Shaun T. Dy's Business & Economics Perspective Blog

I wrote a post discussing that it's certainly not more fun discussing business and economics in the Philippines . I confess that it's such a headache doing so. I can start talking about why we need for FDI. The answer will be typical like, "But only they will get rich if you let them invest in the Philippines." All the while, the same person indulges in a luxurious lifestyle. That's why I wrote that such people may be confusing revenues for profits . Some people may say, "The Philippines isn't Taiwan, isn't Vietnam, isn't China, isn't Singapore, isn't Malaysia, isn't Indonesia! It's the Philippines! Filipinos aren't good at business! That's why we have the Filipino First Policy!" The Filipino First Policy is spoken by Carlos P. Garcia as follows: THE “FILPINO FIRST” POLICY The ”Filipino First” policy of this administration re­ceived a resounding popular indorsement in the last election. Politically we became independe...

Christmas is just around the corner, isn't it? It's easy to tell me, "Stop being a Scrooge! Lighten up! It's Christmas!" Some people can't tell the difference between positivity and when positivity becomes toxic . If you think about it, toxic positivity is defined as: ...the belief that people should maintain a positive mindset no matter how dire or difficult a situation is. While there are benefits to being optimistic and engaging in positive thinking, toxic positivity rejects all difficult emotions in favor of a cheerful and often falsely positive façade . Every time I talk about Christmas foolishness (read here ), it's always pointed out that I love being negative. Honestly, there are times I'd rather be negative than to be overly positive. I always talk about mentioning the silly notions that my countrymen have like, "If the situation is bitter, just add sugar (read here )." In Cebuano, it's said, "Kung pait, butangi lang ug asu...

Philippine Star It's Christmas again, right? Two years ago, I wrote an essay discussing that Filipinos can't be home for Christmas, thanks to the lousy Filipino First policy . I did some research and landed on the Philippine Star . The data presented seems to suggest that the OFW program is feasible: MANILA, Philippines — Remittances from overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) continued to climb in September, increasing by 3.3 percent amid the anticipated seasonal holiday surge and currency gains from favorable exchange rates. Data from the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) showed that personal remittances reached $3.34 billion in September, $107 million higher than the $3.23 billion recorded in the same month last year . Of the total amount, cash remittances coursed through banks amounted to $3.01 billion, $96 million higher than last year’s $2.91 billion .  An old fool I ran into on Facebook said, "OFW program is better because they bring in dollars. FDIs will just bring in pe...

Tomorrow is Bonifacio Day. It's effortless to say that Filipino First Policy works. I wouldn't be surprised if Andres Bonifacio gets used as a poster boy. However, Bonifacio worked for British and German investors . I'd like to talk about how decades of Filipino First Policy compromised our education system. Some idiot on Facebook said which I'll paraphrase to avoid getting personal. The idiot said, "If you let foreigners invest here, can Filipinos afford it?" The same idiot also scorns the law of supply and demand (read my post discussing why that's plain silly  here ). People who believe in #SahodItaasPresyoIbaba must first prove it works by opening such stores nationwide, to show that the Philippines doesn't need FDI to succeed (read here ). Of course, I can expect them to say "It's the government's responsibility to raise salaries without raising the prices of goods." That's just plain bad accounting and finance too! Andrew Ja...

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...

This is an interesting drawing I found on Facebook. It's often used to portray people who look at the removal of the unnecessarily restrictive 60-40 shares ownership policy as, "The current president's gift to China." The same was done during former Philippine president Atty. Rodrigo R. Duterte. The same was also done with Philippine President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. It makes me think of stupid comments written by idiots on Facebook. It would be ironic if a lot of anti-FDI and anti-American rants were made not only on Facebook but also were typed using Apple gadgets of all things! They may be quick to use whatever irrational reasons. Some reasons can range from foreigners "unfairly" owning the means to produce equipment (read here ) and that they're simply forced to participate in the capitalist economy model to survive (read here ). However, I must ask if these guys were forced to use the luxury brands they're using (read here ). As the map shows, s...