On the US "Fiscal Cliff" Scare

Reference to Associated Press' report, syndicated in the Philippine Daily Inquirer,

"Last-minute fiscal cliff talks in US Senate"

This damn "fiscal cliff" scare in the US has reached PH media. That scam is being sensationalized thru syndication in mainstream media, which have always promoted the interests of the rich and powerful 1% — in this case, the Wall Street elites and many of the US Republicans who would like to kill Medicaid, Medicare, Social Security, and other social entitlements. 

The so-called "grand bargain" between Obama and Congress is simply "austerity" — the same policies that stress out the Euro and deepen the crises in Greece, Spain, and Italy. The US and the world economy won't slide into a socially unbearable recession, let alone collapse, on January 1 or over the short-term if an austere budget will not be passed in Congress. The greatest power of the US so far is its ability to print US dollars; it's the issuer of the world's currency — thus, it cannot be insolvent or be forced to default!

The ways out of US and global economic crises: 

• put an end to finance-led capitalism; 

• be freed from the domineering influence of Wall Street; 

• tame the greedy animal spirit of the 1%; and, importantly, 

• employ, secure, keep healthy, and care for the 99%!

Alternative futures now!

Climate Justice and the Challenge of Going Green

This is a good and promising development for "climate justice". Developing countries (i.e., mostly the least emitters of greenhouse gases) can now export their wastes to developed countries (i.e., the big emitters). 

I believe that to go 'green' is technologically feasible, socially acceptable, economically profitable, environmentally sustainable, and, importantly, politically viable! However, the latter (political will) has always been missing in the realization of a greener world!

Taxation, Production, and Redistribution: Challenges for Philippine Development

Tax Commissioner Kim Henares is doing a very good professional job. No doubt that she knows her job and does what is expected of her office. Let's just hope that her fellow government officials — especially in the executive and the legislative (due to pork barrel!) — coordinate their plans with, and do justice for, the impressive tax collection initiatives of the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR). 

 

In taxation, policy coordination of all government agencies is a must. Otherwise, there will be a conflict between the overly enthusiastic tax collector and the disgruntled citizen taxpayers. In a word, the fundamental principle applies, the people must pleasantly feel and see how and where taxes are spent. It is the task of the government to make people appreciate and realize that taxation is a collective social development process in which the conduct of business — the producing, selling, and buying of goods and services — is a social activity that has socio-economic consequences and implicates the entire society. 

Next targets of the BIR are 'online sellers' and the 'informal sector'. Not an easy job at all! The 'informal sector' belongs to the so-called 'informal economy' precisely because they are out of government's taxation circuit. For sure, there will be conflicts especially in a situation where the government only enforces its right to tax people without fulfilling its responsibility to create conditions for 'full' employment, let alone 'formal' employment. I believe that the immediate and long-term strategy and goal for an effective taxation scheme — thus, an active and socially responsible citizenry in a vibrant economy — is to get people into formal employment. 

Accordingly, the Philippine state has to assert that it is the only authority that has the monopoly power to tax people, incomes, properties, and business activities within its territory and sovereignty. The government has to seriously address those known illegal taxation operations by organized criminal groups and syndicates such as the 'revolutionary taxes' and protection money which are reportedly collected by armed groups in the countryside or crooks in the cities.

Enforcement of taxation essentially requires political will. Yet, alongside political will is the establishment of a huge and reliable source or base of taxation — which only an industrialized or industrializing economy can provide. We need to have a national production system: [a] that produces goods, services, and enterprises to be taxed; [b] that employs workers to pay taxes; and [c] that institutionalizes a government that efficiently spends taxes for social welfare and infrastructure development. The idea is to build a production system which creates wealth for the nation in the form of higher incomes for the workers, bigger earnings for businesses, and larger tax bases for the government. The creation of this mode of production should be the first-order development agenda which shall serve as the foundation and lifeblood of the redistributive goals of taxation.

Maligayang Pasko 2012

‎"Lights of Christmas" at home, Metro Manila, Philippines....

I've always been asked by people, especially from here in Europe, how we celebrate Christmas in the Philippines. One even told me "I cannot imagine a warm Christmas with 30 degrees!" Well, we all have our traditions and cultural practices. 

A few weeks ago, CNN reported that "Christmas celebrations in the Philippines are the longest - and most lavish - in the world." I just realized that it has been eight (8) Christmases already since I haven't been home for the whole months of November and December, when one could really feel the pleasant and endearing difference the Christmas season brings to Filipinos. 

Meanwhile, we cannot afford to be 'lavish' at this time when we have unfortunate brethren struggling in Compostela Valley and Davao provinces. As the CNN feature aptly notes, "Above all, at Christmas time Filipinos are urged to think of others."

Maligayang Pasko sa inyong lahat! White Christmas kami rito, pero mas maaliwalas pa rin ang Pasko sa Pinas dahil sa mga magagandang parol at mas maligaya sa piling ng mga mahal sa buhay. :)

On Pacquiao's Loss and the Nation's Priorities

Priorities, Bayan ko. Manny Pacquiao earns around one billion pesos (some USD 25 million) despite the loss in this non-titled gambling match. I understand the feelings of a sports fan; and I also understand the feelings of the general population of a developing economy whose sources of pride seem so limited.

Meanwhile, our thoughts, empathy, and solidarity should go to our suffering brethren in Compostela Valley, Davao, and many parts of Mindanao. Manny has all the means necessary to overcome this life's setback. But our national priorities, resources, and energies must be given to the weakest, to those who need them the most.

Stop those senseless bickering over "religious" issues! Let's not become a nation who gets the energy from hatred and denials just to keep us going and cover up our insecurities. We have to create social values that side with and for the poor, the weak, the marginalized, the victims, the needy.

Yes, lest we forget, it's the advent season.

* * * *

Congrats Juan Manuel Marquez! Chase your dreams, face your fears, focus on your mission, and work hard for success. These are life's lessons from JMM.

As for Manny, he was winning in the scorecards. But then, just like in life, there are one big bang moments! Live and continue being a blessing to others, touching hearts and lives. 

Unfortunately, a cruel side of this world wants to shoot down stars. They want the stars to fall down, the famous to suffer. The country and fans should continue supporting Manny. Several champions get damaged and wounded permanently because they couldn't handle their fall and defeat.

It's just a beginning of Manny's next mission in life!

Economics Imperialism and Freakonomics in Philippine Social Development

Reference to InterAksyon's report 
"Weak institutions, elite control preventing Philippine takeoff - experts"

James Robinson, co-author with Daron Acemoglu of the book Why Nations Fail, has been invited to a forum in the Philippines attended by the country's leading economists on a topic which, I strongly believe, Filipino researchers and academics can better address adequately and convincingly.

Why the Philippine economy has not taken off 26 years after the fall of Marcos dictatorship and crony capitalism???

I argue that, "in UP Diliman organizational terms", it's because for so long our national development strategies and social goals have been greatly shaped, defined, and influenced by the dominance of the UP School of Economics (and partly by the College of Law?). 

I dream of another Philippine development vision with the synergy of the wisdom, tacit knowledge, and expertise coming from the UP Colleges of Social Sciences and Philosophy, Science, Engineering, Business Administration, Social Work and Community Development, Education, Fine Arts, Tourism, Asian Center, Small Scale Industries, Urban and Regional Planning, Technology Management, Labor and Industrial Relations, Human Kinetics, Home Economics, Mass Communication, Arts and Letters, Music, Statistics, Library and Information Science, Architecture, Public Administration and Governance, as well as the IRRI (International Rice Research Institute) and other colleges in UPLB!

But, of course, this is not a support to any notions of UP elitism! It's simply an analogy of my general critique of freakonomics (i.e., the economic theory of everything) as well as of the economics imperialism and legal imperialism over our social goals and national life.

Development Wisdom from Dr. Romulo Davide, 2012 Ramon Magsaysay Awardee

This life story of Dr. Romulo Davide, agricultural scientist and 2012 Ramon Magsaysay Awardee, made me both inspired and sad. To be inspired by his life and wisdom is self-evident. But it's sad to think how our nation has ignored so much talents, creativity, and dedication among our people.

Some words of wisdom from Dr. Davide for our country's development:

• There is no barren soil, only barren mind.

• Education is important to get out of poverty.

• (Go to UP.) Exposure to greatness and passion for excellence.

• Wherever you are, do your best; lest you may lose the chance to do it again.

• Land to the landless.

• Poverty will just keep on reproducing itself if we don't address it.

• The countryside is critical. Liberate poor farmers from the bondage of poverty and hunger.

• When you fail that means the approach is wrong so we have to change it.

• When you train farmers as scientists you cannot fail their perception, their mind, and their production.

• Farming is business. What farmers need now are inputs, seeds, markets, roads. Teach them how to produce organic, compost, whole seeds, hybrid so they only need market and (farm-to-market) roads.

• Every municipality with farmers should have markets ("bagsakan").

• Scientists are always hopeful.

• Farmers have no right to remain poor, nor we have the right to keep them poor. Because we need them. But we lack regards for farmers. Rich and developed countries take good care of their farmers and are proud of them. Farmers are heroes of the land.

• Bring the university to the farmers.

• Always think young.

• Work with pleasure. Enjoy your work.

• Wherever there is poverty, we/the government should be there. Prioritize 6th, 5th, 4th, and 3rd class municipalities by letting them produce their own food, education, and increasing their incomes.

Dr. Davide's scientific profession is a very good source of reflection for our country's development plans for "national industrialization", the establishment of a "national innovation system", and the creation of "sustainable communities". It's essentially telling of how we have historically missed the active role of government:

• in coordinating all its policies, strategies, and agencies (industrial policy); 
• in linking the state with universities and industries (national innovation system); 
• in prioritizing R&D (research and development); 
• in valuing science and technology as well as scientists and engineers (knowledge-based society); and 
• in observing the important linkages between the sectors of manufacturing, agriculture, advanced services, SMEs, as well as the 'informal' economy (synergies in economic development). 

Can we institutionalize a "Council of Elders" with wisdom — notable Filipinos who have seen and experienced much of life and history — who will make sure that over the short-, medium-, and long-terms we are leading to our national goals of social justice, democracy, and development? 

Hope!

Addendum

Quo vadis, Europa?

Here's an added 'political' burden to the already deepening 'economic crisis' in Spain.... 

What has happened? What is happening in the EU?

When I was studying regional integration there was a convincing argument that I used to look up to — that there's a marked difference between the accession of Spain, Portugal, and Greece in the late 1980s (i.e., 'good' integration) and the accession of East and Baltic Europe in the early 2000s (i.e., 'bad' integration). As it appears, the 'good' cases are worse off than the 'bad' cases. Overall, however, EU is in a sorry state.

Quo vadis, Europa?!?!

Meanwhile, I'm reminded of one of my lecture slides about my thesis of "Today's Geoeconomics of Development", a narrative of "lagging behind, catching up, forging ahead":

• China is a Technology.

• Europe is a Museum.

• US is a Wall (Wall Street).

And I've been longing to have the time and opportunity to write about this argument.

Create a generation of 'producers' for the nation

For Philippine national development, this education focus on stock trading and finance is not that advisable. We've got to educate a generation of 'producers' - thus, not only traders.

The focus should be more on the sciences, technology, and engineering. Our country needs more of TESDA and other skills training institutions — more skills, more professions, more specializations, a huge division of labour are key to a more vibrant economy that can enlarge the middle class and create wealth for the nation.

Language Framing the Israel-Hamas Conflict

See how sophisticated the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) are.... This is how the Iron Dome missile defense system works:

I just hope that all stakeholders, including the media, should be careful of their language. It's just ridiculous how the symmetry/asymmetry dichotomy is often missed out in discussions and analyses. That is, Israel is an established state with defense capabilities supplied by the US and European allies; while Hamas is a political movement with no the same capacity to defend their territory and rights to self-determination.

Why are ground-launched rockets of Hamas being called 'terrorism'? And why are airstrikes of Israeli Defence Forces being called 'right to self-defense'? 

I'm also worried that even 'the religious' card (between fundamentalisms of Christianity and Islam) is being played out in all these propaganda and psychological warfares — a conflict which to me is essentially 'political'. These clash of fundamentalisms, and on top of it the real deaths and misery in these conflicts, dig deeper the establishment of a generation of haters.

Oh, dear humanity!

On the Israel-Hamas Conflict: Give Peace a Chance!

Reference to BBC News Middle East report: 

"Gaza crisis: Israeli air strikes hit Hamas HQ"

Give peace a chance! I'm afraid that all stakeholders in the Israel-Hamas conflict, including the US, NATO, the Arab League, Muslim and Christian groups, the media, and ordinary observers do not think about peace. Let us not nurture a (future) generation of haters. 

As I see it, the ongoing war will go on to become an endless Israel-Hamas tit-for-tat. Recent US State Department call is one-sided, as always favourable to Israel, instead of calling for an end of the conflict and promoting the possibility that Israelis and Palestinians can live in peace side by side.

What we have is an established state (Israel) with defence capabilities supplied by the US and a political movement (Hamas) with no capacity for the self-defense of their legitimate aspirations and territory. 

The world and the whole of humanity are losers in this tragedy.

* * *

But there seems to be a tension within the patron-client relationship between the US and Israel. Obama must be having a hard time at this time, dealing with stubborn Israel and planning the US Middle East policy as well as its 'pivot to Asia' strategy.

And here's Obama, a master politician doublespeaker, publicly speaking about US stance in the Middle East and its relationship with Israel:

It would have been interesting if he went on to discuss his own interpretation of the history of the conflict. We need actions. 

Meanwhile, Syrians are also crying for justice and freedom — those states from the US to Turkey to Saudi Arabia and Qatar to the EU, including Denmark — have rhetorically spoken about freeing Syria. Their passivity on the ongoing Israel-Hamas conflicts is also telling about their real stance towards Syria. 

Questioning the IMF Chief's Discourse, Asking Development's Fundamentals

It's really interesting how IMF discourse appears to have changed in recent years. In a TV interview during her visit in the Philippines, IMF Chief Christine Lagarde looks to a more vibrant Asia which she refers to as "a shift in economic history" in the global economy from US-EU to Asia in the next two decades. However, the IMF should be reminded that Asia has become, or is becoming, a success story either through the economic strategies that are 'wrong' in the eyes of the IMF or through the lessons drawn from the decades-long hardships we've had experienced being indebted to the IMF and subjected to its conditionalities.

Lagarde said that "the IMF needs the Philippines rather than the other way around"; that the IMF is providing technical assistance to the government for efficient revenue systems through the use of IT in tax collection system; that there's need for institution and capacity building; that inequality needs to be tackled so as to be conducive to a more sustainable growth. Lagarde also pointed out that what the Philippines is doing right is the agenda to "grow the middle class which keeps economies sustainable". Lagarde then proposed that we keep the focus on education, health, pension schemes, unemployment insurance, minimum wage, women empowerment, and the CCT, which is to be regarded as "financial safety net to help people move up the ladder". 

These all sound so good indeed. But the fundamentals of development strategy are not being asked, nor are they being categorically stated by the IMF Chief. How to address inequality? How to broaden the tax base of the government? How social services of education, health, pension, and unemployment insurance are to be financed? Why only "minimum wage" and not "living wage"? Why the need for "financial safety net" if "inclusive" or "sustainable" growth should mean that all must benefit from a growing economy in a synergetic way?

The IMF (together with the World Bank and the ADB) may be using progressive-sounding discourses these days, but we should continue asking them about the fundamentals of their development strategy and the telos of their economic policies. Still, they promote a type of (exchange-based, finance-led) capitalism that cannot increase living standards of tens of millions of Filipinos, incomes of the workers, earnings of businesses, and revenues for the government. We need to have a production-based development strategy to establish a socio-economic condition which eliminates poverty and inequality and hence enlarges the middle class in a truly middle-income country whose people have the means, rights, and access to social entitlements. As always, it's the question of the mode of production — i.e., how to create wealth for the nation — that is the  prerequisite for redistributive justice and that is the crux of economic development.

Oliver Stone's Untold History of the US, the Petraeus Scandal, and the Future Generation

I just watched the interview of Oliver Stone at CNN's Piers Morgan Tonight. I agree very much with most of his points from the General David Petraeus scandal to Obama's chauvinist pronouncements. I wish I could see this Oliver Stone's documentary series "The Untold History of the United States".

There's something deeper in Obama's greatest-nation-on-earth victory speech that must be taken seriously. Central to this is the agenda to re-write history away from the point of view of the victims, away from reality, away from the truth. Remember Winston Churchill: "The victors write history." And also, George Orwell: "Those who control the present, control the past...."

Soon enough, right after Obamania, we're confronted with the realpolitik of the political-economic national, material, and ideological interests of the United States, its vested interests, and its military-industrial-Wall Street Complex.

In this regard, Oliver Stone is doing a great service to peoples of the world by writing a book and making a documentary that challenge the regime of mendacity that is being protected and promoted by Obama, the right-wing intellectuals, and the network of the reactionary powers-that-be. Oliver Stone said that his series touch on America's history from the start of the US empire when it entered the Philippines in 1898, to the US denial of the history of the Vietnam war, and the absolute failure of US interventions in Iraq and Afghanistan.

On the Petraeus scandal, it always fascinates me how powerful people, mostly in the Atlantic, resign from their offices or fall down for the 'wrong' reasons. Sexual harassment and other sex scandal cases have become tools to put down these powerful and controversial individuals — including the infamous Bill Clinton's Monica Lewinsky affair and the IMF Chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn's rape case. (The same tool was also used to instigate the silencing, persecution, and downfall of WikiLeak's founder Julian Assange.) Mainstream media easily jump on these sexual misconduct issues. Of course, extramarital affairs and rape are serious moral, legal, and public concerns. But I do hope that the authorities and the media should also be critical of the misdeeds of these public officials in the actual performance of their duties and responsibilities. 

Importantly, General Petraeus is never a hero — not for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as for their purported 'reconstruction', and arguably not for the US reputation as a global policeman! Petraeus should have long resigned for the destruction of civilizations and of current and future generations of human lives in the Middle East and in the world as a whole. The pains, wounds, and cruelties that Petraeus has orchestrated are crimes against humanity that will not be healed in, and even by, our present generation.

Hopefully, soon, our generation can tell the story of our past and share with the future generations in a remorseful yet jubilant way what we used to learn in school through this classic composition by Tom Paxton and sung by Pete Seeger, "What did you learn in school today?" (HT: JH):

What did you learn in school today,

Dear little boy of mine?

What did you learn in school today,

Dear little boy of mine?

I learned that Washington never told a lie.

I learned that soldiers seldom die.

I learned that everybody's free,

And that's what the teacher said to me.

That's what I learned in school today,

That's what I learned in school.

What did you learn in school today,

Dear little boy of mine?

What did you learn in school today,

Dear little boy of mine?

I learned that policemen are my friends.

I learned that justice never ends.

I learned that murderers die for their crimes

Even if we make a mistake sometimes.

That's what I learned in school today,

That's what I learned in school.

What did you learn in school today,

Dear little boy of mine?

What did you learn in school today,

Dear little boy of mine?

I learned our Government must be strong;

It's always right and never wrong;

Our leaders are the finest men

And we elect them again and again.

That's what I learned in school today,

That's what I learned in school.

What did you learn in school today,

Dear little boy of mine?

What did you learn in school today,

Dear little boy of mine?

I learned that war is not so bad;

I learned about the great ones we have had;

We fought in Germany and in France

And someday I might get my chance.

That's what I learned in school today,

That's what I learned in school.

A Reminder to Fellow Progressives re Obamania and Our Struggle

In my love-hate relationship with America, here's one assertion that I hate: that they "live in the GREATEST NATION ON EARTH" and proud of "the STRONGEST MILITARY on earth and THE BEST TROOPS [in] this world"....

Do fellow progressives really think and believe from the bottom of our hearts that Republican and Democrat politicians are / can be our soul-mates?!?!

Have we forgotten our history how the USA was built through genocide of the native population, slavery, slave trade, racism, colonialism, and imperialism? Have we forgotten our critique of political economy which includes how the US war machine has persistently subjugated the world, including the Philippines and Latin America? And that all these have led to the wretched conditions of the earth and of human relations itself?

Yet, we rejoice in deceitful statements and we praise how powerful the victory speech of a master of political doublespeak which celebrates in triumphant tones the GREATEST NATION with the STRONGEST MILITARY and the BEST TROOPS on earth?!?!

So what now for our struggles and advocacies for people, peace, and planet at this moment when a great doublespeak(er) has been reelected in the White House? Recall Marx's letter to Arnold Ruge, "... what we have to accomplish at present: I am referring to ruthless criticism of all that exists, ruthless both in the sense of not being afraid of the results it arrives at and in the sense of being just as little afraid of conflict with the powers that be."

Indeed, "Pessimism of the intellect; optimism of the will!"