The Irony the Philippines Starts the Christmas Season in September BUT Many Filipinos Love Last-Minute Christmas Shopping

Uproxx

As Christmas is just around the corner--I feel more stress coming in! It doesn't help when people try to use the late Andy Williams' "It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year" to try and skip the problem. It's already known that most Filipinos love to start Christmas in September. However, the irony is that Filipinos start Christmas early but do their Christmas shopping late. If they began the Christmas Season early, shouldn't they think about what to do before December strikes?

Two years ago, I wrote a post discussing last-minute Christmas shopping. Many Filipinos tend to do last-minute Christmas shopping. They had all of November (when the Christmas sale usually begins) but why do the Christmas shopping in December? One of the things I blame is the one-day paycheck lifestyle (see here). It can be observed that many Filipinos never learn to prioritize more important things. One can get their stars when they see their paychecks. However, they carelessly spend the money on what doesn't matter over what matters. Instead of thinking about paying bills--they go out on the payday. They'd go out, celebrate lavishly, and then the paycheck is good as gone. That kind of mentality may explain why such people rally for higher salaries while demanding prices of goods be lowered (read here). Such people fail to realize that a salary increase is only feasible when there's a higher demand for labor (read here). Prices of goods can only be lowered when there's a higher supply and lower demand. That can also be triggered by economies of scale. However, I feel such people still mock supply and demand, as if doing that will change the laws of economics!

It's possible that the excitement for Christmas overrides logic. They get so excited for Christmas that they wish it was Christmas every day. Please, Christmas every day is definitely bad economics (read here). If one seeks to have fun all the time--priority is never key. They only think of how to have fun. It's not just when the -ber months strike. It's a year-round condition that imitates the foolishness of General Tomas Mascardo during the Filipino-American War. Mascardo knew better than to leave his post. However, it's said by historians that Mascardo decided to attend a town fiesta in the middle of a war! I wouldn't be surprised if some people died during typhoons because they chose to celebrate anyway, even when a storm is coming. They could've canceled the feast but no, they had to have the feast! I believe that too made COVID-19 hard to combat--because of people who wouldn't follow basic protocols!

Even worse, they often have that old Filipino saying, "If it's bitter, just add sugar (read here)." I was often told that stupid phrase by my childhood nanny. Right now, I can't be sure if she's still alive or not. After all, Filipinos tend to have a sweet tooth. There's the tendency to add sugar to almost everything. However, you can't sugarcoat the bitter truth for too long. They might be thinking about Christmas and its associationg with sugary treats. One of the songs using the tune of Frosty the Snowman" is "Puto at Suman". Puto and suman are two kinds of Filipino treats that's associated with Christmas. They think that any problem can be solved by just adding sugar. However, it's not just on Christmas but a whole-year round foolish behavior. Lots of debt? Lots of homework? Forget about it and just add sugar.

It's a shame that only a few Filipinos ever escape this irony. I can only expect more and more foolishnesss during Christmas. Even worse, people might be expecting their impunity to be understood "because it's Christmas". Sorry to say but Google Christmas day disasters and find out how real they are. Christmas isn't a magical team of the year where nothing goes wrong. The only reason why Christmas season disasters get hyped up is because people expect nothing wrong to happen during Christmas. That's even if there have been far worse disasters that happend outside Christmas.

Real Talk: No MNCs In Their Right Mind, Would Ever AGREE to That Ridiculous 60-40 Proposal

Here's another art I found on Facebook. Some time ago, I wrote about how the 60-40 policy may not prohibit, while still discouraging FDIs from entering . It's plain common sense, really, that nobody would want to rent a space if they had to part with 60% of their net profits to the lessor (read here ). It annoys me to think that certain Netizens on Facebook are still blaming government corruption over the 60-40 policy. That can get annoying. I can link the 60-40 policy to government corruption . After all, corrupt officials want to perpetuate their stay in power through an ignorant and impoverished population. However, blaming corruption alone is really downright stupid. Some say investors are going to Communist Vietnam because the Communist Party of Vietnam-Vietnam People's Army is serious about cracking corruption. However, the reality is that, ironically, Communist Vietnam has more reasonable economic restrictions compared to the Philippines (read here ). Only a few sec...

Venezuela as a Cautionary Tale on #SahodItaasPresyoIbaba, Nationalistic Pride, Welfare State Economics

The Sunday Guardian Years ago, I wrote about Venezuela's pride and protectionism , under a more "formal" style of writing compared to my latest posts. I decided to use an even "less formal" and "less academic" tone since I'm not writing a term paper. Instead, it's like how a professor and a student discuss the thesis using first person over third person, using contractions, etc., while the thesis doesn't use such tones. Back on track, I thought about the arrest of Venezuelan President Maduro can spark debate. Was it a violation of sovereignty? I'm no expert on international law. However, Venezuelans can be seen celebrating Maduro's arrest. Right now, I'm using Gemini AI and Google search to help me find some sources for this blog. It's because I don't want my blog to become another gossip central, but a place to discuss facts with my own personal opinions (making sure they don't derail the facts). I used Venezuela ...

Kabataan Partylist Seriously Needs to Learn ECONOMICS from the Ho Chi Minh Communist Youth Union

Vietnam National University, Hanoi Kabataan Partylist, is that you? No, it's actually the Ho Chi Minh Communist Youth Union (Đoàn Thanh niên Cộng sản Hồ Chí Minh), or alternatively, it can be called the Vietnam Youth Union . The color blue may remind some of Kabataan Partylist. Both Kabataan Partylist and the Vietnam Youth Union are involved with recruiting youths into the organization. However, there's a crucial difference between Kabataan Partylist and the Youth Union in how they view economics. The Kabataan Partylist Laguna's blog even writes this: It believes that the Philippines, as a semi-colonial and semi-feudal country, is plagued by a system which allows foreign and big business interests to dominate, while the majority of our countrymen are left poor and hungry . We are living in a society where foreign subservience, peasant landlessness, and rampant corruption are the top three ills. To that end, Kabataan Party-list strives to galvanize the Filipino youth in u...

Communist Vietnam's Great Leap Forward in Agricultural Production

I remember reading through Third World to First by the late Lee Kuan Yew. It's very easy to use the book to badmouth the Marcoses but not to learn from the rest of it. The book also talks about Vietnam and LKY's encounter with the late Nguyen Duy Cong aka Do Muoi. It's often said that Singapore only opened because of its lack of natural resources. On the contrary, Do Muoi decided to learn from Singapore how to turn the Communist Party of Vietnam into a powerhouse. Do Muoi, though a communist , was impressed by Singapore during his October 1993 state visit. Vietnam, unlike Singapore, is a country rich in natural resources. The third-world mentality said that MNCs are there to rape the resources . A very huge misconception especially if you know Singapore's history Some Filipinos on social media even say that FDIs will destroy agriculture and nature. This is a meme by the Philippine Anti-Fascist League on Facebook. They say that FDIs equals environmental degradation. Yet...

60-40 Foreign Direct Investment Ownership is Nothing More Than OVERPRICED Rent

I'm amazed that there are some people who still insist that the Philippines should retain the 60-40 investment scheme or even lesser shares ownership for foreign investments. The argument always goes such as (1) Filipinos must be the majority shareholder because it's their country, (2) only foreign investors will get rich if you let them invest in here 100%, and (3) you're basically selling land. This is the problem when people can't tell the difference between shares ownership and land ownership . Shares ownership means owning a percentage of the company. Land ownership is where the land is leased upon. This is where I would like to argue why easing certain foreign investment restrictions is necessary. An illustration that will help see why 60-40 is nothing more than overpriced rent I would like to give this picture. Let's imagine you're a businessman and you're looking for a space to rent. Not everyone is willing to sell their commercial space but there ...

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