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Sushi vs patty
Published: Wednesday | November 2, 2011 Comments 0
Din Duggan
BY Din Duggan
I haven't had sushi in a while. I think I'll visit East Japanese tonight. I can taste it already: a miso soup, two sushi rolls, some salmon sashimi, and a bottle of Asahi to wash it all down. That should set me back roughly $3,500.
Actually, if I'm lucky, I won't be dining alone. Hopefully, my companion won't be as gluttonous as me. I'm guessing her company will cost me another $2,500. Add the fives; carry the one, if my math is correct that's $6,000. Add another $600 for tip. Wait, no, I'll be in good company - add another $1,200 for tip. That's $7,200. Not bad. Good sushi. Good company. Life is good.
Life isn't so good for Eric Reid. The 18-year-old is charged with breaking into the home of his ex-boss and stealing a sugar bun and two tomatoes. I know what you'll ask: Why didn't the delinquent get a job, instead of stealing people's hard-earned pastry and produce? Well, he was obviously hungry. And with the unemployment rate at 12 per cent, jobs aren't
abundant these days. But enough about Eric, we have bigger problems.
The IMF recently unveiled a statistic that should shock us all: 43 per cent of Jamaicans currently live below the US$2.50-per-day poverty line. That's more than one million Jamaicans living on less than J$220 per day! I can't believe that - not with so many Range Rovers and BMWs parked in the Marketplace lot. Not with so many $40-million town homes being built around Kingston. Not with the Government of Jamaica estimating the poverty level to be a disturbingly high - but much more manageable - 17 per cent.
Massive income gap
Whether we - and our Government - admit it or not, Jamaica faces tremendous structural difficulties. While some people regularly dine at fine establishments - spending thousands on tiny bits of raw fish wrapped in little clumps of rice - many scrounge to find the $50 for the tin of mackerel, $30 for the pound of flour, and $50 for the pound of rice needed to work up a half-decent meal.
While many lobby the Government to reduce auto import duties so that they can more economically purchase uneconomical vehicles, countless others try to find the several-hundred-dollar bus fare each day to reach jobs that pay several hundred dollars each day.
Income disparity, poverty and unemployment have now reached epidemic proportions. Income disparity, in particular, is especially frightful. According to Richard Wilkinson, professor emeritus of social epidemiology at the University of Nottingham, the type of income inequality that Jamaica faces - now the worst in the region - breeds widespread social dysfunction. From homicide rates to infant mortality, from life expectancy to the percentage of the population imprisoned, virtually every social indicator is negatively impacted by increased inequality.
Inequality - the disparities in where we stand relative to one another - is a more direct cause of crime and violence than is poverty. Jamaica is not the poorest country in the world. As measured by GDP, we are, in fact, an upper middle-income country. Yet our crime rate - despite recent reductions - has long been among the highest in the world, higher than many countries that are markedly poorer.
Consumerist orgy
Inequality, Professor Wilkinson argues, leads to pervasive status insecurity - interminable worry about how we are seen and what our place is in society in relation to others. This promotes rampant consumerism and materialism as an outlet for social-status competition. We see it every day - an incessant focus in society on who has what. We hear it every day: "... Anywhere yu see mi at any given time, mind pon mi money and mi money pon mi mind, the shotta dem a pree the dollar sign ... ." When this constant status competition and avarice are left unchecked, the result is what we now have: persistent, acquisitive violence.
Young Eric broke into a home to steal food. He was hungry. Poverty causes that. Others break into homes to steal TVs, computers, and, in more than a few cases, innocent lives. Inequality causes that. If we don't find ways to reduce the widening disparities between each other - either through broad-based wealth creation or through progressive redistribution - then our efforts at conquering crime and disorder will prove futile and our society will fall to ruin.
That $7,200 meal doesn't seem quite so appealing, anymore. I think I'll be eating two Mother's fish patties and a coco bread, instead. I pray my date will understand.
Din Duggan is an attorney working as a consultant with a global legal search firm. Email him at columns@gleanerjm.com or dinduggan@gmail.com or view his past columns at facebook.com/dinduggan and twitter.com/YoungDuggan.
Published: Wednesday | November 2, 2011 Comments 0
Din Duggan
BY Din Duggan
I haven't had sushi in a while. I think I'll visit East Japanese tonight. I can taste it already: a miso soup, two sushi rolls, some salmon sashimi, and a bottle of Asahi to wash it all down. That should set me back roughly $3,500.
Actually, if I'm lucky, I won't be dining alone. Hopefully, my companion won't be as gluttonous as me. I'm guessing her company will cost me another $2,500. Add the fives; carry the one, if my math is correct that's $6,000. Add another $600 for tip. Wait, no, I'll be in good company - add another $1,200 for tip. That's $7,200. Not bad. Good sushi. Good company. Life is good.
Life isn't so good for Eric Reid. The 18-year-old is charged with breaking into the home of his ex-boss and stealing a sugar bun and two tomatoes. I know what you'll ask: Why didn't the delinquent get a job, instead of stealing people's hard-earned pastry and produce? Well, he was obviously hungry. And with the unemployment rate at 12 per cent, jobs aren't
abundant these days. But enough about Eric, we have bigger problems.
The IMF recently unveiled a statistic that should shock us all: 43 per cent of Jamaicans currently live below the US$2.50-per-day poverty line. That's more than one million Jamaicans living on less than J$220 per day! I can't believe that - not with so many Range Rovers and BMWs parked in the Marketplace lot. Not with so many $40-million town homes being built around Kingston. Not with the Government of Jamaica estimating the poverty level to be a disturbingly high - but much more manageable - 17 per cent.
Massive income gap
Whether we - and our Government - admit it or not, Jamaica faces tremendous structural difficulties. While some people regularly dine at fine establishments - spending thousands on tiny bits of raw fish wrapped in little clumps of rice - many scrounge to find the $50 for the tin of mackerel, $30 for the pound of flour, and $50 for the pound of rice needed to work up a half-decent meal.
While many lobby the Government to reduce auto import duties so that they can more economically purchase uneconomical vehicles, countless others try to find the several-hundred-dollar bus fare each day to reach jobs that pay several hundred dollars each day.
Income disparity, poverty and unemployment have now reached epidemic proportions. Income disparity, in particular, is especially frightful. According to Richard Wilkinson, professor emeritus of social epidemiology at the University of Nottingham, the type of income inequality that Jamaica faces - now the worst in the region - breeds widespread social dysfunction. From homicide rates to infant mortality, from life expectancy to the percentage of the population imprisoned, virtually every social indicator is negatively impacted by increased inequality.
Inequality - the disparities in where we stand relative to one another - is a more direct cause of crime and violence than is poverty. Jamaica is not the poorest country in the world. As measured by GDP, we are, in fact, an upper middle-income country. Yet our crime rate - despite recent reductions - has long been among the highest in the world, higher than many countries that are markedly poorer.
Consumerist orgy
Inequality, Professor Wilkinson argues, leads to pervasive status insecurity - interminable worry about how we are seen and what our place is in society in relation to others. This promotes rampant consumerism and materialism as an outlet for social-status competition. We see it every day - an incessant focus in society on who has what. We hear it every day: "... Anywhere yu see mi at any given time, mind pon mi money and mi money pon mi mind, the shotta dem a pree the dollar sign ... ." When this constant status competition and avarice are left unchecked, the result is what we now have: persistent, acquisitive violence.
Young Eric broke into a home to steal food. He was hungry. Poverty causes that. Others break into homes to steal TVs, computers, and, in more than a few cases, innocent lives. Inequality causes that. If we don't find ways to reduce the widening disparities between each other - either through broad-based wealth creation or through progressive redistribution - then our efforts at conquering crime and disorder will prove futile and our society will fall to ruin.
That $7,200 meal doesn't seem quite so appealing, anymore. I think I'll be eating two Mother's fish patties and a coco bread, instead. I pray my date will understand.
Din Duggan is an attorney working as a consultant with a global legal search firm. Email him at columns@gleanerjm.com or dinduggan@gmail.com or view his past columns at facebook.com/dinduggan and twitter.com/YoungDuggan.
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