Shaun T. Dy's Business & Economics Perspective Blog

Manuel L. Quezon III"s Twitter Account Foolish people on Facebook say the dumbest things. I looked into the Freedom for Economic Foundation Facebook page . I keep finding idiotic comments written by mostly baby boomers (1946-1964). It's really that stupid that some people never learned even during the COVID-19 pandemic that protectionism doesn't work! As always, I wouldn't give them clout. Instead, I will give an idea how the comments were written.  Somebody said something like this, "It's best to think about how to stop the thieves in the government. Not that economic charter change that's in favor of the thieves in the government." I'm not going to shame the person here to avoid getting personal. Where do these people who say such get their source? Would it be from the Catholic Bishops Conference in the Philippines (CBCP) which is ironically part of a multinational organization? Would it be from people in Bayan Muna like Atty. Neri Colmenares an...

Philippine Star   This may be a touchy post. Politics is often a source of fights during parties. That's why we're told not to talk about politics during parties. Unfortunately, I noticed that some people on Facebook are now using the late Benigno Simeon "Noynoy" C. Aquino Jr. as an excuse not to execute even economic charter change. Never mind that blatant supporter of Atty. Maria Leonor "Leni" Gerona-Robredo, Andrew James Masigan, supports economic charter change . The late Charles Edward P. Celdran was also an anti-Duterte critic. As I looked at some okay boomer posts, I'm not surprised at people who still use Noynoy as an excuse to shout with all their might, "No to economic charter change!" Somebody posted on Facebook the following. As always, I won't publicly shame anyone. If possible, I will only refer to them by codenames or keep them Anonymous. I want to remain as professional as possible. This person said that under Noynoy there w...

It's a few days before Christmas. I don't like December because of heavy traffic, some people prefer Christmas shopping at the last minute (since procrastination is a common habit in the Philippines), the stress of year-end work, and December is the end of the year's cycle. I decided to write this entry. There's nothing wrong with celebrating Christmas or having a good time. The problem comes when one celebrates beyond one's means (read here ). That means having extravagant Christmas parties that require a music band that one can't afford, inviting the whole village, etc. when one can't afford it. Speaking of which, these incidents remind me of OFW families. I remember a study presented at the University of San Carlos. If I remember correctly, it was done by accounting students. It was a study showing the spending habits of OFW families. Outstanding Filipinos Worldwide Facebook Page Here's a meme on Facebook that I found. For the sake of non-Tagalog spea...

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...