Headline September 10, 2016/ ''' POOR NATIONS : *IN - EKING - BY* '''

''' POOR NATIONS : 

*IN - EKING - BY* '''

AMID ALL THE MUDSLINGING and soul searching about poverty and global migration, one thing is ever so often overlooked :  *The Money*.

The millions by millions of migrant workers who drill for oil,  deliver your pizza or take care of older adults far from home sent nearly  $582 billion back to their respective countries in 2015,  according to the World Bank.

For developing countries, the money sent home by  *native sons and daughters*   was more than three times as much as those as received in foreign aid.

The diaspora kicked in especially in the aftermath of natural disasters like the  2015 earthquake in Nepal,  when money sent home by Nepalese abroad helped many, many victims survive.

Countries like Pakistan, India and Egypt that sent many laborers to Persian Gulf countries saw their remittances dip last year because of  falling oil prices, the World Bank found.

Countries like  Tajikistan, whose citizens often work in Russia, were hit even harder because the Russian ruble also slid in value.

Even so, remittances have become crucial in relieving some of the world's poorest people from hunger and want, just as they have become a major revenue source for a number of fragile nations.

Remittances sent to  Nepal  equal a whopping  29.4 per cent of the country's entire economic output. A separate  World Bank study concluded that remittances were the main reason that poverty had declined so sharply there in recent years.

Not only do the families of the migrant workers benefit, the study found; so does everybody else, when the families spend that money locally.

Here are some more examples of places where remittances account for a big chunk the economy:

.- Tajikistan  37 per cent.

.-  Kyrgyzstan 30 percent.

.-  Tonga 27 percent.

.-  Liberia 24 percent.

.-  Haiti 23 percent.

.-  The West Bank and the Gaza strip 17 percent.

.-  Lebanon 16 percent.

Where is all this money coming from?  A lot of it is earned in the  United States, where emigrants sent  $54 billion in remittances to their home countries in 2015.

Saudi Arabia was next with  $37 billion.

Those global money flows  are a business in themselves,  with companies like Western Union  profiting  handsomely. Transaction costs  can take a substantial bite:

The world average is about  7  percent  for a $200 transfer.

When countries around the world signed on to the  United Nations Sustainable Development  Goals,  one thing they pledged to do was to get those fees down to 3  percent or less. 

That is truly good!

So on one hand, all of the above and on the other, at the Street Scene, Goldman Sachs discovers the  *common man*  on its new path to profits.

It is not just coincidence that after 147 years of serving institutions and the very  ultra-wealthy , Goldman Sachs has decided that it will start catering to the common man. It is opportunism borne of necessity.

The years since the  financial crisis  have not been particularly kind to Goldman Sachs's  moneymaking machine  -not that anyone is weeping for the company or the people who work there- despite an improving economy and record numbers of corporate financings, and mergers and acquisitions.

In the last three fiscal years,  Goldman has made a cumulative pretax profit of about  $33 billion.

By contrast,  JP Morgan Chase, the biggest bank in the united States by assets, has had cumulative pretax profit of $87 billion, nearly three times as much.

In 2007,  Goldman and JP Morgan were much more evenly matched when it came to profitability. 

Goldman made  $17.6 billion pretax profit in 2007; JP Morgan made nearly $23 billion.

And all this wealth creation,  as the poverty ridden world,  worries and worries,  about as simple a thing. as just, getting by.

With respectful dedication to the Leaders, Students, Professors and Teachers of the world. See Ya all on !WOW!   -the World Students society and !E-WOW!  -the ecosystem 2011:

''' The Common Student '''

Good Night and God Bless

SAM Daily Times - the Voice of the Voiceless