I have to admit that I am not a career economist, I rather like statistics and comparing phenomena. If we look at the statistics of each of the Central American countries, Costa Rica is the only country whose numbers give us an idea of how important it is to maintain a state that ensures the dignified conditions of its inhabitants.
El Salvador, Honduras and Nicaragua are increasing the prices of their basic food baskets beyond minimum wages. In Guatemala the situation is more or less level but is on the verge of getting out of control.
What is worrisome about these indices is that any crisis that surprises us, such as a pandemic and the increase in oil prices or a hurricane, are triggers for more inflation. There is no state policy to protect the poor who fall into extreme poverty, but rather there is a protectionist behavior to protect from poverty those who have greater purchasing power, and this is more accentuated in the countries that presume and protect the most corruption as sovereignty.
Generating jobs and more investment only happens in countries with strong governments and institutions. Look at Costa Rica and think of a transnational corporation. You will most likely have offices there. There are clear rules and payment of taxes to institutions, not to politicians as happens in our latitudes.
We can be a prosperous country without protecting the interests of a few and have institutions that serve the country rather than corrupt politicians who presume honesty. Will there be a practical, common sense solution that has validity when the excuses to avoid doing the right thing is to trample on it with an imaginary ideology? Will all this paraphernalia of measuring basic baskets and minimum wages be worth anything to eliminate the common sense that means that we are all human beings and we all deserve the same opportunities or is it just my madness?
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