I went to Sri Lanka several times in my childhood: I even met the US ambassador, on their heli-pad lawn.
The poverty there is palpable and extant. Our landrover was chased by children from teensie villages, as they crossed the field between our hairpin road bends, into the mountains. They wanted money and food.
Most of the arable land is covered in Tea plantations. The gardens cultivated by the people are literally in backyards, and they must grow for nutrition, so mostly root crops and bananas: carrots and potatoes in the highlands.
The country had a thriving tourist industry, which we partook from, and that would have been severely impacted by Covid. Imagine life to become grindingly hungry without that flow of tourists wanting to see elephants bathe, or be climbed on by monkeys, see the snake dance etc. Plus the country had a 'no-cash-leaves-the-country' policy, which forced my parents to buy (and smuggle) precious stones and ruby studded jewellery from peasants, when they left - This would have funded some people's budgets. Remember Ceylon is the Isle of precious stones - but I guess one cannot eat rubies and sapphires. This was long ago, mind you - prolly could not happen now.
22M people. On average, 20% of a population is in the "minor" category (under 18). That leaves 17.6M workers, though generally many are not really workers; retiree's, unemployed, or "out of the labor force.". I don't know how many it is in Sri Lanka, its probably less than the US, but the US is about 50%. I will guess 60% are still working at a minimum. That means about 10M total workers. Of those 1M work for the government, or 10%. Not too far off from Communism at that point. At the least, that is one helluva bureaucracy.
Most of our government workers aren't workers; they're just slackers that kissed ass into a cushy/stable government job for the pension that comes with it.
Our people are heavily in the "Benevolent Monarch" mindset. To them each new president is some kind of savior that they hand over the fate of their lives to.
Zero self-actualization. Be it at the personal or group level. Anyone that does have some sort of self-actualization is seen as weird or privileged. The "gib" mentality is strong.
When the British were forced to give us independence they lamented the fact that the majority of the population was neither politically wise nor independent and would screw up the country in a few decades.
Couple that with the Indian-sponsored LTTE as a means to annex Sri Lanka and you have a population that's disenfranchised, demotivated, and convinced the grass is greener on the other side while keeping their lawn in the dark.
... and to cut the fuel budgets by at least 20%.
I went to Sri Lanka several times in my childhood: I even met the US ambassador, on their heli-pad lawn.
The poverty there is palpable and extant. Our landrover was chased by children from teensie villages, as they crossed the field between our hairpin road bends, into the mountains. They wanted money and food.
Most of the arable land is covered in Tea plantations. The gardens cultivated by the people are literally in backyards, and they must grow for nutrition, so mostly root crops and bananas: carrots and potatoes in the highlands.
The country had a thriving tourist industry, which we partook from, and that would have been severely impacted by Covid. Imagine life to become grindingly hungry without that flow of tourists wanting to see elephants bathe, or be climbed on by monkeys, see the snake dance etc. Plus the country had a 'no-cash-leaves-the-country' policy, which forced my parents to buy (and smuggle) precious stones and ruby studded jewellery from peasants, when they left - This would have funded some people's budgets. Remember Ceylon is the Isle of precious stones - but I guess one cannot eat rubies and sapphires. This was long ago, mind you - prolly could not happen now.
This is all (malicious IMO) mismanagement. Our country is capable of self-sustainability, just doesn't pay for the people in power to encourage it.
Now everyone except the politburo are suffering.
22M people. On average, 20% of a population is in the "minor" category (under 18). That leaves 17.6M workers, though generally many are not really workers; retiree's, unemployed, or "out of the labor force.". I don't know how many it is in Sri Lanka, its probably less than the US, but the US is about 50%. I will guess 60% are still working at a minimum. That means about 10M total workers. Of those 1M work for the government, or 10%. Not too far off from Communism at that point. At the least, that is one helluva bureaucracy.
Ah, the death throes of "Social Democracy."
Most of our government workers aren't workers; they're just slackers that kissed ass into a cushy/stable government job for the pension that comes with it.
Our people are heavily in the "Benevolent Monarch" mindset. To them each new president is some kind of savior that they hand over the fate of their lives to.
Zero self-actualization. Be it at the personal or group level. Anyone that does have some sort of self-actualization is seen as weird or privileged. The "gib" mentality is strong.
When the British were forced to give us independence they lamented the fact that the majority of the population was neither politically wise nor independent and would screw up the country in a few decades.
Couple that with the Indian-sponsored LTTE as a means to annex Sri Lanka and you have a population that's disenfranchised, demotivated, and convinced the grass is greener on the other side while keeping their lawn in the dark.