Why They Are Rioting: An Outline of Egypt's Economic Decline

As we have watched the images of people in Egypt rioting and enduring all kinds of police abuses in the name of freedom, I am sure many of us have been wondering -- what exactly is the trouble in Egypt? Yes, they are living under a de facto dictatorship and that is bad. It's against the principles of freedom that we, as Americans, adhere to, yet the same is true in Cuba, and folks have not taken to the streets there.

What's the underlying issue? It's the same issue that has sent Americans into a similar state of constant protest, although not to the same intense degree: Jobs.

Tea Partiers and other Americans angry at our lack of recent economic progress might be shocked to learn that the average Egyptian lives on less than $2 a day. And this level of financial desperation is the result of decades of government neglect. Yahoo News reports that, "the unprecedented anger on Arab streets is at its core a long-brewing rage against decades of economic imbalances that have rewarded the political elite and left many others on the margins." So while we in the African American community might be struggling with double digit unemployment, in Egypt (and similarly in Tunisia) most citizens have been struggling with poverty for decades. Decades. Eventually, something had to give.

I would bomb something, too.

The Business Insider has unearthed a series of charts that outline Egypt's economic issues in terms of massive agricultural inflation (which makes food prices soar), painfully stagnant income growth, tremendous public anxiety over individual earnings and other shockingly weak financial benchmarks -- shocking because Egypt is America's most powerful middle eastern ally. To top it all off, wages in Egypt are on a steady decline. On a decline from an average of $2 a day? No wonder people have seized this moment to take to the streets and oust the government forcefully that has done them so wrong for so long.

The people of Egypt are fighting their own army for the same things that people in America are lucky enough to be able to battle for at the ballot box. We take it for granted that in a properly functioning democracy we can vote in or out the officials that help us in our lives, or do nothing to make it better. So while on the surface the unrest in Egypt is about the lack of real democracy, the underlying motivation is the dollars and sense survival. Fighting the police in mortal combat is unfortunately the only means the people of Egypt have to make their case.

As Americans concerned about jobs on a wholly different level, I hope we can still understand their need and sympathize with Egypt as they try to transition from a false democracy into a truly democratic system that reflects what Egypt needs on an economic level. As President Obama begins to weigh in on the situation, I hope he keeps in mind the financial motivations the people of Egypt have. Just as it is here, in Egypt it is also about jobs. Any new government that replaces that of Egypt's President Hosni Mubarak needs to be both democratically sound and ready to provide real economic solutions for the people.