Highbrow Magazine - poor https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/poor en What Could a Paul Ryan Vice Presidency Mean to the Nation’s Poor? https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/1467-what-could-paul-ryan-vice-presidency-mean-nation-s-poor <div class="field field-name-field-cat field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/news-features" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">News &amp; Features</a></div></div></div><span class="submitted-by">Submitted by tara on Mon, 08/13/2012 - 17:49</span><div class="field field-name-field-image field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="og:image rdfs:seeAlso" resource="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/field/image/2mediumpaulryan%28GageSkidmore%29.jpg?itok=20AAQi-n"><img typeof="foaf:Image" src="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/field/image/2mediumpaulryan%28GageSkidmore%29.jpg?itok=20AAQi-n" width="480" height="321" alt="" /></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><p>  </p> <p> In an apparent off-the-cuff remark, Wisconsin Rep. Paul Ryan gushed that he thought it was a “cool thing” that an African-American was president. But Ryan’s rapture with President Obama didn’t last past the first sentence. In the next breath he quickly added that he didn’t like much else about Obama. The much else was how much Obama has spent on health, education and job development programs that would help the poor and minorities. That spending has been fiscal heresy for Ryan.</p> <p>  </p> <p> His savage cost-cutting plan is well-known. He’d cut tens of billions from Medicaid and Medicare, and more than a trillion from everything from food stamps to welfare over the next decade. The Ryan slash-and-burn plan mercifully hasn’t happened during his tenure as House Budget Committee Chair. But as Vice President Ryan, he would be in a commanding position to make his cost-cutting plan a nightmare come true for the poor and minorities.</p> <p>  </p> <p> The key to that is winning the vice presidency. In distant times past, the vice presidency was little more than a ceremonial, title-leaden position that carried little authority, and almost no power to make, shape or change public policy. Presidential candidates picked vice presidents mostly to shore up their perceived political or ideological weakness, be it sectionalism, inexperience, image, or on domestic or foreign policy expertise. The VP was there to balance a ticket, and help a presidential contender win, and nothing more. But that was in the distant past.</p> <p>  </p> <p> The vice presidential pick has morphed into a high-stakes game in the evolution of presidential politics. The VP is now much more than just a standard dressing-up of the presidential ticket. He or she must be able to actually help a presidential candidate win first and foremost, or at worse not help him lose. There were times in past elections when VPs have made a difference. Lyndon Johnson in 1960 is the textbook example of that. He brought legislative savvy, he was a Southerner then still in good stead, and he could deliver two or three Deep South states. He did his job. Bush Sr. also helped Reagan in 1980. He brought experience, insider connections, and as a transplanted Southerner, the regional balance that Reagan needed. And he was moderate enough to give Reagan a little edge with moderate Republicans. But the vice president has become much more than that.</p> <p>  </p> <p> A vice president is now directly involved in discussing, implementing and even helping to formulate domestic and foreign policy. Vice Presidents chair presidential committees and commissions. They are consulted and make recommendations on major policy decisions and changes. They are often the hit men on controversial policy issues and during elections they are on the campaign trail to say what the president often can’t say. Clinton’s VP Al Gore and Bush’s VP Dick Cheney played the role of adviser and point man on important issues. Obama VP Joe Biden plays the same role. In any case, the VP is now often right in the center of presidential politics and the national political debate.</p> <p>  </p> <p> Ryan would be even more at the center of that debate and decision-making. He was picked in large part not to balance the Romney ticket, but because of his budget hammering big stick. A Romney White House will not only listen to him, but rely heavily on him on policy decisions involving spending slashes, almost all of it involving crucial domestic programs.</p> <p>  </p> <p> <img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/MediumObamaPhoto_3.jpg" style="width: 500px; height: 334px; " /></p> <p>  </p> <p> This would come at the worst possible time for the poor and minorities. The poor are not only getting poorer, they are also more numerous than any time in the last half-century and have slipped even further behind in wealth and income disparities. Other reports repeatedly confirm that a disproportionate number of the poor are blacks and Hispanics. The single biggest reason for their plunge downward is the relentless pecking away at federal spending on enhancement programs in health care, education, job and skills training, and the massive cutbacks and downsizing in the public employment sector.</p> <p>  </p> <p> This has been coupled with a colossal leap in the fortunes of the rich and major corporations. Their wealth bounty has soared through a benign and porous tax and regulatory system that has given the taxpayer company store away to them. The Ryan plan would be a dream come true for them. It would shove out even more of the tax cut bounty to the wealthiest, and do absolutely nothing to insure that any of the tax cut giveaway go towards investment in new job creation. The cuts would leave the tattered safety net for the poor in even greater tatters. It doesn’t take a soothsayer to predict that the number of poor will skyrocket even more under the Ryan plan.</p> <p>  </p> <p> Ryan knows he’s in a commanding position. He told an interviewer during the Republican presidential candidate’s debates that all the Republican candidates believed his plan was the best plan for the country. Tea Party Express leader Amy Kremer was in delirium in stating that selecting Ryan “proved” Romney was committed to their draconian economic hatchet plan. Unfortunately for the poor, in a Romney White House, VP Ryan could make the nightmare happen.</p> <p>  </p> <p> <strong>Author Bio:</strong></p> <p> <em>Earl Ofari Hutchinson is an author and political analyst. He is a frequent political commentator on MSNBC and a weekly co-host of the</em> Al Sharpton Show on American Urban Radio Network. <em>He is the author of</em> How Obama Governed: The Year of Crisis and Challenge. <em>He is an associate editor of</em> New America Media. <em>He is the host of the weekly Hutchinson Report on </em>KPFK-Radio and the Pacifica Network.</p> <p>  </p> <p> <a href="http://newamericamedia.org/2012/08/vp-ryan----a-nightmare-for-the-poor-and-minorities.php">New America Media</a></p> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-tags field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/paul-ryan" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Paul Ryan</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/vice-presidency" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Vice presidency</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/mitt-rommey" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Mitt Rommey</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/republicans" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Republicans</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/gop" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">GOP</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/democrats-president-obama" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Democrats President Obama</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/running-mate" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">running mate</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/tea-party" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Tea Party</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/medicaid" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">medicaid</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/social-security" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Social Security</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/medicare" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">medicare</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/health-care" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">health care</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/budget-cuts" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">budget cuts</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/poor" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">poor</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/poor-0" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">the poor</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/unemployment" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">unemployment</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/minorities" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">minorities</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-author field-type-text field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Earl Ofari Hutchinson</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-pop field-type-list-boolean field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Popular:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">not popular</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-photographer field-type-text field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Photographer:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Gage Skidmore, Flickr</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-bot field-type-list-boolean field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Bottom Slider:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Out Slider</div></div></div> Mon, 13 Aug 2012 21:49:00 +0000 tara 1395 at https://www.highbrowmagazine.com https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/1467-what-could-paul-ryan-vice-presidency-mean-nation-s-poor#comments Why ‘Fighting Poverty’ Is No Longer a Theme in This Year’s Election https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/1440-why-fighting-poverty-no-longer-theme-year-s-elections <div class="field field-name-field-cat field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/news-features" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">News &amp; Features</a></div></div></div><span class="submitted-by">Submitted by tara on Thu, 08/02/2012 - 16:36</span><div class="field field-name-field-image field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="og:image rdfs:seeAlso" resource="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/field/image/mediumpovertylevels_0.jpg?itok=R8Opmqc1"><img typeof="foaf:Image" src="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/field/image/mediumpovertylevels_0.jpg?itok=R8Opmqc1" width="480" height="268" alt="" /></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><p>  </p> <p> From <a href="http://newamericamedia.org/2012/07/poverty-issue-missing-on-the-presidential-campaign-trail.php">New America Media</a>:</p> <p>  </p> <p>  Two reports issued the same day tell of two appalling realities—the poor are getting poorer, and the rich are getting richer. Yet there is not a faint mention of the word poverty on the presidential trail.</p> <p>  </p> <p> One report on an AP survey shows that the poor are not only getting poorer, they are also more numerous than any time in the last half-century. The other report from the Tax Justice Network finds that the super-rich are not only getting richer, they are also squirreling tens of trillions in offshore tax havens, far outside the reaches of the U.S. and other nation’s tax collectors.</p> <p>  </p> <p> Wealthy Americans are amply represented among the offshore tax evaders. This money could bankroll business startups, expand businesses, fatten federal and state tax revenues, and create thousands of new jobs. This would do much to blunt the steady rise in the number of those that slip into the poverty ranks.</p> <p>  </p> <p> The devastating impact of poverty on American economic life is well-known. It wastes the talents, energy, and productive potential of many in the work force. In some communities, it increases crime which overburdens the police, the courts, and prisons, and makes doing business in these areas more costly. It strains the health care and welfare systems. It leads to a bigger tax drain on the middle-class. It sharply reduces the ability of thousands of consumers to purchase goods and services, further crimping business growth and reducing government tax revenues.</p> <p>  </p> <p> There are several reasons why “fighting poverty” isn’t a theme in the presidential contest. First, defining who is poor is a challenge. Apart from the visibly homeless, those rummaging around on skid row, and residents of if the poorest and most recognizable urban inner-city communities, there are people who can easily be considered working, or even middle-class one day but suddenly poor the next due to the loss of a job and tangible income.</p> <p>  </p> <p> This makes the poor even more diffuse and hard to typecast. They cut across all ethnic, gender, religious and even political party lines. There are low-income persons in the South, Middle-America, and the rural areas that are conservative and vote for the GOP.</p> <p>  </p> <p> Another reason is that the poor do not have an advocacy group to bat for them with lawmakers compared with labor, civil rights, education, environmental, or abortion rights supporters. This further increases their political invisibility.</p> <p>  </p> <p> The poor had loud champions during a brief moment in the 1960s, when a small band of anti-poverty groups and organizers got the attention of the Johnson Administration. They shouted, cajoled, and actively lobbied LBJ for a major expansion of anti-poverty programs, funding, and initiatives to reduce poverty in the nation. But the anti-poverty crusade quickly fell victim to President Johnson’s Vietnam War buildup and the increased shrill attacks from conservatives that painted the war on poverty as a scam to reward deadbeats and loafers.</p> <p>  </p> <p> Another reason for the silence about poverty on the campaign trail is that the national economic and fiscal emphasis is on how to hack away tens of billions from spending on domestic and even the once sacred military programs. President Obama and GOP presidential contender Mitt Romney fiercely arm wrestle over which one can best bring down the deficit, reduce spending, decrease taxes, get rid of wasteful programs and they spar over how best to protect the interests of the middle class. It’s about votes, and a pro-middle-class, diminished spending line, appeals to centrists, and independents that both Romney and Obama are banking on for victory.</p> <p>  </p> <p> The biggest reason that politicians don’t dare make poverty a political issue is that the existence of so many poor people flies in the face of the embedded laissez faire notion that the poor aren’t poor because of the hyper-concentration of wealth, or worse, any failing of the system; they’re poor because of their personal failings. Even many among the poor blame themselves for their poverty. They blame it on bad luck, lack of education and skills, or on alcohol and drug problems. These are certainly reasons why some fall into poverty or remain chronically poor but they are at best peripheral to the real cause of rising poverty—the control by a relatively handful of the bulk of the nation’s income, resources, and productive wealth.</p> <p>  </p> <p> The poor will continue to grow in numbers, but they are nameless, faceless, and voiceless. This insures that poverty will remain missing from the presidential campaign trail.</p> <p>  </p> <p> <strong>Author Bio: </strong></p> <p> <em>Earl Ofari Hutchinson is an author and political analyst. He is a frequent political commentator on MSNBC and a weekly co-host of the Al Sharpton Show on American Urban Radio Network. He is the author of How Obama Governed: The Year of Crisis and Challenge. He is an associate editor of New America Media. He is the host of the weekly Hutchinson Report on KPFK-Radio and the Pacifica Network.</em></p> <p>  </p> <p> <a href="http://newamericamedia.org/2012/07/poverty-issue-missing-on-the-presidential-campaign-trail.php">New America Media</a></p> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-tags field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/poverty-united-stated" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">poverty in the United Stated</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/poverty-levels" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">poverty levels</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/unemployment" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">unemployment</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/jobs" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">jobs</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/joblessness" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">joblessness</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/poor" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">poor</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/civil-rights" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">civil rights</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/education" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">education</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/lbj" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">LBJ</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/welfare" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">welfare</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-author field-type-text field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Earl Ofari Hutchinson</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-pop field-type-list-boolean field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Popular:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">not popular</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-photographer field-type-text field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Photographer:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"> New America Media</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-bot field-type-list-boolean field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Bottom Slider:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Out Slider</div></div></div> Thu, 02 Aug 2012 20:36:25 +0000 tara 1339 at https://www.highbrowmagazine.com https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/1440-why-fighting-poverty-no-longer-theme-year-s-elections#comments Vietnam Promises ‘La Dolce Vita’ Only for Those Who Can Afford It https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/1058-vietnam-promises-la-dolce-vita-only-those-who-can-afford-it <div class="field field-name-field-cat field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/travel" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Travel</a></div></div></div><span class="submitted-by">Submitted by tara on Tue, 03/20/2012 - 20:53</span><div class="field field-name-field-image field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="og:image rdfs:seeAlso" resource="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/field/image/mediumvietnam.jpg?itok=djQtfabV"><img typeof="foaf:Image" src="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/field/image/mediumvietnam.jpg?itok=djQtfabV" width="480" height="320" alt="" /></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><p>  </p> <p> From <a href="http://newamericamedia.org/news/">New America Media</a> and <a href="http://nguoi-viet.com/nv2_default.asp">Nguoi Viet</a></p> <p>  </p> <p>  It has been months since Le Thi Nu has had breakfast. A street vendor who travels around Hanoi on a bicycle selling plastic slippers, high prices have forced her to cut spending on eating, even though a baguette would cost 15 cents.</p> <p>           </p> <p> Standing outside a crowded restaurant on Quan Su Street, where a bowl of soup would cost more than half her monthly income, she finds it difficult to come to terms with the spending of the rich.</p> <p>  </p> <p> “The money they spend on a meal here may be enough for my family live on for a month,” she said.</p> <p>            </p> <p> Cao Huy Binh and his friends, on the other hand, are unfazed by the high prices as they enter the crowded restaurant. They order beer, grilled shrimp, fried cuttlefish and chicken hotpot after finding the only empty table near the window.</p> <p>            </p> <p> In the hot and crowded kitchen, a chef pours more sauce into a big wok full of appetizing beef chunks. Binh, who has made it to the restaurant after being stuck for nearly an hour in a traffic jam in light drizzle, says he meets and eats with his friends at such restaurants every Friday evening.</p> <p>          </p> <p>  “It is a way of relaxing after a week of hard work. If I do not dine out with them, I would do it with my wife and children,” he said.</p> <p>  </p> <p>  Binh, the director of a trading company, also often invites his business partners to restaurants to enjoy a meal and discuss work. “I could not cut back on dining out, even if everything is more expensive,” he said.</p> <p>  </p> <p>  With a basic monthly salary of $1,000 in a country where the annual per capita income is $1,200, Binh and his friends do not mind that their dinner costs nearly $200.</p> <p>  </p> <p>  This is good news for restaurants, and shows why they have been able to take inflation and recession very lightly, especially in big cities like Hanoi and Saigon.</p> <p>  </p> <p> According to the General Statistics Office, consumer prices, which increased 18.58 percent in 2011, climbed 16.44 percent in February from a year earlier. However, there are no signs of gloom in the food and beverage market in Vietnam. Luxury restaurants serving choice French baguettes, Italian pizza and pasta, Japanese sushi or Thai curries are crowded with customers, especially during weekends or other holidays.</p> <p>  </p> <p> The representative of a five-star hotel in Hanoi said, “We are not finding that people are spending less. They are spending more.</p> <p>   </p> <p>  “Vietnamese people are very rich. It is nothing for them to splurge $1,000 to $2,000 for a feast for several people,” she said. “On Valentine’s Day, all of our restaurants were full, and most of the customers were Vietnamese.”</p> <p>  </p> <p> Over half of her hotel’s food and beverage customers are Vietnamese, who are often businesspeople or those with well-paid jobs in foreign companies or powerful state-owned enterprises in banking, finance, information technology and insurance sectors.</p> <p>  </p> <p> Foreign customers often come here to work and they don’t want to spend much money on food, she said. The higher earnings from food and beverage help offset the reduction of room bookings because of a lower number of foreign visitors amid the global economic recession. Food and beverage revenues account for 30 percent of her hotel’s turnover, she said.</p> <p>  </p> <p> <strong>Not affected</strong></p> <p> Explaining big spending on dining out amid high inflation, economist Nguyen Minh Phong of the Hanoi Socioeconomic Research Institute said whether it is inflation, war or some other crisis, there are still people who are not affected and even earn much money in such situations. These people still have a demand for consumption, and particularly for dining out.</p> <p>  </p> <p> “The state does not ban it, so their spending is legal,” he said. “This is also a sign of the expanding middle class.”</p> <p>   </p> <p> Nguyen Thuy Hoa, manager for the Korean restaurant chain Sochu, which has two outlets in Hanoi, said inflation only affects common and poor people, not the middle and higher-income ones like her customers. “The number of customers has not gone down. We still receive 300 to 500 customers every day.”</p> <p>  </p> <p> Dining out has become an indispensable activity for many urban middle-income people.</p> <p>  </p> <p> “I like to escape from cooking and washing up at least once a week. Dining out with family helps me really relax,” said Le Thu Trang, staff of a Hanoi-based commercial bank, as she waited to be served at another upscale restaurant in Hanoi.</p> <p>  </p> <p> “We don’t want to save money by giving up the habit of dining out. If necessary, we would cut spending on some luxurious consumer products.”</p> <p>   </p> <p> According to results of the Nielsen Global Online Survey done for the fourth quarter of 2011, 6.7 percent of consumers’ total monthly budget is allocated for dining out.</p> <p>  </p> <p> “Like other industries, we would expect consumers to react and adjust their budget accordingly to inflation. Similar to other developing markets, inflation would impact the lower-class segment or laborers much more relative to the upper-middle class group who have more flexibility with their budgets,” the Nielsen report said. The survey also found that consumers would slightly cut back on dining out if their monthly budget decreased by 10 percent.</p> <p>  </p> <p> <strong>Big potential</strong></p> <p>  It is clear that the restaurant industry has managed to avoid the worst of the tough economic situation, which has hit most businesses hard. Instead many new restaurants are springing up and existing ones are expanding.</p> <p>   </p> <p>  “It’s a trend the food and beverage industry is hoping continues for some time to come,” said one industry insider who did not want to be named. Baskin-Robbins, the world’s largest chain of ice cream specialty shops, recently opened three shops in Saigon through its Vietnamese partner, Blue Star Foods. Since its first store opened in Vietnam in 1997, the number of KFC restaurants in the country increased to 100 late last year and is expected to double by 2015. Many other restaurant chains, including famous foreign brands like Pizza Hut, Lotteria, Subway and Domino’s Pizza also have expanded operations in Vietnam.</p> <p>  </p> <p> “With a young population, Vietnam in general and Saigon in particular, presents a big potential for brands like Domino’s and we target the younger crowd,” said Di Nguyen, marketing manager for Domino’s Pizza in Vietnam.</p> <p>  </p> <p> “Currently we have five shops in Saigon and anticipate rapid growth to over 25 nationwide in the next five years.”</p> <p>  </p> <p> Said economist Phong, “With a population of nearly 90 million and an expanding middle class, Vietnam is a consumption market with large potential, especially in restaurants and luxurious products.”</p> <p>  </p> <p> Le Bich Diep, marketing and communication manager of Golden Gate, which owns more than 40 dining outlets nationwide, including the Kichi Kichi hotpot restaurants, said the market is very big and people are ready to spend a lot on eating out.</p> <p>  </p> <p> “Demand for dining out is very large. I myself see no restaurants shutting down due to having no customers,” she said. Late last year, her company opened one more restaurant in Hanoi, and is seeking sites to open more in the near future, Diep said.</p> <p>  </p> <p> <strong>Widening gap</strong></p> <p> While plastic slipper vendor Nu ruminates over her plight and wonders how others have so much to spend, economist Phong says the gap between the rich and the poor is rising in the country.</p> <p>  </p> <p>  “The rich can spend millions of dollars on a car, while it is difficult for the poor to afford a bicycle. This is an issue not only in Vietnam, but worldwide.”</p> <p>  </p> <p> “However, the big gap is a matter of concern in a tough economic situation,” he said. “The government should implement more social welfare policies for the poor, strengthen anti-corruption measures, and levy special consumption taxes on some luxurious items to ensure a measure of fairness in the society.”</p> <p>  </p> <p> <a href="http://newamericamedia.org/2012/03/inflation-and-the-good-life-in-vietnam-if-you-can-afford-it.php">New America Media</a></p> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-tags field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/vietnam" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Vietnam</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/saigon" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Saigon</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/hanoi" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Hanoi</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/poor" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">poor</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/rich" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">rich</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/poverty-gap" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">poverty gap</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/restaurants" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">restaurants</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/high-prices" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">high prices</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/food" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Food</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/street-vendors" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">street vendors</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-author field-type-text field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Nguoi Viet</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-pop field-type-list-boolean field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Popular:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">not popular</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-photographer field-type-text field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Photographer:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Bao Tri Nguyen, Flickr</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-bot field-type-list-boolean field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Bottom Slider:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Out Slider</div></div></div> Wed, 21 Mar 2012 00:53:37 +0000 tara 665 at https://www.highbrowmagazine.com https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/1058-vietnam-promises-la-dolce-vita-only-those-who-can-afford-it#comments