Rags to Riches: A Bourgeois Myth

Against common sense, hard work and industry do not necessarily translate into prosperity and abundance. Scholarly researches like Irvin Wyllie's "The Self-made Man in America: The Myth of Rags to Riches," and Isabel Diaz's "Enriching Rags to Riches Myth," prove how movement of the lower class people towards the tip of the social pyramid seems to be very difficult, for practically almost everyone in that class. In the Philippines, this myth is but the other side of our colonial thinking, largely inherited from the Spaniards. The latter inculcated into our minds that we are poor because we are indolent. Inversely, we are made to think that if we work, we prosper and succeed.

Of course our knowledge of history will already enlighten us of the economic agenda behind the Spaniards' and all the other colonizers' and neocolonizers' insistence for us to work hard: to advance the profit of the always-already wealthy few. Needless to say, farmers in the country sides who wake up at early dawn and return home late in the afternoon still are considered the poorest in Philippine society (see http://business.inquirer.net/232405/psa-poorest-poor-still). Meanwhile, Eduardo Cojuanco's wealth steadily increased from 2017-2018 (see https://www.forbes.com/profile/eduardo-cojuangco/). In fact, the wealth of the richest 50 Filipinos account for 24% of the total GDP (see https://www.rappler.com/business/179857-henry-sy-forbes-richest-philippines-2017). As the cliche goes, the poor gets poorer, the rich gets richer.