Are People Complaining About Inflation in the Philippines Because They Feel the Need to Celebrate Christmas LAVISHLY?

Philippine Star

Christmas is just in a few days, right? I'm reading Facebook comments about the ongoing inflation. There are those so-called thought leaders like Silent No More PH that have been putting, "Merry Christmas" while addressing inflation. It's no secret that the prices of noche buena (Christmas dinner) items have been increasing. There are a lot of virtue signals on Facebook which makes me wonder, "Do they realize that inflation has many factors?" Do those whiners realize that prices in the grocery are more expensive than if you bought in the public market? I feel that those people complaining over social media about price inflation may have felt the need to make their Christmas celebrations lavish or it ain't Christmas.

I could remember how prices soared after the Odette disaster. The simple answer is all on supply and demand. The prices of distilled water increased. The prices of vegetables increased. The storm destroyed a good supply of items. The government had to intervene to make sure that the price increases weren't that high. Right now, we've had problems like the war between Russia and Ukraine (which led to gasoline prices increasing), storms during the -ber months (and the Christmas season is very long in the Philippines), and the like. Christmas was canceled for some areas during Odette. Please remember Typhoon Phanfone also hit on Christmas Day. Please stop thinking of Christmas as some magical time of the year when nothing goes wrong. This includes Christmas will never magically make inflation go away. Instead, the Christmas season's supply and demand cycle will help worsen inflation as prices go up when supply is down. 

Christmas is often associated with festivity. I found an article from ten years ago (2012) from CNN also discusses about how the Philippines shows the world how to celebrate Christmas. This excerpt pretty much describes Christmas in the Philippines:

Where would you find the most Christmas spirit in the world? It’s hard to say for certain, but if a global competition were to be held, the Philippines would have an excellent shot at winning.

The southeast Asian island nation has the world’s longest festive season – and pulls no punches in its celebratory zeal for the period, with lavish light displays, masses, and festivals held throughout the country from September until January.

It's the longest Christmas season in the world, right? I guess that's why some people are complaining about the rising cost of electricity. They seem to think you can't have Christmas without the lavish light displays and festivals from September until January 6. In other words, I feel like lavish Christmas celebrations are felt to be a must than a want in the Philippines. The mentality was passed down from the Spanish Empire's occupation. The Philippines may now be a sovereign state but it has kept some bad habits that the Spanish occupation brought for a long time. 

I remember living in downtown Cebu for a long time during my childhood. My recollection includes neighbors who would actually celebrate lavishly. The high-cholesterol meals aren't enough to make anybody's eyes pop. Right now, I'm on a weight loss journey and I think Christmas is the time people forget their health. The noche buena table can be very fattening. Obviously, the star of the noche buena is the lechon. We also have too many fattening meals including very sweet desserts and soft drinks. I could even remember some people who can't afford a band would hire a band. They want to make their Christmas as sweet as possible. Even worse, some people even borrow tons of money to have a good time. 

I guess this is where I'd like to say, "What about your mentality of saying if it's bitter then just add sugar?" I believe that kind of mindset is why some Filipinos still remain poor (read here). The bitterness here is the inflation. Adding sugar here would mean having a big noche buena and then realizing they don't have money for the new year. Bitter again because of having no money for the new year? The "solution" is to, again, borrow tons of money for a lavish new year celebration. I even want to ask these people isn't it their solution to just add sugar if it's bitter? The inflation is bitter. The lavish celebrations are the unnecessary tons of sugar. Then we know there's the bitter truth about sugar addiction. 

I guess they want to have lavish celebrations. I guess they want more excess cream on their fruit salad. I guess they want more ice cream. I guess they want to eat all the high-cholesterol meals during a noche buena indulgently. Then again aren't a lot of people in the Philippines, well, splurging their paycheck? If you live paycheck to paycheck then why splurge the paycheck? It's really common to have that bad habit of magpalibre or asking for a free meal. Payday blowouts are one of the worst habits that some Filipinos have (read here). I guess that's why some people even demand the stupidity of raising salaries and decreasing the prices of commodities. Please, it's very simple cost accounting that says that the salaries of the workers is part of the means of production. The cost of goods sold includes salaries. If we're increasing salaries then the prices of goods must go up to continue giving higher salaries. I guess such people don't even bother to do supply chain analysis (read here). 

This is also the irony of inflation in the Philippines. Need I say that inflation has done almost little to none to curb the typical bad spending habit? Inflation happens yet people would still splurge the paycheck. Inflation happens and some people would rather go gambling than investing (read here). They refuse to make adjustments to their spendthrift lifestyles. They would spend more than they can pay. I pretty much want to say that they even deserved the Christmas inflation they so whine about.