The Late Charlie Munger's Quote on Envy May Help Explain the Failure of Filipino First Policy

It's sad that I only knew Charlie Munger died at 99 years old days after he died, late last month. I didn't know about him until the pandemic made me watch more business videos. It's a shame that business schools have become too theoretical than practical. I'm now going to discuss this Munger quote which I found while he was still living. His partner, Warren Buffett mentions that it's best to hang out with people who are better and smarter than one's self. I should've spent my life hanging out with people who are better than me back in high school, than keep getting mad. In fact, a lot of my high school quarrels were also rooted in me hating people who were better at mathematics than I was. This quote by Buffett makes me think again, "Could this be why the lousy Filipino First Policy exists?" 

I'd agree that counterproductive than envy. Why do you think some people join Communist or Socialist groups hating the rich? I blame envy for that. One radio commercial I heard was talking about whether it was fair that one person was eating anchovies and the other was eating steak. I think it was a radio commercial either by Bayan Muna or the League of Filipino Students. They want what the rich have. When I think of someone who will always be better than me--I would say that I'll find people who can write better than me. In college, I thought about surrounding myself with people better than me. By not envying people smarter than me--there was more room for improvement. People who engage in unhealthy competition only end up doing foolish things. Some people may even buy things they can't afford or need just to impress others. As Munger says, he wanted to be rich not to get a Ferrari but to develop financial independence. 

A previous article of mine was about anti-FDI Filipino businessmen's sore loser attitude. The late Carlos P. Garcia from Bohol is still hailed as a hero. The liars would say that Garcia made the Philippines a "tiger economy". I still think of this part of Garcia's speech which is trying to disguise what Filipino First Policy may be all about:

The ”Filipino First” policy of this administration re­ceived a resounding popular indorsement in the last election. Politically we became independent since 1946, but econom­ically we are still semi-colonial. This is especially true in our foreign trade. This policy is therefore designed to regain economic independence. It is a national effort to the end that Filipinos obtain major and dominant participa­tion in their own national economy. This we will achieve with malice towards none and with fairness to all. We will accomplish this with full understanding of our inter­national obligations towards our friends of the Free World. We will carry this out within the framework of our special relations with the United States to whose citizens we granted until 1974, by Constitutional provision, equal rights as Filipinos in the exploitation of our natural resources and public utilities, and to whom we also granted trading parity rights under the Laurel-Langley Agreement. Under this policy we will welcome friendly and understanding foreign capital willing to collaborate with us in the exploitation of our vast natural resources preferably on joint venture basis.

Garcia's aim to make Filipinos the majority and dominant participation in the national economy sounds good on paper. After all, it's the Philippines, right? However, the late Lee Kuan Yew blasted that way of thinking. Sure, these Filipino First Policy apologists can whine all they want and say, "How many times do I need to tell you the Philippines isn't Singapore? Let's just learn everything on our own." Either some of these guys are clueless or just simply hate competition. The "concern" that Atty. Neri P. Colmenares says about FDI is that that MNCs defeat the local businesses. Hypocritically. Colmenares is a supporter of the International Criminal Court, along with the likes of Atty. Teodoro A. Casiño. Take note that both Colmenares and Casiño are from Bayan Muna. You also have the lies of the probably now-defunct Philippine Anti-Fascist League too.

Some Filipinos say that FDI will ruin the spirit of the country. An even bigger irony is that some of these naysayers are openly Catholic. That is, their Facebook profiles prove that they're proud to be Catholics. It's even ironic that some of the biggest opponents of FDIs are members (or retired members) of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP). Retired archbishop Socrates Villegas' statements are laughable, considering he's supposedly a member of the Vatican. The Vatican is a multinational organization by default. I try to address these people's hypocrisy; they simply start doing irritating gestures (such as ear-covering acts) and hurling insults. Do they even realize that the word catholic means universal? They keep saying it and when confronted by valid sources--they'd attack my IQ. My IQ is irrelevant to the argument. I can have an IQ of below average or moron. A stupid person can be right whereas an intelligent person is wrong. A stupid person may have been reading the writings of highly intelligent people while an intelligent person's best defense is, "I'm a cum laude from (insert school)." 

I'd say that all the brouhaha about economic protectionism being good is rooted in envy. The businessmen can be aware of how established MNCs can be better than them. This is a far cry from what the late John Gokongwei Jr. said. I guess Gokongwei Jr. had fond memories of his maternal grandfather. His maternal grandfather said to him, "Don't be afraid of the giants, they were once small." The MNCs that the protectionists so feared were once small. An example of an MNC is none other than Jollibee (read here). I'm naming Jollibee because it's evidence that even Filipino businesses can make it big abroad. Jollibee had to face off against Wendy's and McDonald's. Instead of crying foul, the Tan brothers who run Jollibee, said, "Bring it on!" Now, Jollibee is a major participant in the world market. 

The result of envy would be the Philippines would be left behind. In contrast to what IBON Foundation's data (and I think those clowns think OFW remittance is FDI), the reality is FDI is a job creator. That's why I'd listen to Kishore Mahbuban of the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy (LKYSPP) over Atty. Hilario G. Davide Jr. (read here). If Filipinos need to listen to anyone, it's Mahbubani and not Davide Jr. Mahbubani saw Singapore rise from third world to first. Davide Jr. only saw the Philippine democracy restored but did not see it become a bigger model. The economic miracle of Singapore, a country once poorer than the Philippines, should be more amazing. It was poorer than when the late Ferdinand E. Marcos Sr. left with a huge amount of money.

Letting FDIs invest in the Philippines with 100% share ownership is about their equity. They can invest without the need for a Filipino partner It's not about selling the Philippines to foreigners. That idea is just absurd. Sadly, so many Filipinos probably still misunderstand what 100% FDI ownership really means and laugh when I try to explain it to them (read here). It's that they can compete with the local businesses. Any good entrepreneur will say, "I will take this challenge! I will be better!" Instead of envying the MNCs, a good Filipino entrepreneur will be like Tony Tancaktiong of Jollibee He or she will find ways to win the local market over. He or she may soon avail of Starlink or any public services doing better than the local ones They choose to be productive to show that they're still worthy of serving the local customers. Just think that Bo's Coffee Club is still standing even while MNC coffee ships (such as Chatime, Gong Cha, and Tealive). It's Bo's Coffee Club is innovative. Now, a local coffee ship, Alishan in the Alley, is also proving itself to be a worthy Filipino investor. 

Envy has done nothing for Filipinos or anyone. Instead, it held the Philippines back even before the 1987 Constitution of the Philippines was conceived. Envy did nothing for Germany either. Adolf Hitler's hatred of the success of the Jewish businessmen destroyed the German economy. Mao Zedong's hatred of people better than him only caused his regime to be poor. The destructive value of envy contributed to the Filipino First Policy Like envy is indeed a surefire recipe for failure in the long run--the Filipino First Policy failed because it's rooted in envy.