The Extracting Elite and Its Consequences

The Extracting Elite and Its Consequences

23 October 2025

I have neither the time nor the appetite to get into this, but it’s too important not to record. Anyone who looks closely at the conflict between the (former) Minister of Finance and the Receiver of Taxes 9Landsontvanger) can see how our economic and administrative elite operates—and what their true priorities are. It all revolves around money and power.

While the non-elite struggles to bear or survive the crushing collective burden, the elite takes care of its own. This is not an isolated case. Scandals such as Ennia, Giro Bank, the Central Bank, BZV, and the hospital construction all reveal the same pattern: the elite looks after itself.

The same self-serving logic explains why it’s so difficult to enforce limits on top salaries. It also sheds light on the paradox that our economy is growing while poverty is rising. The data confirms it: Curaçao’s Gini coefficient was 0.42 in 2011, indicating inequality. By 2023, it had climbed to 0.460—signaling a widening gap between the haves and have-nots. For reference, a Gini coefficient of 0 means perfect equality, while 1 means perfect inequality.

This pattern is not incidental—it is structural. It reflects a global crisis of extractive elites, now laid bare by the collapse of neoliberalism. Around the world, the same story repeats: wealth and decision-making are concentrated in the hands of the few, while the many carry the costs. Here in Curaçao, these global dynamics are compounded by our colonial legacy and the enduring social patterns of slavery—hierarchies of power and privilege that continue to shape our institutions.

This is not a senseless attack on the elite. These are facts. They align perfectly with the thesis of Why Nations Fail: extractive elites make nations poor. An inclusive elite, on the other hand, would create prosperity for all. The real question is whether our leaders will have the courage—and the moral imagination—to end this cycle and finally build a just and inclusive society.

Miguel Goede