Complaining About Inflation While Wasting Money on Firecrackers as a "Necessity"

As 2022 ends, today is Rizal Day (and I must admit, I took him as an inspiration back in high school), and tomorrow is New Year's Eve, I felt like writing this. I couldn't help but cringe over all the complaints about the reality that at one place in the Philippines--the cost of onions was already PHP 600.00. Some people were complaining that one kilo of lechon was already too expensive. That's why I wrote about it that is it possible such people are complaining about it because they feel the need for lavish festivities (read here)? I think it's true with my experience of having lived downtown and having neighbors who celebrate lavishly when they can't afford it. That's why I even love to bring up that after the Noche Buena (Christmas dinner) they may no longer have money for tomorrow's New Year's Eve dinner (read here).

Tomorrow is New Year and one of the things I hate about it is the heavy use of firecrackers. I remembered the cringy site of the news and the increased number of firecracker injuries. It's only good that rules against dangerous firecrackers got stricter. I believe people need permits to use firecrackers or that private households shouldn't use them for one reason. We don't want a similar case of excess smoke like what happened in New Delhi after Diwali, the festival of lights. Yet, some people are still too attached to the tradition of firecrackers like they're attached to having lechon on Noche Buena. I guess that's why they were whining that the cost of lechon is that expensive.

I just read from the Inquirer that prices of firecrackers soared in Bulacan. Should we be amazed? I guess it's all about supply and demand. If gatherings were really stopped during the first two years of the pandemic--do you think it'd make sense to make firecrackers? The prices went from PHP 350.00 to PHP 750.00 and were later sold at PHP 850 to PHP 1,000.00. Yet, some people were still buying firecrackers worth that much while whining that one kilo of onions is already PHP 600.00 or that PHP 500.00 wouldn't be enough for the "mandatory" lechon for Noche Buena.

I guess complaining about increasing costs here is linked with ignorance and financial responsibility. What do you expect from people who just love to splurge on whatever money is given? If one's living paycheck to paycheck when why splurge the salary on payday (read here)? These old habits are hard to kill because it seems to be a tradition for them. They would spend the money the moment they get it. Some may be working in call centers. Others may be getting remittances from their OFW loved ones. The moment they get it--they overlook their needs and focus on their wants. What happens is that bills are ignored. They end up adding debt to debt. The money that was supposedly spent on bills was spent on having the barkada (peer) blowout on payday. Even worse, they end up buying stuff that they aren't willing to pay extra for. It's like why buy a car if you don't have a garage and can't afford gas? Why buy an airconditioner if you can't afford to pay higher electricity?

Still, some will stubbornly say, "But it's tradition to have firecrackers as lechon is to Noche Buena! That's why we're complaining about inflation!" Then I could say, "Isn't it any wonder why your financial situation never improves? If it's inflation then shouldn't you save more money?" I guess their whining about inflation is because they wish the money could buy more. It's not because they want to save. It's because they still want to celebrate lavishly even if inflation is also caused by supply and demand. We have a supply chain analysis. We should really look at factors that led to inflation. Yet, when I talk about importing raw materials (read here), these people also whine, "But you'll kill the local farmers!" Wouldn't asking the local farmers to sell lower than their cost be killing local farmers more than importation ever will?

Even worse, firecracker injuries are very costly to treat. This reminds me of a Visayan song by Max Surban called "Rebentador Rock". Rebentador is a Visayan word for firecracker. I even wonder where their good financial sense is anyway? Should I expect any financial literacy from people who never budget their paychecks and splurge on it? These firecracker injuries usually lead to permanent disability like mutilated fingers and mutilated legs, and I definitely don't want to elaborate since the sight is very disturbing. They wasted their money from January to November, they borrowed tons of money for the Noche Buena, and for the New Year. They probably even didn't buy health insurance saying it's "costly" while wasting their money on having a good time.

This is really comparable to the cost of adding sugar whenever things are bitter (read here). The mantra tends to be, "Bitter? Just add sugar!" If you add sugar to almost everything then prepare for the consequences. These consequences can be extreme obesity, diabetes (and this can soon lead to severed limbs if it goes extreme), tooth decay, and other health problems related to excess sugar. The obsession with firecrackers can also lead to several health problems too. I guess some will be hospitalized by January 1 worrying about mounting bills.

When the Education Cares TOO MUCH About Grades, Schools Produce Idiots Instead of Intellectuals

During the pandemic, I was left in limbo thinking about my poor performance under K+10. It was something to think about that a classmate of mine who was both a summa cum laude and an honor student, ended up posting on his wall, "Students cheat because the education system cares more about grades instead of learning." The class salutatorian of our batch even commented about the good old days. I always had that feeling of insecurity and envy towards people better than me. But as Warren Edward Buffet would say, "Don't hate successful people. Learn from them instead." One of them is currently a teacher and the other is in Canada. I thought about my insecurities especially when I used to believe I was descended from a fine scholar and my family was a family of scholars. I remembered the time I was taking MBA and got conned. I was asked, "Is that what MBA taught you?" I got touchy and ended up admitting, eventually, that I was only taking MBA for the presti...

My Thoughts on the NOT So Surprising Downfall of "Axie Infinity"

llustration: Daniel Guerrero Fernandez for Bloomberg Businessweek I remembered some time ago when I wrote about Axie Infinity . One article I wrote about why I never bothered to enter the Axie Infinity arena was the poor security . I compared it to a cockfighting game--a game where so few win and so many lose. A previous article I wrote was all about why play-to-earn games are too good to be true . What's not too surprising is the collapse of Axie Infinity . It's pretty much too good to be true. A casual gamer can testify that they buy online passes not to earn but to play . It's like buying a Playstation Plus card to play online for an entire year. You buy games out of the money you earn. You don't earn money out of gaming. What truly never surprised me was how Axie Infinity crashed. It promised riches but onoy resulted to disaster. I even wrote that there could be an ironic moment somebody says that AXA is a scam while playing Axie Infinity thinking that it's an...

Piracy is Almost Impossible to Defeat Thanks to the Filipino First Policy

Disney Let's face it piracy is hard to combat, right? For Filipinos, it's time to be honest that people have been engaged in piracy in some form. It may be pirated video games, CDs, VCDs, DVDs, etc. There are laws passed against piracy. However, one must ask why piracy is so hard to combat. Piracy bypasses through legalities. It's a common practice to have a pirated version of this and that application, because of the price . Installing MS Office and Windows 11 can be costly. It can cost PHP 7,000.00 for Windows 11 Home and PHP 5,400.00 for MS Office. Back in college, people would do anything to get the MS Office and Windows 11 because they needed it for their projects . It doesn't help that some well-to-do boomer are stingy instead of thrifty. It doesn't help either that some people just can't afford to buy the original software--given their income bracket . It's easy to raise the Filipino First Policy by saying, "Tangkilikin ang sariling atin!" ...

Getting Nuts About Standard Chinese, By Learning About the Chinese Names of Nuts

Hanbridge Mandarin In pursuing the need to teach Mandarin Chinese, it's important to deviate from the old-fashioned Chinese language education (read here ). Instead, we need to get people interested in basic vocabulary. This would be a good exercise to learn from basic sentence making and conversations. Here's an example of what's called bon toi back in my day. Let's think of learning Chinese through nuts. Question: 你想要巴西坚果、核桃、杏仁还是腰果? (Nǐ xiǎng yào bāxī jiānguǒ, hétáo, xìngrén háishì yāoguǒ) Translation: Do you want brazil nuts, walnuts, almonds, or cashews? Answer: 我想要杏仁，非常感谢. (Wǒ xiǎng yào xìngrén, fēicháng gǎnxiè.) Translation: I want to have almonds, please, thank you very much. However, there's a mistake in the chart because the coconut isn't a nut. Instead, it's a coconut fruit of the coconut tree, of the coconut palm family. The song was written by Filipino musician Ryan Cayabyab. Now, it's time to enjoy learning Chinese through learning about n...

The STUPIDITY of Insisting that Equity Restrictions in the 1987 Constitution of the Philippines Exist for "National Security"

As the call for economic charter change goes on, I feel the need to educate some people with common sense . I'm reading comments on Facebook that 60-40 (or any similar ownership restrictions) is for the "security of the Philippines" or that certain sectors can't be allowed 100% ownership on the part of the MNC. Once again, do I need to remind people for the nth time that 100% FDI ownership is all about share ownership ? Sadly, many Filipinos misunderstand what 100% FDI means (read here ). What 100% FDI ownership means is that MNCs don't need to look for a Filipino partner, only to be burdened with having to give up 60% (or more) of the net profits after taxes and they only keep 40% (or less). That's why I called such an arrangement as overpriced rent (read here ). Some of these people I ran into on Facebook (of all places) are too beholden to Atty. Hilario G. Davide Jr. It was last 2018 when Davide Jr. also said that the Philippines may become a "colony ...

My Experience with Pyramid Scams in College Up to Present

Often, a pyramid is often confused with a Ponzi scheme. Both are illegal schemes but there's the difference. A pyramid scam emphasizes on recruitment and selling of products. A Ponzi scheme guarantees high returns for short periods. Both operate similarly but scam people differently. Both should be shunned and be considered defective baskets. I remembered my college days at the University of San Carlos-Main Campus (USC-Main) when I was still a newbie with money. It sucks really when high school didn't teach us financial literacy and people seemingly need to take commerce to do so. One of the biggest scams that hit even graduate school students was the pyramid scam. Even worse, some of those who got suckered with ongoing financial scams were graduate school students of the School of Business and Economics! The Investor.gov website from the United States of America (USA) would tell us these are the hallmarks of a pyramid scam: These are some of the hallmarks of a pyram...

How I Believe the Public Service Act of 2022 Will Benefit the Philippine Business and Economic Environment

One of the greatest news for the Philippines is the Public Service Act of 2022. The following can be read from the Philippine News Agency regarding President Rodrigo R. Duterte's signing of the new law into action: President Rodrigo Roa Duterte on Monday signed into law a measure amending the Public Service Act (PSA), allowing up to 100 percent foreign ownership of public services in the country. Republic Act (RA) No. 11659 or "An Act Amending Commonwealth Act No. 146 otherwise known as the Public Service Act” as amended was signed by Duterte in a ceremony at the Rizal Hall, Malacañan Palace in the presence of lawmakers and other officials. Under the amended PSA, the telecommunications, railways, expressways, airports, and shipping industries will be considered public services, allowing up to 100 percent foreign ownership in these sectors. Duterte also led the ceremonial presentation of newly enacted laws namely RA 11647 which amends the Foreign Investments Act; RA 11650, whic...

"Filipino First Policy" Has NO PLACE in the Rising Asian 21st Century

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...

The Philippines 60-40 Equity Scheme Doesn't Prohibit FDIs But It's Still VERY DISCOURAGING for International Business

First and foremost, I'd like to tell people that I don't believe that the Marcos Years were the "golden years". I still agree with economist Cielo Magno that land ownership isn't a factor, since some countries without equity restrictions, don't allow foreigners to buy land. In contrast, inflation and the like were rampant during that time. However, we need to realize that any gains after EDSA 1986 weren't realized. As I was looking at Facebook, a page called Punch the Lies by Atty. Mike Navallo stated this: FACT: The 1987 Constitution does not prohibit entry of global investors into PH. What it regulates is foreign investment in areas deemed critical such as public utilities; exploration, devt and use of natural resources; and certain investments as determined by Congress. (Art XII) Public utilities (water, electricity, petroleum distribution, seaports, PUVs) are considered vital to socio-economic devt that's why they're subject to foreign owner...

Bacolod Sugarcane's Industry and Its Massive Business Opportunity with Japanese and Taiwanese Investors

Trying the delicious Okinawa Milk Tea from ITealicious makes me think of the delicious Okinawa brown sugar. I thought about researching Okiwana brown sugar on how it's made. Certain details reveal why the Japanese product is used by certain milk tea establishments around the world. The method of making the Japanese brown sugar is described by Dore by LeTao as follows: Can you guess the origin of this Brown Sugar? Yes of course it is from Okinawa! It is from sugarcane that is grown in Okinawa. Okinawa is famous for their beautiful place, beach, and their longevity. It is well-known that Okinawa’s climate is perfect for sugar cane. W ith strong southern-island sunlight and minerals delivered by the ocean spray, make Okinawa perfect for growing healthy sugar cane ! Production begins with a healthy sugarcane crop then continues to a slow cooking technique to process the sugar cane juice (this method is referred to as kokuto). This method makes them healthier than the usual brown...

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