Business Discipline Meets Historical Records. An MBA’s Review of Policy and Facts.
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Would You Want a MARITES in Management and Economics?
Above is a meme I found on Facebook a few days ago. I thought I'd not be writing anything for now. Instead, I was thinking of giving a "sequel" to my Intrigador Financials joke post (read here). I feel the abundance of social media gossipers has given me the motivation to write another joke post. This time, it's the MARITES which means Master in Arts in Relaying Information Through Exaggerated Storytelling. We can all forget about getting a master's degree in economics. Instead, we can pretend that Intrigador Financials has now opened a financial literacy academy. We can start a new school of management with Intrigador Financials. Instead of a Master in Business Administration (MBA) or a Masters of Arts in Economics (MA Econ)--we can imagine having a MARITES graduate school program from none other than Intrigador Financials.
I was thinking about how Intrigador Financials' MARITES program will try to develop financial literacy. Chances are their preferred mode of payment will be cryptocurrency, preferably through Bitcoin and Binance. The MARITES program will promote the following promises if you join them:
Learn how to gamble your way to success.
Learn how to manipulate cryptocurrency and become an overnight billionaire.
Learn how to time the stock market by determining when to panic and sell your bulk-bought bull market stocks.
Learn how to do day-to-day trading and earn money fast through the stock market.
Learn how to reason out why heads of government are always to blame for inflation.
Learn how to enforce cash dole-outs and learn to reason why a PHP 10,000.00 rollout isn't inflationary.
Learn why foreign direct investment (FDI) is bad and why the Philippines should remain in a protectionist economy.
Learn how to effectively market products by Intrigador Financials.
Learn how to play Axie Infinity at beat the other players.
In the end, you can expect to have billions of pesos when you get your MARITES.
What's the course starter kit? Well, above is Charlie Munger beating down fake financial gurus. Yet, you'll probably end up having courses that are written by the missing Ruja Ignatova, the late Gerald Cotten, Tai Lopez (and his garage), and many more. I could imagine Intrigador Financials might even endorse the writings of the late Bernard Madoff and Charles Ponzi (who died decades ago). There are so many fake financial gurus that I don't think I can memorize all their names, except for those who get overly notorious.
Chances are, I think this group (if it exists) will also align with the economist "think tank" IBON Foundation (read more here). I could imagine if we had Sonny Africa (who I refuse to take seriously) or maybe we could have Binance and Mavis Sky as part of the financial program. Maybe Mavis Sky can keep promoting Axie Infinity as a life-changing game. They will try to say that any scheme against them is nothing more than one done by jealous people.
If this program exists, I could imagine people will be buying cryptocurrency instead. For one, it's a lot more logical to buy devalued stocks either through DIY portfolio or through an index fund. One could consider keeping their AXA Chinese Tycoon Fund going or buying more from any feasible index fund. ATRAM has some good index funds. BPI has a good Philippine stock index fund. Metrobank has some good index funds. These stock funds can be useful in taking advantage of the dip. Though, I think Intrigador Financials will prefer cryptocurrency to hide their schemes. Just think about it how cryptocurrency has been used for criminal operations. I'd probably prefer cryptocurrency if I were a crook. It's going to be much harder to trace me that way.
If this financial training program exists--I can imagine it should be either a pyramid scam, a Ponzi scam, or maybe even a combination of both. Getting a MARITES may easily get the first few easy gains. However, Intrigador Financials will soon rob X to pay Y who joins their MARITES program. For me, no thanks. I had my experiences in being scammed. Joining any too good to be true financial guru programs is definitely not in my agenda.
Uproxx As Christmas is just around the corner--I feel more stress coming in! It doesn't help when people try to use the late Andy Williams' "It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year" to try and skip the problem. It's already known that most Filipinos love to start Christmas in September . However, the irony is that Filipinos start Christmas early but do their Christmas shopping late. If they began the Christmas Season early, shouldn't they think about what to do before December strikes? Two years ago, I wrote a post discussing last-minute Christmas shopping . Many Filipinos tend to do last-minute Christmas shopping. They had all of November (when the Christmas sale usually begins) but why do the Christmas shopping in December ? One of the things I blame is the one-day paycheck lifestyle (see here ). It can be observed that many Filipinos never learn to prioritize more important things . One can get their stars when they see their paychecks. However, the...
Lessandra When it's Christmas, it's so easy to think of the song of the late Andy Williams, "It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year". The music itself reeks of toxic positivity, whether one likes it or not. It's a shame, really, because December 20 was also the anniversary of Asia's Titanic, the sinking of the Doña Paz ! We live in a society that somehow never learns from its mistakes, like a person who's stuck in gambling debt, is still hoping to get rich gambling . Despite all that, Christmas toxic positivity still abounds in the Philippines. We still have a lot of ongoing bad habits, such as starting Christmas in September and then doing last-minute Christmas shopping during the week of Christmas. That's why every time I drive on the road on Christmas, I tend to shout, "Isn't it any wonder why the Philippines never improves?" The term Noche Buena has evolved over time . For some, it's simply the Christmas dinner. However, so...
Christmas is just around the corner, isn't it? It's easy to tell me, "Stop being a Scrooge! Lighten up! It's Christmas!" Some people can't tell the difference between positivity and when positivity becomes toxic . If you think about it, toxic positivity is defined as: ...the belief that people should maintain a positive mindset no matter how dire or difficult a situation is. While there are benefits to being optimistic and engaging in positive thinking, toxic positivity rejects all difficult emotions in favor of a cheerful and often falsely positive façade . Every time I talk about Christmas foolishness (read here ), it's always pointed out that I love being negative. Honestly, there are times I'd rather be negative than to be overly positive. I always talk about mentioning the silly notions that my countrymen have like, "If the situation is bitter, just add sugar (read here )." In Cebuano, it's said, "Kung pait, butangi lang ug asu...
The same old narration has been made over and over again . I'd dare say that the narration out the Facebook pages of the likes of Atty. Teddy Casiño, Atty. Neri Colmenares, Kabataan Partylist, League of Filipino Students, Migrante International, IBON Foundation, etc. are more or less the same. It's already a broken record based on the facts that they've been refuted. I've read the book From Third World to First . I guess Migrante International hates that book because Singapore is often associated with the execution of Flor Contemplacion, at least on their watch. What they're doing is nothing more than still hating Japan, Germany, and Italy because of the Second World War. I'm not surprised at another lie that's often repeated--economic liberalization (or 100% FDI shares ownership) will only benefit the oligarchs . I guess it'll be easy to nail on me because I'm not a summa cum laude and Rep. Raoul Abellar Manuel is and he's a graduate of the Uni...
I have the tendency to use my MBA as a license to avoid criticism. It's a real problem that some people use their credentials and/or academic achievements to try and win an argument. One incident I wrote about was Rep. Raoul Abellar Manuel flexing his "smarts" by using his cum laude degree to win the argument . It was all about how I would often say, "You're the moron because I have the MBA and you don't." There are times I felt like taking an MBA would make up for my "moral shortcomings" during high school when I was barely passing (and the passing rate was 80% , which is rather high), that I wasn't having honors, and that there was this saying, " Thou grades shalt determine thy future! " That, of course, has led to the reality where cheating is prevalent . I wanted to make a review. I took my MBA in 2011 and graduated in 2014. I always felt that the MBA program was what I needed to become "invincible". It was also at ...
