There are fewer regulations for business in Haiti. Companies seldom have to deal with unions or government inspectors. There are lots of unemployed people in Haiti, so businesses have lots of competition for labor, which means very low wages. Employees, if they want their jobs, have to acquiesce to whatever workplace standards the business sets.
Taxation is low, mostly because the poor can’t pay any taxes anyways.
Primary education is mostly done by NGOs, communities, and churches. Not much government finance or oversight. On the other hand, Haiti faces shortages of skilled workers, including in the trades.
Haiti is an exporter of textiles and agricultural goods. But all the economic assets to produce these goods are owned by an elite class, which have dominated politics and commerce for two centuries. There is little upward mobility in Haiti. Even its middle class are subservient to the elites.
Most wealthy and middle-class neighborhoods have their own generators and water reservoirs. The public infrastructure does not work well—because no one really pays taxes to finance it. The poor fend for themselves for electricity and water.
Sewage for the middle class and wealthy is routed somewhere else, with no real concerns of where that really is. The poor just dump their sewage on the streets—only to bring it back in their homes as they walk on it. But hey, but there are very few environmental laws to interfere with the free will of all citizens!
Crime in rife in Haiti. The police work mostly for the rich; the police don’t have resources to deal with crime in the poor districts.
No building codes either in Haiti. People have the freedom to build more earthquake-proof and hurricane-proof buildings—or not!
The rich fend for themselves. They have their own schools and universities for their children. Their neighborhoods are well guarded. They have their own hospitals. For sure, the rich are not a burden on Haitian society.
There are few social programs in Haiti (again no taxes to pay for them). If the poor can’t afford a social service of any kind, they just don’t get it. There are no handouts or handups. If they are poor, it is their fault, right?
Haiti has very little taxation, few regulations, and everyone is reliant on their own efforts. This country is indeed a libertarian’s dream world.
Published in Writerbeat 2017
