Much has been said about the poor being unable to escape the simple poverty equation I proposed earlier — that to escape poverty, one merely needs to spend less and make more money. For most Filipinos, the challenge is keeping ahead of inflation. For poor people whose spending is almost entirely confined to just the basics — food, shelter, and energy — there is not much room to spend less. And because they lack a surplus of cash, there is also not much room to seize and invest in opportunities to make more money.
This is where the rich and upper middle class — people who have some discretionary spending power to spare — come into the whole solution-to-inflation debate. This demographic spend on life’s non-essentials. They drive gas-guzzlers, watch movies, dine out regularly, buy expensive clothes, travel for leisure, sip 200-peso designer coffee, and generally keep demand for non-essential goods and services high and, as such, keep afloat prices for these goods and services and those of the material input into the production and delivery of these.
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Whilst poor people buy in small amounts on a paycheck-to-paycheck basis and maintain threadbare just-in-time inventories, rich and middle class people buy in bulk and consume vastly more than they really need. They have pantries and fridges stocked with more than a week’s worth of supplies and often have a higher rate of wastage. Add this all up and we will find that the rich and the middle class are in a powerful position to influence inflation rates.
The key economic concept at work here is demand. The discretionary expenditure of the rich and upper middle class represents demand that they could, if they really wanted to, forego. If a large enough number of rich and upper middle class people do this, they could potentially exert downward pressure on prices. Eat less rice and prices of rice go down. Drive less and consume less fuel and they can bring fuel retailers to their knees. Turn off their air-conditioners and the grid will be awash with excess capacity. Buy less $200 sneakers, and less foreign currency will be horded by retail barons to pay for container-loads of products that are irrelevant to the poor.
See, amongst all the chi-chi virtue signalling, Jesuit-educated village-raised millennial Social Justice Warriors (SJW) and the middle-aged titas who retweet them, very few are likely to understand enough about economics to work out that the solution to inflation is literally at their iPad-calloused fingertips. All they need to do is spend less and those “profiteers” they like to demonise will be forced to lower prices to stimulate sales and consumption.
The solutions don’t lie in more rallies, more “activism” and more social media noise. It lies in focusing on stuff one has direct influence over. For those with a lot of money to spend on the wares hawked by those manicured “influencers” who infest social media, the best contribution to the so-called “cause” of helping the poor cope with inflation is simply to stop being victims of clever marketing and stop spending on idiotic stuff. It’s that simple, really.
benign0 is the Webmaster of GetRealPhilippines.com.
Our society is divided into two world, the world of the elite, and the world of the ordinary people.
In the world of the elite, it is all about extravagance, show-off, vices and hypocrisy.
In the world of the ordinary people, it is all about austerity, where they live by these rules:
1 Be not a burden!
2 Be independent!
3 Be practical!
In which world do you live?
LOL!
This is a post that really displays your lack of basic economic understanding.
Demand for products is based on productivity. If a 200peso latte isn’t available as a “reward” for my hard work, then why would I even bother working hard?
Main problem is the lazy poor that do jack squat.
Take your commie ideas to NORTH KOREA or Venezuela where they belong!
What your advocating will lead to DEFLATION in most countries.
Spending for luxuries should be a reward. Why punish the productive middle class? We are being held hostage by the poor and their desire for continuous HANDOUTS
Inflation maybe : monetary inflation, price inflation and many more terms . Sometimes, the introduction of more gold and silver in our monetary reserve may cause monetary inflation. The tendency of people to buy more “tuyo’, than “bangus, will surely cause the price of ‘tuyo” to increase; this will cause price inflation.
Many factors can affect inflation. It is the Economists, who know how to deal with this, Inflation. Not us bloggers. It requires, Sound Monetary Policies from the government , to deal with inflation.
Activism and rallies, as well as the , “blame game” will never solve inflation. The Yellowtards blaming Duterte, as the cause of inflation, will never solve inflation. Putting the YellowTards in power, will never solve inflation.
On the other hand, the crooks who stole from the National Treasury, have caused this inflation. Aquino who stole from the DAP AND PDAF, with no government projects started or finished, had also caused inflation.
The fake VP Lugaw Robredo, the Queen of Shabu, had caused inflation. The money people could had used to buy their basic necessities, was instead used to buy , Shabu. Her being a fake VP, also caused instability in our country.
The crook, Andres Bautista, former COMELEC Chief, had also caused inflation. Foreign investors see this election frauds, may cause the country’s financial stability in the future. So , they do not want to invest in our county. Those who did the 2016 National Election fraud, had caused inflation. The crook, Andres Bautista, has many banks accounts, with stolen money deposited in foreign banks…
The Aquino Cojuangco political axis, in their bid to regain their power has caused this inflation !
Youre apparently retarded. Clearly you have no idea what inflation is or whats causing it.
The current high inflation is being driven by increases in food costs and energy costs. This is based on published data you can go and look at yourself instead of making up provably false statements to suit your fantasies.
Food costs are being driven up by rice cartels that have been gicen impunity under the current admin. Energy costs are being driven directly by cost increases as a result of TRAIN. If you dont understand how putting a higher direct tax per liter on fuel will raise fuel prices, theres no hope for you.
In short, inflation is being caused from the failures of this admin. Dutertards can never accept this, so they must create their own fantasies. The first step to recovery is admitting you have a problem.
Inflation is part of economic growth and stop calling other retarded when your argument itself is invalid.
And you just believe on the Yellow-led opposition’s fearmongering in this? Clearly you’re grasping on straws.
Inflation is multisectoral. Another important thing is to have knowledge about the business sector and ask them what is going on. You can’t just blame the government for the rising inflation rate. That’s also the result of what government spending would do.
In short, you failed on this kind of argument. Yellowtards like you wouldn’t want to think outside of the box so you waste your time fearmongering instead of discussing ideas and solutions.
You betray your lack of knowledge.
This administration caused inflation bec it does not know basic economics. There were experts who were already been giving warnings.
Why was there no inflation during pnoy’s term?
Why is the Philippines the ONLY country in Asia suffering?
You live in a fantasy
More like being articulate.
Again, the thing about inflation is multisectoral. Refer my comment once again
You ask why there is little to no inflation during Noynoy’s term? Government spending is curtailed. But it’s also open to graft and corruption as Noynoy keeps on borrowing billions of dollars but never spending it. Little government spending = little development.
And according to TradingEconomics.com, it was Syria who had the 2nd biggest inflation rate. North Korea takes the top.
Not just you’re grasping on straws but also TROLLING and ATTENTION WHORING. Take that crap to reddit, son.
Woz,
Your sorry ass and being a retard makes you really look stupid because you don’t want to admit real problems, even if it hit you in the face.
According to Gloria Arroyo’s point man Joey Salceda on counter-inflation, he puts the blame on the Duterte government itself. To quote “ultimately, the 6.4% was really due to the fact that we did little or nothing. We can no longer blame market opportunists, profiteers and rice hoarders. ”
He recognizes the five major drivers of inflation, these are: exchange rate, rice, fish meat and oil.
Clearly, this is the truth. This is what causes the inflation rates and the Duterte government is the main responsible entity to solve this because it has the broad powers. And that’s why more blame is on the government as pointed out by Salceda. So don’t just accuse the yellows on being biased because the government itself already recognizes the problems of inflation. No exaggeration and no amount of cover-ups from your enemy the “yellows” liberal party. Unless you have your own pathetic conspiracy theories with you on blaming the yellows for all of this, and you have program yourself to hate the yellowtards, then that is your certification of being a retard. So, congratulations!
@Yellow Citizen:
Unfortunately, your first paragraph refers more on yourself rather than the people you’re talking against.
Clearly, yours is a half-truth. Inflation is a complex issue and multisectoral. Instead of pinning blame solely on the government, you also have to look on the private and business sectors and ask them what’s going on. Perhaps you’re not getting it.
Again, my congratulations to YOU. Again, everything I’ve said is no conspiracy theory but the mainstream media committed MORE conspiracy theories and labeled them as “news”. I’m not programming myself because I use CRITICAL THINKING rather than to rely on EMOTIONS like you always do. Clearly this is the truth: YOU are programmed to lash at the current administration and the Philippines love idiots like you who are easily manipulated on whom to hate and whom to love by just a simple whim.
Keep TROLLING on this page and you’re proving my point further.
Woz,
LOL! You just blew yourself up because you contradict the statement of your own Duterte government. Between Salceda and you, I would believe the former because he is a known economic analyst, and the above is the findings of his study as a consultant of Arroyo. And that was what he exactly said.
Congratulations again on being a retard and a nonsensical pest! That is what you get when you rely too much on your own delusions and carefree emotions. You have become paranoid on all things. I pity you.
Your ‘appeal to the emotions’ crap won’t work on me. Your interpretation of what Joey Salceda said is more akin to point fingers on the Duterte government rather than taking it to note and make solutions. That means you love to twist things to fit on your narrative.
You also forgot to add:
“The usual gang of suspects continues to be: 1. supply difficulties due to two weeks of continuous rains esp in the Luzon food basket principally impacting vegetables 2. unabated increases in rice prices with weak NFA intervention 3. meat prices esp chicken are more elevated 4. fish prices are still going higher 5. slight increases in pump prices due to peso weakness and higher global oil prices 6. peso weakness from 53 in July to 53.40 in Aug (now 53.55)”
So there are times that you can’t just blame solely on the government for the inflation issue. Salceda offered solutions in his statements. Unfortunately, you didn’t even add it to your comments so I find it questionable with your comments.
I would also rather listen to Arroyo, who suggests actions that could be taken to solve a problem than Leni Robredo, who just opens her mouth and that’s it. I’m 100% certain that you would listen to the latter.
Congratulations again on being a retard and a nonsensical pest! That is what you get when you rely too much on your own delusions and carefree emotions. You have become paranoid on all things. I pity you.
And my congratulations for the 2nd time for being a retard and a nonsensical pest… in the first place! You’re also fond of your own delusions and carefree emotions against people you hate (Duterte, Arroyo, Marcos) that you’re even more paranoid that you waste your time FEARMONGERING.
“And the Philippines loves idiots like you who are easily manipulated on whom to hate and whom to love by just as simple whim.”
I pity you even more, especially your ad hominem and red herring tirades.
In this past 3 days alone, here are the Philippine news…
1. Unemployment rate down to 5.4%
2. External debt service down by 9.9%
3. 21 business agreements signed between Philippines and Israel that is worth 83 million usd
4. Philippine ASEAN growth rank 2nd with 51.9% PMI
5. Philippines sustainability trade increase rank to 10th place in Asia-Pacific
6. Rice production reach record high to 19.4 MMT
7. Construction sector increased employment by providing 4.01 million jobs
8. TRABAHO passed second reading in Congress
9. Philippines’ Steel Asia production grew 11%
10. State-run oil milling increase milling capacity
11. South korea signed contract to build dam in Iloilo
12. New P2P bus line from Quezon city to NAIA
13. PNR rail line extended to Sangandaan station to FTI Station
14. Inflation rate up to 6.4%
15. Trillanes amnesty voided
Given the current developments, it is more reasonable to say that our government is doing very well, and our economy is doing really well…
The problem with some people are that they focus to much on the things that they can politicize namely item 14 and 15… can you imagined focusing on 2 out of more than 15 news?!? Some people focus on those 2 issues too much with the purpose of pulling down the government and spreading fear and chaos to the country… it is an act done by corrupted spin doctors…
People have to learn to be more fair and objective when evaluating things… perhaps when people learn such attitude they will be enlightened and understand why reasonable people support our government…
Woz,
Yes, Salceda offered solutions but he owned the mistakes of this government first and blame them first before proposing solutions. The problem with you is you dismiss everything that this is just political mudslinging propaganda by the yellow media and the fault of the yellowtards. You failed to realize the main responsible of all of this is the government. Indeed, you are a crazy fanatic idiotard of this admin.
Duterte even blame Trump on this inflation. Before him, you hate Noynoy Aquino for blame game and personal vidictiveness but it is obvious now that what you hate on Aquino, your president Duterte is doing exactly the same. That means there is no change at all on his slogan “change is coming.” All are fake, depends on whose side are you in. I thought at first Duterte is different because he said on his first SONA he will not blame anyone for any failures of government, but what he shows now, he is really no different. Same old shit traditional politicians. Enjoy your own delusions even more!
And? You just want to cherrypick things just to fit on your own narrative. The problem with YOU is that you just love to blame it all solely on the government w/o ever realizing that the deal with inflation is multisectoral. I’m just thinking outside of the box more than you and you blatantly ignore that the mainstream media loves to spin things. Indeed, you are a crazy fanatic Yellowtard.
And you easily fall for that. Duterte’s ‘blaming’ is all PR. Noynoy’s blame games and vindictiveness are completely in-character to him since he keeps on blaming his predecessor Arroyo. Even everything you’ve said is fake, full of labels and insults. All crap and no substance. I’m gonna laugh my ass off if you say Leni Robredo would be different, which is not. Ehem, you’re enjoying your OWN delusions in the first place because of those public figures you hate.
This is what happens when you let your EMOTIONS get the better of you. You’re guilty of that as always, fam.
I don’t know who is delusional, the guys who are open-minded and thinking outside the box or the people who simply believe in clickbait titles. It’s more on the latter; it’s a pity because it’s pretty common nowadays that they do such so their articles will go viral because it is rapidly shared by those so called “Pinoys”.
Going on topic: Duterte didn’t ‘blame’ Trump. He said that import tariffs are one of the reasons. The economy is affected because that’s literally how it works. Changes made by big countries like China and the US which is currently on tariff war affects the economy and the prices of trade.
Everyone is right about you: you love to twist things in order to make yourself relevant. Aquino is much more worse when in comes to blame games and vindictiveness is more on a personal level. I’m certain that if it’s not Duterte who is in the presidential seat then you would never say the “same old shit traditional politicians” term on someone like Mar Roxas. Hate to say this, but you’re just as delusional as the leftist SJW cucks and Hillary Clinton fanboys with that thinking of yours.
Woz,
The multisectoral you said is also the by product of the incompetencies and negligence of this Duterte government for not properly implementing the laws, while passing a drastic law like TRAIN law that help prices to soar, they also failed to seize the time and opportunities when they had them plenty back then to ensure stable prices of goods. Again, we go back to what Salceda said “we can no longer blame the market opportunists, profiteers and rice hoarders.” Because the “government did little or nothing.”
Ordinary Filipinos can barely afford the rice per kilo today which has gone up to 50+, and while they had an option to buy NFA rice, this rice has bukbok that NFA and DA wanted people to eat plus the pormalin galunggong. Pffft!!!
And and you have the gall to defend this stupid incompetent government? How much this government is paying you using public funds to be a pathetic defender of them? The incompetencies of this government is already visible by everyone to see. And this government is still busy prioritizing the conviction of Trillanes, at the same time, paying millions and giving millions of contract to the private company of Solicitor General Calida using public funds in pursuing political enemies of Duterte, which clearly violates the rule of law as clear as the sun. Shame! While Duterte is busy prioritizing his enemies, ordinary Filipinos are suffering. The latter don’t care about politics so much, all they care so much is food on the table and stable job, which the Duterte failed so far on his “change is coming” slogan for more than 2 years. He keeps on blaming someone nowadays. He cannot be a man enough and apologize to people for the mess he had caused to the public. More like change scamming as they said.
Those supposed investments from Israel are all pledges which is still unsure and will not translate automatically to employment. Still, all for the show and all papers and talks and no tangible outcome. His Build Build Build is no visible either. Most major projects that are finished nowadays are from Noynoy Aquino. That’s the truth.
The ordinary people are getting frustrated everytime they visit the market and carenderia to buy food. While other countries in ASEAN are enjoying the stable prices of goods, only the Philippines is suffering the most. Duterte must learn to shut his mouth and walk the talk on his promises to the Filipino people in giving them comfortable lives, not the political persecutions and self-vested interests. He is using laws, resources and public funds to go after his enemies but look at his bureaus and agencies, he cannot even fix them from corruption just like how he cannot deliver his promise to get rid of illegal drugs and criminalities within 3-6 months. Shame shame and more shame. His loud mouth is already shameful to the international communities. What change should Filipino expect from him. Same old shit, really.
@Yellow Citizen:
You love to twist everything Salceda said. He’s also offering solutions when he said that. Again, multisectoral also means not just the government but also the business, private sectors, etc.
@Noynoy Citizen:
Next time you post “change scamming” in this page, don’t forget to credit your benefactor Cocoy Dayao, who is the web administrator of the same name, along with Pinoy Ako Blog, Backroom Politics, Silent No More PH, and the now defunct Madam Claudia.
P.S. Thank you for exposing yourself. 😛
@Another Juan:
Another Yellowtard, who is part of the destabilization of the Duterte administration. They point to inflation…using the blame game to destabilize the government. As if they can do better.
Trililing Trillanes was their primary instigator of this destabilization. Supported by the Aquino Cojuangco political axis and the Roman Catholic Church. They want another EDSA, in order to grab power.
Their instigator, Trililing Trillanes is now a TNT (tago ng tago) in the Senate. He is facing arrest and Court Martial !
This administration has provided MORE INFLATION and LESS GROWTH.
LESS FOREIGN INVESTMENT BEC OF MR. POTTY MOUTH
FAIL!
Your argument is a FAIL to begin with.
What do you call about the new investment deals with Israel?
Take your TROLLING to somewhere else, son.
“The first step to recovery is admitting you have a problem.”
That is one staple statement from GRP that they kept repeating for years.
The only problem is which problem to consider… and who decides what really is our problem?!
There will always be a problem if when your problem is not their problem and their problem is not your problem.
Everyone tends to be not guided by any universally agreed dictum, rules and/or principles, even among the intelligentsia, that everything and anything conceivably arguable can be swayed to either his left or her right and still comes out as intended by whomever is the more intelligently loaded.
In the end, what comes out of us are only variant products of the intelligently committed but eternally opposing irregular disciples of both the Yellowtards and Dutertards.
If I may add, aside from spending less, SAVE MORE. Banks may just lower their interest rates so that those who actually need it, can borrow at more reasonable rates.
Aha! Ha! Ha! Banks are not charitable institutions. They are there for your money … NO DEAL !!!
I agree. Banks aren’t charitable institutions. But that’s still not a good reason not to use them.
A healthy banking system is a healthy economy. Your money will be of better use to the country in a bank than in an alkansya.
If there are more money in circulation than commodities to be bought YOU GOT INFLATION.
Therefore, INFLATION IS A BIDDING PROCESS to purchase commodities that is short in supply.
The problem in the Philippines is LACK OF STATISTICS … DOCTORED STATISTICS … NOT PUBLISHING STATISTICS … FAKE NEWS THAT CANNOT ANALYZE WHAT STATISTICS ARE FOR AND FAILURE TO ANALYZE because what they can analyze is politics. POLITICAL ANALYSIS is science to fake news. POLITICAL ANALYSIS is POLITICAL SCIENCE. That is the only science Low-IQ OP-ED writes because it is based on gossips and suggestive innuendoes.
Here are statistics that are available but not published:
1. Percent of condominiums that are lived in …
2. Percent of condominium units that are rentals …
3. Now knowing two of the above poor Filipinos do not know the bubble is about to burst …
4. Poor non-discerning Filipinos do not know how many units are lived in and out for rentals …
5. Poor Low-IQ Filipino OFW not know there are more supply than demand …
6. No stats how x-number of condo units are financed by banks and government entities …
7. etc … etc … etc …
Yes, Virginia, there are no shortage in housing …. there is only shortage in AFFORDABLE HOUSING … many thank yous to Philippine FAKE NEWS …..
I don’t know why you talk about housing all of a sudden in a post about inflation. But if your theory is correct, you actually provide evidence of “profiteering” in the housing sector. This is a social I’ll that needs to be curbed, but in no way does this detract from the overall thesis of the article.
Real solution? ~facepalm~
As I have stated before: One will never be able to solve a problem if one does not know the problem to begin with.
And this blogpost is a textbook example of that.
Most solutions to the problem is leave the Philippines … surrender to former colonist country to apply for re-colonization give up their identity and live meekly happily ever after under the tutelage of white people.
Look at our society. Everyone wants to be thin, but nobody wants to diet. Everyone wants to live long, but few will exercise. Everybody wants money, yet seldom will anyone budget or control their spending.
Filipinos wanted to be fat … because looking fat means wealthy ….
Speaking English means classy and brainy …
Having white skin is beautiful …
Kayumangi is ugly and poor because they toil the field to put food on the table ….
Skinny means no food …
I could not agree more.
The wanton consumption of well off Pinoy keeps without a doubt the poor and disadvantaged stuck in a rut of living from paycheck to paycheck.
On the other hand though, when poor Filipinos move abroad (I am Italian and my wife is Filipino so I observe these situations all the time), and make more money that they could theoretically save and invest, they still end up living from paycheck to paycheck even after decades of hard work because of wreckless consumption.
I know dozens of Filipinos who had all the chances in the world to make the grade financially but they made no progress whatsoever.
Thanks for your article. It was spot on as usual.
>> I know dozens of Filipinos who had all the chances in the world to make the grade financially but they made no progress whatsoever.
So doesn’t that contradict your assertion that it’s all the fault of rich people buying trinkets?
Hi, what I mean is that, although it might be true that the fact that the well off keep consuming keeps prices high, this is not the only reason why the poor don’t improve their lot in life. As I said many poor Filipinos have moved to my country and have had all the chances in the world to improve their financial situation but because they like to spend all they’ve got they save up nothing and get stuck in poverty. So it is not the fault of the rich who consume but lack of financial intelligence on the part of the poor.
Thanks for your reply
Then doesn’t that suggest that the basic problem is THE POOR spending their money on stuff they can’t afford? If the rich are buying overpriced rubbish … well, at least they can afford it.
Yes, indeed, the main cause of poverty is the poor themselves and their attitude. The rich who spend might even causes prices of goods to stay high and out of reach for most poors but this does not excuse the poor and their poor attitude toward financial education. Blaming others is not the solution. The poor need to operate from the idea that for anything to change for them they have to change. After all even if prices went down most poor would fall into the trap of overspending and not saving up. So, attitude is the way out of poverty not blaming the rich.