Money makes the world go round
Balanced budget. [Photo credit: matchpoint.nyc]
By Karl Garcia
Election time once again, and I am sure money will always be in issue.
A wise man once said, “Money is no object, because it is always the subject.”
My first article submitted to the Society was about Monetary Sovereignty and Government Spending.
The article can be summarized as follows:
So if we look at what ought to be simple and not rocket science . . . growing GDP . . . we find that the PROCESS of doing that requires at least some kind of science. Maybe it is called applied economics.
Funding debt in pesos so that the choices between military spending and education are not so hard. Removing the constraint of foreign debt.
Getting rid of the barriers to spending (improved budgeting and slow procurement processes) and the drain of corruption.
Making LGU’s a part of the dynamic growth process rather than being along for the ride.
MMT and Taxation
This article will open up a discussion to further understand the MMT concept Micha introduced in her blog, Money Matters.
From that article, Micha has this to say about taxation.
If the sovereign gov’t has the unconstrained ability to spend, why tax at all? Before the adoption of the fiat system, it was necessary for sovereign gov’ts to have revenue source if its gold hoard is inadequate to permit monetary expansion.
Today, taxes assume an entirely different role. We have already covered this in a previous discussion bago naging national celebrity si Manong Joe so I will just outsource this taxation rationale here: Philip Pilkington: Taxation, Government Spending, the National Debt and MMT.
The necessity for a government to tax in order to maintain both its independence and its solvency, is true for state and local governments, but it is not true for a national government.
Two changes of the greatest consequence have occurred in the last twenty-five years, which has substantially altered the position of the national state with respect to the financing of its current requirements.
The first of these changes is the gaining of vast new experience in the management of central banks.
The second change is the elimination, for domestic purposes, of the convertibility of the currency into gold.
Taxes can be made to serve four principal purposes of a social and economic character:
1. As an instrument of fiscal policy to help stabilize the purchasing power of a country’s currency;
2. To express public policy in the distribution of wealth and income, as in the case of the progressive income and estate taxes;
3. To express public policy in subsidizing or penalizing various industries and economic groups;
4. To isolate and assess directly the costs of certain national benefits, such as highways and social security.
“…taxing is never to be undertaken merely because the government needs to make money payments. Taxation should be imposed only when it is desirable that the taxpayers shall have less money to spend, for example, when they would otherwise spend enough to bring about inflation.” – Aba Lerner”
We can draw a conclusion that taxation is optional. But is it really optional?
The proposal of the Binay camp to spare the income bracket of those earning 30,000 PHP a month or below from paying income taxes raised eyebrows. What will be the catch?
National Budget
Another money issue is the National budget.
As citizens, do we really need to know all about the National Budget? I suppose we all should have a general understanding of the budget.
Popoy gave us his pie chart to show a picture of how the money is spent and who gets a bigger slice and who gets the smaller. DBM through their Budget ng Bayan Series explains the budget preparation.
We always had issues in budget and chief among them is the pork barrel, then the DAP.
There were other high profile issues that gained notoriety because budget deliberations were not open. If we recall senator Lacson exposed Villar’s budget insertions in the C5 extension anomaly. And most recently, the funds for contraceptives were allegedly slashed by 1 billion during bicameral budget discussions, out of sight of public record.
I suggest that budget deliberations be open to the necessary civil society watch dog.
Social Security and Welfare
When the subject is money, we have to think about Social Security and Welfare.
A bill that is supposed to be a landmark bill for poverty alleviation called Magna Carta for the Poor was vetoed by the president because it had provisions on housing that almost equaled the entire budget.
I suggest the next administration push for the bill that institutionalizes the Conditional Cash Transfer program (CCT).
A bill that increases pensioners of SSS to 2000 was vetoed. The palace gave the explanation.
“. . . the proposed increase of P2,000 per retiree, multiplied by the present number of more than two million pensioners, will result in a total payout of P56 billion annually. Compared against an annual investment income of P30 billion to P40 billion, such total payment for pensioners will yield a deficit of P16 billion to P26 billion annually.’ [Comm Sec. Coloma]
Bill in Oz had an excellent article The SSS in the Philippines. Being an observer from the outside, he studied our situation first and offered solutions. He also gave us a glimpse of the Australian system.
Bill suggested that these are the consequences of our system.
Consequences
There are some serious consequences for Philippine society from the way this worker Insurance system is structured:
There is no unemployment benefit for anyone in the workforce, whether permanent, casual, temporary or contract. This is a major defect.
Casuals, temporary workers and sub contractors have no coverage at all under the Philippines SSS. If casual employees are injured or disabled at work, they are not covered. Women who get pregnant are not covered. And there is no welfare system to provide for such people. The only option available is to rely on help from family. This is a major defect.
When casuals, temporary workers, or trainees get old, there is no real pension available for them. They may get a little from Aquino’s Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (CCT). They, again, have to rely on help for everything from family. This is a major defect.
When peasant farmers and their families are injured or become disabled there is no coverage apart from what is granted under Aquino’s Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (CCT).
Because there is a significant extra employment cost for employers with ‘permanent’ employees, there is a big incentive for employers to avoid hiring permanent employees. Instead there is an incentive to hire ‘endos’ (casuals), temporaries or ‘trainees’ for 5 months and then let them go with the more skilled or ‘valued’ ones being rehired after a break. This causes churn in the workforce, with constant anxiety. I suggest it also causes loss of job skills. In recent years, permanent employees as a percentage of the workforce has been falling.
The “Cap’ on contributions to SSS at 15,000 pesos has perverse consequences. Hypothetically, it ‘helps’ permanent workers now by limiting what they are compelled to pay. But is this reality? I suggest it is not. The cap prevents individual workers from providing for their own futures by making extra SSS payments. (This is a feature of Superannuation in Australia where such extra contributions can also be tax deductible). More importantly, the cap functions as a ‘get out of jail card’ for employers. They do not have to pay the 7.7% to SSS for permanent employees above the 15,000 peso cap. This reduces labor costs for employers and saves them money.
In these situations, the threat of poverty is all pervading. Anyone with a permanent job is reluctant to leave it unless a better position is being offered. This is true even if the job entails long, unpaid extra hours, or if the employer is abusive. The same is true for workers in casual positions. As Giancarlo commented recently, “I suspect that most lower income working families are really living hand to mouth and not that interested in the long term. The NOW pervades everything.”
We have the pension systems with past controversies of mismanagement among all of them from SSS to GSIS to AFP’s RSBS. One solution is to have a separate pension system for our uniformed personnel, because they just cannot rely on the national budget forever.
Here is another.
Fair Tax Proposal
The solution to mismanagement is simply good management. But what if mismanagement is perennial? I have this suggestion of adapting an American proposal of the fair tax system:
“The FairTax is a proposal to reform the federal tax code of the United States. It would replace all federal income taxes (including the alternative minimum tax, corporate income taxes, and capital gains taxes), payroll taxes (including Social Security and Medicare taxes), gift taxes, and estate taxes with a single broad national consumption tax on retail sales.“
For the Philippines, we already have the EVAT, so why not remove all the taxes like the income tax, the estate tax which nobody pays anyway, remove SSS, GSIS, Philhealth and then have an EVAT of 20% of all our consumption?
Money and Numbers
Let us play with numbers.
If we have 37 million workers and they spend P8,000 a month and taxes are 20 percent of that, we have P29.6 billion a month and P710.4 billion in one year. We usually have a P2 trillion budget, so I propose we get the the rest from Customs and the Sin Tax.
Eliminate smuggling and we can get the target of P498 Billion from customs revenue and P35 billion from sin tax, so we have more than P1 Trillion in revenues. Just a few trillion to go.
A presidential candidate can promise more budget for certain recipients, but where to source the revenues will always be a challenge. My taxation proposal is a clear example that you just cannot over simplify complicated matters.
Once we figure out how to earn the revenue to finance the national budget and pay our national debt exacerbated by the Marcos debts, we won’t have to worry that all our pension systems will go bankrupt due to mismanagement.
As a closing, here is another thing to ponder,
Do we really need just to learn business math to survive, and to hell with Algebra and Calculus? Irineo’s Money and numbers discussed that and came up with more important questions.
“Duterte said that algebra is useless. Filipinos should learn business math. I think he is wrong. King Mongkut of Siam, of the famous “The King and I” starring Yul Brynner, was a dictatorial man in real life and on screen. But there is a scene where the English teacher tells him of the importance of algebra and he orders everybody to learn it. Could that be the reason why Thailand is quite prosperous?”
So there are a number of things that should be looked at to understand the money and the numbers better when it comes to the Philippines:
- How much money is coming in (collections), being spent internally (costs) and being distributed like SSS and 4Ps?
- How many taxpayers are there? H how many SSS and GSIS members? How many beneficiaries of SSS, GSIS, 4Ps?
- How much money is uncollected? BIR and SSS? How much money is not disbursed or liquidated?
Summary and Conclusion
1.We have discussed Monetary Sovereignty and MMT.
2. National Budget and issues with regards to National budget.
3. Social Security and Welfare.
4. Fair Tax Proposal.
5. General Understanding of Money and Numbers.
Money will always be a part of our lives. There is a saying that there is no escape to debt and taxes, but alas we have a humongous P5-7 trillion debt and a revenue shortfall, so that makes us good escape artists.
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The Society of Honor by Joe America 
Karl, many thanks… my comment on the five main points…
1. MMT: I think Keynesian works in practice but not MMT / monetary sovereignty.
1a. you have foreign debt obligations and stuff you buy abroad. Printing too much of your own money relative to that of others makes the stuff from outside more expensive because you devalue your own currency if there is too much in relation to local goods and services.
1b. Keynesian means you increase the goods and services created inside the country by government spending. If you even push building own industries that can create even more value effficiently, so much the better. It is not that same as printing money to just pay for 4Ps.
2. National budget. I think the main items (education and welfare) are quite clear for the moment.
2a. BUB is a way of making the LGUs both more responsible and more advanced. LGUs depending on loansharks is a symptom of the financial immaturity of Philippines and Filipinos.
2b. 4Ps is like BUB on a personal level. It is a bit like giving children allowances so they learn how to handle money by themselves. Helping while teaching responsibility they do not have yet.
3. The escape hatch for endos should be closed. It is all a lot more complex.
3a. fixed SSS employer-only contribution maybe for contractuals, similar to minijob holders in Germany? At least the system gets some money and employers are partly discouraged.
3b. unemployment benefits won’t work yet. Fix the leaks in collection first.
4. hard to get that working at the moment I think.
4a. VAT evasion can become a problem, with that much smuggling it might lead to entire sectors of the economy going underground. Not enough controls yet if even SSS is often evaded.
4b. How do you distribute the money coming from one big pot into the many small pots? All the quarrels about budget, SSS and more – and the temptation of a big pot – do not bode well.
5. I am wondering about the big picture of in- and outflows of money in the Philippines:
5a. to and from abroad: OFW remittances, exports, imports, foreign debt and debt service $ and €
5b. internally: taxes, expenditures, contributions, pensions, infrastructure, industries etc.
Finally, there are indeed Filipinos who seem to know money and numbers very well, and seem in fact to be experts in international finance if one looks at Chempo’s article on the MRT: https://joeam.com/2016/01/31/on-a-clear-day-you-can-see-the-mrt/ or Chempo’s article on Marcos and plunder that might qualify him as having been the “Thief Executive” par excellence: https://joeam.com/2015/11/04/marcos-revisionism-part-ii-half-truths-and-fallacies-of-marcos/
Now by MRPs criteria these skills would probably qualify as applied crookery. Such talent applied to making the country more progressive would work wonders, but it is obviously misdirected. Those that teach applied crookery should be reschooled, possibly by Chempo and NHerrera?
Many thanks Irineo,
For now MMT is a pipe dream as far as Pinas is concerned.But per Micha in the US,it has promise to go mainstream sooner,rather than later.
I like the promise of BUB,because the LGUs will be involved, I think theoretically,it will start with the baranggay,so even garbage can be solved,cleaning of creeks and estuaries may be done by people the baranggay can pay,instead of scavengers competing just to earn 20 pesos on a lucky day.
At first,I was thinking of incorporating Chempo’s blogs in my article,but I might lose focus.
Vat evasion ,hmmm.The problem would be the underground economy,not just the sidewalk vendors,but the organized crime business fronts.
Commissioner Henares is asking maybe the next congress to add casinos to those who are regularly monitored.
If I missed anything,to be continued muna.
@Karl
I have been on the road & in the air..And not had access to a computer..So I have been unable to read or take part in this conversation on Joe Am…And I see you quoted my earlier post on SSS in the Philippines. But in the next few days I will try to catch up in between meeting meeting family in Bicol..
Hi Bill.Nice to know that you are in the country.Enjoy and stay safe.
@Irineo,
for 3a, employers are discouraged to do what? You mean skip contributions?
Yes. I think just ending contractualization will simply flood the black labor market.
I see.
“…but alas we have a humongous P5-7 trillion debt.”
Dear karl, is that the total current gov’t debt owed to both local and foreign lenders? How much of it is in yen or dollars or euro?
When talking about debt, it is vital that we make a clear distinction between domestic and foreign debt because a sovereign gov’t can never ever default on the former.
A disproportionate foreign debt, on the other hand, could endanger our credit rating if we are unable to make timely payments and offer the possibility of bankruptcy.
External Debt: $77,658,912,000 in early 2016
77 x 45 = 3465
about 3.5 trillion pesos
Public Debt: $163,934,972,678 in early 2016
163 x 45 = 7335
7.3 trillion pesos
7.3 -3.5 = approx 3.8 trillion domestic debt
(tama ba ?)
“Foreign holders of Philippine bonds and notes continued to account for the largest share (33.5 percent) of total external debt, followed by official sources (multilateral and bilateral creditors – 30.4 percent), foreign banks and other financial institutions (28.9 percent), and foreign suppliers/exporters (7.2 percent).The country’s debt stock remained largely denominated in US Dollar (64.6 percent), and Japanese Yen (12.7 percent). US dollar-denominated multi-currency loans from the World Bank and Asian Development Bank comprised 10.4 percent of total, while the remaining 12.3 percent pertained to 17 other currencies.[60]”
reference:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/External_debt_of_the_Philippines
tama ka,nakaka wrinkles nga.
So we owe $77 billion to foreign lenders. That is our accumulated debt over the years since the birth of the republic. Not something to be sneezed at but not something to be worried too much about either. We could pay off at least half of it if we wanted to and then limit as much as possible any more foreign borrowing.
There should be more public scrutiny on where and how will the next loan package from foreign creditors will be spent. Wag na yung kagaya noon na binubulsa ni Marcos ang kalahati.
I agree.
Thank you Karl for distilling the issues and presenting them in a way that those without a background in Economics are able to respond to.
I looked at portions of the 2016 Philippines National Budget when I wrote the piece on the RH budget cuts. I couldn’t help wondering about some of the items that made it to the budget instead of the allocations for free contraceptives that got the axe. I think your proposal to open up the budget hearings to at least some concerned civilian society groups should be given serious consideration.
Just one thing though, the 20% VAT rate just jumped off the page for me. Isn’t that a bit much?
Thanks Cha,they should really consider that budget deliberations be open to the civil society,maybe the group of Leonor Briones.
About the 20% Vat as being too high,methinks if we eliminate income tax,sss,philhealth and some more,I think it will only hurt during the first few months. It,will lessen the impact if we felt the progress,if same old same old,then it is all for naught.
The comment below that suggests Graduated Vat. Basic commodities for me not zero maybe 5% because even the rich go to the supermarkets and pharmacies. I could agree with luxury items,because if the price of a luxury cars,yatchs,choppers,diamonds is 100 million pesos,the rich will still buy it.
Have always thought higher wages is good for the economy. Removing taxes will have the same impact especially for the lower income brackets, say 150K pa and below. VAT can be graduated i.e. zero VAT for basic commodities, to 200% for luxury items like iphones, gas gussling cars and mansions.
Good idea.
“If we have 37 million workers and they spend P8,000 a month and taxes are 20 percent of that, we have P29.6 billion a month and P710.4 billion in one year. We usually have a P2 trillion budget, so I propose we get the the rest from Customs and the Sin Tax.”
Karl please repeat after me : deficits are good.
Don’t worry too much about revenue collection, magkakaroon ka lang ng maraming wrinkles nyan. 🙂
deficits are good 🙂
Ano ba yong nakapaskil sa sari sari store na malapit sa amin noon?
Your credit is good,but we need cash.
lista kasi ako ng lista,lahat, yata kaming magkakapit bahay.
But really, the national gov’t is not like you and me. It has the ability to create its own cash so its credit will always be good.
Nakarinig ka na ba na tumatalbog na tseke na inisyu ng gobyerno kay Mang Juan at Mang Pedro?
Di pa naman.
Mismo. 🙂
😃
“The proposal of the Binay camp to spare the income bracket of those earning 30,000 PHP a month or below from paying income taxes raised eyebrows.”
And that is why maybe Binay is connecting more effectively with the masa because he is making a more sensible economic proposal. Why burden the poor folks with something that the national gov’t doesn’t need anyway?
But can he deliver? I don’t think so.
If congress will pass the enabling legislation, why ever not?
Hindi nga ba they already did pero binaril ni Presidente Noy?
At dahil inindorso ni P-Noy si Mar, apektado at nasa kangkungan ngayon ang survey ratings nya.
I know you will also shoot down my reply that what they are proposing is beyond reason,like you think any justification of revenue shortfall (which you said,will only give me wrinkles) is baloney to you.
The aforementioned magna carta for the poor was unreasonable because,one proposal like housing exceeds the recent year’s budget.
I know you have different views on taxation,and debt(deficits)That is why,I know you would not agree.
If he wants to tax businesses less also (remove Henares) then it cannot be delivered.
It all looks like voodoo to me at the moment. But he may know better engkantos than me.
Irineo,
Tax laws are not etched in stone or in nature. It’s always been arbitrarily decided by humans; depende kung sinong Herodes ang naka-upo sa trono.
Top tax rates for the wealthy in the US, for example, have varied from as high as 95% in FDR’s time to as low as 35% courtesy of Saint Ronnie. Some mega companies have even managed, through their slick accountants and tax lawyers, to pay zero income tax.
So please explain why the proposal to lower income tax rates is voodoo to you.
Binay’s promises are based on the assumption that his approach in Makati – based on the high income of that city – are scalable to the Philippines. He is not the Sheikh of Dubai with it’s enormous oil incomes.
Just printing money without a sound Keynesian approach is IMHO bound to fail as well – see Marcos’ late years where Bangko Sentral printed money like crazy.
Please give a sound model with rough flows of income and expenditures that work and do not lead to galloping inflation and unpayable foreign debt due to currency devaluation.
The peso enormously lost in value from 1982-1986, I know because I basically just abandoned my little peso savings in PNB as not worth it on my visit back… I think it was around 200 pesos which were worth around 50 Deutsche Mark when I left and on my visit to the Philippines in 1986 where worth just a pittance… now they would be almost nothing i.e. just 4 Euros.. and even 4 Euros today is worth less than 4 DM then in buying power because both the Fed and the ECB have effectively debased the currency in past years.
In the time of Herodes that was done by putting more tanso (copper) into the silver coins. Now even silver is not a guarantee of value – too much Mexican silver pesos due to the galleon trade compared to economic productivity led to a major inflation in China in 1750. http://afe.easia.columbia.edu/neh/course7/activity4.html In China, the demand for silver initially drove the global economy. Then, by 1750, silver glutted the Chinese market, bringing its price down and leading to inflation. The devaluation of silver in China had a devastating financial effect on Spain as well — a fact that allowed its European competitors to gain the upper hand in a new global trade focused on sugar, tobacco, gold, and slaves.”
Makati, like other cities and municipalities, is not monetarily sovereign. It has no central bank all its own. It’s finances, therefore, are very similar to that of an ordinary household : it actually needs an income before it can spend. Or otherwise borrow if it intends to spend more than what it earns.
The national gov’t, otoh, spends money into existence. It creates money, ex nihilo, by spending. Its power to levy taxes is the power to destroy that money.
For the national gov’t, spending is money creation; taxation is money destruction.
Picture the macro economy as a bathtub. Water coming in from the faucet is infusion of money (gov’t spending). If water starts to overflow (inflation) you either turn off the tap or open the drain plug (taxation).
The proposal to lower income taxes is like reducing the volume of water flow in your drain so you could have the desired water level on your tub.
Keynesian prescription is massive gov’t intervention during periods of cyclical recessions which is an inevitable feature of a capitalist system when the water level on your tub is barely half an inch.
Post-Keynesian approach (MMT) is maintaining the desired water level and avoiding panic periods of recessions.
Somethings wrong in this scenario because if its as easy as you say as that then everybody should be as rich as everyone else. There has to be a limiting factor otherwise every government should have already printed as much money as they need the Philippines included. They way i see it, there is a peg somehow in every central bank that determines how much money can the country print. And the tub here is not fixed in size too.
@maru
There is nothing in my post that would guarantee an outcome that you describe.
On second thought, supposing that it does, why is the scenario whereby “everybody should be as rich as everyone else” not a desirable outcome?
But yes, like everyone else who had been introduced to this new description of the finances of a sovereign national gov’t, I perfectly understand your apprehension about its viability. Maybe you’re also thinking along the lines of, why not the gov’t then just give every man woman and child 10 million pesos.
And the next question then would be, in exchange for what?
Giving money away does not create real and useful goods and services. So instead of just giving it away, gov’t spends it on useful things and projects like, oh I don’t know, maybe tulay, kalsada, hospital, o eskwelahan.
Yung mga guro, karpentero, mason, engineer, janitor, nurses, at supplier ng mga semento, bakal, yero, hollow blocks at kung ano-ano pa ay magkakaroon ng hanapbuhay.
That particular gov’t spending drives economic activity. It created and utilized, in the process, real goods and services that has social value and utility.
Joe: “When only 11% of Manila’s voters appear to favor a continuation of the straight path, and we look at the progress the Philippines has made the past six years, I tell you, there is a lot about Filipino thinking that I have yet to learn, because that makes no sense whatsoever to me.”
There is the story of the goose that laid golden eggs. I think it is simply impatience and lack of economic common sense – and therefore on topic. Will Filipinos learn, or repeat the same cycles?
The 1896 revolution took place during an economic boom – Manila had its tram, train lines (built and operated by the English looks like that laziness just letting others take care of things instead of building own competence already was there) going all the way to Pangasinan. Massive discontent in the 1960’s during a time when the Philippines had in just two decades recovered from the massive destruction of WW2 and was second ONLY TO JAPAN IN ASIA led to Marcos and Martial Law. Money that is there is taken for granted and spent instead of being more patient.
The essential question, then, is “how many ways can we find to punish ourselves?” Patience is a function of emotion, reason is a function of looking at where we are, where we want to go, and calculating how long it reasonably ought to take to get there. Somewhere in that “Manila thought process” seems to be a lot of irrational thinking, emotional thinking. Dare I say “childish” thinking? And NOT by the poor. But by educated people who are gaining in the line of progression so far. Like BPO workers.
Plus, there are all the politicians and lawyers and business people who are calculating “what’s in it for me?” Man, if I were a BPO worker, I’d dump those self-serving jerks on their asses, I wouldn’t enable them, join them. Someone in Manila has to figure out an “US” instead of a ME ME ME.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Culture_of_poverty
The people in the culture of poverty have a strong feeling of marginality, of helplessness, of dependency, of not belonging. They are like aliens in their own country, convinced that the existing institutions do not serve their interests and needs. Along with this feeling of powerlessness is a widespread feeling of inferiority, of personal unworthiness. This is true of the slum dwellers of Mexico City, who do not constitute a distinct ethnic or racial group and do not suffer from racial discrimination. In the United States the culture of poverty that exists in the Negroes has the additional disadvantage of racial discrimination.
People with a culture of poverty have very little sense of history. They are a marginal people who know only their own troubles, their own local conditions, their own neighborhood, their own way of life. Usually, they have neither the knowledge, the vision nor the ideology to see the similarities between their problems and those of others like themselves elsewhere in the world. In other words, they are not class conscious, although they are very sensitive indeed to status distinctions. When the poor become class conscious or members of trade union organizations, or when they adopt an internationalist outlook on the world they are, in my view, no longer part of the culture of poverty although they may still be desperately poor.
I have observed the culture of poverty among Romanians… they have the saying “bani ochi dracul” (Money is the devil’s eye)… Filipinos sometimes have a similar attitude i.e. making money is considered BAD per se all who make some money are seen as bad…
so fake “Robin Hoods” like Binay are popular… similar to reputed gypsy clan lords in Romania who send clan members out to beg and steal but drive Mercs and live in big mansions… Romania is starting to develop a middle class mentality because of returning foreign workers and some BPO people but it’s core is in German-influenced Transylvania not in (sorry to say) gypsy-influenced and slum-ridden Bucharest… the culture of poverty includes the “one day millionare” mindset… and the me me me victim/bandit mindset IMHO.
Pity.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Financial_literacy – raising this is the only way out I think…
Financial literacy is the ability to understand how money works in the world: how someone manages to earn or make it, how that person manages it, how he/she invests it (turn it into more) and how that person donates it to help others.[1] More specifically, it refers to the set of skills and knowledge that allows an individual to make informed and effective decisions with all of their financial resources.[2] Raising interest in personal finance is now a focus of state-run programs in countries including Australia, Canada, Japan, the United States and the UK.[3][4]
The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) started an inter-governmental project in 2003 with the objective of providing ways to improve financial education and literacy standards through the development of common financial literacy principles. In March 2008, the OECD launched the International Gateway for Financial Education,[5] which aims to serve as a clearinghouse for financial education programs, information and research worldwide. In the UK, the alternative term “financial capability” is used by the state and its agencies: the Financial Services Authority (FSA) in the UK started a national strategy on financial capability in 2003. The US Government also established its Financial Literacy and Education Commission in 2003.
4Ps and BUB are about raising the financial literacy of both people and LGUs… Go Negosyo initiatives go in the same direction teaching people Benjamin Franklin stuff…
I wonder how much financial literacy education is in K-12… haven’t looked that up yet. What I do like is Efren Nolasco’s stuff on different aspects of finances and self-help… boklit dot com even has a feature on how to get out of debt which is an art in itself.
The big slash of the budget goes to Others, what is that others compose of?
I will post a comment from Edgar Lores from another blog post.
*******
1. I believe the Others of 40.31% can be broken down as follows:
o Debt Burden…………………… 14.31%
o Internal Revenue Allotment. 14.9%
o Other Economic Services… 11.1%
2. The entire budget would look like this:
E d u c a t i o n………….. ….. 16.11 P420B
D e f e n s e……………………. 6.36 P166B
D e b t B u r d e n………….. 14.31 P373B
Internal Revenue Allotment. 14.90 P388B
Other Economic Services… 11.10% P289B
P u b l i c W o r k s………… 13.27% P346B
Interior & Local Govt……….. 6.24% P163B
S o c i a l W e l f a r e……. 4.81% P125B
H e a l t h………………………. 4.51% P118B
A g r i c u l t u r e……………. 3.92% P102B
Transport & Communicatn. 2.63% P69B
E n v i r o n m e n t…………. 0.94% P24B
J u d i c i a r y………………… 0.90% P23B
T O T A L……………………….100% 2.606T
3. The figures for “Debt Burden” and “Internal Revenue Allotment” can be found across “Automatic Appropriations” in the following link:
3.1. Of course, the break down of “Other Economic Services” — at a hefty 11.10% — is still unknown. I would surmise the line allocations would be in the General Appropriations Act.
4. The Pie Chart allocations have been compared with the Bar Chart in the following link:
http://www.dbm.gov.ph/?page_id=10533
4.1. It has been assumed that “Social Services” (37.1%) in the Bar Chart is comprised of the items from “Public Works” down to the “Judiciary” in the Pie Chart, which total to 37.22%. The assumption is made because they tally.
4.2. Due to the above assumption, “Debt Burden” and “Internal Revenue Allotment” have been subsumed under “Others”. The budget amounts allocated to these two items cannot be allocated to any other item in the Pie Chart.
4.3. Where there is a disparity in a percentage figure given between the two charts, the Pie Chart figure has been used. For example the Defense Budget is stated as 6.36% in the Pie and 4.4% in the Bar.
5. The above analysis does not dispute the presence of “hidden” items in the budget.
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link
Thanks Karl
You are welcome,James.
I should thank Edgar for that.Thank you Edgar!
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You’re welcome!
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http://opinion.inquirer.net/93477/the-philippines-buwaya-problem
UP economics professor and Inquirer OpEd writer in her latest piece analyzed Philippine economic growth over the last fifty years. Among her most salient observations are that just before the Marcos era, the nation’s per capita income was among the highest in SE Asia and its economy was among the fastest growing as well. The Marcos dictatorship and martial law not only brought this growth to a shuddering halt but also made Philippines the pauper of Asia. It was only beginning in 2009 and continuing with the Aquino administration that economic growth really accelerated back to its torrid pace in the sixties. She correlates the pace of economic growth with the extent of corruption which is still deeply rooted in the Philippines even with the gains achieved by Aquino in reducing its level in the government. She identifies the main culprit in preserving corruption in the government and keeping the country income poor is the entrenched power of political dynasties making government service a family business and a major means of enriching the clan.
While she is spot on, this chain of causation has a deeper root and she barely scratches its surface. She admonitions her readers to choose wisely and avoid picking dynastic candidates, saying that among those vying for the presidency, only two are not.
An earlier comment raised the question why Manila residents were among those unhappy with economic gains achieved by the Aquino administration. I suggest the answer lies in the fact that income inequality is the highest in the NCR almost double the level in the ARMM where it is the lowest. One would be grumbling too if these gains meant watching the rich riding helicopters now instead of Mercedes limousines while housing prices and rents
made finding a roof over ones head increasingly unaffordable.
Income inequality is cited as the reason to elect a crook or murderer or school teacher or sick woman. I fail to see the solution there. It is an emotional reaction, it seems to me, and the nation really needs good thinking, not venting. That’s just a personal observation. Voters will vote for whom they vote for, and the nation will go backward or forward. I have no crystal ball. I just don’t find myself having much confidence in the analytical power of Manila, in general.
I worked in Los Angeles when its freeways had fallen behind job growth and were a mass of metal for most of the day. I got up early and worked late. Many of the young Japanese I worked with for over a decade often worked until midnight. I never heard them complain.
Its not a matter of whether its right or wrong for the Manila masa to elect crooks, murderers, rapists, or school teachers. The original question is why it is a fact that they do. And if supposedly smarter people do not understand this difference and that people with starving children may have different priorities, they maybe do not understand the nature of Philippine politics.
Patronage politics is so deeply entrenched in the baranggay level and especially so in the not so rich neighborhoods. The ordinary Juan is looking for tangible benefit. He will vote for the one who has helped him, he’s family or he’s friends or neighbors and if this guy is not running but a “lider” they will vote for whoever he says they should vote for transmitted to them by envelope. This is also strengthened by the Filipino culture of utang na loob.
I don’t see this changing in my lifetime.
To overcome this issue it is important that the choices presented to the general population has already been pre-selected sort of like the way the party caucuses in the US when selecting candidates or the Guardian Council in Iran.
One has to be careful going that route which is typically what dictators, elitists, and communist regimes do to retain power. Who is to pick who the people are allowed to choose and how does one prevent those who have that power from using it to serve their own ends?
The question is whether or not the nature of Philippine politics is good for Filipinos, not whether people objecting to electing a crook as president are stupid or not. They are not stupid for wanting an honest person as president. Starving children are one of the issues, indeed, because those non-stupid people know that a continuation of the straight path for 20 years would bring the Philippines into the first world as a dynamic, successful, rich, caring nation. The people willing to vote for crooks and murderers includes a lot of non-starving, non-poor people, and there are several reasons, I think: poor understanding of cause and effect and what a President actually does, doing what others say, being angry and wanting to punish, lack of a concept of “we”, and having little shame about who is representing the nation . . . I don’t think Manila has more poor people (as a share of the population) than the provinces (although it may), it has more frustrated people. A key issue is why they don’t factor time into their expectations, and another is why they don’t grasp (understand and feel pride of accomplishment in) the nation’s progress.
Its a documented fact that income is very high in the NCR including Manila if you go by IMF statistics regardless of what other people may think. Couple this with Monsod’s observation that the Philippines is still the poor man in Asia inspite of the economic income growth of the last years. One must remember the country started from a very low base, which is one of Monsod’s point in her article. The masa is not stupid but please excuse them is they do look further into the future more than we do since survival is their issue. In the previous blog, NHerrerra posted a link to what percentage of households are poor or the the poor middle class and it is quite a bigger chunk than what most people think. Remember too that the cost of living in the capital is much higher in the capital than in the provinces. To ignore all this is a sure prescription to a losing campaign strategy.
You seem to think I’m commenting on the poor. Just the opposite.
I actually do not know what you are commenting on but I was trying to explain why 11% of Manilenos dont seem to benefit or appreciate from Daang Matuwid.
Your reasoning does not resonate with me. I think it has little to do with “the masa”, for there are lots of “the masa” in other regions, too, but they seem to be less reactionary. You keep implying that I think the masa are stupid: “the masa are not stupid but please excuse them”. I never said the masa are stupid, because they are not. And poor people have different needs than working people and almost no one is happy with where they are on life’s little allotment of means. But there is a quality of character in Manila that wants to blame, and punish, and the problem is that the frustrated Manila residents will drive the entire nation to hell if they don’t get some reasoning into their decision making.
I never mentioned anything about anyone or you calling the masa stupid. If you care to reread my comments its that the masa or their ballot behavior may be misunderstood. I would be repeating myself but as I said the income inequality index is very high in Manila and whatever economic benefits most probably passed them by. If that does not resonate ackad you, then there is not much else to be to be done with it. Let me just say that this widespread feeling towards Daang Matuwid should be of significant informational value regardless of its reasons and perhaps should not be dismissed as a problem with this segment of the Manila population.
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Well, I’m glad we have understanding at least part way. “Widespread feeling toward Daang Matuwid”, yes, that is the issue. And the question is, why is it more negative in Manila than elsewhere. That is where I get lost. You seem to suggest it is because the people arguing for continuity are not explaining themselves very well . . . in Manila. I’m arguing that the people of Manila aren’t thinking very well . . . compared to the rest of the nation. There is a third factor that warrants consideration, and that is the media in Manila are different than in the rest of the nation, and so the impressions delivered are different. If media have an agenda to bury Daang Matuwid, it will have its greatest impact in Manila. That is speculation, of course, but if I were doing a doctoral thesis in journalism, I’d pick that as my topic.
It has not much to do with the failure of the candidates representing co tinuity nor the opposition media distorting the perceptions of the Manila masa. It is just that the benefits of Daang Matuwid has passed them bye or what little of it has done them good does not outweigh the continuing chaos, shambles, and misery of their meagre existence. There is nothing different between the Manila masa and the D & E class voters that in total represent 70% of the voting electorate. If they seem polarized, its because according to the statistics I have referred to, there are relatively poorer and more of them in Manila.Their values, thinking, and priorities are different from yours and mine. And if that is a surprise to anyone that so few of them care for Daang Matuwid in Manila, I dont know how else to explain it.
The educated middle class mindset is really troubling. We have a similar situation in Spore. There is a growing disenfranchised well educated young middle class that is very anti a good govt.
Aristotle’s observation that good governance manifests itself In states with a strong middle class now needs a critical caveat, the middle class needs to have a rational unemotional mind to discern what is good governance.
I think the disconnect has to do with our new world of high speed living. The educated youth in the middle class has access to high speed info of 140 characters or memes or flashy headlines. They have no time nor interest in drilling thru detailed text. Instant gratification is ingrained in them. They see Manila’s woes, they don’t care who caused the problems or neglected the situation. Any explanation is just a bogeyman for them. Current admin can’t solve it now, immediately, out with them.
Mar is low in their esteem, but it’s not for love of Binary or Poe or Duterte. It’s for ME ME ME and NOW NOW NOW. They will just as quickly turn against Binary et all within 6 months if the woes re not resolved..
Yes, agree. I’ve been trying to put some words to all this, why “irrational” is a very real possible outcome, and thanks for helping me with a concept, the high speed living.
high speed living.
Funny,Irineo linked a blog of a fellow Pinoy in Germany that the pace here is so slow.I forgot which blog here,he has so many links.I am no match.
Problems are getting more complex, the world more intertwined, technology changing the world faster and faster. But the attention span gets shorter and shorter, reading a full sentence a tall order, the distance between insiders and outsiders growing again (e.g. “Facebook friends or not”.) Somewhere this has to clash.
Back to local solutions? Less specific education? Less rational justifications/explanations? Capitulation to the big business marketeers knowing better what is good for us?
Karl I’m not good at summing up articles in the way Joe, Edgar, Irineo, Caliphman, Lance and others do. So I have a bit of difficulty trying to grasp what is the core of your article. I get it it’s about money. But it’s good work Karl, full of issues for discussion.
Allow me to cherry pick, in Joe’s words. I like to say something about “budget”. The thing about budget is that all the national focus is on the allocation aspect when it gets to Congress. That’s when the media and all attendant hu ha gets public attention. Sadly, the more difficult part of the budget, the Income part, is the quiet burden of the Executive, handled out of public view. There should be more open discourse on this because it’s of public interest and it’s educational. The Income part deliberation is often the key trigger of economic initiatives and executive policies.
Budget process is very complicated requiring revisions after revisions. Just imagine doing this pre- excel days. I suppose income comes first before one looks at expenditure. You then trim expenditure and or look for where income can be increased. Karl tried looking at EVAT and Customs for example. This is the part of managing the country that opposition candidates choose to ignore.
Thank you chempo,sorry if you can’t find the core,my article must be an onion. 😄
Fill free to come up with a blog about the income aspect of the budget.You articles are all must reads.
A good onion Karl, full of health giving properties. The problem is my inability, not your writing.
Come to think of it, the income part would be challenging. For anyone who wishes to racle it.
Many thanks again.
chempo,
The basic error of your view is that you are comparing the finances of a sovereign national gov’t with that of an ordinary household. You should have been able to know by now that it is not.
Whatever happened to your prediction about the 18 trillion dollar US gov’t debt?
Micha,
I respect you are entitled to yr views. Stay on your side, its OK.
As regards the 18 T debt, its still in play. The fat lady has’nt sang yet. In return I should ask why are’ nt all the other countries in the UN furiously printing away their currencies, other than USA? Oh yes, I know the answer, all these central are stupid, they still don’t understand MMT the way you do.
If you have been watching the US election debates, with the exception of Bernie Sanders who is giving everything away, including the money printing machine I suspect, all the other candidates have voiced their concerns over the huge debt overhang.
“…all the other candidates have voiced their concerns over the huge debt overhang.”
It’s all Trump mania and how to stop him on the Republican side. No end of the world debt time bomb prognostications in their debates.
On the Democratic side, her royal consort hasn’t mentioned or referenced the danger of a huge debt overhang either.
I suspect that most of them already started to grasp the meaning of monetary sovereignty. Even the tea party noise over debt and deficits has quieted down significantly so I don’t know what you’re talking about.
Then obviously you have not tuned in to all the speeches and interviews.
Maybe. But voicing concerns over huge debt overhang doesn’t mean there’s actually precipitous slope attendant to it. Nor does it make the concern valid.
The budget. The sourcing. The Spending. The calculations, with a big help from Excel. But most of all the Essential Objectives, understanding of the Situation and Constraints and Well-intentioned Guys — intelligent, logical, analytic — stirring the pot to meet those objectives. Difficult enough to balance without the latter, with grandstanding lawmakers we see in Budget Hearings. (Perhaps Excel and Computer Word Processing — that is, instant Documents –make it worse without the good guys minding the store.) And the grandstanding guys need not all come from UP.
By the way, the image of the ELEPHANT balancing on the (budget) BALL is very appropriate. Great picture to go with the article. Karl created the article. Who selected the picture if I may ask?
I found it. It did seem appropriate. So many demands on the Filipino pachyderm.
Hahaha. Filipino pachyderm as Binay? Don’t answer that. You have a recent article enough to answer that — you are suppose to be on a diet on political statements.
Nice job on the pictures to go along with your and invited blog articles.
Thanks. Good to have you here keeping us anchored in analytics.
Remember, though, dem pachyderms do pack lots of memory cells. And when Tantor trumpets, Tarzan, Jane and Chita have no place to hide! ha ha 🙂
Tantor was the elephant in Tarzan? That little detail is in your head? Gadzooks, man, pachyderm’s have nothing on you.
Joe where would I have gotten some culture? Comics, of course! 🙂
Chita:TV/Cinema,Nkima:Comics /Novel.
what about taxing all the religion affiliation? Bollocks! they contribute nothing for the economy.
They do it in Europe,yes Europe where the Vatican is located.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Church_tax
Damn, wish we had that, especially when it’s cringe-worthy to hear that a certain sect rents out twin-engine corporate jetliners.
Germany finances all religious groups. And the Germans are a progressive lot. They must know something we don’t.
Karl, I know Micha is an ardent fan of MMT. I don’t wish to replay all those arduous argument with her. She can blissfully carry on believing on that free money dream. I note you have been sworn to love deficits. For me it’s always deficits are not necessarily bad per se, but surplus is always better.
I understand the need for deficits due to overspending to expand the economy. Now for expanding the economy, you asked someone should be tasked with this. i don’t know about Phils, but for us we have a National Development Board and an Economic Devt Board. These 2 play very important roles. The EDB had been instrumental in Spore’s amazing growth.
As for GDP my view is managed consistent growth is best. There is no need for double digit heady growth because when economy expands too fast, there are serious repercussions. This has been played out over and over again in countries all over the world. Philippines in fact has been having good and steady GDP growth in the Pnoy admin, a fact that tragically most Filipinos do not comprehend. If only the country is allowed to continue with this trajectory for perhaps 2 more administration, then my bet is there will be vast improvements in the lives of all Filipinos.
It was exhausting watching you two.I only repeated that deficits are good.😄As to swearing to it,I was told swearing is bad.
About the good and steady GDP growth,not understood by the majority, I think caliphman has a comment above about the article of Solita Monsod.
And he adds that Income inequality is the reason why Manilans do not appreciate the straight path.
The reasons are basic. Greed and Envy, that people forget the bright side. Here is a good Illustration from youtube.
Thanks for that video.If everybody looks at the bright side of life,we could not ask for more.
“For me it’s always deficits are not necessarily bad per se, but surplus is always better.”
Hah! US depressions come on the heels of federal surpluses :
1817-1821: U. S. Federal Debt reduced 29%. Depression began 1819.
1823-1836: U. S. Federal Debt reduced 99%. Depression began 1837.
1852-1857: U. S. Federal Debt reduced 59%. Depression began 1857.
1867-1873: U. S. Federal Debt reduced 27%. Depression began 1873.
1880-1893: U. S. Federal Debt reduced 57%. Depression began 1893.
1920-1930: U. S. Federal Debt reduced 36%. Depression began 1929.
Recessions tend to come on the heels of reductions in federal debt/money growth (See graph, below), while debt/money growth has increased when recessions were resolving. Taxes reduce debt/money growth. No government can tax itself into prosperity, but many government’s tax themselves into recession.
http://research.stlouisfed.org/fred2/graph/fredgraph.png?g=13OZ
Your anti- taxation propagation knows no bounds. When I talk surplus I don’t have to mean from tax revenues. Many countries in the world maintain surpluses from scrupulous management of national budget without all the ills you listed. That’s how countries like Spore Brunei UAE Dubai Kuwait and others build their sovereign wealth funds for future generations. And don’t tell me it’s about oil. Spore has NP oil, Phil’s, Indonesia, Afghanistan, Nigeria have oil no sovereign wealth funds. You can have surpluses without all those ills, trust me, it’s not theory, there’s living proof. US’ problems perhaps due to MMT and printing money.
Singapore recorded a Government Budget deficit equal to 0.13 percent of the country’s Gross Domestic Product in 2014.
http://www.tradingeconomics.com/singapore/government-budget
Do you have a surplus in 2015?
That was the 2014/15. budget. We planned for small overspending to fund some social cost for the “pioneer generation” – it’s part of our 50th anniversary package for those born prior to 1949. It’s a planned deficit for a one- off discretionary gratuitious expense..
And of course your deficit spending didn’t erase Singapore from the map. It provided instead, better care for your citizens. It’s all right chempo, nothing to be horrified about deficits as long as you have your own Singaporean dollar.
That’s the gist of all my previous comments. Deficits and borrowing s are OK so long as manageable, meaning we have capability to repay. When you have 18 T debt how re you going to repay without seriously hurting future generations.
300,000 government employees punished in CHINA.
0. government employees punished in PHILIPPINES.
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/china-300000-punished-for-corruption-in-last-year/
No Chinese investigative methodology divulged.
In the Philippines, investigation is thru Questions&Answers. Because Filipinos believe in God. And in God says, “Truth Sets You Free”. Unfortunately for Filipinos, if a Filipino steals they already have violated the tenet of God’s principle of honesty, so, why bother telling the truth in the Witness Stand before the investigative Senate? This Filipinos just do not get it at all.
So, in the Philippines, they cart witnesses, most of them are jealous neighbors and eng-get co-senators and workers without presenting evidences.
Some of the suspects in the Philippines which is MOSTLY THE CASE, they admit and confess. Maybe because they believe that “truth sets them free” or the investigator is a priest. And the investigation Q&A happened in a confessional in the church. OR MAYBE they used ENHANCED INVESTIGATION.
So, do we really need PMAyers? Or UP graduates? I can do ENHANCED INVESTIGATION better than anyone else. Because I love pain. I love to inflect pain.
At least the NBI has arrested a Korean fugitive in Clark charged with Economic sabotage.
We do not have economic sabotage here,we should have.
I also support that Casinos be included in the AMLAC watch list.
Stealing from sFilipino taxpayrs in the billions is not economic sabotage in the definition of U.P. lawyers, it is economic enhancement. Bet ya, lawyers from Casinos are also graduates from U.P.
Meanwhile in Iran,a billionaire was sentenced to death because of monetizing oil,thru shell companies,his crime was corruption on earth or of earth.
Naiingit tayo sa mga ganitong news tapos ayaw daw ng tao sa daang matuwid.
If you abolished the income tax for low income earners – then the spending power of those people became great, money will go back in the economy anyway. People can buy more nutritious food, jolibee to make them fat, maybe buy new car then the traffic become more worse or whatever.
BUT – the government should find a way how to fill- in those gaps, I suggest tax the churches like baptism revenue, higher real property tax, etc., Why we should not tax religion in the Philippines? I think it’s about time to talk about it & start raising the issue. They get away for so long, financially they should carry the burden of this country same as everybody else.
Income of 500,000.00 pesos is taxed at 25%. That is US$10,000 is taxed 25%. In the US, $18,500.00 is taxed at 10%! Those earning less than $18,500.00 with children are given $1,000.00 tax exemption per child plus additional Earned Income Credit of additional $1,000.00!
The Filipinos are overworked and overtaxed over-thieved.
MRP, I am not sure about the overworked part but I definitely agree with the rest of that sentence 🙂
Frankly the government needs to reduce corruption and those gaps won’t be there, surplus even maybe..
3.98% for Agriculture budget? And that is included the fisheries industry(BFAR),don’t tell me that is true, you lawmakers are insane around 60 million Filipinos live by that industry, how can that be. No wonders all the farmer’s children flock to Imperial Manila because they could not see the future in the countryside & creating the overcrowding in Manila that are exhausting our National Budget trying to solve the problem in Manila.
The law that created the Agriculture and Fisheries Modernization was never financed properly since the late 90s,reminds me of the AFP modernization,which now finally took off.
That is why I hopein the next admin,budget deliberations are open to those civil society who understands the budget.
Click to access PB%202009-01%20-%20Financing%20Agriculture%20Modernization.pdf
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Ah, Karl, another money special.
1. I rather like Micha’s analogy of money supply as water in a bathtub.
2. It seems the purpose is to keep the water at an optimum level. Not just a bottom-scraping 2 inches of it, but not overflowing either.
3. I rather thought the purpose of water in a bathtub is to be able to luxuriate in it.
3.1. Preferably with bubbles on top and a couple of plastic ducks. I don’t think the bathing experience would be complete without the ducks.
3.2. And, of course, don’t forget the champagne… or the beer according to individual preference. There is nothing so wickedly good as sipping bubbly champagne in a bubble bath.
3.3. We should also not forget that the water level should not be at the brim level because our body volume displaces an equivalent volume of water. Doh!
3.4. But the composition of adult human bodies is about 60% water. So we are basically half-water luxuriating in full-water. I wish my bathtub was filled with 60% notes, preferably of the 1,000 bill denomination. Then I would be able to splash money around!
4. I have read some people take mud baths and some women take milk baths. The first to treat arthritis and the second to gain a creamy complexion. I guess the compromise would be a chocolate milk bath?
4.1. Hmm, I wonder, would that not make bath water delicious to drink as well as to bathe in?
5. For a moment, I thought the idiom of not throwing away the baby with the bathwater was an anachronism… because bathtubs have drains and babies do not shrink that much in water. For adults, it’s only the skin at the fingertips that shrivel when you stay long enough in the water. But I forget that you do not bathe babies in a bathtub but in these baby-sized plastic tubs that have no drains. But it would be silly to throw the baby with the bathwater because then you would have to bathe the baby all over again.
5.1. This means, going back to Micha’s analogy, that people should not be maltreated after blessing them with the glow that money can give. Money, like water, is life-sustaining.
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Bath tubs and money remind me of the daughter of Napoles.
You know the throwing the baby with the bath water was pre drainage system era. hehe
Thank you for your dose of knowledge.
Congrats, Señor Carlo. That poor elephant is in a very awkward pose, but I suppose the Pinas situation is so really precarious.
Thank you señora Mercedes. If the circus elephant gets lousy trainers to replace the old ones or will be handled by a new ring master that is cruel to circus animals,Pinas will be in a precarious situation indeed.
Btw,the elephant was Joe’s idea.He picks the appropriate pictures for the articles.
But don’t get ringside seats when the circus performs in town. Those performing elephants do put out a lot of good-sized fur balls even during their numbers. 🙂 true experience.
Going back to that bath tub,
when I was a kid we had a bath rub so I used it to splish splash,but when we moved to another house no more bath tubs so i just used balde and tabo,my last bath tub experience was during my honeymoon.
Money like water is life suataining,I hope I will never be in a middle of a desert,with more money than water,unless it is Las Vegas.
Las Vegas has a serious water shortage. Yards are planted with rocks and cactus rather than lawns. Toilet water is recycled to feed such green areas that do exist. The water in Lake Mead behind Hoover dam is so low that it is dropping below the outlet pipe, so they are figuring out ways to get a lower outlet to suck the last remaining drops out of what used to be a glorious lake. The Colorado River, once majestic and rolling through the Grand Canyon is a mere muddy trickle serving several states plus Mexico. To say it is stretched thin would be like imagining Trump in spandex. You can buy homes in Vegas really cheap compared to the rest of the US. That’s because you can never sell it. Whoever buys in Las Vegas is stuck in Las Vegas. People in Vegas drink whiskey, not water. I don’t think they put it in their bath tubs. I don’t think there are any bath tubs in Vegas, and probably not so many showers taken.
I’ll end this thinking here . . .
I change my mind then.
Funny, Joe. My classmate’s first move was to inspect the water records of Las Vegas when a realtor approached him to buy some LV property. Sure enuf, he didn’t like what he saw in the hydrology report. He likes those kinds of reports, he worked for Illinois Natural Gas. 🙂
Speaking of water, the Victorian government in Oz is now into water desal, so water rates are going up. Now who said that there’s no money in water ??
What is water entitlement? Is it the water being entitled?
http://delwp.vic.gov.au/water/governing-water-resources
Desalination and use of reclaimed water,maybe is also in our future.
Mercedes,finally,I know how to insert tildes. Yehey!
Good on you Carlo; yeah I should think the water should be entitled too. Re that woman that got stuck in the lift in China, I am just trying to recall if there were phones inside ???
And about the elephant, my husband and I think Joe has got a weird sense of humor. . .
looks more like a randy mammal to us both. ☺
Hahahaha, you think the pachyderm is humping the beach ball? ahahahah ROFLMAO I think y’all have a very fickle imagination.
I just read the story,she was trapped for s month.It was reported that the repairmen asked if anybody was inside,but no one answered,so they left.But one month? lax building management is an understatement.
I looked up “randy” in urban dictionary and I got…..horny.
Well that elephant have no tusks……oh not that kind of horny.
@edgar
When the water level in the national bathtub is low, there is a simple solution. Simply squeeze more Filipinos into the bathtub. Rabbits are the solution to GDP growth and maintaining high water level. And if water level is rising and to prevel overflow, Duterte provides a quick fix to take Filipinos out of that bathtub.
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And Binay would draw the water from the bathtub into his jacuzzi!
*****
Hahaha
Poe would legislate to make sure Filipinos are properly cleaned before they get onto the bathtub.
Mar would do a proper calculation of water level and the weight of Filipinos to comply with Archimedes’ principle of mass = water displacement.
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LOL!
*****
And Archimedes said the displaced mass is all you have to either make you sink or float.
To be able to luxuriate in a bathtub certain conditions have to be fulfilled. First, the tab should not only trickle water, probably because the supply line is full of losses, mainly others tapping of your supply illegally. Second the tub has to be tight, if too rusted and patched up the leaks will spoil the floor and it is difficult to clean up underneath a tub. Third, the drain should be free. Fourth, you should have nice siblings/family members cleaning up their mess before it is your turn. Fifth, the allowed timeslot should be long enough. Sixth, there should be enough privacy, the room protected from peeping Johns.
Money supplies. First, the income should not just be a trickle, probably because the supply line is full of losses, mainly others tapping of your supply illegally. Second the budget has to be tight, if too out dated and patched up too, leaks will drain it, mainly utang to family and friends, difficult to recuperate. Third, there should be unrestricted access to a free market. Fourth, you should have nice siblings/family members who can care for themselves. Fifth, the timeframe should long enough to absorb major one time expenses. Sixth, there should be enough privacy, your money protected from criminals.
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This bathtub analogy rocks! Sayang, it cannot be used in the campaign because most Pinoys don’t have a bathtub.
*****
Yes, it does rock. The Society must be the only non-Home and Garden website, not to mention blogsite, which makes a lot of sense on bathtubs.
Tabos and pails also need to be filled with water.
Hey Karl! Great article!
Just remembered that Napoles keeps the taxpayers money, in a bathtub!😀
Thanks Doc.
Her daughterposted it in Social media.What can I say?Flaunt the imperfection.
*******
Ahaha!
*****
Who can live on Php2,000.00 pesos SSS pension? I cannot neither can anyone of you. Sure helps my gasoline expense.
The United States of America has a genius way of supporting their agriculture thru USDA that supports Women Infance Children also known as WIC program, Food Stamps, Senior Farmer’s Market Nutrition program, school launches, etcetera that buys from USDA that supports the program … and around and around.
SSS can do what the US does. Instead of giving them 2k, give them food stamps instead to support agriculture. But Philippines is not an agricultural country. Philippines cannot produce rice it imports them. Cannot produce garlic, onions, etcetera they smuggle them. It imports cocowater from Thailand. Fish sauce from Vietnam.
What the Philippines is known to plant are evidences thru DOJ and plant bullets at NAIA.
I have been thinking of food stamps too.
From the blog of cvj.(remember him?)
http://cvjugo.blogspot.com/2008/08/framework-for-making-food-subsidies.html
Php56,000,000,000.00 annually for pensioners once converted to food stamps would be a boon to farmers !!! instead of giving them Php2,000.00 cash to squander on liquors, cellphone loads and non-essentials.
MRP your evidence and bullets had me in stitches. You would have given a better performance than Chris Rock at the Grammy awards
” …just to learn business maths just to survive and to hell with algebra and calculus ..”
Simple views of barangay mind. Imagine being led by someone with this shallow mind. Philippines will go right to the end of the class. Filipinos will be left with no skills for the modern world. He does not know almost everything in the world is grounded in maths. Filipinos will be left with no knowledge in areas like :
Algebra
Calculus
Geometry n topology
Logic
Number theory
Computing algorithms
Information theory n signal processing
Probability and statistics
Game theory
Operation research
Actuaries
…and that’s just the tip of the iceberg.
I wonder how:
– buildings and bridges will be built
– how Bangko sentral guys can compute their inflation projections
– how officials can make population projections
– how sss or other insurance companies compute their premiums
–
But think about the many voters who hate algebra and calculus, not to mention the other math-based subjects in your list. You must agree his “business math” — meaning voter-business math makes sense, don’t you?
If for votes he is saying please vote then move to the end of the class.
If for votes he might as well say walang examinations, or no K12 have K8 better still.
You know Duterte does not lie, he meant what he says.
There used to be 7 years of Grade School and 5 years of high school in the Philippines.
I don’t know if it was Marcos who started shortening it… but I know that the first batches of Philippine Science High School had 5 years – it was founded in 1964 Macapagal times…
The “caste system” of education that Gian predicts existed in Marcos days because at some point no more failing in public schools… everybody moved up I know that from the kids in Balara but those who could not catch up just dropped out and sold banana Q etc.
I called it “social apartheid” in a Philippine Science High School debate… and added that it was contrary to the spirit of the New Society in order to just be inside political correctness – but my incendiary comments led to a firestorm of protest from the Catholic school crowd.
When it came to math there was one school we from PHILIPPINE Science were expected to beat – it was the private “Chinese” Chiang Kai-Shek High School. I remember the game show type National Math Contest where we just managed win with a few points ahead…
If we do what Duterte suggests we will create or institutionalize a from of caste system. We will create a generation of intellectually stunted citizens without the tools to analyze the complex world we live in. The current society we have is in some ways already a multi class system but whatever mobility we have in our country will be effectively stopped.
Last summer at the irregular meetup of Filipino scientists in Munich, I met a Filipina who is involved in Singapore traffic planning. Highly advanced methods of operations research are used to compute daily flows of people from A to B and help plan nearly everything. We spoke a little in the Asian restaurant where most of us went after the meet-up – almost all the mathematical stuff I learned before (Operations Research was my minor subject, Integrated Circuit Optimization my major doing Computer Science) was the basis of the work of the expert team she belongs to which included rush hour simulations. Some of the best of the people the Philippines has are already abroad, thanks to the present admin a number have stayed I must mention DOST Project NOAH (disaster preparedness) again.
Sensors all over the archipelago. Risk maps to identify areas prone to flooding and/or storm surges – and all this made available to LGUs and barangays. The latter did survive in the time of Lapu-Lapu without all of that – but one must remember that the population was much less and the storms never as bad as today, and general expectations when it comes to standard of living, health and lifespan much lower. In fact they were generally lower even during Marcos days, which is what those who idealize these “simpler times” tend to forget. Parts of even places like Batangas did not even have electricity then, I remember passing by them on the way back from Nasugbu to Manila, oil lamps everywhere. In UP Diliman during dry season water flowed only an hour per day, the rest was via pails and tabo…
Things that happened like in Samar where only spoken about in whispers and rumors, and there was an “anti-rumor mongering decree” by Marcos so one had to be careful. Today you at least read about tanim-bala, Lumad killings which the black propaganda of the antis link to the miner Gutierrez who is a friend of Mar Roxas all a big stretch if you ask me, COA reports on unliquidated Yolanda funds in DSWD which the antis say Mar Roxas stole exist in Marcos days things went unreported. Those who are all ME ME ME and NOW NA may be very surprised and the cycle may repeat itself with them going on the streets – after all many of those out on the streets in 1986 were the same group of people Marcos spoiled – a new middle class that rose up and then was disappointed by the economy in 1982-1986.
Endless cycles – like I already wrote it was similar in the 1890s the country was booming but those who rose wanted everything at once. Bonifacio was like a BPO worker he had a good job at a German company. Gian once wrote that it seems Philippine history is like episodes out of “Cloud Atlas”. The shortness of memory and the lack of national unity is the recurring theme. If ever there is a WE WE WE it is not TAYO but KAMI, exclusivist.
A Filipino investment banker told me in the mid-1990s, during the short-lived boom then – my feeling is that they are going to mess it up again. Well a short dip in progress led to Estrada becoming President. Frustration with Estrada led to Arroyo becoming President. And yes I remember how people talked then – we all have cellphones, our cars and our malls are new. All short-lived consumerism. Nothing ever seems to have a true foundation. Yes the roads have it now. But nobody cares. I remember talking with a Filipina writer in New York – we were talking about the behavior of new Filipino migrants who were wild on consumerism in New Jersey malls. She said the trouble with Filipinos is their desire for instant gratification. I think a dose of Confucian patience would help – Chinoys have it.
I think a dose of Confucian patience would help – Chinoys have it.
I like that bit from my dear old ancestry. I drummed it on my kids and they have taken it to heart. They are doing it to their kids too.
(The wife — when are you getting rid of that; it is rather frayed after more than a decade of use. Me — it still fits and works. Don’t you know I am avant-garde. I don’t have to simulate it.)
‘She said the trouble with Filipinos is their desire for instant gratification’
We had the same desires, the only problem was that we had no money and utang was the most shameful thing one can imagine. We were big boys, we didn’t need anybody, we could care for ourselves. Thus saving for the next big thing required every coin that was not needed to survive. First a car, then the down payment for house and lot, mortgage equal to the rent we paid before. Saving became a state of mind. The wish to have money in the future to do something big. The “big thing” eventually became a retirement fund and I still feel as a big boy, don’t need anybody, can care for myself.
The killer here is the ease to ask someone for money you don’t have to spend on things you don’t really need to try to impress people you don’t really like.
*******
That last paragraph is a killer!
*****
It explains a lot of things including so many financial catastrophes – and corruption.
Your reference to traffic planning is interesting. Wonder how Duterte will solve the Manila traffic mess with nobody who can do operation research, modeling, or simulation. For dutards who tune in, modeling is not about those sexy beings from GMA or abs-cbn and simulation is not what you do in your bedroom.
Given how he proposed about replacing calculus with, um, “practical” mathematics, and his insistence on using direct but harsh methods to solve problems, I seriously doubt on how he would treat scientific professionals and/or techniques.
Chempo, it starts by understanding the number space, the difference between ten, one hundred and one thousand, the difference between adding and subtracting, multiplying and dividing, the meaning of percentage. Most college students I meet have no idea, let alone intuition.
http://filipinogerman.blogsport.eu/money-and-numbers/ – very true… the article Karl quoted starts with this: Duterte said that algebra is useless. Filipinos should learn business math. I think he is wrong. King Mongkut of Siam, of the famous “The King and I” starring Yul Brynner, was a dictatorial man in real life and on screen. But there is a scene where the English teacher tells him of the importance of algebra and he orders everybody to learn it. Could that be the reason why Thailand is quite prosperous?
and it continues: But Duterte also has a point somehow. Maybe we – and I include myself as a Pinoy – don’t know how to use what we learned properly. I have done advanced mathematics in school, but often failed to manage my money properly, until I learned by doing. So I did not REALLY learn my business math – which in the end is just addition, subtraction, multiplication and division – and occasionally percentages…
Mastering something means you apply it well. During a bad phase in my business I had to juggle my money, and first started by making notes, then a simple excel sheet and finally a cashflow sheet with expenses and income forecasts. Now I really know why I am doing it and how to avoid the danger zone. The classic Filipino educational system is a lot about theory and not about applicability and effects.
and goes on: “Mukhang pera” is a bad word in Filipino. It means money-faced. Some Filipinos say “pera lang iyan”. It’s just money. In the original abundance of the islands I guess it may not have mattered. But now where many people do not live in the barrio anymore, it does. Many Filipinos have debt issues. Some are gamblers. Many LGUs are in debt. There often have been budgeting issues.
Yes… the phrases “mukhang pera” and “pera lang iyan” say everything about the flawed relationship to money that many of us have… and for all my Philippine Science High School education I was only partially numerate and financially illiterate before I learned through the school of hard knocks… including a time where I spend thousands like hundreds… chempo calls it the “barangay mentality”… little sense of time, money, numbers… even distance is a vague thing… the mindset has to leapfrog otherwise things will not progress… http://filipinogerman.blogsport.eu/panahon-at-distansiya/ – that article also speaks of commitments, something we are weak at as well… punctuality, rules etc. of course in a barangay society such things can be handled vaguely but at every higher level of order it starts not to work… we function well abroad where we are NOT the bosses.
Thanks for pointing this out. There is a very negative connotation about being tagged Mukhang Pera. Does it go back to Spanish influence ? The challenge is to educate and change the paradigm that being mukhang pera is being sensible about money. Money is the centre of commerce, trade , goods and services are paid for with money not with fruits, chickens, or textile. We need to teach the people that Pera lang yan is big word , a big responsibility. Maybe from ” Money is the root of all evil” somewhere its written. But isn’t it the lust for money specially by illegal means or fraudulent as in Greed is good becomes intertwined. But if we go back to teaching financial literacy , financial responsibility then maybe even Family vales like Responsible parenthood will come into play. After all it costs a lot of money to raise children. If we can slowly make it a learning habit of how money works, how taxation works perhaps we can diminish the negative connotation of Mukhang Pera. Pera lang yan, well try earning it… very hard… and there is no guarantee one will earn it back or will have the same earning capacity specially if one lacks advance education or getting older…
Jose, you must be exaggerating when you say college kids don’t know those basics? Cant be that bad the state of maths.
No exaggeration at all. If one earns 200 peso a day they have difficulty to calculate how long it takes to earn 500 peso. Example from last Friday, 4e year college HRM.
If x = 500 and y =2 then z = 250 hours. Vote Duterte.
Ok, Joe. I told you about my problem of multiplying with carry-overs. I got over it late in life. :-). Now this late, late in life pls help me understand the significance of the mean-value theorem in lay terms. Or point me to a best explanation, in lay terms of course. 🙂 Anybody?
Duterte is mean, you should value that.
Got it, Joseph! I still would like something for my erudition 101. 🙂
Joe, joke joke only! 🙂
Yes, and 250 hours of 500 peso is 50% equal half a day…. or is it the other way around, 200% or 2 days? You confuse me. Binay will skip taxes, so it doesn’t matter.
What we have here is a looming future with two types of msth scenarios. The Duterte type business math which is extensively touched on above. And in the other corner, we have Binay’s korupsyon math. One floor for you, one condo for me. One contract for you, 13% for me. Oh what joy it will be after Poe is DQed.
Don’t forget the Marcos Mining Enterprise of old, Caliphman: that one is mine, this is mine, those are also mine.
Oo nga, sonny. Baka manalo si BBM at may mangyari kay Duterte o Binay. Heto review tayo ng Marcos math. One for X, one for Y, and one for Z where X,Y,Z = Me.
Ay naku, Caliphman. Wala tayong panalo sa kanilang algebra. Example: quadratic equation: 2 values of x ang answer. Pero kailangan the whole equation must be set to zero. Ibig sabihin, zero ang bayan kahit anong value ng x ang makuha ninuman. (eto ang baluktot kong version ng algebra! 🙂
The goods manufactured in the island proposed by Duterte will have no quality control because Filipinos won’t know what the hell is 1,2,3,or 6 sigmas.
Under Duterte the factories will probably be supervised by Mainland Chinese.
Because Filipinos obviously have not yet learned to think for themselves, they might experience the worst slavery yet in all their history. Worse than… even Japan 1942-1945.
Because also… Duterte might make everyone else leave. No other choices.
Come to think of it,it is outrageous that he dismisses algebra and calculus.
You can not do honest to goodness management science aka operations research without learning algebra and calculus.
“Business mathematics is mathematics used by commercial enterprises to record and manage business operations. Commercial organizations use mathematics in accounting, inventory management, marketing, sales forecasting, and financial analysis. Mathematics typically used in commerce includes elementary arithmetic, elementary algebra, statistics and probability. Business management can be done more effective in some cases by use of more advanced mathematics such as calculus, matrix algebra and linear programming.”
Learning just theory without being able to apply it – which is the example josephivo has mentioned – is the major weakness of the Philippine educational system I think. Rote. Duterte is the opposite – he is good in pragmatic/simple things, weak on structure/theory.
chempo, have you by chance come across Prof Roberto Mariano in Spore? I have not met him personally. He is quite known among Economics community.
Sorry Sony I’m not familiar with the gentleman
Thank you, chempo. The professor was connected with Singapore Management University for quite a while. Of course, he’s two yrs my senior and I hope he has retired gracefully. 🙂
What do you mean by ” barangay mind”? Are you referring that someone from barangay have a shallow mind?
It may sound a bit unfair,but as a consolation,it sounds better than bobotante,I suggest that you let it pass.
This is like saying your country is poor & therefore you’re an idiot, barangay being the lowest geographical unit in the Philippines of identifying political or address.
You guys are sending wrong signal to the readers.
I don’t think chempo was commenting on the mental capacity of people, but on their education or lack of it. My reaction to his commentary was that he is correct to be concerned about a dumbing down of the nation that would occur by removing intellectual courses from the curriculum. Indeed, it is a problem in public education, when there are 45 kids per classroom, the teacher often teaches to the slower students and those who could be challenged are bored instead. So that dumbing down does occur, I’d guess. Plus it turns-off smart students to education.
Every person in the Philippines belongs to a barangay, I would note.
Do you agree with Duterte’s proposal to remove more advanced math like calculus and trigonometry from the schools?
You are right James, we should not be making references like that. Geniuses can and do come out of barangays or the most remote villages. This whole thread was more tongue in cheek. I was really meaning people of more simple minds, but that does not mean they are stupid. And by the way, I dont have any masters or even a degree to my name, so there, I”m not being snobbish.
Off Topic
A SPECULATION
I have noted that aside from BW-SWS and Pulse Asia, the Standard-Laylo Presidential Preference survey has also come into the picture prominently. The latter’s numbers for the periods close to the others are reasonable too and comparable.
The latter survey for Feb 24-Mar 1 gives for Poe, Duterte, Binay, Roxas, Santiago the numbers 26, 24, 23, 22, 2, respectively compared to the recent Pulse Asia numbers of 26, 21, 25, 21, 3, respectively.
Since a possible Poe DQ from the Presidential race is looming — a decision may come in a matter of days — the redistribution of Poe’s votes not going to stray, to B, D, R, and S is a matter for speculation. I have re-calibrated my numbers and the percentage re-allocation of Poe’s non-stray votes in four columns below:
B 35 30 30 30
D 30 35 30 30
R 20 20 25 30
S 15 15 15 10
Although the percentage re-allocation is more of the NATURE OF Columns 1 and 2, I believe Column 3, notionally, is also probable.
Of course, the ultimate numbers will be determined also by their own respective campaigns and not by the re-allocation of Poe’s non-stray votes if she is DQed.
Just a quick question if any of these agencies Like Pulse Asia and SWS, every time they release the surveys, are they declaring who commissioned/paid fro the survey? which party or group paid fro it? Certainly, its not free? And of course the methodology is not quite clear. The media are always quick to headline the results as always without further elaborating on the details- methodology , breakdown of subjects and location, phrasing of questions? Is there s website or link that they usually post so it can be accessed ? My own informal survey based on comments from various news media shows its Roxas and Duterte and of course it doesn’t include the masa who don’t comment or no internet access.
If Donald Trump became President, he would do the following:
1. He’d build The Great Wall of America south of the border
2. He’d legalize torture (news as of Saturday)
3. He’d deport all illegal aliens (his passion)
4. He’d make English national language, this means no more Spanish, Tagalog, Vietnamese etcetera in transacting business with the government (I agree, immigrants should know that Americans speak English not Tagalog, Vietnamese, Chinese, etcetera)
5. He’d make public officials answerable to over-pricing not the contractor regardless Audit cannot connect to the pocket of public officials (Donald Trump learned this from Filipinos). Los Angeles Metro Subway was overpriced, overcharged and overtime Mayor Riordan never was charged. If Mayor Riordan was in the Philippines he’d be carted off to jail without benefit of Audit.
6. No more evidences, witnesses and affidavits suffice (this needs to pass muster in US Supreme Court). Obama will pick SC Justice to emulate Justice Philippine-Style
7. NASA toilet seat costs $1,000.00 overpriced and no heads rolled. In the Philippines, if it is overpriced it must be Binay.
8. He’d run after those who executed Affidavits-of-Support to immigrants that became public wards and addicted-to-welfare
9. He will make abortion illegal and make the man pay instead of the woman which is usually the case
10. Cultural justice system will be imposed: PUnishment for Muslims: beheading, stoning to death, and absolutely no justice like in the middle east; Prosecution without evidences will be meted out to Filipinos; Dismemberment of fingers for Japanese
Doncha love Donald Trump? Donald Trump learns a lot from immigrants.
… he! he! he! I forgot … Donald Trump will make it easier to sue journalists against libel (last week news)
WARNING: U.P.-Dilliman Journalism Graduates better not go to America.
And once all the above has been done, he will change his mind. I think he will borrow Putin’s reset button.
http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/771534/new-fighter-jets-to-fly-at-paf-chiefs-sendoff
Philippines bought expensive toys for send-off and fly-byes not to guard and ward off chniese.
They have a reason to flaunt those birds and spread their wings — it’s been for what then seemed to be a very long time that PAF didn’t have anything to show for since the retirement of the F-5, and these FA-50s to them is a breath of fresh air, the fountain of youth.
Binay found guilty before audit report has gone out. Ain’t that wonderful?
http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/771446/binay-denies-blocking-audit-report-on-makati-car-park-building
http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/771251/schools-media-to-blame-for-revisionist-history
What took them so long to realize? I knew without scholarly studies. Who are the authors of history? Where did they graduate? Who are the media? Where did they graduate?
http://globalnation.inquirer.net/137469/duterte-gets-invitation-from-us-embassy-on-his-position-about-disputed-sea
Philippine claim to Spratleys is now moot. It is not about oil. Oil is dropping to a price where a gallon of milk is more expensive than a gallon of gas. A gallon of gas is $2.50/gallon. A gallon of milk is $3.50/gallon.
It is about territory and unfettered ingress and egress. The Philippine Government should stop trumpetting about oil.
What happenedt to the peak oil prediction?
http://globalnation.inquirer.net/137489/duterte-bares-us-embassy-invite-to-discuss-china-tiff
US Embassy will deny they ever sent invite to Duterte about Spratleys. Now, US Embassy realize that Filipinos cannot know simple diplomatic protocols: KEEP MOUTH SHUT UNTIL US EMBASSY SAYS “AAAH”
Eh, sino ga ang dentista, di Dude o si Uncle ???
Like what I told you folks, US Embassy will deny and make invite as nothing out of ordinary ….
I know … http://globalnation.inquirer.net/137501/us-embassy-duterte-invite-nothing-out-of-ordinary
http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/771530/corruption-complaints-vs-boc-go-down
Complaints against Bureau of Custom is down. It means the custom of corruption is on a roll and nobody is complaining.
Creepy.
I’m afraid BOC inadvertently fueled the negative sentiment, multiplied through Facebook.
http://www.rappler.com/move-ph/125012-catholic-educational-association-philippines-admu-bongbong-marcos – the Catholic Church is redeeming itself in the Philippines! 🙂
MANILA, Philippines – More than 1,400 Catholic schools represented by their group, the Catholic Educational Association of the Philippines (CEAP), joined the call against the supposed attempt of Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr “to canonize” his father’s regime.
“The Trustees of the Catholic Educational Association of the Philippines, representing the 1,425 CEAP member-schools, colleges, and universities, support the faculty of the Ateneo de Manila University in their call against the attempt of Ferdinand Marcos Jr to canonize the harrowing horrors of martial rule,” CEAP said in a statement late Monday evening, March 7.
The statement is titled, “CEAP Supports Call Against Marcosian Snares and Imeldific Lies.”
CEAP issued this statement after presidents of the Philippines’ 5 Ateneo universities, run by the Jesuit religious order, lent their weight to a call against the “revision of history” by Marcos Jr.
In the statement released on March 7, CEAP said it supports the Ateneo de Manila University’s faculty in condemning “the attempt of Ferdinand Marcos Jr to canonize the harrowing truths of martial rule.”
Irineo, kung na-under the Jesuits si BBM, he would have learned that it is so easy to justify martial law under the ethical principle of double-effect. All he had to show was that martial law was not intrinsically evil by their calculation.
Seriously. Masyadong masakit na kalimutan si Evelio Javier kung basta-basta lang magsalita si BBM tungkol sa martial law ng tatay niya.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evelio_Javier
Javier was one of many politicians murdered during the period of martial law in the Philippines.[citation needed] His funeral surpassed that of Benigno Aquino, Jr., assassinated three years earlier in 1983.[citation needed]
The assassination of Evelio Javier on Feb. 11, 1986 fueled the People Power Revolution on Saturday, February 22, 1986.[1] Evelio’s body processed through Manila, passing Ateneo de Manila University where he had thousands of friends and colleagues, days before the Feb. 22 People Power Revolution that ousted Ferdinand Marcos and made Cory Aquino the President of the Philippines.
When a regime is desperate is starts to dig its own grave….
I am confused with the way the author in wikipedia wrote about the martial law period.
Martial law was lifted 1981,So it means that for many it did not end at all,until he left?
Maybe that is why it had a citation issue.
True, that is an error. Technically speaking one can quibble over whether Marcos’ rule was a dictatorship or not. On paper it was Martial Law and the New Society followed by the “New Republic” in 1981. There was even an election where the pitiful rest of the NP then ran as a fake opposition to the KBL. In a way the President even under the 1935 Constitution had almost dictatorial powers. I have seen that Quezon for example once suspended the Governor of Albay – relative autonomy for LGUs seems to have come only with the Local Government Code during Cory’s time… much to still be put in context.
I quickly read the NP wiki article,and it was Alejo Santos the was hero that ran against Marcos.
http://www.dw.com/de/die-drohende-r%C3%BCckkehr-des-marcos-clans/a-19068018 – Voice of Germany (Deutsche Welle) on the impending return of the Marcos clan.
They made the current generation of Mussolini’s descendants miniscule in comparison.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alessandra_Mussolini – Relations Benito Mussolini (Grandfather), Romano Mussolini (Father), Sophia Loren (Aunt)
In November 2007, remarks by Mussolini triggered the collapse of the far-right Identity, Tradition, Sovereignty grouping within the European Parliament.[33] Mussolini declared that all Romanians were criminals in remarks regarding immigration policy. This prompted delegates from the Greater Romania Party to quit the group, bringing the group below the minimum number of members to qualify as a caucus and receive Parliamentary funding. – “Greater Romania” is a term referring to the maximum possible territory of Romania from historical records… if all “Greater” definitions were attempted in Europe there would be war again in no time… it’s fun to see the loonies fight each other.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Napoleon_III – much earlier…
Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte (20 April 1808 – 9 January 1873) was the only President (1848–52) of the French Second Republic and, as Napoleon III, the Emperor (1852–70) of the Second French Empire. He was the nephew and heir of Napoleon I. He was the first President of France to be elected by a direct popular vote. When he was blocked by the Constitution and Parliament from running for a second term, he organized a coup d’état in 1851, and then took the throne as Napoleon III on 2 December 1852, the forty-eighth anniversary of Napoleon I’s coronation.
But how come the Marcoses get away with of this atrocities, Sadam Hussein was tried & executed, Mubarak, Gadaffi if not killed will be going the same fate.
Why the family Marcos escape all of this??
Offtopic: Something to look into, from the PCIJ:
http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/771580/what-truth-in-advertising-pol-ads-a-free-for-all-game
As much as the candidates spend much on advertising, it seems the most potent propaganda power can be concentrated on social networking sites — zero cost, high coverage, word-of-mouth. Of course a candidate’s weaknesses, social anger and administration woes can be exploited as agitprop, and I fear it’s much easier to convince young voters through social media than would through television (whom some people would see as superficial).
@Madlang. . . u got it right sir, we should add that m to cha’s m’s collection
But the coverage of TV in the Philippines is far greater than internet & also old generation have no social media account, most of them they are not readers.
Yes, but mainstream tabloid(ish) media isn’t helping either, be it the papers, the radio or television, only making things worse in that we appear — even to the world — that we’re being overrun by criminals, terrorists, hostage-taking nutcases, and yes, the corrupt.
Thus most voters who aren’t on the Internet are vulnerable to the tactics of more cunning candidates who rely on popular discontent and fears, and administration weaknesses.
http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/270802 – “How I Went From $40,000 in Debt to a Millionaire by Age 30” – by a woman from a poor family who went to Wharton.
1. Set the goal.
2. Take a high-pay, big opportunity job.
3. Work your butt off.
4. Advocate on your own behalf.
5. Keep overhead to a bare minimum.
6. Relentlessly pay down debt.
7. Make investments and take a back end.
8. Keep setbacks in stride.
karl, this one’s for you. It’s a little bit long but a 40 minute explanation on the nature of modern money is well worth it.
Many thanks.I will make time for this.
Got to save this classic discussion here.
It is about Chemrock and Micha’s discussion about issues related to the main topic of this blog.
Just scroll down for the whole discussion.
As a tribute to the late Rolando Hiro Vaswani.
Here is a classic tit for tat between RHiro and Micha.
Add caliphman to the discussion and I have completed the TSH most prominent economic gurus.
Our friend Irineo also touched on money and numbers.
http://filipinogerman.blogsport.eu/money-and-numbers/
Dr. Cielito Habito tells us how politics can be the economy’s biggest undoing.
From governors and Mayors buying the small cal businesses, and asking what’s in it for me from investors, of all sizes (small,medium and large). Levereaging the annual business permits,etc.
Money indeed makes the world go round.
http://opinion.inquirer.net/115082/our-biggest-block
He makes good sense, but I suspect the right people are not listening.
Will they ever? They don’t even listen to PDuterte, they just clap.