Skip to main content

Getting Stingy at the Cost of Fire Safety?

March is fire prevention month, right? If there are people who are too extravagant then I'd like to talk again about stingy people (read the article here). I've tried growing up with the stingy vs. extravagant extremes. Some people become stingy even with the necessities. It's one thing to deny a child a children's party since it's a want. It's another thing to deny a child stuff they need all in the name of saving money. Even worse, some people may be more than stingy enough to ignore fire safety.

A stingy person just wants to save. It's almost like the story of the Miser and His Gold or The Rich Miser. I really find these stories entertaining at the same time, irritating. The first story has the miser who hid his gold under the ground. Some people today are too distrustful of banks and investments. The second story has a rich man who even dresses in rags, denies his son's shoes, had his wife cook some cake only for him, and was so greedy he had it coming. The stories may end up in the issue of fire safety as well.

I could think of absurd ways that a stingy person can ignore fire safety:

  1. Not setting up proper fire safety measures set by the fire department. 
  2. Buying cheap appliances (while ignoring the safety measures) so they don't have to spend more money now. 
  3. Getting super cheap repair services at the cost of safety. 
  4. Not setting up a firewall because it's too expensive.
  5. Not buying fire insurance because it's insurance is "useless" and a "scam".
What would be commonly ignored is that such would cause damage in the long run. Try to talk to stingy people about the damages and they may start hurling insults, saying that they've got more experience, that the fire department is just squeezing out their money, etc. I'm really amazed at how being a stingy person can deprive anybody of good logic. That's why I say that being stingy is just as misguided as being extravagant.

The damage caused by the fire will be greater. A lot of the events and expenses could've been avoided if these were done:
  1. Proper fire equipment would've probably prevented the fire from causing more damage.
  2. Buying quality appliances at a higher cost can help save electricity, repair bills, and be more useful for long term.
  3. Having quality repairs means fewer chances of having to return to the repair shop. Chances are some people "promote it cheap" so they can scam the person into returning several times. 
  4. A firewall would've lessened the chances of a fire.
  5. If worse comes to worst, fire insurance means having the money you need for repairs. 
This fire prevention month, think about it, "Am I too stingy to ignore fire safety?" If so, you can expect to lose a lot of money as if you gambled them all in a casino, in a pyramid scam, or in cryptocurrency. Think it over that you may end up spending a lot more money if you're that stingy to ignore fire safety. 

Popular posts from this blog

Honoring the Recently Deceased Jose de Venecia Jr. in a Business/Economics Perspective

That's right. Jose de Venecia  recently passed away yesterday. As an advocate for reform, it's sad but true that de Venecia didn't win because he was boring . It was easy to think of him as a boring guy. I remember the time when he was called in ISPUP as Yoda De Venecia (after the Star Wars character). I was just a clueless college student at that time when the ISPUP episode was shown. I was only 13 years old when de Venecia ran for president. It was also that era when Joseph Estrada (who's now 88 years old) ran for president, and it was that time when Atty. Hilario G. Davide Jr. (who turned 90 last year) became the chief justice.  Just recently, I found this eulogy   for JDV. I will not post the whole eulogy, but only the one from the one that would "fit better" for a business-economics blog: He helped advance policies that enabled major infrastructure projects through public private partnerships, converted former military bases into thriving economic centers...

Yes to Filipinas Marrying Foreign Men, No to 100% FDI Shares Ownership?!

Today is Valentine's Day. I feel Valentine's Day is plain overrated. Some people just get a date for the sake of it--even if it means enduring that materialistic girlfriend or abusive boyfriend! Isn't romance a year-round thing? A few Valentine's Day ago, I wrote about Filipinas marrying foreigners and that FDI doesn't include Filipinas dating foreigners . This time to add some comedy, I wrote this post. It's something to say, "Yes! Somebody is married to a foreigner!" It's the hype to get job opportunities abroad or to marry a foreigner. Blossoms Why do Filipinos want to marry foreigners? The Blossoms blog writes down the following: Love and Affection: Love is often the primary reason for marriage, and Filipinas who marry foreigners may do so because they have fallen in love with someone from another country.  Financial Stability: Some Filipinas may marry foreigners because they believe a foreign husband can provide financial stability and secur...

Facts vs. Gossip: Did Vietnam (According to Filipino MARITESes) Develop from Its Own Treasury Before Opening Up to FDI?

Vietnam Youth Union It's been 80 years since Vietnam achieved its independence in 1945. Some time ago, I wrote about how Vietnam's Doi Moi actually disproves the Trust Me Bro School of Economics . I wasn't too accustomed to researching Vietnam's ironic economic miracle . Vietnam is a one-party state ruled by the Communist Party of Vietnam. The word Communism would evoke fear and terror. What I find funny is that some people are using Vietnam as an excuse not to open up the Philippine economy (read here ). Such misinformed  people think that Vietnam "won this revolution," supposedly self-industrialized from its own treasury before opening up to FDI. In short, some people either believe that (1) Vietnam is an example of how a highly protectionist economy works, or (2) that Vietnam made itself rich before opening to FDI. Both of them are lies. I'll focus on the second point for this new blog post!  Right now, some people say that I'm just another marites...

China's Real Great Leap Forward and Economic Cultural Revolution Under Deng Xiaoping

Nobody can dare deny that China has become a big superpower. I remembered I went to China last 2007 (which would be more than 10 years ago). China had become such a huge metropolis of power that I'm amazed at it. I was thinking about how Shanghai, Shenzhen, and Beijing were truly magnificent cities before the pollution problem (which should call for eco-capitalist measures). I was thinking about how I never realized China was once dirt poor.  Did you know China used to be so dirt-poor? The "economic legacy" of Mao Zedong was a disaster with the so-called "Great Leap Forward". It was a great leap forward all right--a great leap forward to ruin. Mao seeking to avoid the use of foreign resources to launch China proved disastrous. The 1970s would see a dramatic change when Deng Xiaoping finally took over the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). The beginning of the rise of Communist China under Deng's new political policy would pave the way to China becoming a great s...

Going from Tet Offensive in 1968 to Doi Moi in 1986

Foreign Trade University The Lunar New Year isn't just celebrated by the Chinese. Chinese New Year is one form of the Chinese New Year. Other forms of Lunar New Year follow   the Chinese New Year cycle, such as the Tết Nguyên Đán of Vietnam, the Japanese Lunar New Year, and the Seollal in South Korea. There's also the Tibetan New Year and the Mongolian New Year. I remember when talking about Vietnam celebrating the Lunar New Year together with the Chinese, my fellow Chinoy made the squity-eyed gesture to talk about most Vietnamese looking like Chinese. Should we even be surprised that there's a Vietnamese student who looks like the deposed Alice Guo, aka Guo Hua Ping?  What was the Tet Offensive about? Right now, I want to talk about the infamous Tet Offensive , which was a Lunar New Year attack of January 31, 1968. The Western concept would prefer to talk about it on January 31 instead of the Lunar New Year. A Filipino would probably say, "So what if it was Lunar Ne...