There is a Chinese idiom, in Pinyin kūxiàobùdé, that describes the confusing feeling of not knowing whether to laugh or cry, to be frustrated and amused at the same time. In fact, that phrase shows up in many languages, but unlike in Mandarin, it usually means the hypocrisy of “wanting to laugh but feeling obligated to cry” at another’s misfortune.
The 14th century English poet Geoffrey Chaucer described the hypocrisy of one of his characters with “She is false and ever laughing with one eye, and with the other weeping.”
In the Chinese sense, I do not know whether to laugh or cry when I hear from local pundits, experts, and Philippine social media, the almost complete lack of familiarity with local reality and what is happening beyond Philippine shores.
Government, like it or not, is an intellectual as well as practical reflection of both ordinary citizens and their “thought leaders.”
“We should buy cheaper oil from Russia.” In 2021 we imported $11 billion worth of crude oil while the Philippines imported $15.48 billion of refined products like diesel (43.1 percent) and gasoline (25 percent). “Buy the Russian oil and build a refinery to make more diesel and gasoline.” It takes about five years and $7 billion (P400 billion) to build a refinery. “Buy electric cars and buses.” An electric car costs about P3 million and an electric bus about P15 million and we do not have the charging infrastructure yet. “It’s the government’s fault.” Which government?
When the Titanic sank, 39 percent of First-Class passengers perished with 76 percent of Third-Class passengers dying. Maybe that is the beginning of “All in the same boat.” Nothing could be farther from the truth.
I am not even going to go into inflation comparisons between the Philippines (6.1 percent) and the rest of the world. It is sufficient to say, out of 170 countries reporting inflation rates—minus those with over 50 percent inflation, the global average is 9.3 percent (7 percent for the G-20). But real-world anecdotes are important.
First-world Germany (7.6 percent inflation) is not the place you want to emigrate to right now. Its cities are planning to use sports arenas and exhibition halls as “warm up spaces” to help freezing citizens who are unable to afford energy costs. Other cities are planning to deactivate traffic lights at night. In Lahn-Dill, near Frankfurt, they are switching off the hot water in its 86 schools and 60 gyms.
Vonovia is Germany’s largest residential landlord owning around 490,000 properties and will impose energy rationing to tenants. It has announced that the company will “cut the heating output between 11 p.m. and 6 a.m. to 17 degrees Celsius” hoping to save up to 8 percent of its heating costs.
How bad is the real inflation? The Vonovia Chief Executive Office said he expected energy prices to cost tenants the equivalent of up to two months’ rent. Remember, Germany already has the second highest electricity costs in the world.
Following the western hypocritic or sarcastic thought on “laugh or cry,” I shed tears of laughter/crying for western leaders. An example of the leadership: “The vice-president of the European Commission suggested people should ‘support Ukraine’ by taking fewer showers, not driving cars, and airing their clothes instead of washing them.”
Why are Western political leaders so unwilling to accept responsibility? Andrei Martyanov, born in the USSR and living in America since the mid-1990s, is an author and expert on the Russian military. He writes: “Western ‘elites’ are simply incapable to hear ‘bad news’ on anything because most of them are petulant children with the maturity level of high-school teenagers.”
When a government is run like a student council, accomplishments are few and failures are covered up.
E-mail me at mangun@gmail.com. Follow me on Twitter @mangunonmarkets. PSE stock-market information and technical analysis provided by AAA Southeast Equities Inc.