I recently moved back from living in Ecuador for four years and I can say the inequality there is far far less than it is in the US. Your point is totally valid in many places, but Ecuador is a weak place to make it.
Carpenters seem to make a fair wage there, it is the norm to buy things that were manufactured by the shop you are buying from and that can range from inexpensive to bespoke and higher end.
As someone else mentioned Ecuador works really well as an economy for the things it gets to keep within its borders, which is a lot since they have a surplus of oil, great agricultural resources etc..
But once you start importing things the gap widens a ton. Cars are very very expensive (the few manufactured locally a bit less so) due to import tariffs. iPhones just aren't really a thing. And getting a big LCD monitor there wasn't even an option at any price, I lugged one in in a suitcase.
The craziest bit is that Ecuador is dollarized, so they don't even get to print their own money!
Carpenters seem to make a fair wage there, it is the norm to buy things that were manufactured by the shop you are buying from and that can range from inexpensive to bespoke and higher end.
As someone else mentioned Ecuador works really well as an economy for the things it gets to keep within its borders, which is a lot since they have a surplus of oil, great agricultural resources etc..
But once you start importing things the gap widens a ton. Cars are very very expensive (the few manufactured locally a bit less so) due to import tariffs. iPhones just aren't really a thing. And getting a big LCD monitor there wasn't even an option at any price, I lugged one in in a suitcase.
The craziest bit is that Ecuador is dollarized, so they don't even get to print their own money!