Skip to main content

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. 

Labels:

Popular posts from this blog

It's More Fun In The Philippines Thanks to the Filipino First Policy

I guess it can be called a day, right? This April 1, 2023 , I'm finally calling it quits with fighting for economic liberalization! Yes, that's right! All the advocacy for economic liberalization is just garbage. Why did I even spend so much time writing this blog only to find out that I've been duped? I hereby renounce everything I wrote here. I finally saw how brilliant the Filipino First Policy is. Man, what have I done? How much damage have I caused in advocating for economic liberalization?  The greatest president we ever had was... High School Philippine History Movement It's time to listen to the economic genius known as the late Carlos P. Garcia. Yes, he has to be one of the greatest presidents that ever existed.  I took this note from the Bohol Provincial Library and found this about CPG's Filipino First Policy ; CPG adopted the “Filipino First” Policy to promote greater Filipino participation in business, and to put the Filipinos in control of the economy...
Read more

Learning from the Late Lee Kuan Yew's Proving Protectionist-Driven Economists Wrong About Multinational Corporations

Reading the book From Third World to First is really a must. The late Lee Kuan Yew was faced with the mentality of the development economists of his day. Here's an excerpt from "Chapter 4--Surviving Without a Hinterland" which I'd like to share from Pages 57-58: After several years of disheartening trial and error, we concluded that Singapore's best hope lay with the American multinational corporations (MNCs). When the Taiwanese and Hong Kong entrepreneurs came in the 1960s, they brought low technology such as textile and toy manufacturing, labor-intensive but not large-scale. American MNCs brought higher technology in large-scale operations, creating many jobs. They had weight and confidence. They believed that their government was going to stay in Southeast Asia and their businesses were safe from confiscation or war loss. I gradually crystallized my thoughts and settled on a two-pronged strategy to overcome our disadvantages. The first was to leapfrog the reg...
Read more

The Myth of "Invading" Other Countries Through Foreign Investors and Overseas Filipino Workers

BoardGameGeek Years ago, I could remember how "Filipino pride" seems to be required by the DECS. Some songs in the Filipino subject (or called Tagalog) tend to glorify it. One of the songs was called "Ako'y Isang Pinoy" (or "I'm Pinoy") feels ironic since it was played on an imported music player. We had discussions for years about how Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) are often the unsung heroes or the new heroes. The mentality kept going on with how people desired to take a particular course not because they wanted to--it's because they wanted to go abroad. Why I wanted to take Bachelor of Science in Information Technology (BSIT) was not just to impress people but also to go abroad . However, more people shifted away from BSIT either because they were eliminated (common cause) or because it was too hard for them. Some of them flat out admitted that they took BSIT in hopes of going abroad. Some were taking nursing in hopes of again-- going abro...
Read more

The Good Old Days when Gasoline was Cheaper Under the Late Noynoy Aquino

Millennials' Voice I would like to clarify first and foremost that this post isn't an attempt to say that the late Benigno Simeon C. Aquino III's legacy was all bad. Some good things happened. However, let me be clear that it's stupid to say, " We don't need economic cha-cha because of the late Noynoy. " However, let me clear that I decided to write this because of a Facebook post called Millennials' Voice , which wrote this: Did you know that during President Noynoy Aquino's time, the price of oil in the world market was high, between $100 and $110 per barrel. But even with those high prices, gasoline and diesel at local pumps in the country were still relatively affordable.  Under President Duterte, world oil prices went up and down, from a low of $41 to a high of $101 per barrel. The big jump to $101 in 2022 happened because of the war between Russia and Ukraine.   Now, under the current president, world oil prices have gone up again to around $...
Read more

Pinoy Pride Economics Helps in Drug Mule Recruitment

Al Jazeera Who can remember the execution of three drug mules in China on March 30, 2011 ? These were three separate cases where the three convicts were  Sally Villanueva , Ramon Credo (who was cremated before his remains were brought home, and Elizabeth Batain (whose face was never shown). Sally had an episode in the GMA-7 TV show Magpakailanman,  where her husband was personally interviewed by Mel Tiangco. We never got Sally on the big screen. The husband's side of the story said that his wife was guilty of a frame-up, while Mel herself said, "If the offer is too good to be true, don't take it, or you could end up in the same pickle." Take note that I'm just paraphrasing Mel's words, not saying the words she said.  Reviewing the three drug mules who got arrested, based only on what's available for public viewing on the Internet If we read through the circumstances , this is how they were arrested, proving they weren't a trio: China has brushed aside...
Read more