Business & Economics Perspective Blogger

  It's Thursday, and I will try to recall some things from a business and economics perspective. I thought about how I didn't do well as a high school student, and that teachers often tell me to look past by it . Even the late headmistress (who died of cancer in 2019) told me that when my high school report card was submitted ot the University of San Carlos , it should be a letting-go ritual.  I still couldn't get over the toxic attitude that people have towards menial labor. Back then, I remember how I started slipping  in my studies. Eventually, I started getting bad grades. The Filipino subject even had an example of a father trying to get his child to study, showing him the work of menial workers as the "fate of those who don't study hard enough" . The child was scared to see people do carpentry work. I was told that if I weren't studying hard enough, I would end up as a garbage collector. However, Typhoon Odette proved that society needed garbage col...

Everest Electrical I remember that for the past few weeks, electricity in Cebu City has been unstable. Rotational brownouts were happening. I decided to tackle the IBON Foundation yet again after some time. A recent post from IBON said this, in which it criticized President Ferdinand "Bongbong" R. Marcos Jr. for opting for "easy power relief". Here's an excerpt that I'd like to share from that same post, as I'm critiquing IBON: “The small relief that the removal of VAT on system loss charges brings to consumers should not be exaggerated as if this were the solution to expensive electricity,” said IBON Executive Director Sonny Africa. “ The real problem lies in the privatization and profit-driven operation of the power sector itself under the Electricity and Power Industry Reform Act or EPIRA Law which oligarchs are profiting from .” Looking into the fallacies by IBON Even more, I feel another post from IBON that I'd like to bring up is how it blame...

Some time ago, I wrote a blog entry where I explained that many Filipinos misunderstand what FDI means . Right now, it's time to answer another misconception. It's the misconception that 100% FDI ownership (often just called 100% FDI, which I believe can be a misleading term) means that Filipino businesses will be put out of business . I was thinking about the concept because it's highly misleading .  For one, we're talking about share ownership, not a foreign takeover This comment I read on Facebook is epic levels of foolishness . I decided to translate it into English and avoid naming the person: Do all types of businesses have to be 100% foreign-owned? Even selling *banana cue*? Are eateries, market stalls, barber shops, vape shops, *sari-sari* stores, locksmiths, welding shops, photocopy and printing shops, etc., all going to be 100% foreign-owned?   The question asked by someone I'll just label as Pirate Flag here is downright stupid! It's now time to reall...

China Mike Today is Sergio Osmeña Day, but it is also Mao Zedong's death anniversary. Mao made his most important contribution to history--he finally died . However, Mao's ideas still live on, and he was a propagator of several foolish ideas. The man had military knowledge but may have lacked fundamental economic knowledge. August may be over, meaning Buwan ng Wika (Month of the Language) is over, but Pinoy Pride Economics, aka Filipino First Policy, knows no season . In fact, I want to talk about one of Mao Zedong's incredibly stupid ideas, namely the Great Leap Forward. As I was navigating Facebook, it's easy to see some people (some are probably stubborn boomers ) who still believe that the Philippines must "self-industrialize" through ideas like this on Facebook , of all places: Instead na umasa sa foreign investments bakit di gumawa ng sariling trabaho na atin (Instead of relying on foreign investment, why don't we make our own jobs)?  Let's start...

Daily Tribune Just looking at this picture of Atty. Renee M. Co of Kabataan Partylist  using a MacBook makes me laugh. Honestly? I thought about how I'm often berated that, "What have you done compared to Kabataan Partylist?" I remembered writing an article about the irony of using imported equipment to type information against FDI . Honestly, it gets super funny . After all, Kabataan Partylist is part of the Makabayan Bloc . Groups like Alliance of Concerned Teachers, Bayan Muna, Gabriela, and League of Filipino Students all fall under the  Makabayan Bloc . Their stance has still been a stone-age understanding of what FDI is all about.  The possibility that Kabataan Partylist members have been telling people that a wage increase, not FDI, is key to long-term growth, using a MacBook, is there In fact, one of the craziest things that Kabataan Partylist said (and probably still stands by) is this idea. They believe that wage hike is what's needed, not more FDI. Do they ...

Foreign Trade University I was wondering which business or economics blog entry to post. As I was looking at the class suspension in Cebu right now, I thought about writing about education as my first post in September 2026. I looked back and thought about how the Philippine education system has lagged behind . At the same time, I thought about how Communist Vietnam ironically created the Foreign Trade University . Cebu City right now has these problems of (1) rotating brownouts due to red alert with the grid, (2) the current smog issue with Indonesia , and (3) floods. I was thinking about how schools have been affected as well. The equity rule of education in the Philippines vs. Vietnam  The IBON Foundation called the economic charter change in education "unnecessary"  last May 9, 2024. Here's an excerpt from the article that continues what I might call  fear-mongering : Opening schools to foreign ownership and presence might come at a great cost to educators and future...

Some time ago, I wrote about two topics. The first topic was about school insults and the broken windows theory . The second was all about school violence in connection with the broken windows theory . Before August ends, I thought about the nationwide DepEd policy for an active-threat drill. The news from one school shooting after the other makes me think that school shootings aren't a joke. Sure, there are very controlled school environments like Bethany Christian School, where I remember our disciplinarian was like the late Miriam Defensor-Santiago, and that we had a very orderly drill. I had two classmates who were usually boisterous, but during that fire drill , they were at their most behaved; they didn't have to be warned; they simply complied because of the school environment.  The update on DepEd's nationwide active threats is a good thing . This is really something that makes sense: DepEd Undersecretary Malcolm Garma told a Senate hearing Thursday that the departm...