A New Leftist Agenda
Analysis and opinion.
By JoeAm
By my definition, a leftist is a liberal with a pro-worker agenda. A liberal is a person who tilts in favor of government helping citizens to realize their potential rather than leaving this to the haphazard and self-dealing private sector.
In the Philippines, leftists are 1950s holdovers, unable to adapt to changing Philippine conditions. They see US imperialism as a boogie man rather than point to the real bad guys, China, communism, socialism, and corruption. They work in opposition to the democratic system, without influence, rather than within it to better shape national policies.
My New Leftist Agenda postulates that they should stop wasting their efforts and nationalistic capital by marching and slogan spouting. They should recast both their goals and methods.
Here are a few policy decisions that would do this:
- Stop fighting democracy and capitalism and work within these government and economic models to apply their strengths: fairness and wealth-generation.
- Separate from the New Peoples Army (NPA) and Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP). Fighting the system is both bloody and counter-productive. Become legitimate. And peaceful. But powerful.
- Separate from China, the thief in Philippine seas. Communism is not a realistic model of government and America’s assorted global engagements in warfare are not a reasonable basis for coddling up to China. China is not an ally and cannot be under their ambitions to grab Philippine territory.
- Recognize that socialism is a failed and inefficient system of wealth distribution. It creates totalitarian leaders and a listless labor force. Administer capitalism better. Acknowledge that cooperatives are unable to feed and operate a large modern nation.
- Recruit youth and employees as the voter base that will build within-government strength and the ability to recast government programs to favor workers.
- Use two essential metrics to measure success: number of employed adults and Gross National Income (GNI) per worker. The first quantifies the worker base, the second reports how well the nation’s generated wealth gets distributed to the base of workers. Other metrics can shed light on the process, but those two are the policy drivers.
- Move away from cash grants as a populist way to paste over failed efforts to generate well-paying jobs and replace them with . . . yes, well-paying jobs.
I am struck by the huge wealth gap in the Philippines. A large and growing segment of the population works on a Western economic plateau where cars cost 3 million pesos and two bedroom condominiums cost 20 million pesos. Meanwhile provincial workers, farm workers, fisherfolk, and transportation workers struggle to eat and get their kids schooled. And OFWs are a main export.
Corruption, entitlement, and impunity characterize the way that Western economic plateau is supported by transferring money from the poor to the rich. Completely backward. These essential barriers to efficiency and fairness have to be recast as the nation-destroying forces that they are. Unpatriotic, corrupt self-dealers need to have their wealth taken back by the nation as they are sent off to jail.
The Philippines is a big-boy nation. It has a strong economic base built on consumer services, transportation, and fishing and farming. But the manufacturing core is weak. Manufacturing is a job multiplier, spawning equipment producers, packaging, shipment, wholesale, and retail components. So building more manufacturing capacity is a no-brainer policy decision.
These themes illustrate that the leftist agenda ought not be an extremist agenda, but a sensible agenda. Pursued aggressively within the existing democratic and capitalist models. There is really nothing to fight other than those holding the Philippines back. There is everything to build.
If we consider the two metrics of employed adults and GNI per worker, and consider that the leftist agenda OUGHT to be to drive both indexes upward, then we can see that capitalism and the profits generated are a FRIEND of leftists. The enemy is bad allotment of that produced wealth. This can be a subject for future debate: how to better distribute wealth without undermining the incentives that generate that wealth.
The new New Leftist Agenda outlined here brings the pro-worker effort out of the contrarian, inefficient, and nonsensical slogan-spouting extremist wasteland and moves it into the mainstream where it can build a better and richer Philippines for working Filipinos. It takes a simple change in mindset to do this.
And a lot of determined work.
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Link to Philippine Statistics Authority
Link to Table A, Key Employment Indicators
Cover Photo from Philstar article about Filipinos building military ships
The Society of Honor by Joe America 
This is the topic where Chempo and Micha could have contributed if and only if they comment separately and ignoring each other. I appeal for a fresh start, let bygones be baygoned. Avoid contemptous familiarity, let familiarity instead work in an un echo chamber like manner.
In the blogosphere I have dealt with leftists like the late HVRDS aka RHiro, CVJ aka Carlos Jugo, I don’t know if DJB is left leaning. Some mistook MLQ3 as left leaning
Liberals are leftists who work within the system, but they are not aggressively pro-worker. That smacks of socialism, being pro-worker. The way around it is to be pro-jobs, and pro- careers. So you can actually get to my new leftist agenda by shading liberals toward jobs as the main goal. Less on infrastructure, although there are certainly needs there. But the political push is jobs and careers.
Careers are the anti-venom to impunity, entitlement, and corruption. Once someone sees a future, they don’t want the greedy screwing up their opportunities.
The military industrial “simplex” could do it. Just that if we stick with our jeepney innovation style where you get stuck to post ww2 til Kingdom come then we will remain stuck.
Agree. Very important and it’s starting to happen.
We always say we are not ready, until when will that be? Not ready for Magna carta for seafarer coz it will kill domestic shipping, not ready for jeepney modernization….
Good grief!
maybe that mean we dont really have the wherewithals. not all fits into the pigeon hole of the governmen’t’s making. there has gotta to be some give or leeway. jeepney modernisations is maybe too much in one go, one solution to so many problems, one arrow to hit too many targets, and hits none of the target. make jeepney modernisation voluntary. it’s really all about money. in today’s time, talagang hirap na hirap. those who can afford, let them go for modernisation, those that cannot, dont kill their only means of livelihood, else they resort to crime at maghuramentado pa.
passengers are choosy, they rarely get into jeepneys that look ready for the scrapheap, got no stereo and belching too much black smoke. they prefer to get onboard modern jeepney that have aircon, have clean and comfortable seats and enough legroom. they wont get aboard jeepneys that have seen better days, may mga kalawang at sobrang ingay ang engine, baka maaksidente pa sila.
in the end, lack of patronage and diminished income will eventually force jeepney proprietors to modernise their fleet. the government just have to be patient. modernisation will happen in due course.
I once noted in my old blog – the one that usually had just two regulars, the late Edgar Lores and Karl Garcia – that 1970s Sarao wasn’t that bad, it was at the level of many 1950s Japanese vehicles. I also noted in that vlog how simple BMW was after the war, and at that time most people here could only dream of buying the big American cars the officers at US bases here (this was the US zone of Germany postwar, it was the time Americans discovered the Oktoberfest and Country Roads became an Oktoberfest staple song) but BMW kept improving, the 1970s and 1980s models were still behind Mercedes but look now.
Prof. Chua actually saw that article, shared it, and commented the gist of it, that gradual improvement is the key to modernization. None of the developed places got there immediately. Doesn’t mean one will take hundreds of years to catch up of course, one can leapfrog some stuff, but it isn’t done quickly either. What I also mentioned some articles before ( HERE in this blog with maybe 20 readers or so) is that Jakarta is subsidizing something like the FX vans which are a more modern kind of jeepney if you will. Because Jakarta has its kampongs which are similar to Filipino classic barangays I’m structure, tight streets and many many people, don’t send busses into such places. So they recognize that they aren’t profitable standalone.
miss that blog of yours.
Ako din nag blag on and off 2005 to 2007 then gave up.
“A large and growing segment of the population works on a Western economic plateau where cars cost 3 million pesos and two bedroom condominiums cost 20 million pesos. Meanwhile provincial workers, farm workers, fisherfolk, and transportation workers struggle to eat and get their kids schooled. And OFWs are a main export.” One could describe this as Singapore and Laos in the same country. Sometimes even side by side like BGC and the Embos – the former having once been Fort McKinley – later renamed Bonifacio, the latter an abbreviation for Enlisted Mens Barrios. I have seen vlogs by foreigners who went the “daring” route and lived in the Embos to check out Bonifacio Global City, also those who live IN the condos mentioned.
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Filipino musicians nowadays often seem to reflect their fan’s aspirations towards wealth. Somewhat like British popstars were loved by the working class there for similar reasons.
Gigi Vibes “Homecoming” vlog shows her fans where she comes from, lower middle class.
Gigi Vibes Mukbang vlog shows her eating with her band in the new house that music built. Somehow, the modern version of the jeepney with “Katas ng Saudi” (Saudi Juice) written on it.
BTW the interesting thing about this mukbang is that they have an expensive table and expensive porcelain but no expensive silverware as they eat with their hands. Now I am associated with being mestizo and therefore burgis but hey I respect people being themselves.
This kinda shows the aspirations the second group Joe described all have. There are some stars who show of course their vacations in HK or Japan, or their dogs, the classic Left would scorn as “bourgeois aspirations”, though even Gigi recently spoke out against the man who infamously killed a Golden Retriever. But in the end jobs and careers are exactly about what Leftist university students (usually upper middle class kids) would scorn as “petty bourgeois”.
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Now why has Irineo harped on Filipino music as a potential INDUSTRY. Because INDUSTRIES bring jobs. Sending the likes of Gigi abroad like now for two months in USA/Canada doesn’t just give The Vibes (her band) and Tritone Studios (her fiancee/manager) a chance to earn money.
Studio personnel, video editors etc earn money when an artist or group brings in $$$ to PH, whereas firms that systematically train PPop groups (there is the Midwestern producer GidKidDad aka GKD labels aka Josh who has moved to Marikina with his wife and kid Gideon and does that FROM HIS HOUSE which doubles as office and trainee dorm) provide young people with a chance at careers more systematically than singing contests which are indeed (where was the usual critique of neoliberalism when I wrote my articles?) neolib almost at a Hunger Games Level, as for every Katrina Velarde who makes it all the way up from growing up on Solis Street in Tondo and selling sampaguita as a kid there are those who aren’t the best and don’t make it up, maybe end up like Rory of Soledad’s sister, maybe actually sing abroad and not have the fake entertainer careers Japayuki used to have, but that is hard knocks too and only performance monsters like Bella Santiago who won X-Factor Romania become stars..
Why music? Because singing is one thing Filipinos happen to do well. Start with what you do well, wasn’t that what also built the call center industry? But not too many true careers there. Pablo and Josh of SB19 managed to finance their UNPAID traineeship at SBT (their original Korean training firm) by call center jobs. Unlike India, the Philippines did not manage to build a real IT industry. A real industry doesn’t just SUBCONTRACT. It offers solutions to customers, usually a mix of products and services. A real music industry would create an entire hype and thus create demand. If we are already caught up with Marcos Jr. as President, where is the Imeldific energy to promote Filipino music of all genres internationally as part of a drive to ramp up its earnings AND the tourism that goes with it. It is all more organic as of now.
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Neolib is also called predatory capitalism by German tabloids. Well then, make your industry players apex predators in the international jungle. You can only be that in stuff you already do well, even as you can subsidize growing other stuff with the earnings from what succeeds.
I don’t pretend to actually know much about this, you probably can also ramp up industries by tax breaks (or like in music allowing foreign investment, Josh of GKD is in the Philippines due to that exception) or subsidies – the latter of course is against the present “neolib” orthodoxy.
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No pretense of knowing all the answers here, but AGAIN, INDUSTRIES are what provide JOBS AND CAREERS. Nobody can prove whether PM Franz-Josef Strauss of postwar Bavaria took bribes from Lockheed or not, and I am within safe ground when it comes to a potential libel case from his still influential daughter when I say he was investigated as that is TRUE. BUT aerospace was after automotive and transport (BMW, MAN, AUDI before and after WW2) the next step in ramping up an agricultural state looked down upon by those north of it in Germany into an industrial powerhouse, electronics with Siemens followed suit, Microsoft and other firms from the 80s and 90s onwards, biotech startups from the noughties onwards, now Meta has an AI facility in Munich, Google is here with I don’t know what but they have invested.
Living all these decades in a place that made it and where one can see how people prosper of course made me think about how where I grew up could make it. Some have mistaken my musings as that of someone boasting about Germany. Recently, I had the impression that someone wanted to prove that your great Germany is gonna go down the drain, shut up, well maybe we will go down the drain but then the Philippine should AVOID doing what we here have been doing wrong the past few years. I have also checked out Indonesia and Vietnam even as I now little of these counties because they are on the make and are ASEAN cousins of Filipinos. Speaking about how it was done here might make some think I am a white supremacist. 🤔
Again, INDUSTRIES are what is needed for jobs and careers. Japan ruthlessly built its industry, so did South Korea, now there are Filipinos who will find both Japan and Sokor unlikable. Third step after jobs and careers is enabling wealth-building so the Filipinos of the second group that Joe mentioned can live in a more modest but still modern version of the Gigi House 2.0 and invite their friends to eat on IKEA plates. With their hands of course as they are used to doing.
But then again, what do I know actually except the stuff I try to figure out musing around. 😜
These disclaimers are necessary as all I do well is writing. Learned that at home like many Filipinos learn singing as my household was intellectual. I am as some say just the next fool.
But damn if what I write here inspires new thoughts and new thoughts inspire actions or even entire programs, my strange musings here may have been a spark to light something up. Again I don’t feel important, this blog isn’t important, we are losers here and have just 20 readers. 😉
Music as an INDUSTRY, perfect. Definitely doable and cross-promotes the “fun” that is so important to tourism.
The benefit of the blog to me has always meant having to think, and to express those thoughts in a meaningful way. The ideas often gurgle up and some find their way to X and all the followers rich and poor, left and right, famous and unknown, who follow there. When I started the blog, I was about the only reader, but the path is long and unfinished, so who knows where it will lead. Micha has no grasp of such concepts.
Yes, you started it off as kind of a diary of observations on the Philippines. Eventually, people came to share their perspectives. It is a more dynamic and free-wheeling exchange of ideas than formal intellectual exchanges.
As for me, I kinda like exploring ideas or simplifying stuff a la Reader’s Digest. None of my history articles lay claim to be qualified for academia.edu, and sometimes I even summarize what Prof. Chua and others already popularized.
None of us are experts here. We are just normal people trying to figure things out, mostly about that one country we somehow have ties to. A college professor who wants to talk to all of us needs to go at least freshman level.
I like communal eating, not so watching people stuff their faces. and what’s the roll of toilet paper doing there? maybe if they ask for chopsticks or cutleries they will be provided. I hope they wash their hand before eating.
Oh they certainly have all the cutlery as they are eating at the dinner table of the Gigi House 2.0 as she calls it in her vlogs, and there is also a vlog of her cooking salmon in her obviously well-equipped kitchen.
So between something similar to Dutz eating in the carinderia and pasosyal stuff, you have how Gigi portrays herself. But doesn’t popular culture and such stuff say much about the hopes and dreams of the average Filipino? The vlogs of Morissette showing her and her husband travelling to LU (La Union) and Baguio with their Beagles, or Stell of SB19 doing a weekend layover with friends to Elyu also, appeal to different crowds that I guess don’t have that lifestyle. Well, better have them admire such people than politicians. Any of the Filipino divas can have thousands of shoes for all I care as long as they come from money they earned themselves. Well I guess that is out of style just like Rolex watches are for old men.
thanks, I gather (maybe wrongly) gigi and co have not been made the drink’s brand ambassadors, that’s why the drinks’ name is covered. not endorsing the drink beforehand sans contract.
Ha, yes, or less if talking to me about MMT.
from my time in Mango Ave, Joe. I noticed most (if not all the girls) didn’t have bank accounts. they’d either send their money to their parents or friends/relatives taking care of their child or simply buy shabu with it. the ones with a plan like Gin (Shogun) would just hide their money in a box. then when I took one of the girls to a bank, i understood why. the snooty bank tellers and their mamasan bank managers would sneer at the girls and treat them like shit. many of the girls had a difficult time with reading documents and such. I figured if you were a bank or bank manager you’d kow tow to every customer that wants to put their money in your bank. i was later told there were banks that catered to the masses, that i should’ve gone there instead. maybe but money is money. i know the hottest girls were making more than a teachers salary over there. and banks treated them like shit. theres too many gate keepers in the Philippines.
There are too many gatekeepers for sure. Well, it is a power democracy of entitled over riff raff and people in stores or banks are riff raff unless they look like money which is a proxy for power. My wife when she was 8 months pregnant tried to withdraw P40,000 inside the branch but the anything under P50,000 was supposed to be done at the ATM, out in the hot sunshine. So they sent her outside. Now that she is and looks richer, the bank manager runs around to take care of her banking needs. Power dynamic in action. It is shifting more toward customer service, but not everywhere, and certainly not at government agencies.
True, plus many judges around with no single day in law school. So many feelingeros and feelingeras. I am bot excluding myself when I generalize …or judge others.
There is a reason why Chel Diokno isn’t in the Senate while Raffy Tulfo is.
Gatekeeping by the edumucated has bred the perception that they are all “elitist” while a barangay captain, mayor, or cop type is seen by the masa as an ally providing access to the still strange world of modern institutions. It isn’t because banks, laws, universities and all are bad per se – they are simply very much gatekept there and that since the times of Spanish colonialism. Then you had the same folks learning the skills of the modern world especially from the Americans but using them in a neo-feudal way against less privileged Filipinos.
Sure, nowadays GCash exists and probably used a lot by those on Mango Avenue, the Internet exists providing information to a lot of people who barely learned to read. My father is old school and even Prof. Chua told me he didn’t understand his books, think my writing style especially before but more arcane, though he told me his lectures are highly captivating and understanding, but it is Xiao Chua who actually goes out and explains stuff to everyone in vlogs, and thus even sidewalk vendors know him, and at a book fair Josh of SB19 went to see him and thanked him for teaching him about Austronesians..
Gatekeepers even demolished the opportunities provided during the American colonial period and shortly after. Used to be every valedictorian and salutatorian in public high schools got an automatic UP scholarship. Now public schools are bad, don’t know to what extent K-12 has improved things or made them worse, and UP is full of rich kids.
Commenter madlanglupa once mentioned FYIGM (F Y I got mine) as a typical Filipino attitude and that is what essentially a lot of UP-bred folks did around the 1970s, close the gate to advancement after them. But it isn’t just UP it is all over the place. Why do many Filipinos from the masa or the present new middle class not trust Filipino leftists? Because they have the feeling they will just be a new set of entitled gatekeepers once in power. Possibly not wrong.
If I remember correctly, there is a law wherein top 10 people get a into SUCs. The opportunity is there but the reality is that it is hard to plan and look towards the future when you are hungry.
I was in PSHS then got accepted into UP Diliman. What made my UP Diliman experience not so good was that I always had a way of finding story tellers. So I know of the story of the the Math and Physics Olympiad representative of a province who got into UP Engg but had money problems and in 2010 the story was his job was sculpting marble headstones for cemeteries.
I remember being friends with a head of a fraternity and my friend pointing out women in AS/Palma Hall who you can bonk if you have the budget.
Too many friends who had to stop going to school because money was tight.
I remember talking to someone who was going to study in the province when she found out that the university scholarship STFAP (Socialized Tuition and Financial Assistance Program) kicks in during the second semester and she was late to pass the first semester application.
Thanks. Yes, Filipino music has evolved enormously. I did watch the movie Respeto some years ago, so I got a bit of an idea where Filipino rap is going – still most of this is outside my age group and that’s OK.
The Wish Bus (which now also exists in LA, based in North Hollywood) is the major marketing vehicle for Filipino music nowadays. By parking at malls in Metro Manila for live shows, then making them into videos that go viral.
And of course what some Internet reactors have noted, that Filipino musicians have VASTLY improved the audio and video quality of their YouTube videos over the past 5 years or so. Covid times and YouTube earnings then may have played a role in that.
i chose those two videos for their aesthetics, Ireneo. seems ethics here meets with aesthetics. been Googling and the closest i’ve come to any sort of study merging the two (which is axiology) is Christopher Alexander, where in he answered a grant challenge to study mental health and environment which lead to him uncovering that sweet spot where ethics and aethetics meet.
They say the Swiss has no raw materials but it exports the best chococolates, Japan tio has no raw materials but it was he top exporter before China became the factory of the world.PH has natural resources and yet our top export are OFWs.
https://www.rappler.com/philippines/marcos-jr-signs-tatak-pinoy-bill-law-february-2024/
tatak pinoy is maybe what is needed anew by our pledging industrialization and looks promising too. tatak pinoy law has been signed and has the support of the government.
Ayos yan
That may well do for Filipino innovation what certain Marcos Sr. era laws did for OPM.
Haven’t looked at it yet though and the devil is always in the details.
Our inventors look for sponsors elsewhere because they can not get that from government who wants a large cut and the rich who wants to own their idea.
firstly, inventors have to lodge or register their products and have them copyrighted to make sure their products is truly their own, not copied or plagiarised from others. or they can sell the rights, look for partners, etc.
questions will be asked how useful is the product, is it unique or just one of the many similar products waiting to flood the market.
remember that recent singer from mindanaw, she is big in tiktok and has a decent following yata, but was told not to sing the tune dahil the tune is priorly copyrighted by someone. or face fine.
Good insights
The procurement law has always been the excuse why our government prefers foreign designs, and manufacturer. All because of the proven design stuff. We could go around that if we license manufacture like we do for cars, though it would be great if we have our own ph brand like a brand from Francisco motors or Sarao motors that is at par with MNCs
Name a country with zero corruption probably zero, not even Vatican, but even our neighbors will leave us behind for sure if we do not get our grip on things and get our acts together.
there is also no country fully able to run on renewables alone despite all the hoohaa of how viable, how good, how enviro friendly renewables are.
to make renewables work you need extractive practices and waste management. Before longer life panels you discard them quickly.
Nuclear still has no answer on waste disposal. Unless you have a spaceship and direct it to the sun
Ex cobalt for EVs
https://www.samaterials.com/cobalt-in-ev-batteries-advantages-challenges-alternatives.html#:~:text=And%20cobalt%20serves%20multiple%20vital,improved%20performance%20for%20electric%20vehicles.
People hate self service. In the 80s Shell used to have self service and it did not last a month. Now, McDonalds is self service and many go to Jollibee where it is still service deluxe. People hate automated answering machines in banks, hospitals, or any institutions. Others gave no security guards and have cctvs were you stop crime after the fact.
I am in my talkative mood at the moment.
re: LCX
https://o-g-rose-writing.medium.com/aesthetics-then-ethics-e1f69942ddd6
it’s all connected to that, karl. power is knowledge not really knowledge is power. like when the snake convinced Eve to eat the fruit. Adam and Eve (not Adam & Steve) were kicked out lest they also partake in the tree of Life. I’m thinking the tree of Life was about ethics and aesthetics. if you look at the Philippines, the “risk-takers” are constructing really ugly structures, the same as the “nap-takers” (cuz they’re always taking naps) with all the legal and illegal electric lines all knotted together next to transformers i’m surprise not more Filipinos die of electrocution. plumbing is fresh water and sewage combined. the two groups don’t care. thus aesthetics is ethics. like Dostoevsky and Nietzsche , both produced art to expose beauty in Life. the tree of Life is beautiful , karl. before any of these risk-takers and nap-takers create something, there should be a process of asking if its beautiful, if it is then the public good is benefitted if its not, then more of the same ugliness abound. how to do that, i don’t know. I just know that the whole of the Philippines is so ugly, except for this one nipa hut i passed by near cotabato, strong old wood been there for generations am sure with fresh straws for roof, outside were orchids adorned all around the house. tires held soil plants grew. if i were a painter i would’ve painted it alas just my memory now. but you’d recognize it as beautiful yourself , karl. or in the cities every early morning theres these Filipino who wake up before the neighborhood wakes up and they sweep the streets or just their general area, like Sisyphus at dawn. why don’t we create more beautiful structures and items is the question here. uncover that and you solve everything, karl. Aesthetics and ethics. don’t believe those risk-takers, karl. they mean to dominate. i’d rather cast my lot with the nap-takers, theres beauty in dreaming at least. there’s only one real takers. they take & take… the risk-takers. nap-takers only take their naps. risk-takers take everything else. fuck them.
https://www.ssa.gov/history/paine4.html
“THE following little piece was written in the winter of 1795 and ’96; and, as I had not determined whether to publish it during the present war, or to wait till the commencement of a peace, it has lain by me, without alteration or addition, from the time it was written.”
Way before Marx, karl.
https://www.goerg.de/en/insights/publications/17-10-2022/property-tax-reform-2022-a-comparison-of-tax-burdens-and-the-need-for-contractual-action-in-real-estate-transactions I am reminded of this recent reform:
“..Central element of the old system was a periodic recurrence of the main determination for a properties reference value, in German referred to as the “Einheitswert”, which is the relevant value for the assessment of the property tax. Yet, this periodic recurrence has never been carried out. As a result, the Einheitswert that is currently still determining a real properties value for the purposes of the property tax is based on values dating back to 1964 in West Germany and to 1935 in East Germany..”
https://www.gtai.de/en/invest/investment-guide/taxation-of-property-561540
“..Real property in Germany is sorted into two distinct categories. The real property tax rate depends on the category assigned to the property. Accordingly, real property tax is categorized as follows:
Real property tax “A”: Real property used for agriculture and forestry
Real property tax “B”: Constructible real property or real property with buildings
A real property tax type “C” will be introduced from 2025 onward as the result of a fundamental real property tax reform. Municipalities can impose the real property tax type “C” for undeveloped areas that are ready for development..”
There was a recent Federal Constitutional Court ruling here thar determined the present real estate tax system as unconstitutional, I think based on the part of the Constitution that says “Eigentum verpflichtet” = more or less owning property also has obligations to the community.
The gist I think being that certain types of property should be taxed more, especially property that doesn’t generate revenue for the local government, meaning the community. Especially the low valuation rate of East German property had unused land held speculatively, I recall.
Reminds me of for instance where the Trinoma mall is now in Quezon City, that was unused grass lands for so long, just across the Metro Manila Transit depot that later became SM North. That lands could stay unused for decades is mind-boggling. Was it due to taxes? Because a higher estate tax and fair valuation for land based on how the area where it is is economically performing pushes people to sell or utilize their land or keep it as forest/farm.
re aesthetics and ethics, i’m of the mind that a forest is more profitable for the public good, eg. mental health, environmental, etc. thus that should be prioritized like open spaces over here (though usually private groups buy said open space and gift it to the gov’t to be protected in perpetuity), I think UK’s commons is similar. these risk takers will have us living in Giedi Prime if we let them. Manila could use more parks and open spaces for public use ngl. Just focus on aesthetics. for example, I’m very excited to see what Gin will do to develop her tract of land she was gifted in Edo. she’s thinking aesthetics for sure.
Yes, I think forests and farms have the lowest real estate tax bracket here.
Gin’s plan is a reference to the real life Yoshiwara entertainment district of Edo which became Tokyo.. it certainly looked beautiful in the 1920s
And there are even official tours of the former Yoshiwara district:
https://japancitytour.com/yoshiwara-district/#:~:text=Today%2C%20Yoshiwara%20corresponds%20to%20the,of%20past%20times%20still%20exist.
“If I find something beautiful, I treat it with care. If there is a vase in the kitchen that is notably elegant, I make a point not to bump into it, but if there is a vase made of plastic that I bought for cheap, though I won’t intentionally break it, I won’t be nearly as careful, and if I have to make a hard choice between catching the plastic vase from falling off a ledge and catching a glass, I could easily choose the glass. Beauty corresponds with value, and if I find something beautiful, relative to the degree I do, I naturally and willing take care of it. This isn’t to say that beauty is necessary for me to care, but it is to say that beauty naturally inspires consideration and concern without anyone coming along and threatening to put me in jail if I don’t act better.”
Joe. Philippine trenches at risk.
https://www.gmanetwork.com/news/topstories/nation/902677/earthquakes-stronger-than-magnitude-8-possible-in-ph-phivolcs/story/
Yikes!
many Filipinos claimed to have water ran engines but failed to make it happen. But now some one did
https://www.ecoticias.com/en/water-engine-first-time/674/
Your very first line shows a biased ideology. Pro-worker or business-friendly, either way, it is a biased.
Economics and politics are inseparable. Economics is about money and politics is about control. On this duality the whole world spins.
Equity suggests that there should be some semblance of equal share of welfare for everyone, but Equality, in the words of Abraham Lincoln, says “the man that made the corn should eat the corn”.
Old world socialism collapsed after they pushed the Equity brand for 50 years. But Equality today has created disgusting wealth in the hands of a small number of families.
Today’s insanity in western countries is Liberalism pushing a more aggressive rebranded Equity. And strangely the majority of capitalist oligarchs are supporters of Liberal Democrats. It does seem a world turned upside down. It only makes sense if the oligarchs are getting into bed with Liberals that they can control. To paraphrase Mao, power flows from those who control the money faucet. And so oligarchs abandon the pro-business Conservatives they cannot control. MAGA is definitely not their idea of a gravy train.
The overall well being of a country is best served by an ideology that ensures some sense of fair share between risk-takers and labour and this-should be the role of government. To measure the outcome of government effort you suggested some metrics. That is well and good.
In the context of the Philippines government, my humble opinion is the presidential type of government where Congress holds the purse string, is endemically flawed. Congress dictates spending policies without the financial responsibility of the Executive.
I like this half-para a lot:
“The overall well being of a country is best served by an ideology that ensures some sense of fair share between risk-takers and labour and this-should be the role of government.”
The question is what is FAIR?
1. Christian Democrats in Germany classically were on the side of industrialists as well as SMEs and even down to craftsmen and the classical Adam Smith shoemakers and bakers as those creating jobs.
2. The Social Democrats basically were the Left in Germany that abandoned Communism and agreed that industry creates jobs, but that those who work should get a fairer share. Union representatives are on corporate boards here.
3. Liberals in Germany are clearly those who believe that those who provide capital and who have property should earn from it. Lots of big money and even noble old wealth, but also brash young startup entrepreneurs in that party.
re role of government my simple understanding of neolib which has been the ideology especially since the 1990s is private good, big government bad.
It has meant for instance in Eastern Europe that a lot of countries for instance Romania went for privatization of nearly everything including Healthcare and education after everyone was used to Communism, a huge shock.
In Western Europe the dismantling of a lot of welfare state stuff took place in stages. The major dismantling of the German welfare state was under SPD Chancellor Schröder. Lots of old Leftists like LaFontaine left calling him neolib.
NOW how about the Philippines
Everything is privatized there. Instead of urban planning, subdivisions, condos and malls. Instead of a proper public education system as a provider of equity, good education is mostly just possible in private schools. Government outsources building big stuff to oligarchs.
Those with expensive cars and expensive condos that Joe mentioned also have access to the magic tool in the Philippines, dollar accounts subject to bank secrecy. Hot topic but it is real. Finally this all leaves all of us with more questions than answers.
While thinking of what to say after reading Chemrock and Irineo, I came across this:
x- Richard Dawkins is obviously correct that a civilization rooted in church is better than a civilization rooted in an alternative set of values. But in reality, the churches cannot be empty; they must be full. The cathedrals that mean Britain to Dawkins must ring with the sounds of hymns in order to maintain their holiness and their importance; otherwise, they are merely beautiful examples of old architecture, remnants of a dead civilization preserved in stone.
But our civilization must live. And that means more than cultural Christianity. It means reengaging with the source of our values — the Scriptures that educated our fathers and grandfathers. -x
The last quoted sentence makes me want to ask, what is meant by “the Scriptures”?
Yes, what/where are “the Scriptures”?
Numbering your paragraphs 1 through 7 and addressing each.
1. My bias, or proposed policy, is fed by the fact that workers in the Philippines get a shitty deal and, to correct that, you need pro-worker policies and injecting a future into jobs, as careers, so that people are inspired to work hard and see corruption as nasty. Today corruption holds workers back. That is my foundational bias.
2. Yes.
3. Amusing. True.
4. Yes.
5. Trump met recently with a group of billionaires. He promised them more tax cuts. That, to me, is wrong. That is MAGAs leader.
6. Agree.
7. The House in the Philippines is in the President’s pockets no matter who is President. The House is the larder, the President sees that it is full of lard. The House is LGU favorite sons whose primary mission is to keep the money rolling in. They don’t give a shit about careers. That’s why the nation needs a pro-worker political power: to stop the endless stream of dynastic presidents who like the status quo.
https://wp.me/p6QW7g-2j2 interesting commentary, about the Philippines, not fully OT%
“..Money supply (M2) has increased by 2.5x since 2013 dwarfing the 1.6X increase in our GDP i.e. there is more money created than goods and services leading to higher prices. To fight inflation the BSP has raised interest rates which has hurt the consumer, businesses and the State given its trillions in debt. The higher interest means wider fiscal deficits leading to more money printed leading to further deficits and inflation, higher interest rates and more money printing. It is a death spiral..”
Chemrock what say you? This kind of stuff M2 is something I sometimes read about in German papers. True the conservatism of Bundesbank and ECB in Frankfurt are not everyones cup of tea but they are a lesson learned of German 1920s when money was carried in baskets. Even as near zero interest rated recently made money “easier” but might have fueled inflation but what do you do in times of Covid and after? I just noticed that PNoy’s last national budget was around 3T but now the national budget is 5T. It isn’t that simple I know: is the Philippines living beyond its means or is it investing in a better future! Again more questions than answers.,
“Again more questions than answers.”
Irineo, on that note, here is a question:
“LGBTQIA+” or “LGBTQIA2S”?
A leftist agenda?
And, here, is an answer:
“ja-masungi”
(Later, this so-called answer can be made clear very easily.)
On second thought, why not NOW try
this “unshortened” link:
https://joeam.com/2020/10/19/getting-to-innovation-in-the-philippines/#comment-393084
The one and only place at TSOH where (until now) “Masungi” is mentioned.
It is also an article where, IMO, there are more answers than questions.
By the way: “masungi”; not “masungit.” 🙂
2020-2023 were extremely difficult years to navigate given the high imported inflation arising from the triple whammy of supply chain mess, war in Ukraine and oil price hikes (thanks Biden).
This created 2 major problems. A liquidity crunch and in the case of PH, a downward pressure on the peso (because of deficit in Current Account of the balance of payments).
BSP had to manage peso liquidity by purchasing securities in the market which is paid for by money printing. To provide for foreign currency liquidity, BSP had to use its foreign reserves. BSP sells currencies thus sucks back some of peso in the market.
To provide foreign currency liquidity without affecting peso liquidity, BSP could have utilised FX swap facilities set up with other central banks. I have no idea what arrangements BSP had availed.
I have not been following PH economy for a while. What I can see is balance sheet of BSP had a massive increase from Php 5T in Jan 2010 to its highest level of Php 8T in Aug 2021. This increase in balance sheet is totally in line with the course of action BSP would taken during this period.
Increasing liquidity leads to the increase in M2 you highlighted.
Re the national budget of 5T. Size doesn’t matter. What matters is the level of deficit spending. I do not have the details.
BSP uses the interest rate as monetary tool to manage inflation. So yes, if national debt has risen, it increases fiscal spending. However, domestic debt is not a problem. It is the foreign currency national debt that is the burden.
And here we have been saying in years past PNoy had done well to bring foreign debt down significantly and we worried Duterte’s Build Build Build policy has a high risk element when interest rates rise. Duterte’s rooster has come home to roost with a weaker peso and upward trend in USD rates. Unfortunately Duterte voters have no idea of the consequences of their votes.
What a twist of faith. Weaker peso/higher dollar — Marcos the son is facing exactly the same scenario as Marcos the father although at a very much lower magnitude.
Sorry I did not address this issue that you mentioned :
”The higher interest means wider fiscal deficits leading to more money printed leading to further deficits and inflation, higher interest rates and more money printing. It is a death spiral..”
This is what’s called the debt trap. A measure of a country’s ability to service its national debt is debt to GDP ratio. For Philippines this is currently at 60.9%. Generally 77% is considered the threshold of manageability. For example, counties that we know having big debt problems have huge debt to GDP ratios – Venezuela 241%,Greece 173%, Sri Lanka 117%. Philippines’ 60.9% is manageable.
More importantly is the foreign debt ratio. Japan 264%, Singapore 168%, US 129% yet they have no worries over serviceability because their national debt is primarily domestic currency. In the case of Philippines only about 40% of national debt is foreign. It is still manageable.
Many countries, like US and Philippines, use interest rate as its tool to manage monetary policy, ie the management of quantitative level of money, to manage general price level. For comparison, Singapore uses the exchange rate.
Whether an increase or decrease in interest rate is good or bad depends on various data points. An increase in interest rate strengthens the peso thus a decrease in imported inflation, higher cost of peso leads to lesser consumption, business shrinks, so is deflationary, adds to fiscal spending on debt servicing. But it encourages capital inflow which is inflationary. The reverse happens when interest rate is lowered. Thus interest rate level is dynamically calibrated by taking into consideration various data points like employment level, balance of payments status, state of the economy, inflation target, M2, etc. Its complicated.
Hehe I remember the time when Micha told me to repeat after him and say debt is good. in the sari sari store, i made tambay when i was a kid, it has a written cardboard signage saying: your credit is good, but we need cash. Nowadays, sari saris accept gcash.
https://latinlawyer.com/guide/the-guide-restructuring/third-edition/article/lessons-argentinas-default-its-international-sovereign-debt
https://www.rferl.org/a/montenegro-exits-deal-chinese-highway-loan/32469505.html
Debt is good if it allows you to grow and grow productively. If you pay for stuff that does not accrue more benefits than your debt then you are borrowing from future generations.
Not all debt is created equal and it shows a lack of understanding and experience in doing productive stuff when you spout BS that basically says all debt is good.
I think that can be its own article
@chemrock do the honors on the debt article as a follow up to your previous article on debt.
later do a transport article. using SG as benchmark. How do they do the deregistration thing, etc.
Debt as a means for sourcing capital is good. Capital is an engine of production.
But debt for consumption is bad. Gian threw in the caveat for the idea ‘debt is good’. For government, it generally leads to higher taxation. At the end of the day, someone has to pay back.
For illustration.
Singapore has one of the highest national debt to GDP ratio in the world. However these debts are in the form of Government securities which by law, cannot be spent. They comprise of (a) Singapore Gov Securities which are for purpose of setting SGD yield curve, (b) Singapore Gov Retail Bonds which are for purpose of allowing retail investors the opportunity to invest in a risk free longer term instrument, (c) Singapore Gov Special Securities which are non-marketable securities to enable state retirement fund to invest in a risk free guaranteed returns instrument, and (d) Reserves Management Government Securities which are foreign currency non-marketable securities for the central bank to invest the foreign exchange reserves in excess of its needs.
These are national debts taken on by the Singapore govt both in SGD and foreign currencies. The funds received are invested by the govt either by Ministry of Finance or sovereign wealth fund GIC.
To allow the govt to take advantage during the time of cheap money and speed up development, Singapore had a recent legislation to allow the borrowing for infrastructure projects. There is however a cap on such borrowing, but very few agencies have resorted to external debts. The level of such debt is insignificant.
Singapore practices a balanced budget. It has never resorted to debt for fiscal spending.
In contrast, the US national debt is now hitting US$ 35T. Massive amount is for consumption and foreign aid. The money is gone. Although it’s in US$, someone still needs to pay for it.
Debt is good and money is for free? Well as long as you don’t check your bank account, you ain’t broke.
Many many thanks.
Many thanks. Wechselwirkungen is the German word I usually read when it comes to this economic stuff, literally cross-effects, meaning everything somehow affects everything and vice-versa, fascinating even as I admit to being economically still semi-literate.
High interest rate means more people save money in the bank while low interest rate encourages people to buy real estate, for example – or in general encourages investment, high exchange rate makes oil cheaper, but our exports more expensive etc.etc., I read here.
Foreign debt isn’t too high over here I gather as a lot of the debt Germany has is to then likes of local Bundesbank and Commerzbank, as they say over here it stays in the family.
—————-
It seems the takeaway of the stuff on the Philippines is things aren’t as bad as they seem.
The weak peso notwithstanding which I read somewhere is a zero-sum game for OFWs who think their relatives get more pesos but can buy the same with them as before.
Because a lot of stuff is the Philippines is imported unless their families eat just kamote. What I find a bit strange as of now is the boom in condo and housing sales to OFWs and migrants with a lot of them going into being real estate agents for SMDC Megaworld etc as a sideline.
Something about all of it smells like a Ponzi scheme to me, forgive my skepticism. It is a bit like the present expat boom in the Philippines which may or may not end in many disappointments.
So the Philippines is muddling through but not failing. As usual. Or did I miss something?
—————–
Joe’s big picture that opportunities aren’t really there for most still holds, I guess. Or not?
If you exchange a $100 bill that’s old, you get a lower exchange rate. But if it’s a new $100 bill you’ll get the best rate. Basically, penalizing you for the quality of your dollar bills which you can’t control when you withdraw from the bank here in the US. they’d screw me so had if i exchanged the one above. i so can’t wait for bitcoin already, Ireneo. fuck this exchange rate bs.
until then, try.
https://thesmartlocal.com/read/travel-e-wallets/
Your Cebu example can be a good reason for e wallets all you need is to keep your phone handy and fully charged plus with data.
You already can pay with crypto in Singapore. You just have to pay a premium for it.
Singapore’s Grab accepts Bitcoin, Ethereum, & stablecoins for payments – Crypto Briefing
“If you exchange a $100 bill that’s old, you get a lower exchange rate.“
Don’t quite understand what you mean.
Do you mean there is a USD: USD exchange rate?
Whichever face you have on the dollar note shouldn’t purchasing value wise be same, unless you are at a numismatic shop.
chemp,
so in cebu, you go to these ‘black market’ money changers cuz banks and pawnshops usually don’t give you the best rates, plus the added benefit of ‘black market’ money changers is no paper work but rates changes night to night apparently you’ll get a better deal moving around shopping around. only issue is that they really care about the quality of your bills, ripped corners, creases , or if new or old model, etc. then they’ll separate your bills and say i’ll give you this rate for this stack and that rate for this stack. but as gian and ireneo have stated there should be new means to get the best exchange rates now. cash is great for anonymity but not great when said cash is graded new, very good, good, fair and poor condition. i ended up borrowing ironing board and iron at hotels. lol.
Before the https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coinage_Act_of_1857 you still could have paid with Spanish silver dollars in many parts of the world including the USA and China. In China, they still used them up to the end of the Empire.
Pirates of the Carribean loved their pieces of 8 which these coins were called as they could literally be broken apart to give change. Countries as diverse as India and Australia countermarked the coins to prove their authenticity. Some Chinese in Manila did the same, so I guess that was the equivalent to the Cebu money changers having different rates for paper dollars in different states of wear and tear.
OIC. I thought you were writing about US which doesn’t make sense. But in Cebu OK I get it. I never been into the deep hearthlands in PH, never experienced the exchange phenom. In any case, SGD notes are special plastic coated. They have longer life in good condition. And I get my peso at ATM, directly transferred from my SGD account. Exchange rate is better because it’s non-cash rate.
Re Bias
all of us have our own biases and beliefs. If it clashes with others that is were you manage escalation and deeescalation, compromise and avoidance.
Like LCX, he believes that is OK to call Irineo Ireneo because Irineo is not complaining.
in my case if i got called Carl instead of Karl…fine with me.
I believe that people should really start reviving this : Georgism – Wikipedia
From wikipedia:
Georgism, also called in modern times Geoism,[3][4] and known historically as the single tax movement, is an economic ideology holding that people should own the value that they produce themselves, while the economic rent derived from land—including from all natural resources, the commons, and urban locations—should belong equally to all members of society.[5][6][7] Developed from the writings of American economist and social reformer Henry George, the Georgist paradigm seeks solutions to social and ecological problems, based on principles of land rights and public finance that attempt to integrate economic efficiency with social justice.[8][9]
Fascinating. Integrating economic efficiency with social justice. Ideally terrific but not liked by oligarchs. A leftist president could move in that direction, and I suppose is my main point pragmatically applied. Give workers good capitalist careers within a for profit framework that strips power from those who milk wealth off for private use, vs community well being.
hard here because lots of unproductive lands and also prime land are owned by the church and the oligarchs.
The key is to use it or lose it. You force capital to be active and not engaged in real estate price bubble games. Everyone builds condos and office buildings because after the regulatory hurdles you get to engage in price games that fool financially illiterate people thinking that the condo price set by the developer is the price of their reserved slot, when it is the price of someone willing to buy it when you are selling it. Liquidity of assets and leverage is so useful until they are not. unfortunately as China has shown manufacturing delivers barely durable free cash flow due to competition while land offers a more predictable business model that is why China forced the issue. They want to be a nation of builders not real estate speculators.
Ahh, superb insights. Thanks!
https://cdobro.medium.com/the-case-for-modern-georgism-e46e6604be40
https://progressandpoverty.substack.com/p/why-georgism-why-now
I look at Georgism purely out of curiosity. I cannot see what superior economic vantage it can bring in the context of this post which I see is a harkening of leftitst idealism to its purist root of worker welfarism.
Just like MMT, Georgism lacks a sufficiently precise or coherent understanding of their own beliefs and proposals and offers rhetorical formulations.
Georgism grew out of 19th century feudal ideas of land ownership where royalists who own lands but create no added value, exact rent from labour and businesses. It is this practice that created poverty.
The Georgist principle is land belongs to all human beings, the whole community. Thus land owners should be taxed for the Common good. It calls for land to be taxed at 100% on its unused value and all other taxes be done away with. Georgism has often been called the Single Tax Movement.
Critics point to the socialist nature of the tax. Socialism is all about worker ownership of all the means of production. Georgism is clearly classifying land as a common property. It is a Land Value Tax (LVT) applied on monopolists.
However, Georgism does not interfere with the private management of land use. So in effect, Georgism combines market-based private land use with the common ownership of land as resource, sort of socialism-capitalism hybrid.
Single Tax could perhaps have been plausible in the 19th century situation where economics were simpler. In today’s world, taxation has gone beyond the means of state revenue collection, but as mechanisms of social or economic policy drivers. Eg Pigoutuvian taxes like Carbon tax to reduce carbon footprints, or sin taxes on cigarettes or alcohol.
Opposition to Georgism has been its impossibility of implementation by government and capitalism’s pillar of risk-rewards shattered. As libertarian or socialist sense of equity, some form of LVT already exist in most countries in the form of property tax.
One positive spot of economic interest for LVT is distributed land development. LVT as propounded in Georgism, will force land owners to develop land instead of leaving it in unused state. This will encourage development in non-urban areas.
As to the problem of landbanking where wealth can sit on unused land and manipulate prices, this can be easily resolved by government issuing zoning or master plans that will force owners to develope on pains of penalties.
I think Singapore offers an interesting view somewhat related to the discussion on Georgism.
You see, unlike any country in the world, the government owns about 90% of the land. This came about from inheritance of massive land in fee simple from the British, expropriation for development, and land reclamation. So land in Singapore is basically common property. Of course the government imposes no tax on itself for unused land, which would have been meaningless. The government sells the land at market rates on long term 99 year leases. Sales proceeds cannot be spent. It goes into a common pool, the national reserves, which are invested by the sovereign wealth funds. At the end of the term, the land reverts to government with zero reversionary value. The cycle repeats as government resells the land. Meanwhile, lessees annual property tax on the lease.
…. lessees <pay> property tax ….
chemp, since Micha isn’t here. I have to say it. chemp, you don’t know what you’re talking about. just kidding, here’s an interesting tit for tat with Marx- albeit indirect, would love to see if theres actual correspondence between the two. re Singapore and Georgism, over here in California its coastal access thats at issue, in which billionaires are trying to privatize their access to the coast. Laguna Niguel cuz of its geography is successful, but north adjacent to the Santa Cruz mountain lots of surfers complaining.
also same issue in fresh water features:
Georgism is important in the context of the Philippines because a lot if not most of the desirable land is owned by private individuals. Big land owners include the church and most of the powerful families.
I see your point. In my opinion, it would be better to avoid Georgism because it is a half-baked idea. An easier way to incentivise development of land holdings is to work on regulations and tweak investment parameters.
OT:
I hope this will work and you will enjoy reading it.
https://www.newyorker.com/science/elements/a-guide-to-the-total-solar-eclipse
x-
A Guide to the Total Solar Eclipse
Eclipses dazzled the ancient world. Now that we understand them better, they may be even more miraculous.
By Rivka Galchen
April 5, 2024
-x
The first two paragraphs of the New Yorker article:
x-
On April 8th, the moon will partly and then entirely block out the sun. The total eclipse will be visible to those in a hundred-and-fifteen-mile-wide sash, called the path of totality, slung from the hip of Sinaloa to the shoulder of Newfoundland. At the path’s midline, the untimely starry sky will last nearly four and a half minutes, and at the edges it will last for a blink. On the ground, the lunacy around total eclipses often has a Lollapalooza feel. Little-known places in the path of totality—Radar Base, Texas; Perryville, Missouri—have been preparing, many of them for years, to accommodate the lawn chairs, soul bands, food trucks, sellers of commemorative pins, and porta-potties. Eclipse viewers seeking solitude may also cause problems: the local government of Mars Hill, Maine, is reminding people that trails on Mt. Katahdin are closed, because it is mud season and therefore dangerous. I have a friend whose feelings and opinions often mirror my own; when I told her a year ago that I had booked an Airbnb in Austin in order to see this eclipse, she looked at me as if I’d announced I was bringing my daughter to a pox party.
Altering plans because of this periodic celestial event has a long tradition, however. On May 28, 585 B.C., according to Herodotus, an eclipse led the Medes and Lydians, after more than five years of war, to become “alike anxious” to come to peace. More than a hundred years before that, the Assyrian royalty of Mesopotamia protected themselves from the ill omen of solar eclipses—and from other celestial signs perceived as threatening—by installing substitute kings and queens for the day. Afterward, the substitutes were usually killed, though in one instance, when the real king died, the stand-in, who had been a gardener, held the throne for decades. More recently, an eclipse on May 29, 1919, enabled measurements that recorded the sun bending the path of light in accordance with, and thus verifying, Einstein’s theory of general relativity.
…
-x
There are articles that only the higher ups in the communist party of the philippines get rich and the others stay peasants or be contented to stay that way.
That also apply to the terrorists and rebel groups.
https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1143064
LCX
https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202309/1298065.shtml
Plan to boost local currency settlement among SCO countries underway
De-dollarization creates fairer, more equal global trade, financial system: experts
PBBM could still joine the SCO, karl. i see he is playing second fiddle here in state visit.
No! Plus India should pull out of SCO and BRICS. PBBM’s foreign policy is superior to Duterte’s.
No! Plus India should pull out of SCO and BRICS. PBBM’s foreign policy is superior to Duterte’s.
they roll out the red carpet treatment for the Japanese premier, but the dog house treatment for PBBM. i know delicadeza and amor propio are very Filipino traits, karl. so PBBM should acknowledge this slap in the face, and announce while in DC that the Philippines intends to join the SCO, and just look how quickly they’ll have set up the state dinner and parades with fly bies of the Blue Angels and Thunderbirds.
I think that is a very unnecessary emotional assessment of a pragmatic arrangement that was put together as an element of the State visit by the Japanese premier to the US, the first such visit in 9 years, and a big deal involving an address to Congress. President Marcos was invited for a working trilateral session and agreed. It is win win win, and any other portrayal is tabloidian cheap shotting for effect. Or ignorance. Hard for me to tell from here.
I would add that this is President Marcos’ fourth trip to the US and third meeting with President Biden.
has PBBM had a state visit like the Japanese premier, Joe? is the Philippines central (literally) to the US’s containment of China? lastly, will he get a ticker tape parade if PBBM telegraphs he intends to join the SCO? the answer to the last question is of course a resounding yes. so long as he just starts the process like Israel and Saudia Arabia (will actually join) as interested in joining countries, what’s the harm? i mean Israel’s in it. PBBM can totally do it.
Just leaving this here, the results of the US-Japan-Philippines trilateral summit:
That he is being invited at all after Duterte pissing off the West AND his father’s name shows how important the Philippines IS to Western strategy, yes because he was also here in Germany for a working visit some weeks ago, also low-key and 3 other SEA heads including the Thai premier were here – and Germany is significant as a) the Philippines isn’t as high on the list here AND b) more who will protest a dictator’s son being invited at all, not saying Germany is better as Oscar Wilde once said virtue is often just lack of opportunity – Germany isn’t a superpower like USA so it’s easier to be “good” but still the choice isn’t to be “good”. Guess Marcos Jr. just has the West-oriented mindset of most Filipino politicians except Left and DDS.
The Philippines is like Rodney Dangerfield. All PBBM needs to do is express interest in joining the SCO. and all parties involved will grant the Philippines said respect– accorded to other ally partner countries, but not the Philippines. its time to use that amor propio and delicate self-esteem, Ireneo. and the SCO is perfect vehicle to express it.
Marcos Sr. did something similar to what you are saying when I think the US bases lease was up for renewal, don’t exactly recall as I was a kid but he did kinda imply getting closer to the other side then and he actually did by opening diplomatic relations with the likes of Romania and Yugoslavia and sending Imelda to visit East Germany etc etc but Makoy played that game very low-key, very much like Toranaga come to think of it even when it came to full deniability.
Don’t know if General Ver would have committed seppuku for Makoy, but it came close.
that type of operation would require a lot of pigeons I would think , ireneo. for the SCO press conference, PBBM only needs to make an announcement don’t even have to consult the SCO, just say “I think its in the Philippines best interest to join the SCO”. reporters will be like “Why?”. PBBM can just say, “We support de-dollarization but also support the US military”. boom, i betcha President Biden will order the Blue Angels and the Thunderbirds for a fly by tonight outside PBBM’s residences. in honor of the Philippine president and the Philippines. thats how you get things done. know your strengths and what levers are at your disposal.
I would say of most Filipinos, not just Filipino politicians. I really appreciate your commentary here, Irineo. It is driven by facts and sense rather than the promotion of beliefs. Yours is clear clean spring water pumping into the sewerage laden rivers of modern discourse.
Joe, Ireneo is a fan of Shogun. he knows exactly what I’m talking about, and agrees. PBBM will be bulldozed if he doesn’t start asking for stuff, instead of just doing stuff for bigger interests.
His first visit to Washington DC included red carpet, his wife, all kinds of bells and whistles, but no address to Congress. The US does not want to contain China geographically but hold her to laws it seems to me. China wants the world to see her as victim and the US as bully, and you are happy to comply. The whole “Marcos was treated badly” routine is being played up here by pro-China trolls who want to drive a wedge between the Philippines and US. You are promoting that theme as well. The Philippines is central to democracy in the Pacific, yes. The rest of your comment seems to me like hyperventilation of the cranial regions and I suggest you breathe into a brown paper bag for a few weeks.
Yeah, but are the Leftists there suggesting announcement of joining the SCO? join Israel? no. cuz leftists there lack imagination. i just saw Walden Bello on Democracy Now this morning, same old same old. The SCO is where you leverage things, Joe.
Preach it, Reverend, preach it!
The main members in the Shanghai Cooperation Organization are China, India, Russia, and Iran. Plus a few Stans. Participating in the dialogue are Cambodia and Myanmar from SE Asia, and a collection of unaligned states. It is Asian centric. Is it political or economic? With China driving it, it is both so the Philippines would be flashing “unreliable” signals to Europe, Australia, and the Americas if she set out to join. Given the current path of securing US and Japanese investments through the recently announced “Luzon Corridor”, joining SCO is probably unlikely. If it were a purely economic organization, there could certainly be benefits. The problem is China. Her motives are not the well being of other nations. If I were an adviser to President Marcos, I’d recommend approaching SCO softly so as not to upset potential western investors while calculating what’s there. I’d not rush in to join and thereby make the nation look untrustworthy to both sides. Rather, I’d troll both sides to see which is truly for Philippine development. My guess is China is playing games and the West is not. The West speaks by forming reliable settings for private investors. China speaks by leveraging China’s choices.
Everyone’s playing games, Joe. My point is PBBM needs to play and not just as American patsy either. de-dollarization is the point of the SCO (ask karl). its a new found point due to CBDC. thanks to Bitcoin. if PBBM wants to play in the big boy table he needs to ante up. Again Israel is doing exactly the same thing. PBBM just needs to make it loud. shoot for the Blue Angels and Thunderbirds fly by together— I’ve never seen that before.
I am a fan of Shogun, but what game you play when really depends. There was recently an EU representative who said that the Philippines has a good chance of an FTA with the EU by the end of Marcos Jr.’s term. The Philippines’ bid for an FTA with the EU was started by PNoy, but the EU put it on hold during Duterte’s time. Thus, Vietnam got the FTA – and Euro factories moving there leaving China – before the Philippines. The EU may be on the decline in the long run (I believe that is just one scenario, but it is too early to call) but still a major player.
Joe is right, China is an issue right now. Dealing with Russia even wouldn’t be as critical, but it would be wiser to see if deals can be struck with India, from whom the Philippines as far as I recall reading has bought Brahmos cruise missiles. Marcos Sr. had a different situation.
And even he, a master tactician – don’t know if he was as strategic as Toranaga – dealt with the low hanging fruit in the East: the strongmen of Romania and Yugoslavia who were kind of smelling the decline of the Warsaw pact (I guess) and forging own deals. And the East Germans who were out for business partners, they actually had some business in Cebu in the 1970s, I dimly recall. On the other hand it was also Marcos – or one of his military advisers – who saw what was coming in the seas. Pag-asa island was one of the first fortified islands there. The runway is from his time, as well as the totally rusted anti-aircraft artillery beside it.
Dream on.
that’s a good pointe about Kairos, Ireneo, which was the whole point of episode 8. but PBBM is here now, perfect time to talk de-dollarization. perfect. the time is ripe.
The point of my stories was, know what league you are playing in and what league your country is in. The Philippines isn’t Indonesia, who had their speed train line connecting all of Java built by China AND blows up Chinese fishing ships that stray too far into their part of the sea. The Filipino elite it seems still lacks the kind of strategic thinking that the Javanese elite that runs Indonesia happens to have as a tradition, I don’t think any of the major thinkers in the country have written something along the lines of Karl’s securities and insecurities.
Also, know when it is the best time to play fast and loose and when is the time to play safe, avoiding experiments just like Adenauer did for devastated postwar West Germany. The time for Brandt’s Ostpolitik was a generation later with a stable economy to back it.
This is an experiment, i concede that. But theres really nothing to lose if you look at Israel’s example as interested country of the SCO. granted they don’t seem to be making a fuss about it, thus the manueverings seems off camera (but the SCO plus the Abraham accords are at play). PBBM just needs to announce it. I agree too that the Philippines is not even in the same league just a notch up Haiti really if we’re really being honest. poop on the streets just the same. but there is a lack of commitment on the US’s part re the Philippines and its worth, and that lack of committment is related to what you’re saying as not being on the same league am sure, Ireneo. ergo how do you thrust yourself up? by simply mentioning de-dollarization ala El Salvador and geopolitics path for that via the SCO instead of Bitcoin. Joe’s talking about upsetting the West, fuck that. shake things up. again just follow Israel’s example. so this isn’t really a new experiment only variable that’s new is the Philippines’ geographic position in all this. its about knowing your worth geopolitics-wise. and leveraging that. theres really no downside.
Ridiculous nonsense. Philippine GDP is $404 billion, Haiti is $20 billion. Follow Israel into global condemnation and war? Lunatic, well past the fringe.
Philippines produces the most trash in the ocean, Joe. just like Haiti. okay maybe a few notches up then. Israel telegraphing interest in joining the SCO is why it gets soooo much support from the US. and can get away with genocide.
Complete nonsense. The US and Israel have been tight since 1948. SCO has nothing to do with it. A heavy hitting Jewish population in the US keeps it tight. But continue throwing those green turds into the water hoping readers will mistake them for crawdads.
Joe, all you have to do is Google satellite images of Gaza war. this is unprecedented never happened in the history of Israeli-US relations where the US had to essentially ignore genocide inside Gaza. US will not strike Iran cuz Biden feels Bibi kinda deserves this. whether Israel strikes back or not, up to Israel. But Biden’s asked Israel not to. as soon as USA turns back on Israel, Israel will go all in and join the SCO. but you’re wrong Joe, Gaza is unprecedented. the SCO status is what’s new. so you’re totally wrong here.
Continue working your loopy experiment. Wear your safety goggles at all times.
Red tape prevents Francisco Motors from …
https://www.rappler.com/newsbreak/inside-track/francisco-motors-free-modern-jeepneys-slow-ltfrb-permits/
Not even giving fee jeeps would eliminate red tape
maybe, it’s called vanity, franciso boss thinks the can just click his fingers and get matters done! ay naku, mukhang vain para sa kanya to think he can brazen his way in and all others yuko sa kanya and applaud his generosity. havent learned his lesson yata how filipinos do business. he needs a back up plan, wala siyang plan B. rethink ang kailangan.
lots of people dont want charity, ayaw ng utang na luob, baka habang buhay yan na pagbabayaran. dapat ipagbili niya yang supposedly modern jeep at very affordable price citing out criteria for the sale. at dapat papasa yang modern jeep niya sa masulit na road testing, make sure the parts are not chopchop put together, and the vehicle has functionality and safe to drive.
and if francisco boss really wants to push his own agenda, he most likely needs enablers like politicians and govt officials on his side, mga influencers, and also tiktok celebs drumming up publicity for him.
in short, ligawan niya ng todo yang kapwa boss, and boss ang ltfrb. kapwa boss might even help him with the paperwork, make it easy. if he wants to be first, he goes alone; but if he wants to go far, he goes with others, together.
This could have been the Philippines.
https://www.cnbc.com/2024/04/04/malaysia-emerges-as-a-hotspot-for-chip-firms-amid-us-china-tech-war.html
The PH should be a top Durian exporter.
https://chinaglobalsouth.com/analysis/thailand-worries-of-losing-spot-as-chinas-top-durian-supplier/
OT musical break – two trending songs from Filipino groups..
We have examples of being the first like jeepneys, and other pioneering moves but we fail to get momentum and get left in the dust like in basketball? Once second only to one now kulelat even in SEA.
Now of we are complacent in Ai we would wake up.one day wishing we go back to sleep.
https://business.inquirer.net/453973/filipino-workers-seen-most-at-risk-of-ai-takeover-in-asean
I have the feeling LCPL_X doesn’t know the latest on PBBM versus Duterte and that to me more than explains why there is the present clear direction and no games played in Filipino foreign policy and it might actually be good:
A proper state doesn’t act on personal secret deals. A country veering back to a kind of Rajahnate was what the Philippines was in 2016-2022. The perception that the Philippines is a reliable partner and not a bunch of individuals making deals on their own when in power is highly important. This isn’t 1571 or 1898 anymore. Unless one has intentions like back then. Of course, one can be cynical about all matters. I am about many, but try not to be about all..
LCPL_X, check out stuff from Cebu that isn’t Mango Avenue for a change, even just to look:
I fear he has an age related medical condition that confuses the past with fiction and overlays it onto the present.
You’ve not bested me on the SCO and PBBM, Joe. re fiction and the present, youtube PW Singer and FICINT i’m just taking his thesis and running with it. again counterfactuals are important, you getting emotional over these counterfactuals is whats problematic.
Ireneo, thanks and you’re right this is all news to me re DU30 and China, but just cursory readings on this based on your prompting, gentlemens agreements are not binding. sure back channels stuff like i’m sure is going on in the Middle East right now, gentlemens agreements are the stuff of diplomacy. but what PBBM is talking about re finding out the details of said gentlemens agreement though I agree for intelligence purposes by all means find out so you know who the individuals at play are and follow the money trail, but as for binding official stuff who cares what DU30 promised China if its not on paper it don’t count. at least thats my initial thoughts on this. will read up more.
Ireneo the music and art scene in Cebu (though not the latest stuff) i was very familiar with it. just that Mango Ave. was more fun. but talking about ideas with musicians and artists was a treat due to English and usually having lived abroad themselves and their education. learned a lot. they also had a thriving comedy scene, but mostly Jerry Lewis type comedy though. I’ve said it again and again, Cebu should be the capital of the Philippines. so much culture.
I’m not emotional at all. I’ve said I have no interest in entering a discussion that makes no sense to me. You keep posturing it as a win-loss decision. It is not. It is you simply not reading the tea leaves and insisting on promoting your belief. You are preaching and I’m not in the congregation. Interestingly, I had to tell Micha the same thing on Twitter this morning. It is never fruitful to enter debate with a preacher, especially cult whacknoids. But if you preach here, I am challenged to see it for what it is. One person advocating nonsense. Up with Darwin!
yet you keep on engaging , Joe. and your input is simply that its no good cuz the Western masters will be angered. which is infantile. Ireneo makes a good point about about timing but again gentlemens agreements are not binding. so why not just go with the SCO follow the road map already set out by Israel. if the idea is nonsense then challenge it, it should be easy since its nonsense, but you see you cannot. ergo its a solid idea one that Israel has treaded and dare i say fruited , eg. full American support of genocide. PBBM just needs to look at said path laid out by Israel & follow it, albeit no genocide needed to see if its working. we already it works. again, its a win win win for everyone. de-dollarization challenges the fiat system, Joe. if Micha were here, she’d say de-dollarization is the first step to sovereignty.
Preach away. As I have said, arguing with preachers is futile. I respond as a courtesy to people taking the time to address me, and to let readers know that what you are preaching has flaws, as I have pointed out (composition of SCO, Philippines a step above Haiti, the importance of Jews in America) and as Irineo has opined. It is not up to me to try to help you make sense out of nonsense. It is up to you to present sense. The more China intrudes into Philippine rights, the less sense the SCO makes. And with Iran blasting away at Israel, it makes even less sense. President Marcos has cast his family’s rehabilitation on building a bond with the US, Japan, Australia, and others. That makes the SCO a non-starter. Or one that takes a lot more delicacy than you propose.
Why put this at risk?
https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1222497
What is the SCO doing, I wonder. Wiki reviews the three main areas, security, military, and economic. Given today’s current events, the first two are totally out of sync with Philippine interests, if not laughable, and nothing has really been done in the economic arena.
“And with Iran blasting away at Israel, it makes even less sense. “ this is new and interesting i’ll address this only. The SCO being like the WB/NATO/UN combined will seek to deconflict this. as we’re already hearing, the attack last night was largely coordinated, Joe. rockets/drones lobbed from Iran. with minimal effect in Israel. if all those countries now orange join, no need to deconflict, they’ll all fall in line. sure under China, or maybe not maybe dedollarization does sprout something mutually beneficial for all countries involved. my point you’re already seeing coordination on the ground. how much of it is the USA and how much is China’s doing remains to be seen. looks to me like China. Jordan will be orange/yellow soon.
Jordan did a magnificent job shooting down Iranian drones and missiles to defend their airspace during Iran’s attack on Israel. So did Saudi Arabia, I believe, an SCO member at some level. I looked at your map and asked myself, what do South Korea, Jordan, and Viet Nam think of the SCO. Jordan data is not available in google search. So I think your conclusion is a personal guess that has no substance. Viet Nam sees the SCO as central Asian, not their baliwick and they are disinclined to sacrifice their autonomy to others.
I did find two articles that shed insights on the matter. One discusses the SCO’s ineffectiveness at solving Iran’s issues with regard for rules of the sea. It is a concensus driven organization so landlocked Stan states have no interest in the matter, plus China is not a proper problem-solver on it. My takeaway is that the SCO is a rather mushy, complex creature. Here’s the article.
https://amwaj.media/article/why-iran-s-push-for-joint-sco-action-at-sea-may-hit-dead-end
Then I came across a brilliant assessment of the SCO from South Korea’s viewpoint. Rich with insights that characterize the complexities of regional politics and economics. South Korea has business in central Asian countries, so there could be benefits. But, again, getting there is not easy. Here’s the article.
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/18793665221124814?icid=int.sj-abstract.similar-articles.7
These are the kinds of complexities you need to address to *sell* me on the Philippines joining the SCO. What are imports and exports to central Asia. How will SCO deal with the WPS. How many OFWs are in SCO states. Will it affect US and Japanese investments here, and relationships with other democratic states. And more.
The rah rah chant that Marcos should join the SCO ignores some vital issues.
Vietnam can look at the Middle East and conclude for themselves that the SCO is not a central Asian organization. though the SCO started as a means to buffer Russian and Chinese borders in the stans. now its expanded.
from a simple organization to an organization that’s attempting to be more like the WB, NATO and UN combined (all organizations propped up by the US, with taxpayer money, by the way).
Re Iran, its interest is to be seen as on par with the rest of the Sunni world, thus the SCO is a great vehicle for it.
I’ve not read about the S Korean take but as soon as the SCO spreads towards EU, it’ll also spread towards E Asia with E Asian interests in mind. soon the ASEAN. again think NATO, WB and UN combined. the Philippines can jump the gun. join now.
As to your last points, i’ll have to read up on the details. but this is a good start, Joe. gives me something to Google. i will convince you.
“It is a concensus driven organization so landlocked Stan states have no interest in the matter,” this one i don’t have to Google, Joe. this is basic politics, the countries whose interest is on the voting block will have to convince the countries with no interest in the matter, quid pro quo just like the Philippine Congress, US Senate, and the UN. money and favors will change hand. debts will be owed and debts will be paid. right now it is China that owns the SCO, it used to be Russia and China as co equal partners not no more. China’s interests will be front and center, just like the USA’s is in those other world organizations UN WB NATO (because the US funds ’em). like i said the stuff unfolding right now in the Middle East looks like the SCO flexing its muscle. sure Iran is doing most of the flexing but if you look closely its China benefitting. the US is losing its wasta powers in the Middle East , Joe. the old quid pro quo calculus are gone. sure Jordan whose got a lot of connections with military academies in the US and UK will hold out for as long as it can, but with de-dollarization and cbdc as goal now to supplant the fiat dollar system. unless the US has something world changing to offer, the rest of the Middle East will follow Saudi Arabia and Iran’s lead.
The beauty of the internet I suppose is that it conveys to each of us delusions of grandeur under which we can manage countries better than the people in charge of dealing with the intricacies. Just let the South Korean paper stand as my position on it. It’s complex. Leaders will figure it out as the years tick along. I’d imagine neither you nor I will be here to see the Philippines in the SCO.
Funny, that.
“Leaders will figure it out as the years tick along.” Leaders are as much in the dark as you and I , Joe. don’t rely on them, only difference is they make decisions that affect all of us. I think some PBBM staff do read this blog, and also Inday Sara’s staff. this is the only place right now suggesting the Philippines join the SCO. i concede, with just Googling i’m gonna be limited in data (like that Korean article you linked to doesn’t load for me i dunno). so I hope PBBM and Inday Sara do look into the SCO, look at why Israel’s interested and read up on Saudi Arabia who will be formalizing membership soon. “Will it affect US and Japanese investments here, and relationships with other democratic states.” the only effects i foresee is they’ll try much harder to woo the Philippines, as to democracy India and Israel are still democracy, well Pakistan too. i don’t think the US will turn its back, they need the Philippines. they’ll just throw more money into the military alliance, but know that de-dollarization will ultimately be a bigger issue than said military alliance. read karl’s article, CBDC is up and running in China they’ll just spread it to the rest of the SCO and game over. bye bye World Bank bye bye fiat system. that is what the SCO is mainly offering , Joe. but its uncharted territory. at the same time everyone knows the fiat system won’t last. so theres no down side to joining now and hedge.
That makes sense. It depends on what the SCO’s membership agreement entails. The PH can put a burr under US investment butts by merely inquiring and making the inquiry public. So for me, just make some noise. Or if the PH does have OFWs in Central Asia, the SCO may be a vehicle to assure they are properly cared for. Then join. We probably eventually get to the same place, you fast with a sledge hammer, me slow to play both sides cautiously and gain some hard benefits. And we’ll both be around to see it happen. 😂🤣😂
Totally agree. Have your cake and eat it too situation. Near term benefits eg. military WPS etc and long term potential benefits eg. de-dollarization on the ground floor. Good talk, Joe. til next time. ps. you Google the SCO it seems lots of flotsam jetsam i guess the SCO sucks at marketing too obvious propaganda. so Philippines can help out lots of creatives in Cebu. as for OFWs theres a bunch of them in the Middle East so focus there, the stan countries are there to be herded sadly once the bigger countries hit their stride–who knows maybe they’ll rise up as well. but yeah the SCO is focused on the Middle East cuz the US is slippin’ there. once its turns to the ASEAN and East Asia their dedollarization campaign will have been matured.
Thanks for the lovely debate. Rather like arm wrestling my son who can now occasionally beat me.
Back to chemrock and Georgism and Singapore..
The plans of the Oktoberfest and the Messestadt München, the city quarter built where the old Munich airport was until 1992, have similarities.
And I feel both say something about how this town manages land harnesses entrepreneurial energy – and I feel based on chemrock’s description that Singapore has a similar modern version of paternalism.
In the Oktoberfest which is a major economic factor for the city, 2 full weeks with 3 weekends, 5-7 million visitors and over a billion Euro turnover on the fairgrounds alone per year, you have the big tents, the permit to be there is given in a kind of franchise system based on economic capacity and reliability (the tent of an owner who I think was convicted of tax offenses was thrown out) then the rides and finally the small booths are similarly alloted.
In the Messestadt Riem there is the Messe or trade fair which hosts huge expositions, the two underground stations, the mall which is owned and operated by Arcaden, the housing around the mall and along the Messe which is actually different parts of the district farmed out to different developers, then the office complexes which are also different owners. The whole area was fully city owned once as it was the airport, how much of it still is I don’t know.
It does seem that there is a major difference between the Singapore and Munich ways of doing things, keeping more control in public hands while still giving entrepreneurial energy a chance, and the Philippines where you have entire districts seemingly under full control of one or few landowners – Makati, Ortigas, BGC – entire subdivisions owned by Cynthia Villar, entire complexes of malls and condos owned by SMDC etc etc. – so is neolib or how you manage it?
x-
But you can’t suppress liberal patronizing forever. A dozen years passed, memories faded, and a half-black Hawaiian who’d never faced one iota of race discrimination, except in his favor, ran for president on the most left-wing agenda in history. (That is, until President Senile Dementia’s staff became president.)
With that, white liberals breathed a sigh of relief and returned to their favorite hobby: accusing other white people of racism.
-x
It should be easy to search for the source.
Patronizing is what people who disagree with something feel when others push their agenda. For example, atheists find bible thumpers patronizing, and conservatives find liberals pushing their social rights agenda patronizing, and China finds Filipinos preaching their arbitration win patronizing. It is the feeling attached to beliefs being challenged. The right or wrong of it depends on one’s belief system.
Barack Obama’s father was Kenyan and his mother was born in Kansas, then moved to Hawaii.
Barack Obama faced racism that whites don’t see, don’t intellectually grasp, or don’t feel.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/national/obama-legacy/racial-backlash-against-the-president.html
Obama is rated among the best American presidents. Biden has started high as well, better than Bush senior. Trump is one of the worst. Bush Junior is lower end as well.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Historical_rankings_of_presidents_of_the_United_States
Racism exists in America. It’s a fact.
Additional reading.
https://www.politico.com/story/2016/07/obama-racism-childhood-225577
And how he got his faith, in his own words. Brilliant man.
And another great article explaining President Obama’s liberal foundation and multi-cultural upbringing. I have no idea why people find fault with how he got to be who he is.
“Although Obama was a liberal, he won the election by persuading the journal’s outnumbered conservative staffers that he would treat their views fairly, which he is widely acknowledged to have done.”
https://millercenter.org/president/obama/life-before-the-presidency
what i’ve never read is Obama’s relationship with Filipinos, Joe. i mean for someone from Oahu who moves to LA for undergrad and rite smack in the middle of Eagle Rock where its like 99% Filipinos. i figured a kid from Oahu where theres lots of Filipinos would gravitate towards Filipinos in LA. https://obamascholars.oxy.edu/about/obama-oxy i remember reading about their Filipino chef in the WH but she came with the WH staff. i just figured him growing up in Indonesia, Hawaii and LA there’d be more anecdotes of Obama and Filipinos, maybe comparing Indonesians and Filipinos stuff like that.
Why does that picture’s swag remind me of another Hawaiian?
Bruno Mars should be President someday, seriously.
Bruno Mars would make an awesome president and Apl.de.ap as VP. just as Obama found the secret sauce, outlined below:
He has to pay off his huge gambling debts first.
Well waddaya know, I didn’t know he was in Eagle Rock. I lived next door in Glassel Park for a time. Sold the house to a Filipino family interestingly enough. Small world.
We diagonally differ in our views on Trump and Obama.
I know the moment I mention Trump I am at risk of being cancelled.
I think Obama is largely responsible for the identity politics of today and shifting Democratic donor support base from the middle class to the technocrat-elite class that Eisenhower warned about.
As for Trump I have no idea why for an American, it is so wrong to wanting to protect the border, bring back peace and order destroyed by defund the police nonsense and Democrat soft on crime policies, foreign policy of peace instead of war, bringing back old Judeo-western moral values of family and patriotism which have been rejected because these aligned with conservative and Christian values, preferring instead the upside down idea of transgenderism, pronouns, pedohilic abandonment, and other forms of human debasement.
Do folks here notice the many instances of legal trespass the Left alleges against or indicts Trump, it comes to pass they are the ones themselves actually guilty of. Look what happened to Fani Willis, same with Letitia James, and Biden stealing classified docs (not my words, Special Counsel Hur’s).
The latest as of today involves Eric Ciaramela. To refresh, this is the whistleblower who supposedly leaked what Alexander Vindman told him about Trump’s quid pro quo telcon with Poroschenko. (Let’s ignore the inconvenient video where Biden boasted about his quid pro quo with Poroschenko by witholding $1.6b aid money unless the AG Victor Shokin was sacked immediately. “Well what do you know, the sonofagun was sacked”. Shokin was sacked for investigating into corruption at Burisma, with implications for Hunter Biden.
Well what do you know. Congressional hearings have now unearthed evidence from emails that Eric C was deeply involved with VP Biden’s dealings in Ukraine. He is now in a bind. He either helped cover up Biden’s quid pro quo, or he was personally conflicted and did not disclose his participation details which would have exonerated Trump.
“transgenderism, pronouns..” you know what? I live in Bavaria which recently banned pronouns etc. for state employees especially teachers AND YES, I agree even if I am more of a SocDem than a Christian Democrat.. even as the ruling Christian Social Union of Bavaria has a mix of both.. because I believe that woke stuff has gone too far even as I believe in tolerance for people being different and for multiculturalism BUT there is still the norm and the majority culture anywhere..
“Defund the police nonsense” yes, I wonder how a modern society wants to keep peace and order without cops. It is like the German Greens at least the more hard-core ones used to believe it is possible not to have an army..
Nowadays even the Greens here speak of military readiness.. armies are to guard against the enemies without and police against the enemies within.. those who believe one can live without both don’t know anything about reality.
To continue.. I don’t believe in Trump at all but I know where the present backlash in the USA is coming from.
Seen from Europe the extremes Americans go through now look kinda weird
Do not fret , chemp. for Trump will be the next president. they’ll have to JFK him at this point. all because of these lawsuits best campaign ads money can buy, oh wait it was all for FREEEEE… totally agree with you chemp on Trump. but Obama was just some politician (a good one one of the best really) he didn’t start all the critical theory bs, much of that was Soros manueverings. the DA right now for la county is facing a backlash over catch and release, he’s a Soros disciple, no such connections with Obama though money wise there of course could be but Soros hand holds these folks into higher office. and voila critical theory in practice.
I see Bernie is asking for Trump to be denied Secret Service protection. Can’t be any clearer.
I’m not fretting. Baring vote cheating and bumping him off, Trump is the unstoppable force.
I’m marvelling at divine forces at work, or irony if you wish. So many charges they throw at him, it then turns out a Dem will get caught for doing exactly the same thing. Biden’s classified docs and is quid pro quo are examples.
I recall a long while back. I brought up Biden’s quid pro quo video, Joeam lambasted me for conspiracy peddling.
Responding to each of your paragraphs in order.
1. We do.
2. You won’t be by me.
3. I think he shifted it to liberals and youth who happen to run a lot of tech. He generated small ticket donations. His identity as a black man fueled white identity politics. He is no intentional instigator of the stuff.
4. Because Trump is a liar and destroyer. He ordered Republicans not to pass the bipartisan Immigration Bill to make a campaign issue of it. He doesn’t care about it and he doesn’t care that a lot of companies can’t get low cost immigrant labor. He’s a con man, a rapist, a tax cheat, a liar, a violence prone bully, and possibly treasonous. It’s incredible to me that people as intelligent as you see these as acceptible presidential qualities. You’d not hire that kind of person in your business.
5. Bad people and bad acts are not always the same, and every social subset has anecdotes of bad behavior. Liberals are generally of good character. So are conservatives.
6. I’ve not read up on that.
7. Conspiracy theory as far as I know. I don’t know who Eric C. is, and as far as I know, Republicans have been turning over rocks for two years and found nothing. I’m also reminded that the main Republican platform is not to serve America, but to “Get Biden”. So these matters, like Immigration, have an evil component to them.
Very good. Indulge me or block me.
4. “He ordered Republicans not to pass the bipartisan Immigration Bill to make a campaign issue of it.” Evidence or conspiration theory?
“He’s a con man, a rapist, a tax cheat, a liar, a violence prone bully, and possibly treasonous”…… defamatory and you know it. He has never been found guilty of any.
“It’s incredible to me that people as intelligent as you see these as acceptable presidential qualities.”.. Guess someone who pockets money from Ukraine or thinks his father or grand was eaten by a cannibal makes a better president.
5. True. There’s bad and good in both Libs and Cons. But Libs seem to hog the news for drag queens for kids, child porn, pedophiles, violent demonstrations. DOJ and FBI profile white conservatives as danger to democracy and waiting in vain for a MAGA mass shooter, only to be disappointed it turns out to be deranged trans.
7. Once again Eric C is conspiracy theory just because you know nothing about his case. House inquiry are open, unlike Dems Adam Schiff who conducted Trump impeachment inquiry in secret room.
4. It has been written about a lot. I am surprised at your ignorance feigned or real.
https://edition.cnn.com/2024/01/25/politics/gop-senators-angry-trump-immigration-deal/index.html
Yes, Trump’s criminal cases are not done. Four of them. As to the rape charge:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2023/07/19/trump-carroll-judge-rape/
As to lies, watch any speech in which he slanders decent people. Even judges, jurors, and Republicans. Don’t blame shift to President Biden. Just read and watch.
5. Nothing here.
7. Nothing here. The Biden case is overreach. The Trump case involved classified matters. The Jan 6 hearings were substantially public. You leap from incidents to overreaching conclusions again and again to confuse and distort matter. Bad thinking. If I am ignorant on your passions, inform me. Right now your credibility standing in my eyes is 2.56% out of 100%, which Edgar Lores was at.
(4) Must be a joke. Dems + RINOs can pass the $95b military aid bill but cannot solve the border issue. They can take care of a foreign border but not it’s own border. The ones who created the border problem is now a victim.
(7) See how yo condescend. Biden case is overreach. VP has no rights to take classified docs. That’s why SPTUQ jputuqu # -1313
— T jputuqu– tttt — JPTUQ jputuqu # -1313– Tputuqu– tttt — JPTUQ jputuqu # -1313
s was a prophet uqu– tttt — JPTUQ jputuqu # -1313– Tputuqu– tttt — JPTUQ jputuqu # -1313
— T jputuqu– tttt — JPTUQ jputuqu # -1313– Tputuqu– tttt — JPTUQ jputuqu # -1313
— T jputuqu– tttt — JPTUQ jputuqu
🤣😂🤣😂🤣
I just got “That’s why… was a prophet”. I don’t get it.
4) Must be a joke. Dems + RINOs can pass the $95b military aid bill but cannot solve the border issue. They can take care of a foreign border but not it’s own border. The ones who created the border problem is now a victim.
“Yes, Trump’s criminal cases are not done. Four of them. As to the rape charge”
You see how you misinforms?
There is no rape charge. He was found guilty of sexual assault and defamation in a civil suit, nor a criminal case. Why didn’t they wack a criminal case and send him to ail? Because the evidence cannot stand up to a court that requires proof beyond reasonable doubt. Anyway, you sure belong to the group that believes a woman who met a man on the street for 5 mins can bring him into a dressing room to try on undies, and that Trump who gets mopped everywhere he goes can somehow have the privacy in a shopping mall to rape a woman, and somehow complainant never call the sales attendant as witness, oh wait it’s because she didn’t remember the date. How would you like a woman claim you rape her 20 years ago but cannot remember the date. Trump travels a lot. Perhaps if she picked a date, Trump could prove he was a thousand miles away. In Solomon’s court this case would be thrown out.
I put my credibility on the line here that SCOTUS will eventually right the wrong and give Judge Engoron a thrashing for the kangaroo court that was.
As for Letitia James case, the whole world laughs at the stupidity of a cheating case without victims.
😂🤣😂🤣😂
Me personally i think E. Jean Carroll had consentual sex with Trump. but like Mango Ave. was expecting monetary or other forms of compensation that never came. thus became rape. in a sense that it was a business transaction that wasn’t fulfilled by the two parties involved. Trump shoulda paid E Jean Carroll off like Stormy Daniels.
Though I tend to be defensive of Trump from political, prosecutorial, and mainstream onslaught, many of which I find biased and unconstitutional, I am not naïve to think he is an angel. Your suggestion here is a plausibility. Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned.
4. It has been written about a lot. I am surprised at your ignorance, feigned or real.
https://edition.cnn.com/2024/01/25/politics/gop-senators-angry-trump-immigration-deal/index.html
Yes, Trump’s criminal cases are not done. Four of them. 91 indictments. As to the rape charge:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2023/07/19/trump-carroll-judge-rape/
As to lies, watch any speech in which he slanders decent people. Even judges, jurors, and Republicans. Don’t blame shift to President Biden. Just read and watch.
5. Nothing here.
7. Nothing here. The Biden case is overreach. The Trump case involved classified matters. The Jan 6 hearings were substantially public. You leap from incidents to overreaching conclusions again and again to confuse and distort matters. Bad thinking. If I am ignorant on your passions, inform me. Right now your credibility standing in my eyes is 2.56% out of 100%, which Edgar Lores was at.
Since chempo’s not the Chief Troll , i’ll just leave this here for him to ponder.
Ireneo, can you translate for full effect starting at page 97, thanks!
https://download.uni-mainz.de/fb05-philosophie-schopenhauer/files/2019/05/1971_Hübscher.pdf
That nails it. I was reflecting this morning on how MAGAs and trolls are much alike. They are a personal collective of incompetence, ignorance, arrogance, and neediness that is resolved by having a power figure to implant power into their powerless self perception. The exception is trolls who just can’t get a better job so hire themselves out.
Ahhh, excellent.
there needs to be a revamp of higher learning. for one thing, vocational training has to be offered at the jr. and sr. high school levels. then encourage folks to for go college and go straight to the work force. on the flip side, jobs that don’t require college should not advertise for college education. its all screwed up cuz phds and universities managed to convinced everyone that we all have to have college degrees. thats all bunk. so of course the banks got in on the racket and fleeced the kids who we all told to get college degrees. so i side with the kids who got bamboozled here. solution is to go full loan forgiveness for all, restart everything, and promise never again to make college mandatory to get a good paying job. problem solved. as a PhD in Google that took all of 5 mins. to solve. see no need for higher learning.
Hmm, the person in the video below has similar arguments and is also from LA and is VERY anti-Biden BTW. Have you heard of him by any chance?
Germany has vocational training (for craftsmen) and a number of levels above it like secretarial/commercial assistance training, specialized polytechnic colleges for specialized stuff, technical universities for high-level engineering and finally full universities which actually are also overfilled because many firms still expect a degree but often the specifically trained people might be in fact BETTER at the job than the theoretically trained university graduates. University is free in Germany, but it is often years lost just to feel edumucated for many.
never heard of him. but this argument has been around for a while, the most famous proponent was actually Jesse James the motorcycle guy who had a tv series was dating Sandra Bullock for awhile and had a big following. Mike Rowe also talks about this. lately, FOX is promoting this idea, but weirdly also promotes the no loan forgiveness for college students crap. imho, the cancelling of vocational trade programs in high schools is the original sin coupled with this whole notion of sending every one to learn Shakespeare and Noam Chomsky and all that crap in college. so in essence this was policy nationwide fraud perpetrated by the gov’t and universities. as such someone should go to jail and kids that had to take out loans should be relieved of them and start from scratch. send those PhDs to jail. and restart the student loan system anew, but now encourage kids who have no business going to university to go to trade school instead. engineering and hard sciences is fine, more students should go there. but the soft sciences and humanities is where majority end up cuz its easy and they get out and realize its really hard to find jobs without actual skills. so if you approach this college loan forgiveness as fraud then it makes more sense. instead its being framed as capitalism vs. socialism.
That is a wonderful intellectual flip on the college loan situation, viewing the whole “must have college degree” mantra as a huge scam. So selling loans into that is fraudulent. My son is smart enough to outperform 90% of college graduates and he’s still in high school. I tell him to start a you tube channel now so, when he graduates, it will be cooking and he’ll never have to sell his soul to the company store, or shovel 16 tons of number 9 coal.
At best, college teaches proper analysis and thinking (Rizal might have said Ateneo did that for him) at worst it teaches parroting and conformity – UST having been Rizal’s obvious pet peeve, though I guess it depends as always.
The money aspect of college is, especially in the Philippines, a social filter, and having been in a certain college means you know certain people and are part of a certain circle. In Germany, with free university, there is none of that advantage or disadvantage. Though it can breed the kind of intellectuals that, according to Nicholas Nassim Taleb, have more grounding as they might have done stuff like driving a taxi as even with free college you have to eat. Sometimes, people who analyze excellently forget to root it in reality, and that is where I see why the man on the street sometimes resents the educated. Or educated practitioners like Taleb at times resent what they see as the fantasies of policymakers – the video below is a sample of it:
Yes, I tend to figure old patterns are good fundamentals, but I cheer the you-tubers who chuck it and go camping for a living. JoeJr has some soundness to him, has started to rub elbows with those of some influence, and will make his way through a few thorns to find the roses, I’m confident.
There was a bunch of faculty walk-outs from big name universities yesterday. I say universities should just do was Ronald Reagan did with traffic controllers in the 1980s, just give all those faculty pink slips and cancel their classes. increase hard sciences and engineering faculty. those students camping out will not have classes to go to anymore (cuz most of them are social sciences and humanities)thus trespassing. phase them out then enroll more engineering and social sciences students. theres no time for this crap, theres climate change and space exploration that needs to happen yesterday. all this pronouns crap and Israel stuff is a waste of time, especially with Neom almost on line already. Palestinians need to forget Gaza , cross the river Jordan into Neom, then make a lot of money, then bulk up the West Bank from money made in Neom. that’s their only play here. but those humanities and social sciences professors won’t tell ’em that. cuz they have no street sense they are idiots leading student lambs, Gaza is lost. Neom is wide open for opportunities. make money and buy out the Jews. liberal jews are leaving israel due to religious Jews. Yerida google it. the Jews are weak. they can be bought out. Neom is opportunity. buy out the Jews.
Things be a changing. I think half of youth are misguided, but so are half the adults. Israel punched its own ticket by being so brutal and intransigent. Extremists are destructive whether they be Arabs or Jews. Or Persians or Americans.
theres two (actually three if you count all the music stuff)popular type YouTube philippine channels i notice, joe. most popular ones are non-Filipinos in the Philippines, and then Filipinos travelling around Philippines or abroad. theres really not much college life in the Philippines or just young filipinos experiencing the Philippines at their level. not sure if Jr. will be coming back here stateside or staying there for college (i heard good things about Siliman in Dumaguete). but maybe a Filipino college student youtube video that covers the tiny lifestyle type issues as well as bigger what am i gonna do for the future type videos. and make sure theres a paypal direct link for people to send money to.
like Natasha’s videos about her experience as a college student in Far East Russia, had i not been watching her videos waaaaay before all this Russia Ukraine stuff I would’ve been waaaaay behind the curve in understanding Russia. Google ways to monetize your youtube channel. basically its how she makes a living now.
and this one too i like her style, but she doesn’t make videos often. but you get me simple day in my life type videos that enlighten granular feel as well as tackling bigger issues.
I’ll make sure Junior reads this. He’s currently into Spain, specifically Barcelona. He says Spain offers Filipinos a fast path to citizenship which reflects his disenchantment with the US, and also not connecting as a Filipino.
tell him they eat Filipinos there. j/k. i hope he takes up fencing.
Prof. Vicente Rafael posts this on Philippine immigration to Spain:
https://www.facebook.com/share/P3Crvgu7LVqSXTGm/
interesting. is there a flood of Filipinos taking advantage of this, or is Joe Jr. one of only a few folks initial wave if you will. and how does this open up to EU nations can they come and go or those first couple of years they have to be in Spain. though i did hear theres a bunch of Americans who moved to Portugal recently. that lechon place in Madrid if you youtube more videos you’ll see that most of their lechon cooks are Filipinos which i guess comes full circle, whether they actual recruit in the Philippines for lechoneros or hire locally in Spain cuz already lots of Filipinos there i’d be interested to know, Ireneo.
A lot of Americans are leaving Portugal again, it seems..
It is a nice place, the climate is pleasant, people are friendly, AND the Portuguese, unlike the Spanish, usually speak ENGLISH. Well, the taxi drivers usually don’t.
BUT it isn’t the California of Europe, and as Dave jokes in his vlog, “not enough Starbucks”.. but I know that Portuguese bica, their espresso, is heavenly.
It isn’t Brazil either, even though there is also a Cristo Rei on a hill like in Rio, and Lisbon is a hilly town just like Rio, actually I think it is the other way around, colonizers tend to choose places similar to where they came from and so Rio is hilly like Lisbon.
That bridge BTW is the 25th of April bridge but used to be called Salazar Bridge. 50 years ago, on April 25, 1974, the successor of the dictator Salazar was ousted by a military coup and popular demonstrations. That dictatorship lasted over 40 years.
That shows that Portuguese are a very patient person, some say sleepy. But it seems there were crises involving expats, especially as the Lisbon housing market became impossible for locals. And as Dave implied in his vlog, some American expats didn’t want to adjust.
There are also lots of Italian-Americans with dual citizenship buying land in Sicily, but they usually don’t settle down. It seems they just go there for vacation.
I did see and hear a lot of Americans in Trapani when I visited Sicily in 2018. Backpacker types and expat types. Richer Americans in stunningly beautiful Taormina, which is where a G7 meet was held. Two heliports there were a sign of big bucks living there.
I spent a couple of weeks in Northern Portugal where ghosts wander the hills and bull fights are circular fiestas in the sunshine. It is a conservative nation, laid back, with hills and markets and nothing like America.
what’s the topless beaches situation there, Joe. is it like Brazil? i’ve always imagined all of western Europe sunbathes topless anywhere. am i wrong in this assumption, Ireneo?
Probably not much. There aren’t the huge tourist-only beaches that Spain has. Though last time I was on a Portuguese beach in the Southern part of the country in 2001, the Algarve (literally The West, Al Gharb in Arabic), the beaches had a mix of Portuguese families including conservative grandparents and tourists. The beach as Cascais near Lisbon in 2000 was more ritzy, but I don’t recall any topless bathers.
Hey, Portugal was so conservatively Catholic that they abolished the old names of weekdays because they were of pagan origin (Thursday is actually Thors Day, Giovedi in Italian is Jove’s Day, Jupiter) and numbered Monday to Saturday as Day 2-6 of the week. Father Martin in Shogun was not Padre Damaso or Padre Salvi, even as he clearly liked Miyako.
Even Portugal of the 1990s had a conservative flair as the popular German movie Lisbon Story shows, enhanced by it being one of the few European cities not damaged by WW2. I kinda got that feel in 2000/2001 when I had a long project in Lisbon and short one 2002 in Porto, even as Lisbon after the Expo 1998 World Fair had many shiny new buildings and a new mall, then the biggest in the Iberian Peninsula. Portuguese say that old friends and old wine are the best, even as the young ones (then) were striving to catch up with the rest of Europe, they were still conservative at heart, even as Lisbon was up to date with the world and spoke English. None of the wildness of Romania, which is the most eastward Latin country in Europe.
Oh, other topic, this video what Europeans think of Filipinos popped up on my YouTube:
Largest Filipino communities are in Italy, England, Spain, and France I think, though either there aren’t enough Filipinos in France yet to have a Jolibee or the French don’t want it, who knows. Milan, Rome, Madrid, Barcelona, London, Liverpool definitely have Jolibee branches. There is even an ABS-CBN rom-com movie titled Barcelona from 2012 starring the former love team Kathniel aka Kathryn Bernardo and Daniel Padilla that plays there. The ABS-CBN teleserye Unbreak My Heart that plays in Switzerland and Milan is from last year, even as ABS-CBN regularly flys its stars to Milan and London for Pinoy concerts and festivals, meaning there is a critical mass just like in the US Filipino Hotspots NYC, Bay Area and of course LA, maybe not as many but enough, not enough though for most Filipino acts to come alone like to Dubai.
I did know about Ireland being a Filipino hot spot but did not know Italy, etc. I also know Filipino martial arts being popular in W. Europe except maybe for France. due to no guns, but also the revival of European sword arts. seems to be creeping into E. Europe as well. Russia was opening up to a Cebu eskrima style called Balintawak which was prominent in the Dune series, the fight choreographer having learnt it from Balintawak in the Socal area. i hope Joe Jr. visits a couple months in Cebu City to learn some eskrima before going to Spain. thats just poetic full circle. I saw a bunch of Filipinos in the Middle East for sure. i hope they’re posturing for Neom. Filipinos and Palestinians get along very well in Middle East something about underdogs. i’ll look more into Portugal that it was untouched in WWII i hadn’t realized. thanks!
No topless beaches I think. Conservative. But maybe Lisbon, I dunno.
Thanks, Irineo. I’ll pass it along to Joe Jr.
OT musical break: the Herrera siblings interview Lola Amour