Shaun T. Dy's Business & Economics Perspective Blog

I really must laugh and cringe at the stupidity of so-called thought leaders on Facebook. I did name some of them such as Silent No More PH. From a photo of whipped cream to red onions (above). The photos were taken at a mall grocery . I even wonder if the people of Silent No More PH (and since when were they ever silent) ever bother to do a simple supply chain analysis . That's why I wrote an article where I addressed if social media gossipers even know anything about supply chain analysis (read here ). It would be idiotic to go to a shopping mall and expect public market (palengke in Tagalog) price levels.  It's because we have this simple supply chain analysis to think about public markets vs. malls  ScienceDirect.com Just think about how the supply chain goes. So, let's think about the suppliers of raw materials. Let's think about one of the unavoidable problems of the gasoline price increase. How many times do I need to tell people that the prices of gasoline are a

This is the problem when one's stingy with health. Health is also wealth. If the only thing one thinks about is money then they're missing the point. If one only thinks about financial wealth then one hasn't truly seen another depth of wealth which is health. I've seen some people who have had their stupidity with generational stinginess (read here) . If I'm not wrong, the boomers (1946-1964) tend to suffer from a lack of flexibility to change. Some people have even dismissed insurance calling it useless . However, what they don't see is that insurance could've covered problems like temporary relief for their loved ones or reduced the costs of hospitalization bills in the long run.  It's one thing when people have contingency savings. It's good to set money aside for emergencies. Buying insurance and paying it monthly or annually is part of the plan. However, some people just hold on too much to their money. Some older generation people refused to ev

It's really funny (and frustrating) to see all the posts on Facebook concerning inflation. "Thought leader" page Silent No More Philippines is just one of them. I couldn't help but laugh (and cringe) when they started complaining about the prices of goods increasing. Unfortunately, that page is only known for complaining since the reign of former Philippine president, Rodrigo R. Duterte and the recent reign of Philippine President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. Once again, I'd like to state that I didn't vote for Marcos Jr. The problem with that page isn't their criticism. The problem is that the page hardly displays solutions. In fact, recent posts that they have complained about inflation and the increase in price of Jollibee fast food makes me ask, "Do they know a thing about supply chain management ?" That's why I really refuse to take advice from social media gossipers, especially in matters about economics (read here ). ScienceDirect.com I dec

It's been some time since I did a food review, right? As of right now, I feel like I've been burdened not taking Hotel & Restaurant Management and chose Business Administration instead. Both departments today are under the School of Business and Economics (SBE) at the University of San Carlos (USC).  Having been a fan of almost everything that they can offer to customers--I decided to do some research. I'm not surprised that its owner, Reynaldo B. Villan Sr. aka Bongbong. The timeline from their very own website shares the humble beginnings of Bongbong or Villan Sr. Right now, you can check all their branches here . The humble beginnings of Villan Sr. (I'll use this one instead of Bongbong to avoid confusion with Philippine President, Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. who goes by that nickname) aren't surprising. I've read how Jollibee was the little bee that could. Tony Tancaktiong wasn't born wealthy and had to face the challenge of foreign food companies. Vill

I guess nobody saw the Asian 21st Century coming, right? China was once a poor nation but look at it now. Vietnam was once a poor nation but look at it now. Singapore was once a poor nation but look at it now. The late great Lee Kuan Yew wrote his book From Third World to First . I'm afraid some people have been using it to go against the presidency of Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. while ignoring what else Lee Kuan Yew had to say. Lee Kuan Yew described the Filipino press to be rambunctious on pages 304-305 which I agree. I'm afraid that the Filipino press may have had a hand in getting rid of any economic or political reforms that could help the Philippines. Yet, one policy has been holding back the Philippines for decades and yes, it's the Filipino First Policy .  Reviewing the Filipino First Policy and why it has no place in the rising Asian 21st century I remembered how the values education subject taught Carlos P. Garcia's stupid Filipino First Policy as a Filipino value

One of the corniest (and for me, rather offensive ) jokes is, "Bitter? Just add sugar!" I'm told to ease down because it's just a joke like if someone calls me stupid and I should learn to just "laugh it off". However, I feel that the problem with the mindset that says, "If it's bitter, just add sugar!" is how often it goes from just a joke to a bad mindset . Sugar isn't entirely bad since we do take sugar when we eat fruits. The problem is too much sugar . With Christmas around the corner, it's very easy to think of high sugar consumption. Christmas songs tend to sing a lot about sweets . A Filipino cover of "Frosty the Snowman" sings about two sweets named puto and suman which are two kinds of rice cakes. There's also the serving of puto bumbong which is made from purple rice served with butter. Christmas tends to be associated with sweets as well.  Now, this isn't a post to completely discourage the consumption of s

Yesterday, I wrote on the topic of the foolishness of wanting more affordable and better services while rejecting the need for foreign investors (read here ). I would've wanted to take it a bit easy today but I felt that I needed to write this topic. This time, I felt like writing about the irony of demanding jobs while rejecting economic liberalization. Accepting foreign direct investments (FDIs) doesn't mean the economy solely relies on foreigners (read here ). Instead, we're talking about  mutual participation where both FDIs and local investors have their friendly competition.  Migrante International The irony of groups like Migrante International (above) is how they demand job creation at home and junk labor export. However, their kind (which also includes the likes of Bayan Muna, Kabataan Partylist, and League of Filipino Students) are still opposed to foreign investments. It made me laugh and cringe at the same time when the League of Filipino Students' spokesper

I could remember the time when former Philippine president, Rodrigo R. Duterte, signed the Public Services Act of 2022 (read my reaction here ). I would say we totally need to remove the negative list entirely.  However, there will always be foolish people who would make their objections. Among them were "thought leaders" like Carwyn Candila of the League of Filipino Students (LFS) and Sarah Jane I. Elago of Kabataan (Youth) Partylist. I wasn't too surprised at the Facebook posts. Both Candila and Elago spoke against the Public Services Act of 2022 as an act of imperialism. Ironically, such foolishness was done on American platforms such as Facebook or Twitter. I'm not even surprised that some of them are using iPhones and MAC Pros (most likely manufactured in China and Vietnam) to write them down. Just reading what they wrote gave me a serious headache. I got that headache  after reading the late Lee Kuan Yew's famous book, From Third World to First . Neither Tyn

I'm amazed at the same lies that are still said by similar "thought leaders" such as the members of groups such as Alliance of Concerned Teachers, Anakbayan, Bayan Muna, IBON Foundation, Kabataan Partylist, and League of Filipino Students making their lies about foreign direct investments (FDIs). One of the lies that they made is that foreign investors are there to invade, exploit, and steal away jobs from the locals. We have the Filipino First Policy by Carlos P. Garcia which sadly caused the Philippines to fail . The aim was to make sure that majority of those who own the businesses are Filipinos. However, a big challenging question is if there are enough Filipino businessmen to fill in the supply and demand. I'm amazed some people quote from portions of the late Lee Kuan Yew's book From Third World to First . Yes, it's often quoted but only if they want to make the current incumbent president, Ferdinand R. Marcos Sr., look bad. I'm still one of the peop

Vietcetera International Edition It's something when the Philippines says it's a democratic country but it's got very restrictive economic policies. Meanwhile, Vietnam which also calls itself the Socialist Republic of Vietnam is actually embracing free markets (read here ). Like the Chinese Communists of China, the Communist Party of Vietnam has decided to embrace foreign direct investment (FDI) as part of its policy. It can be said that the Philippines still embraces it but as what? Unlike the Philippines, Vietnam ironically doesn't place the 60-40 nonsense policy where FDIs can only own 40% of their shares. Besides, it's really very stupid to expect an inflow of FDI while saying that FDIs will need a Filipino partner and they can only own 40% of their net profits (read here ). That's why I even wrote an article where I called the 60-40 arrangement to be nothing more than overpriced rent (read here ). What's with Communist Vietnam, really, that Lego chose t

I'm simply amazed at the monkey solutions of some so-called thought leaders like the members of Bayan Muna and IBON Foundation. Reading the arguments of people like Teodoro A. Casino, Neri P. Colmenares, and various members of IBON Foundation (such as Sonny Africa) can give me a headache. I may be no economist but I'd like to share some issues. The arguments I keep getting from IBON Foundation are bordered around one thing--a deadly obsession with ayuda meaning cash handouts (read here ). Such people have been using several scare tactics against foreign direct investments or FDI (read here ) can be very stupid. For example, how can people even mistake foreign investments for foreign debt (read here )? Debt is borrowed money. Investments are when you spend money hoping to get something in return. Foreign investment is when foreigners are allowed to do business in one's country. Foreign debt is when a country borrows money from another country.  The latest article by IBON Fou