Government must help the middle class
Proponents of the proposed Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion (TRAIN) law promised that, once it takes effect, it will expand the country’s middle class and economically empower poor families.
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Proponents of the proposed Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion (TRAIN) law promised that, once it takes effect, it will expand the country’s middle class and economically empower poor families.
The Philippines is facing some economic hardship in part due to global oil prices. We can debate what the short-term fix might be, like lowering the tax on gasoline. We can match our Asean neighbors’ methods for mitigating the effects through taxpayer-funded price subsidies.
The Philippines has been the world’s chief supplier of seafarers since 1987. It is common to find Filipinos navigating and working in vessels in any part of the seas all over the world.
The escalation of the trade conflict between the United States and China is undoubtedly upsetting countries that rely on these two economic superpowers to boost their exports. The US has treaded the protectionist path in keeping with the campaign promise of its current president, Donald J. Trump, to “make America great again.” As part of its “pro-America trade policy,” Washington announced in May that tariffs will be slapped on steel and aluminum imported from European countries, Canada and Mexico.
When the trade war between the US and China started heating up in July, the International Monetary Fund warned it could potentially send the global economy into recession. The IMF said the tit-for-tat with tariffs could end up damaging the entire global economy.
This past Friday, social-media giant Facebook announced a major hack of their system and that user data had been breached. “On the afternoon of Tuesday, September 25, our engineering team discovered a security issue affecting almost 50 million accounts. This allowed them [hackers] to steal Facebook access tokens which they could then use to take over people’s accounts.” Three days later Facebook was still unable to explain what this might mean to its customers.
AS parents or other adults in authority over children such as schoolteachers, we face an enormous responsibility raising future generations. We know that discipline must be instilled at an early age. We must teach that actions have consequences, whether it is touching a hot stove or punching a sibling.
A Bloomberg story on Monday said that oil traders are predicting the return of $100 per barrel for the first time since 2014, as the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec) and its allies struggle to compensate for US sanctions on Iran’s exports. The story quoted Mercuria Energy Group Ltd. cofounder Daniel Jaeggi saying, “The market does not have the supply response for a potential disappearance of 2 million barrels a day in the fourth quarter. In my view, that makes it con-ceivable to see a price spike north of $100 a barrel.”
The Senate is currently stepping up efforts to convert the quantitative restriction (QR) on rice into tariffs, a move that is expected to bring rice prices down and ease inflation. Economic managers have been banking on the scrapping of the rice quota to make rice more affordable, particularly to the poor, who spend at least a fifth of their income on the staple. The poor, who cannot afford to buy more expensive sources of protein, such as pork or chicken, consume more rice to fill their stomachs.
THERE are many stories of President Duterte driving around incognito as a taxi driver at night in Davao City when he was still its mayor, supposedly to find out the real situation on the streets.
Both the administration and particularly the “opposition” refuse to address the economic condition of the Philippines without pushing their respective political agendas. This situation is not helped by various pundits and commentators weighing in with their “expertise,” which is equally politically tainted.
IT was not too long ago that countries like the Philippines were categorized as “Third World.” A few years later, the Third World had progressed to “underdeveloped” and now most of those—like the Philippines—have reached “emerging markets” classification.
“The only real mistake is the one from which we learn nothing,” said John Powell. Fortunately for Presidential Communications Assistant Secretary Mocha Uson and blogger Andrew Olivar, it seems they have learned a good lesson from using sign language as a joke. They seem to realize that their joke not only disrespects individuals with speech and hearing impairments but, likewise, insults them.
In the wake of a landslide that hit an illegal mining site in Itogon, Benguet, that killed 34 people and dozens more missing at the height of Typhoon Ompong, President Duterte said it is time for the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) to take a serious look on destructive mining practices. Duterte added: “Mining must stop. And if I cannot stop it during my time as President, nobody can. Because it’s big business and the pressure is just too great.”
Inflation surged to a nine-year high this month, and the peso slumped to its lowest level against the dollar since 2005 last week.
The 1997 Asian financial crisis is much easier to explain than most people think. Thailand encouraged foreign currency-denominated borrowing at lower interest rates to “boom” economic growth. In return, the government “guaranteed” to hold the baht/US dollar exchange rate at a stable and constant level.
Beyond the Pearly Gates, where Saint Peter stands watch, is a department devoted to complaints from and about the Philippines. Rumor has it that the staff has been increased in the past few months.
The Fourth Industrial Revolution, a shift to automation and artificial intelligence (AI) that threatens an old model for growth based on low-cost export manufacturing, could potentially bring about a tectonic shift in American politics. As the US president intensifies his trade war against China and demonizes the immigrants who helped make America a great nation, dozens of Asian-Americans are running for federal office and playing up their Asian roots.
AS early as January 2018, the National Food Authority sounded the alarm about an impending rice shortage, but nobody in the government seemed to heed the warning. The NFA said its stockpile, which consists of imports and palay bought from farmers, had fallen to a precarious level. From the usual 15 days required by the Legislative-Executive Development Advisory Council, the consultative and advisory body to the President, the food agency’s rice stockpile declined to an alarming three days of national requirement. (See “NFA wants to import rice soon as stockpile good for only 3 days” in the BusinessMirror, January 12, 2018).
The Philippine education system placed 113th out of 127 countries in the education category of the 2017 Global Innovation Index. If this dismal ranking is anywhere accurate then it is clear that the Department of Education (DepEd) needs to take care of a lot of basic needs before the K to 12 curriculum that it has been implementing for the past few years could be deemed successful.
We are, just like everyone else, concerned about the rate of price increases. We are more concerned that we have entered a trend commonly known as an “inflationary spiral”. We know that when the words “food” or “rice” are mentioned, Filipinos are interested.
Since established in 1993 the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) has gained our respect for policy decisions that have been thoughtfully considered and without undue haste. However, our confidence in the decision-making process has been shaken in these last months.
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