Skip to main content

Posts

Showing posts with the label protectionism

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 ...

Filipino Manufacturing's Golden Age ENDED Because of the Filipino First Policy

Here's a picture from the Dose of Disbelief Page on Facebook. Here's something that it wrote: Filipinos once trusted locally made products more than imports. Before World War II, the label "Made in the Philippines" carried prestige, not stigma, reflecting a strong sense of national confidence in domestic production. Local products such as shoes, cigars, textiles, furniture, and food were often preferred over imports. This preference was rooted in the belief that local goods were better adapted to local conditions, tastes, and were often of comparable, if not superior, quality. This period showcases a strong historical era of consumer nationalism and thriving local industries. We need to look into the context of Filipino history  If we look at the Philippine history timeline , we must account for 1935-1940, during which the Philippines was under the Commonwealth government. Independence was declared from Spain on June 12, 1898. However, there was a transition period w...

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

GMA News 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: "Free education for all! No to FDI for schools!"  "Free lunch in school!" "No to open FDI! The government must fund our local production!"  " 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: " Print more money! " "The government should just make it a law!" "Tax the rich all the more!" which can often be accompanied by, " After all, it's the fault of the rich that p...

Competition, NOT More Government Intervention, Will Protect Customers Better

Yes, Thomas Sowell is a former Marxist . That's probably why commie hippies call him all sorts of degrading names, without otherwise proving him wrong. It's because insults are the losers' tool to win. Fast forward, some people advocate that the government should be the one to provide everything. Groups such as those belonging to the Makabayan Bloc (such as Kabataan Partylist) or IBON Foundation still advocate for the Philippines to "industrialize on its own".  Others think that the government should continue subsidizing costs, as it was in the "good old" first Marcos administration. Some people talked about how "cheap" things were during the First Marcos Administration, never mind that the country was already sinking due to massive debt . Yes, the First Marcos Administration was a highly protectionist regime . Don't believe what IBON said (and take what they say with a grain of salt ) that the first Marcos Administration was neoliberal. No...

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...