Will Anti-FDI, Anti-Business Filipinos Be Willing to Eat Rotten Food in an Isolationist Philippines?

The decades of Filipino First Policy really need a clean-up, right? It's really amazing how some people keep blaming the US for Venezuela's current situation. What's next? Will they blame China and South Korea for North Korea being poor? I wrote an article where I discussed Venezuela's pride and protectionism. One of the many sources I cited discussed how frequent blackouts caused Venezuelans to eat rotten meat last 2018. Are they going to well, blame the USA again, for the frequent blackouts? If Venezuela's basic utilities are all monopolized by the government--how can they blame the US for the crisis that Venezuela caused itself? Did the US tell Venezuela to do its really bad economic policies?

I would read the comments made by SJWs on Facebook. They would write all forms of anti-capitalist rants without understanding what capitalism is. They say that competition ruins quality and that things will be better under a welfare state. The video above shows a sample of social media breakdowns. I've been watching some of Misha Petrov's videos on YouTube. The complaints here are no different from Filipinos who are anti-capitalist, idolize Communist leaders (while ironically getting mad at China and Vietnam), say that FDIs cause debt increase (because they can't differentiate debt from investment, read here), and the list can go on. They also keep saying that the capitalist system is oppressive, that the workers own the means of production (as if they were the ones who purchased it, read here), and that they hate the rich for simply being rich (read here).

I could go ahead and tell them to study economics at the University of Economics-Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam. I could go ahead and tell them about China's progress. Their response is that those countries have ceased to be Communist because they gave in to the "evil FDI". By accepting FDI, both China and Vietnam allowed more oligarchies to enter. Some of them may even insist that both countries are just giving lip service to the likes of their heroes such as Karl Marx, Vladimir Lenin, Joseph Stalin, and Mao Zedong. Well, Ho Chi Minh, often called Uncle Ho, wasn't an isolationist, and Vietnam's great Communist leader, Nguyen Duy Cong (who died last 2018), became known as Doi Moi and gave the Do Muoi program. It was to create a struggle between both their local companies and FDIs. Deng Xiaoping is often disregarded because his views on socialism say, "Poverty isn't socialism, to be rich is glorious."

For people who are anti-business (and anti-American), it's really baffling why they use imported luxury products (such as iPhones which may be assembled in Vietnam), they eat at several restaurants (such as getting a McDonald's meal), yet they all keep arguing that FDI is evil, buy Filipino, etc. What's funnier is that they use imported devices to type their anti-FDI rants (read here). Don't tell me that their gadgets are proudly Filipino? Don't tell me that the brands of their iPhones are Mansanas (Tagalog word for apple) instead of Apple? I ask them if they're anti-capitalist then why do they use those products? They reply that they can't take me seriously when I say that. They say that the workers own the means of production, that they're simply "forced to participate in it", and the list of nonsense that I see on Facebook can go on. Yes, such as that bratty administrator (who I think is below 21 years old) of the Philippine Anti-Fascist League (PAFL) Facebook page and many of its supporters.

Let's imagine that they finally succeeded in the revolution and what happens

Allegedly, Karl Marx said that the last capitalist they hung was the one who sold them the rope. It's really a baffling statement. Shouldn't they seize the rope from the capitalist? Let's imagine that these "afflicted poor" finally won the class struggle. It's often bragged that if the poor people group together--the rich will be defeated. Now, let's imagine that the revolution happened and that they shut down every business. They have gotten rid of the FDIs, they have gotten rid of the oligarchy, and they have finally seized the means of production. Now, it's time for these losers to establish their welfare state. They have seized the wealth but do they know how to manage the wealth?

What happens next will be similar to Venezuela. Can they really blame the US (again) if their programs don't work? Just reading the news of poor Venezuelans eating rotten meat makes me cry and puke at the same time That's why I asked those isolationists that they should start eating food from the garbage can. When they monopolize the power supply--can they really keep the power supply up? They might want to blame South Korea for North Korea's lack of power supply. Yet, North Korea has no one but itself to blame, not China nor South Korea, as they have an inadequate supply of electricity.

Just watching this video can make me puke. Maybe, that's why I gave up on my dreams of becoming a doctor because I'm scared of blood. I could remember that I was scared and excited at the same time for my cataract removal. I knew I was going to get the bladeless procedure but knowing that my eye would be poked with an emulsifier was still a scary thought. I could remember my vision becoming red for the first week until it healed. This video though scares me more than scenes in a medical drama. It's because medical drama is props. What is shown above is very real. The really real situation where people are literally forced to eat garbage. Meanwhile, Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro enjoys fine food at the cost of his own people.

Their victory against the elite happens. However, without the business owners, can they really start enjoying the fine food they enjoyed before the revolution? Some communist hippies try to talk as if Mao Zedong's Great Leap Forward wasn't the fault of the runner. It might be best for them to try telling that to the survivors of that terrible program. Mao's lack of vision of trying to create an isolationist utopia was a failure. Mao could've learned to produce the best quality steel from FDIs. Mao could've started to invest in FDIs for the agrarian land reform to produce the best grain. Communist China tried to lie to the people about how it was a success. However, the biography of Australian Chinese dancer Li Cunxin will tell you that the Great Leap Forward was anything but a success.

They say competition ruined the quality. Instead, they ruined the quality because there was no more competition. A lack of electricity will mean that they will be eating rotten food. That means they can no longer enjoy the delicious food that they used to enjoy before they won the revolution. The revolution closed down all the businesses. It was competition that built Jollibee and it became a Filipino MNC soon enough. It was having competition that provided better quality. Without competition, there will be nothing but inflation left and right. Those in power may benefit for now but to be consistent, they need to also eat the rotten food first.

That would be the big difference between them and the Communists of China and Vietnam. Sure, it's funny to see a Communist flag near Starbucks or Kentucky Fried Chicken. Maybe, if I go to Vietnam, I'd be laughing my head off if I saw a Jollibee branch with a Communist flag near it. I even laughed when I ate at McDonald's China and there was a Communist flag near it. China and Vietnam may both be held by Communist policies. However, their economic reforms have prevented them from becoming another North Korea or Venezuela. They understood isolationism would never work. Both Deng and Do Muoi understood that for their revolutions to succeed, they should stop doing everything themselve and learn new things. They allowed FDIs here and there yet they remain sovereign Communist states.

Would they be willing to do that? The chances are they won't. Communism has shown that much of China starved while Mao enjoyed his luxurious life. Madame Mao was probably worse than Imelda Romualdez-Marcos of the Philippines. Sure, Mrs. Marcos herself has a bad reputation but maybe not as bad as Madame Mao. Mao and his cronies all lived good lives. The rest of China ate rotten food. So much for the claim of a classless, equal society huh?

Filipino First Policy Linked with Crab Mentality

Having sea crab yesterday or just eating crab, I always think of that old commercial in the 1990s. It was called, "Iwasan ang crab mentality." or "Avoid crab mentality." This makes me recall a scene when I was a child. I saw a pail full of mud crabs (called alimango in Filipino) and if one crab got out, the others pulled it down. The TV commercial showed how if the crabs got together, they could all escape their grizzly fate of becoming eaten for human consumption. Chefs are just lucky crabs pull each other down. However, it also shows that the crabs would rather all be cooked together than let that crab escape. Unfortunately, crab mentality is one of the biggest problems in the Philippines. It's not all that unique among Filipinos. However, it doesn't Filipinos should ever take comfort in engaging in a crab mentality, just because other people do it . Here's an interesting excerpt from Inquirer by Jerry Peres de Tagle PhD: Studies in human behavior ...

It's a Common, Broken New Year's Resolution Among Filipinos to Do Better with Their Finances and Economic Knowledge

Happy New Year, right? There's this statement in Cebuano that says, "Sa Disyembre nag lipay-lipay. Sa Enero, naglikay-likay." For non-Cebuano speakers, it means, "Enjoying all December. Fleeing in January." It's because of the bad habits that are common during the Christmas season. I wrote an entry talking about when a Merry Christmas leads to an Unhappy New Year . After Christmas vacation, it can be common to talk about New Year's Resolutions. Sadly, there are resolutions meant to be broken or resolutions on paper only. Several people finish high school, go to college, get a job, but never gain the necessary knowledge of economics and finances. Instead, they continue to live the same habits year after year. Even worse, the same foolish behavioral patterns get passed down f rom parent to child to grandchild. Still stuck with financial habits that put one in a financial dodo The New Year starts and it can get funny. I tend to hate December because of the ...

Rejoicing Over Filipino Businesses Getting 100% Ownership Abroad While Crying Over FDIs Getting Allowed to Own 100% Ownership

The Philippine senatorial elections are on, right? One of the many things candidates (regardless of party) need to hold is the need for economic reform. As I continue discussing economic charter change, several objections are held. One of the objections is allowing 100% FDI--a subject often subjected to mockery. These mockeries can range from promoting colonial mentality, selling the Filipino to foreigners, borrowing money from abroad (which is definitely not investment, read here ), or even the ridiculous notion that FDI includes Filipino women dating foreigners (read here ). This time, I would like to address another hypocrisy. This time, it's all about Filipinos who rejoice that Filipino businesses are investing with 100% FDI ownership. All the while, this is crying foul when there's a law passed that will allow foreigners to own 100% FDI ownership , in the Philippines. This is a meme to expose the hypocrisy. Jollibee has 158 branches in Vietnam, which I assume happened bec...

The Recent Microsoft Global Outage Should be a Wake-Up Call to the Philippines' Need to Fix the 1987 Constitution's Economic Flaws

The Express Tribune The recent Microsoft Global Outage was caused by Crowdstrike. Since I'm no IT or CS expert--it's better if I let them talk in the news. From BBC News , here's a detail from Crowdstrike that reveals the root cause of the problem has been systemic with an update: This is still a little unclear. CrowdStrike is known for producing antivirus software, intended to prevent hackers from causing this very type of disruption. According to CrowdStrike boss George Kurtz, the issues are only impacting Windows PCs and no other operating systems, and were caused by a defect in a recent update . "The issue has been identified, isolated and a fix has been deployed," he said. "This is not a security incident or cyber-attack." What exactly was wrong with the update is yet to be revealed, but as a potential fix involves deleting a single file, it is possible that just one rogue file could be at the root of all the mayhem. Thankfully, those who created th...

Is Vietnam Getting More FDI Inflows than the Philippines, Because of Its Supposedly Better Fight Against Corruption?

Discussing international marketing or world economics with boomer Filipinos can be painful. Some people still believe in the Filipino First Policy. I cite Vietnam as an example of why economic charter change (called econ cha cha) should be done. Some people cite that Vietnam's increase in FDI is because of the fight against corruption. I don't deny Vietnam has a crackdown on corruption. I don't deny that fighting against corruption helps the economy. However, fighting corruption without the proper tools and not having economic development, is useless. Fighting corruption isn't a panacea or cure-all either. Spanking is part of child discipline, not the whole of child discipline. People who only spank but never teach right and wrong, render spanking ineffective . Instead, look at Vietnam's economic policy vs. the Philippines' economic policy. Some people blame the following for the Philippines' lack of foreign investments, some things Vietnam also suffers fr...

Trying to Plan Out What to Do as a Bull Market Starts

I was laughing just thinking about ignorance about the bear and bull markets. Yes, we know about social media gossipers (seldom called a marites in Filipino) tend to spread gossip. I ran into several people panicking when the Philippine Stock Exchange Index (PSEi) was mostly red. Others would panic but Warren Edward Buffett recommends, "Be fearful when others are greedy. Be greedy when others are fearful." That's the best market timing. Some people do cost averaging because it's practically less risky in contrast to lump sum investing. Buffett recommends that non-technical people should periodically invest in a low-cost index fund over a period of ten years. Now, the Philippine Star has an article by Wilson Sy, where the first paragraph talks about the Philippines' entry towards the bull market : Most stock markets have undergone a dramatic shift to start the year, transitioning from a bear market to a bull market. Peak inflation, a slower pace of interest rate h...

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 Personal Opinion on the Recent Universal Robina Incident

I was doing some news readings and I found out about the death of a certain Stephen Corilla. The incident happened in the Universal Robina Corporation's factory in Mandaue a few days ago. It really chilled my bones to read these details which I'll share from Sunstar : POLICE are set to investigate a food and beverage plant in Barangay Tabok, Mandaue City after one of its workers was killed on duty while cleaning a pulverizer machine Thursday afternoon, June 2, 2022. Cpl. Glenn Bordalba of the Mandaue City Police Office Station 3 in Barangay Basak who is leading the investigation told SunStar Cebu Monday, June 6, that they will visit the Universal Robina Corp. (URC) Mandaue City plant in Tabok on Tuesday, June 7, to investigate the matter. Bordalba added that they have not started the investigation yet as they were not allowed entry to the site by the URC management after the incident was reported to them. An approval from the corporation’s consultant is needed for the police to...

My Experience with Tealive Cebu at the Ayala Central Bloc

I have tasted several foreign-owned tea shops. My first experience with tea shops was with Chatime (read here ). Now, I heard of this new coffee shop (or tea shop, take your pick) called Tealive. At first, I thought it was Taiwanese but when I Googled it--it was Malaysian. It made sense that the company uses only Halal-approved ingredients since Malaysia has a huge Muslim population. The founder is Malaysian-Chinese businessman Bryan Loo of Loob Holdings. Loob here also means inside as the Tagalog language also derives from the Malay language. Tealive would later head to the Philippines. It would be like getting Filipinos closer to their Malaysian heritage after all. The branches in Cebu include SM City, SM Seaside, and Ayala Central Bloc. The one I ate was at Ayala Central Bloc. Someone gave me a taste of their sandwich and their signature coffee. I was pretty much impressed that I decided to dine in there. I went to try their lychee tea and chees burger. For a note, their ...

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 ...

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