How the other 1% live

Ocean-side hotels. Satellite television. Private cars. Expats in Liberia live a life of luxury.

Most Liberians walk or, when distances are large, vie for a sweaty spot in an over-crowded taxi. Expats never walk. Instead, they drive--or are driven--in clean, climate-controlled cars.

Most Liberians have no electricity. According to Liberia's Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper, "less than 2 per-cent of rural residents and 10 percent of urban residents have access to electricity." Most, even in Monrovia, light their homes with candles. Expats, in contrast, have 24-hour access to electricity.

Most Liberians have modest toilet facilities. The lucky few share a single "flush toilet"--which must be primed before each flush--with several other households. The less lucky many use rivers, streams, ponds, open-air latrines, or toss-away baggies. Me and my ilk, we have our flush toilet--no pail of water prime required.

Most Liberians purchase small units--a cup of rice, a baggy of oil, a single egg. Expats buy in bulk--a six-pack of bottled water, a pack of cigarettes, a 40-day stay in a luxury hotel.

Liberians subsist. Expats luxuriate, enjoying first-world splendor amidst third-world squalor, leading lives that even affluent Liberians cannot.