A steady pace would make markets and businesses less volatile and consequently help make the poor less vulnerable and the middle class more secure. So it may be that slum dwellers like Wannee may eventually get to live in new houses as governments regain the ability to pay for social projects. But it will take longer for other aspects of their lives to improve. The fallout from the Crisis is not only financial. As incomes drop and public-welfare programs are cut back, medical care becomes unreachable.
Poor families run the risk of rearing a generation of sickly children.
Malnutrition among school-age children is another social cost. Don't forget intellectual starvation. Over the past two years, many Asian children have been taken out of school and sent to work to contribute to the family income. Absenteeism in the classroom has increased along with the number of dropouts, with older children leaving school earlier and younger ones starting later. In the information age, the future of the uneducated is bleak.