Shaun T. Dy's Business & Economics Perspective Blog

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 ...

The Facebook group "Stop Blaming Capitalism for Socialism's Failures" is now plagued with Anonymous Participant posts. It's probably because they could no longer defend themselves. Anyway, let's think of the fallacy of this thinking. I'd like to point out that people get rich from the net profit --not from the sales. People should stop confusing sales for profits! Business & Plans If we look at that sample income statement, we look at how the coffee shop operates. Let's use the USD currency over the PHP, even if I'm a Filipino . The reason is that the sample income statement is from an American website. If we look at the income statement--we have sales deducted from the Cost of Goods Sold (COGS), and every other expenses. SG&A means selling , general , and administrative expenses--which involves paying the coffee growers, the coffee refiners, the coffee packers, and the coffee brewers. The person who runs the coffee shop is involved in the chai...

Cartoonist Zach Some people claim to fight for the working class--while refusing to work themselves. Some people claim to fight for the working class--while supporting policies that will prove detrimental to the working class. One of these policies is #SahodItaasPresyoIbaba--meaning to raise salaries and lower prices. I wrote some time ago about why #SahodItaasPresyoIbaba doesn't work . However, I'lm still attacked by Ad Homimens and Nom Sequiturs. How's that even possible anyway? Economics isn't magic! If President Ferdinand "Bongbong" R. Marcos Jr.'s promise of PHP 20.00 kilo rice is absurd--so is the promise of #SahodItaasPresyoIbaba economics!  Image by Sabrina Jiang © Investopedia 2020 I don't need a PhD in economics to understand cost accounting. The income statement would include salaries as part of the cost. The cost of goods sold includes salaries. Marketing and promotions include salaries. General and administrative would include salaries. Pa...

First and foremost, I'd like to tell people that I don't believe that the Marcos Years were the "golden years". I still agree with economist Cielo Magno that land ownership isn't a factor, since some countries without equity restrictions, don't allow foreigners to buy land. In contrast, inflation and the like were rampant during that time. However, we need to realize that any gains after EDSA 1986 weren't realized. As I was looking at Facebook, a page called Punch the Lies by Atty. Mike Navallo stated this:  FACT: The 1987 Constitution does not prohibit entry of global investors into PH. What it regulates is foreign investment in areas deemed critical such as public utilities; exploration, devt and use of natural resources; and certain investments as determined by Congress. (Art XII)   Public utilities (water, electricity, petroleum distribution, seaports, PUVs) are considered vital to socio-economic devt that's why they're subject to foreign owner...

A really disastrous decision! As I read through Facebook, the amazing foolishness and economic illiteracy are there. What do you expect from a nation that's driven by an education system where economics was only taught in either the  third year or fourth year , under K+10? What do you expect from a nation where mathematics education focuses too much on theory rather than the wonderful application of the subject? I'm going to write about those who talk about FDIs, that only they will get rich because they will run away with the profits, etc. It's because I'm afraid there's really a lack of understanding of what profit really is.  Most people in the Philippines may be operating with the typical merkado mindset. I remember reading through the arguments of someone who quotes CTTO Merkado. Who in the world is Merkado CTTO (read here )? As I was thinking about it, I heard about how people running businesses in the merkado or marketplace, whether it's the wet market or...

It's really annoying when people keep up with their #SahodItaasPresyoIbaba economics. It's easy to ridicule me because I'm not using a domain, unlike sites like the IBON Foundation. However, they may be very beholden to the WordPress blog of Atty. Teodoro "Teddy" A. Casiño (which is currently not as updated as intended, presumably due to his busy schedule as a lawyer), which is a free domain just like BlogSpot. Now, I'm going to write another post on the job market. Since I'm being belittled because of my lack of degrees like the Monsod couple (I'm neither a lawyer nor an economist) or the people at IBON, I'm going to quote other sources.  Graph taken from CFI I came across the Corporate Finance Institute   (where I got the graph above) where I found a useful article on the job market. This would be to help me understand why salaries just shouldn't be increased (or decreased) at a whim . This would also help understand how allowing more MNCs to...

  Here's some news that I failed to catch up with. The news that Filipino actor Jole Torre is opening JT's Manukan in Singapore can be a source of Pinoy Pride. Yes, it's something that I, as a Filipino, can be proud of not myself as a Filipino, but of my fellow Filipino . Just as Jollibee made me jolly with furthering relations between Singapore and the Philippines, I believe Torre's business opening in Singapore should make me jolly too. Harimanok Inc., franchise company of JT’s Manukan Grille, announced that it has finalized a joint venture agreement with food court operator Asian Food Mall for the opening of a new outlet in Singapore in May 2024 . The new international store will be located at Asian Food Mall in Lucky Plaza mall along Orchard Road. Lucky Plaza has proven to be one of the most successful shopping centers in Singapore . Joel Torre, veteran Filipino actor and indie film producer/director and Harimanok, Inc. CEO said: “ We are excited to represent the i...

As the talk about economic charter change continues, I would like to point to the claim by Rep. France Castro of the ACT Partylist . Her claim says economic charter change or econ cha-cha will allegedly worsen inflation. What's the point with Castro? I will share this excerpt from The Inquirer : The IBON Foundation has rightly pointed out that if foreigners dominate our educational institutions, media, utilities, and other essential needs such as food, energy, and resources, it will not only infringe upon our fundamental rights but also jeopardize our ability to ensure our own interests are protected,” Castro said. She also stressed that the cost of living is already high , even without foreign dominance in the economy. The public should also be wary of pro-big business and pro-foreign policies such as privatization, deregulation, and liberalization, which, according to Castro, burden poor Filipino consumers . “We also cannot overlook the potential consequences of foreign goods an...

WWD I really hate December because of the heavy traffic. Some say that people do last-minute Christmas shopping because they just live paycheck to paycheck. However, the way things go during payday can tell why they can't have the money to do some early Christmas shopping . An irony indeed that Christmas comes early in the Philippines (September) but not the Christmas shopping.  Indeed, so many should realize that living paycheck-to-paycheck should be a warning not to splurge on it (read here ). Instead, they choose to many stupid activities. Maybe, call in the one-day paycheck where they immediately go splurging the paycheck when it arrives. They would focus more on their wants than their needs. I guess that's why some fools are demanding the stupidity of higher salaries and lower price of goods aka Sahod Itaas Presyo Ibaba. I'm afraid that such a move isn't economically feasible (read here ). Even if they do get a high-income job (or even become an OFW for better inco...

I advocate for helping others. I believe in helping others but there were times I overdid it. One time, I gave up so much that I had to be stopped. I was told, "If you gave everything now, how can you help others later?" I would donate some sums here and there, without thinking much. I'm not going to write them all. Some of them left me good while others left a bad taste (and a bad record) for me to endure. Sure, I want to help people but I tend to overlook the consequences. Some of the bad habits I had in the name of helping others are like: Being too generous with buying with credit. Eventually, I lost a lot of money which was never recovered . Some seasoned entrepreneurs may admit their own falls including the credit trap pitfall. Being too willing to give a discount without thinking about how it'd affect profits. Sure, a cheap price can draw people near. However, there are times when the prices of goods and services need to be raised to keep a business running. I ...