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COLÓN, Panama - On one end of the Panama Canal, the nation's capital gleams with new skyscrapers; a subway, the first in Central America, is under construction; and new malls and restaurants fill with patrons. The city fancies itself a mini-Dubai on the Pacific. Can anybody here say "perfecto!"? I hope so, because it's really not that hard to say. Panama has had a huge amount of economic growth but, just as our economics text book said this weak, economic prosperity does not mean prosperity for all. In Colon, a name which I cannot spell properly because I have no access to accents on this computer, the streets run brown with sewage and there's more crime than 3 Detroits combined... ok, maybe only 2 and a half. Just think of that city from Dishonored, the video game, but worse. But seriously, this is a perfect example how a macroeconomics can't predict the welfare of each individual.

A lot of people have preached in the past about how we should destroy the social class system, about how the difference between wealthy and impoverished is an abomination and that the workers should rise up against their oppressive bosses and show them that the employers need their employees and not the other way around. However, most people probably haven't considered the economic angle to it. I hadn't, till I read this article, and I didn't more than the first few sentences to get me thinking. In a country where 10% can buy whatever they want and the other 90% can barely afford to feed their families, how do you get anything done. Those 90% probably do menial labor all day, creating goods and providing services for the 10% that act as their directors, and while this system works out fine for those 10%, your entire aggregate demand is still comprised of only the wants and needs of a tenth of your population. The fewer people you have with the ability to buy things, the smaller your macro-economic activity will be and, thus, your GDP. Now, while this kind of inequality is not fatal to a countries economic stability, per the previous reasons, it definitely puts it at a disadvantage to countries of equal wealth, resources, and population where demand is spread more evenly per capita.