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The
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Monday, October 08, 2012
The
Economy
Published September 8, 2011-Updated October 18,
2011
“Economic Inequality Jumpstarts a
Political Revolution”
By Nathan’ette
Burdine-Follow on
Twitter@nbnylemagazine
I always laugh whenever I watch I’m Gonna Get
U Sucka and I hear Clarence William’s III character say, “Brothers went
into the federal building with guns and came out with jobs.
The brothers weren’t mad any more.”
The statement’s simplicity and truthfulness points to how economic
inequality jumpstarts a political revolution.
History has shown that economic inequality has resulted in a
reorganization of the political landscape and a change in leadership.
Germany, for instance, was a democratic state still coping with the
effects from WWI. The grim job
market and high poverty rate propelled Adolf Hitler into power.
After Hitler was elected, Germany’s economy was stifled by the
nationalization of the economy and the segregation and exclusion of the Jewish
population from the rest of the citizenry.
And like Germany, the Egyptians faced a similar script but with a
different cast.
The Egyptian government squeezed the Egyptian citizens out of the job
market by working on the principles of nepotism.
Former President Hosni Murbarak’s son, Gamal Mubarak, controlled the
business sector. The new businesses
he brought in were quickly nationalized and jobs were given to individuals who
had close ties to the government. This
resulted in smaller businesses being left out and more Egyptians being placed in
the poverty line. In a NewsWeek
Magazine article, Christopher Dicky stated that while a new class of rich
Egyptians evolved the young and educated Egyptians were left behind.
And with greater than 40% of the population living in poverty, it seemed
only natural that labor strikes and mass protest ensured.
President
Murbarak stood defiant before the mass protest.
He vowed never to leave office and proclaimed he was the only one who
could restore Egypt to her greatness. Unfortunately
for Murbarak, he wouldn’t get a chance to restore Egypt to her greatness
because he was ousted on February 12, 2011.
However, the promises of positive change haven’t taken root.
The country continues to be sectioned off based on class and talks of
government abuse and corruption continue to abound.
The
regime has as of yet to show that it can bounce back after the revolt which
caused a 7% shrink in Egypt’s economy. According
to the New York Times’ writers David D. Kilpatrick and Dinah Salah
Amer’s article “Egypt’s Economy Slows to a Crawl;
Revolt is tested,” the
money is not being distributed properly throughout Egypt. The middle and upper class are reaping the benefits while the
poor continues to struggle. There
is a stop-trickle down effect whereby the money stops when it suppose to trickle
down to the lower class individuals. Kilpatrick
and Amer quoted Said Rifaatel-Saed, chairman of Egypt’s leftist Tagammu Party,
as saying, “If this trickling down does not come by the will of the capitalist,
it must come by the will of the state.” Due
to the state not being able to bring about the trickle down affect, “the
capitalist” have had to step in.
The
U.S., IMF, and World Bank have tried to assist Egypt by lending it $3billion
dollars each to curtail its economic woes.
But despite the U.S., IMF, and World Bank’s loans, it appears that
Egypt has inherent problems that may take years to solve.
The “capitalist” are faced with a question of if they should continue
to use money as a way to resolve a problem that needs a complete legislative,
executive, and judiciary overhaul. Without
a stable government to handle the economy, Egypt will have another political
revolution due to its economic inequality.
Email-nathanette.burdine@thenylemagazine.com
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