000 birr per month, 3,078 shops between 1,000 up to 2,000 birr, 447 shops between 20,000 to 30,000, three shops from 200,000 up to 300,000 birr and two buildings will pay 400,000 birr per month.
The corporation did not make any price revision for business shops in the last 40 years.
Before the new revision 3,880 of the shops were paying 65 birr per square meter and 2,052 shops were paying below 10 birr for a square meter. Surprisingly the rental fee of another 279 shops was below one birr per square meter.
The Corporation recently announced that instead of applying their new rental prices at all at once, tenants will pay 35 percent of the new prices the first year, the second year they will pay 70 percent and the third year they will pay the full revised price.
