No Hard-to-Earn Economics Degree is Required to Know That a Welfare, Anti-FDI Philippines is Destined to FAIL

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When it comes to constitutional reform, I'm afraid one of the worst sources quoted would come from the Makabayan Bloc. Some people I face who are so against FDI also want to end the OFW program. The solution comes out rather absurd, as the Philippines must have its own state where it's all beg and beg. It would be like:

1. "Free education for all! No to FDI for schools!" 
   
2. "Free lunch in school!"
   
3. "No to open FDI! The government must fund our local production!" 
4. "Increase the salaries, lower the prices of goods!" (which is just plain bad accounting)

That's just a few of the crazy demands that have been given! My favorite question has always been, "Where will you get the funding?" The usual answers can be:

1. "Print more money!"
2. "The government should just make it a law!"
3. "Tax the rich all the more!" which can often be accompanied by, "After all, it's the fault of the rich that poor people exist!" excuse, something that the IBON Foundation and the Makabayan Bloc tend to recommend! 

The solutions are laughable because, from a Business and Economics POV, nobody ever makes a profit or gets rich by giving away their money. That's why I always mock at the idea, say, "Sige na bitaw! Dato bitaw mo!" or "Oh come on! You're rich!" to justify their unreasonable demands like:

1. The free lunch/dinner mentality, believing that the rich can always afford to give them that. 
2. To decrease the prices of goods and services, because they insist that profits are only unpaid wages. 
3. They want the employees to take part in the profit, never mind that the employees have been paid according to their work. It also ignores that profits and revenues aren't the same thing!
4. They want the laborers to own the means of production, but not to account for it or to take responsibility for the losses. 
5. The government will provide for everything, such as basic public services at high quality and low cost, which ignores supply and demand.

I could go on and on with all the silly demands that are often made, without thinking about the consequences. What's even worse is that some people making these demands fire back something as foolish as, "Just shut up! You're not an economist with a degree from the University of the Philippines or Ateneo De Manila!" Such thinking borders on the logical fallacies of Ad Hominem (personal attacks) or Appeal to Authority fallacy. 

Since when did it become a rule, even in the "beloved" 1987 Constitution of the Philippines, that ordinarly citizens like myself must "Shut up because I'm not an economist!"? The answer is none. In this day and age, anybody with a basic degree, some computer literacy, and some basic understanding can buy some cost accounting books and finance books to learn the basics of costing. One can also buy some basic economic books to help understand basic economics.

In short, while a degree in economics is helpful, it's also helpful to gain some business and economic literacy on your own! Some people may not be qualified to be a degree in economics. However, it doesn't mean that people should have a degree in economics to understand basic business and  economic principles like:

1. The basic principle of the Law of Supply and Demand is the very foundation of understanding daily economics. 
2. Understanding how a supply chain works is essential to understand the higher and lower costs of goods.
3. No amount of insults will ever make the Law of Supply and Demand go away, just because you don't agree with it!

Let's take a look from a practical business and economics POV

One should look at the reality of profits and taxation. For instance, let's take a look at a basic income statement to show what's wrong with the welfare state thinking:

Business & Plans

If we look into reality, the sales (revenues) aren't the profit. Instead, we look to where the net profit is, it's a series of deductions. Now, we look into how the deductions include taxes. Basically, the sales is deducted from all the expenses, whether it's direct or indirect, including payment of interest (presumably from a loan), and then whatever remains is taxed. Some deductible expenses are business-related, such as buying a new PC or creating a new parking lot. What's taxed is based on? It's all about what's left between income and expenses. 

In plain common sense, one can look and think it this way with common sense:

1. Government taxes are taken from businesses. How can a government have money if there will be no businesses?
2. When businesses have no profit, it's a basic accounting rule that there's nothing to tax. Using the #SahodItaasPresyoIbaban system will mean that businesses are selling at a loss, which in turn, will deprive the government of badly needed funds. 
3. That means even taxes are raised to utterly ridiculous levels, Sheriff of Nottingham Style, the fact that more businesses will collapse means that the government will get lesser revenues. That means government subsidies are already running out.
4. When the government runs out of money, printing more money will prove inflationary, as discussed earlier.
5. By carrying out anti-FDI investments and focusing on "local businesses with a #SahodItaasPresyoIbaba model", they have potentially murdered sources of revenue because private enterprise funds government spending.

With all of what, one can take a look at Venezuela. No one can keep blaming the USA for Venezuela's poverty. In reality, the economic sanctions aren't the real driving force that's making Venezuela poor. The real factor is that Venezuela's continued anti-FDI, protectionist, money-printing policies are the bigger factors that contribute to its continued downfall. Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro can blame the US for this and that, but his own policies are firing back. It doesn't take an economics degree to find out Maduro's state-owned enterprises couldn't get Venezuela out of poverty. Venezuela is a classic example of why any welfare, isolationist state is destined to fail. 

For those seeking to use Vietnam, here's the hard truth. Vietnam didn't self-industrialize based on an insular or exclusive economy. The reality is that in 1986, Doi Moi was created to bring Vietnam to new heights, some time after Communist China opened up its economy to the world! Vietnam evolved from the Vietnam War mindset to a business mindset. In fact, one can notice how the Vietnam Youth Union members are actually more economically literate and business literate than their Filipino counterparts, the Kabataan Partylist. It's really the same boring old disproven narrative by the likes of Raoul Abellar Manuel and Atty. Renee M. Co. Those two, as well as the whole Kabataan Partylist, need to outgrow their thinking that "FDI is invasion" and learn from the Vietnam Youth Union's example.

As said, I'm not going to bother going back to school to get a degree in economics. I've had an MBA and I don't feel satisfied or accomplished with the degree these days. In reality, the Filipino First Policy is something that schools should've highlighted was detrimental to our economic policies. It's because the Filipino First Policy's quest that most of the majority owners of the business are Filipinos, was idealistic. However, Deng Xiaoping said, "It doesn't matter if the cat is black or white, as long as it catches mice." In reality, it shouldn't matter much if the business owner is a Filipino or a foreigner, as long as that business can provide jobs for Filipinos.