Inequality, buried in bureaucratese

Sometimes, you just know you're living in a different country. (Actually, you know this all the time, just from how differently things smell and the way you have to decide between foreign and domestic Corn Flakes and the fact that it rains at the same time every day. But sometimes, you REALLY know.)

Today, in the blast of news that comes from the press folks at the Planalto, which is to say, the Brazilian White House, the second item struck me:

"Employers of Domestic Workers Have Until Wednesday To Pay Social Security For March"

In the United States, we usually hear only about social security contributions for housekeepers and nannies and gardeners when some politician failed to pay it and their nomination is thus in jeopardy.

But in Brazil, where the Right to Domestic Help is practically written into the Middle Class Constitution (somewhere after the Right to Run Red Lights in the Middle of the Night So You Don't Get Carjacked), it's urgent news for a good chunk of society. Actually, two chunks: the employers and the employees.  Here are a few paragraphs from the full press release, with Brazilian currency translated into U.S. dollars, that provide a nice insight into inequality here.

The deadline for payment to the National Institute of Social Security...is this coming Wednesday the 15th...

Those who opted for the Simplified Plan also have until next Wednesday to pay their contributions. The rate is 11% on the minimum wage of $214 a month, which comes to $23.50. For everyone else, the contribution is $42.73 (20%). That is 12% from the employer and 8% from the employee...

For domestic workers who receive more than the minimum wage, the rate tables for this year were readjusted in February. The percentages are 8% for those who make between $214 and $444 a month, 9% for those who make $444 to $739 a month, and 11% for those who make $739 and $1479 a month. (The rate for employers is always 12%.)"

Earlier today, I was talking with David Leiner and Claudia Barbosa, founder and president of the non-profit organization that runs the Starfish School, an alternative school for poor children in the northeastern city of Maceió. Frustrated with what they consider the criminally poor public education available there, they are trying to provide a different career path for the children of domestic servants and similarly paid workers. To be sure, the problems facing Brazilian education are myriad, but among them is the subconscious incentive the rest of society has to keep the underclass uneducated. Or, to put it another way, willing to clean their houses full-time for $2,564 a year.

http://www.globalpost.com/notebook/brazil/090413/inequality-buried-bureaucratese