MEDIUM RARE

Upper middle, middle, or lower middle? The important thing in measuring a nation’s worth, ac-cording to Robert F. Kennedy of the famous JFK family of the United States, is not so much how much it is worth, in figures, as in how happy its people are. Bhutan and Finland are far away from each other, not to mention the wide differences in their geography, history, and culture, but their people are happy in their own way. (Senior citizens will recall how a Finnish beauty, Ms. Kuusela, fell in love with a Filipino, Mr. Hilario, and, because he made her happy, she married him and set up their family here, in Makati.) Filipino economists seem to be looking at the same page when they agree with President Marcos that his aspirations for an “upper-middle income economy” are likely attainable by 2025. Not be-cause we have millions more citizens earning small salaries or profiting from tiny, micro business-es, but because the few wealthy-wealthier-wealthiest individuals have more than enough to make up for the gap? Without data, statistics, graphs or charts, one can see how friends and their families, the friends of their friends, and others within the same social circle may have already attained or surpassed that target. Sure, there aren’t enough of that prosperous class to make up for those of us without work, without savings, without luck. But with only the barest intuition and bald-faced guess-work, I daresay 2025 is already here. For example, in the last two years, 90 cars priced at ₱11 million each were sold by one dealer.   A “simple businessman” who owns a chain of hotels – none in the five-star category – owns an immodest collection of British-made top-of-the-line cars. Not only the very wealthiest have grown or are growing more prosperous. Look at the people shopping, eating in the malls, the crowds growing by the week, with more and more shopping and dining to do. A physical therapist came home after two years in the Middle East and imme-diately poured her savings into building a two-story house for her widowed mother. Working Girl said “yes” to her Computer Geek after he gave her a tour of the farm he had been saving up for, for such an occasion.