Shaun T. Dy's Business & Economics Perspective Blog

Feeling the heat wave today is really something. I tend to take antihistamine tablets every now and then due to prickly heat. The post above was towards the end of the year. As a business school graduate (and with an MBA on top of it), I feel the need not to heed the IBON Foundation (read why here ). I even wrote a post as to why I can't take their executive director Sonny Africa's statement about FDIs seriously . Their continued quest for national industrialization, their destructive obsession with ayudas meaning cash handouts (read here ), and the Filipino First Policy make me cringe.  The recent narrative on agriculture is this. Just reading Africa's statement reminds me I wrote an article about eating rotten meat . The question that I asked is would anti-business, anti-FDI Filipinos want to eat rotten meat in an isolationist Philippines. I shared the comment on the now-defunct Philippine Anti-Fascist League Facebook page (they made a second one but it's so inactive)

Rural Rising Philippines' Facebook Page It's no secret that I'm a fan of Mexican food. Years ago, I remember a disgusting photo featuring corn fungus. It's called corn smut and smut isn't a pleasant word. What really was a surprise (or not) was that corn fungus is actually edible. It's called  Huitlacoche and it's highly prized in Mexico . So far, no Mexican food outlet in the Philippines offers it, sad to say. I even talked to some people about it. They were surprised that it could be eaten. Both the Philippines and Mexico used to be Spanish colonies. I ordered a few dish items from Puesto Restaurant in Cebu City. One of the beef meat dishes was called barbacoa . I'm not surprised at some similar names because the Spanish people did occupy a good portion of the Philippines for nearly 300 years. A dish I ate called el polo loco literally means crazy chicken . Loco means crazy and Filipino language uses loko as crazy. Sadly, none of the Mexican restaurant

I ran into DNews where I got the video (above) to share. The interesting fact is that flies can get a bad name. In business, there's the term that the place is simply visited only by flies, to show that business is bad . Flies love dirty places and they're carriers of germs. However, I was soon amazed to learn about maggot therapy a few years back. Maggot therapy is using disinfected larvae of flies that only lay their eggs on decaying tissue. These tiny maggots begin as much decaying tissue as possible. With that in mind, I even feel like if one day I ever get diabetic or have a slow-healing wound, I would certainly want that procedure! I would choose to have disinfected maggots on my wound, even if the idea sounds cross. That would be better than losing my foot! After showing interest in maggot therapy, I certainly find this procedure amazing! An interesting concept from Singapore that I wish I knew existed Singapore may be a first-world country but you can't get rid of w

Tuoi Tre (Youth) News Checking out my Google browser landed me on an interesting piece of news. It's all about Vietnam's coconut export to the USA may reach USD 1 Billion . Reading the news makes me wonder why hasn't the democratic Philippines reached this feat in contrast to Communist Vietnam? I also want to sing the English Filipino song "The Coconut Song". Civics and Culture classes talked about Philippine coconuts. Here's an excerpt of the article from The Star which I just shared: According to food experts, Vietnam coconuts are known for their high quality and freshness . (Rich in nutrients: Vietnamese coconuts are also found to be rich in vitamins and minerals, including potassium, magnesium, and fiber, which can help support overall health). As the US is about to open the market for Vietnamese coconuts and China allows official coconut import, local businesses are trying to develop raw material areas, apply for growing areas codes, and register to buil

A really disastrous decision! Before the Buwan ng Wika ends, I want to write about those who have been demanding "Sahod itaas! Presyo ibaba!" (Raise salaries, lower prices). Back in 2022, I wrote an article discussing why the demands for higher salaries, lower prices of goods, and handouts for all are a recipe for disaster . I could laugh at people who believed in the promise of PHP 20.00 per kilo of rice promise of Philippine President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. Before that, people had been demanding #SahodItaasPresyoIbaba during the reigns of the late former president Benigno Simeon C. Aquino III and former president Rodrigo R. Duterte.  Image by Sabrina Jiang © Investopedia 2020 I did explain why the model doesn't work. In the cost of production, you need to account for everything that happens including salaries . Raising salaries during inflation can actually worsen the situation . It's because sticky inflation happens with cost-push factors (ex. cost of gasoline, co

ResearchGate August 22 is the birthday of the great economic reformer, the late Deng Xiaoping. Previously, I wrote about how the Philippines will never get richer by blaming its richer ASEAN neighbors . I decided to write this piece since some SJWs who associate with Communism tend to blame the rich . He was also the author of Socialism with Chinese Characteristics. Instead of rich-shaming, he said what might be a very difficult pill to swallow by SJWs, "Poverty isn't socialism. To be rich is glorious."  It's very easy to blame others, right? One of the follow-ups I wrote was how blaming the rich will never improve your situation . It's very easy to keep saying, "It's the fault of the rich that we are poor." It's the kind of reaction that I got in college after I told them something stinging like, "Your financial habits make you poor." I also said, "Do you ever wonder why, we, as a country don't improve?" Back then, I was

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