Happy NOT Philippine Independence Day! It's more than time to address the hypocrisy of hating free trade (with reasonable restrictions) while enjoying its benefits. This is something that I'd like to pose concerning of the leftist groups in the Philippines. These are people who want to oppose any move to liberate the Philippine economy. If today is not Philippine independence day then I would call it as Happy Ultranationlist Day. I'm going to rain on their ultranationalist parade with another article.
Filipino activists contradict themselves because they couldn't do what they do without first world products and services
Makabayan has two of its most famous clowns namely Teddy Casino and Neri Colmenares. I couldn't help but hit my face on the wall with how they contradict themselves. If they are so against free trade and hate it so why are they using products and services that came through free trade? They're on social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter. Colmenares is wearing what could be a diver's watch and he's holding a microphone that might be either from Japan or South Korea. Maybe a lot of the stuff they're using are assembled in China. If they adhere to protectionism then why aren't they buying products from countries that "benefit" from protectionism?
Take another example of those anti-American (or anti-any country) rallies that they participate in. Doesn't this picture make you want to LMAO? They are protesting against the United States but look at the stuff they're using. While not everyone may be using American appliances but think about the stupidity here. They are using stuff that come from the U.S. or were invented by Americans. It's really that funny how they even upload it on American-made social media. While I don't like how some Filipinos overrate American culture but I'm not anti-American either. They hate free trade but they enjoy the benefits. Do you think this rally would have been possible if it wasn't for free trade? If they're so nationalistic they should be here wearing ethnic outfits, protesting using indigenous materials and better they should just get out of the Internet entirely. After all, those stuff they're using aren't even invented by Filipinos! Maybe at the end of the day's rally they went to Starbucks or Kentucky Fried Chicken for a drink or a meal.
Did the person or maybe people behind the Heneral Lunatic Internet personality even realize that the memes they're making are only possible because of the benefits of free trade? A lot of software used today are made by countries benefited from free trade with reasonable restrictions. These Western companies have benefited from economic alliances with other free trade countries. Just think the DVD is an invention by Toshiba, Panasonic, Sony and Philips in 1995. Three Japanese companies and one Dutch technology company all benefited from free trade. Besides, I still could issue out the same challenge of testing their theory on an uncharted island. I wonder why haven't they answered to the challenge of attempting the national self-industrialization theory?
South Korea brought the Korean worldwide "invasion" and not North Korea
I remembered playing a prank last April 1 when I asked some electronic stores on whether or not they sold smartphones from North Korea. The people thought I was crazy without realizing I played an April Fool's prank on them until I told them that I was. They told me that if I wanted North Korean products I have to fly there and buy them. I told them that I was playing a prank on them. They forgot it was April Fool's. A lot of stuff that Filipinos enjoy from Korean culture today are from South Korea and not North Korea. When I watch Koreanovelas they're from South Korea. When I listen to K-Pop songs I remember they're from South Korea. When I use my Samsung gadgets I remember that they're products of a South Korean company. When I enjoy the latest installment of K-Drama none of them come from North Korea. All the Korean craze today is thanks to South Korea.
Should I also mention that North Korea is actually heavily dependent on China for its resources? China already benefits from free trade agreements since the dawn of Deng Xiaoping. Mao Zedong's wrong economic policies caused the country to go down into turmoil. Maoism's protectionist policies only benefited the Empire of Mao but not the Chinese people. Deng's reversal of such policies awakened China from its slumber. Mao's China brought in poor Chinese products. Deng's revival caused China to become a major production capital of the world. So much for aiming for the self-industialized concept huh?
Deng Xiaoping understood the contradiction of Maoism to repeal it
The Marxist and Maoist models for economies weren't any good. The reason why China failed under Mao was because he wanted to use the "pambansang industriya". The results of his two programs namely the Cultural Revolution and Great Leap Forward led to disasters. The Great Leap Forward was a great leap forward alright - a great leap forward from the top of the cliff. Mao's ultranationalist outlook in life ended up making a China full of poverty. The same happened to Russia because of the so-called "pambansang industriya". The quest for "equality" only led to a society that produced lazy people. You get paid whether you work or not.
Deng didn't wait for Chinese to be competitive before he opened China to competition. Instead, he followed Lee Kuan Yew's model of system change before culture change. One was a democratic ruler and the other was a dictator but both got the idea of economics right. Deng was 100% aware of the need to innovate and improvise economic policies so he did what he did. He opened up the economy of China and brought it out of the old system. He got rid of Mao's idealism by implementing a new competent system for change. Chinese learned to be competitive when free trade under reasonable restrictions provided more jobs and Chinese businessmen had to rethink the way they did business.
What both Lee and Deng understand was the simple rule of performance-based rewarding. You get paid according to your performance. You work you get paid. You don't work then you don't get paid. You are always late then expect to be fired. You do your job properly then you can expect to be promoted. None of them believed in an equality-ran society. Instead, they believed in seeing individual differences and making them work together towards a common good. Their mindset had brought their home countries out of the slump that they delivered it out from. The result was that allowing foreign investors to register their businesses in their countries resulted to more jobs for people and more revenues for the government.
Those awful garbage programs couldn't be produced by the oligarch media without the use of any equipment from developed countries
I could remember the stupid statement that people tell me that they watch teleseryes in the name of nationalism. The near perfect counterattack to that is to ask then whether or not there was no imported equipment used. The equipment used by the garbage oligarch networks like ABiaS-CBN and GMA-7 are all imported. Did they use equipment that were all made in the Philippines? But even if some of them were assembled in the Philippines they are still foreign products. None of the equipment used to make teleseryes are 100% Pinoy made because they're not. The satellites used to broadcast weren't made in the Philippines either.
They can go ahead and have their crybaby sentiments about Japan (because of World War 2) and maybe China because of the current conflict it has with its neighboring Asian countries. They can go ahead and watch their favorite teleseryes but where was the TV set made or what brand was it? It's most likely a TV set with a Japanese brand and it was manufactured in China. If it's not made in Japan then it was certainly not made in the Philippines. They are watching teleseryes to advocate sariling atin only mentality but their TV sets aren't made in the Philippines. They hate Japan but they may be using a Sony TV to watch their beloved teleseryes. They hate China but their appliances were mostly assembled in China. If they want their beloved teleseryes to get a DVD release then they should remember that the DVD is a product of three Japanese companies and one Dutch company. Maybe their DVD player is again assembled in China and of a Japanese or South Korean brand. They couldn't get a DVD player from North Korea can they?
What's so ironic is that many of them couldn't even get their nationalistic propaganda on GMA-7 or ABiaS-CBN without the benefits of free trade. Winnie Monsod couldn't even air her show "Bawal Ang Pasaway" on GMA-7 if it wasn't for the benefits of free trade. Kris Aquino couldn't have enjoyed her air time on ABiaS-CBN with Kris TV if it wasn't for the benefits of free trade. So why is Monsod so against free trade? It's probably because she'll lose relevance and importance to the oligarchy. As I mentioned earlier that the equipment they use aren't made in the Philippines. All that technology wans't made in the Philippines. You have a Kris TV DVD or any of your favorite teleserye on DVDs? Thank technology from free trade countries for that!
They want better services but refuse to let foreign investors compete in a fair and square environment
I still want to choke Colmenares and Bum Aquino for saying that the Philippines needs better Internet services but both of them don't want to open up the economy to foreign investment. Bum himself could have considered dumping the Aquino first policy but didn't do it. If you want better services then you should encourage healthy competition. But how can healthy competition kick in with the stupidity of the 60/40 economic protectionist policy? How can the local Internet services learn to be competent if they have very little competition? It's stupid how they want better services but still insist that protectionism works. I guess all they think is that just give it time and it will work. But how can you be competitive when there's no competition to work against?
The fallacy of making Filipinos competent first before setting free trade policy is stupid. It's just like you wait for people to stop littering before you make rules against littering. What if Lee Kuan Yew waited until all Singaporeans became decent before he implemented his rules? What if Deng waited until all Chinese got out of Maoist ideologies before setting his ideologies? Singapore and China today would still remain in the conditions before their rise to power. If Filipinos aren't exposed to competition then how will they learn to be competitive? It's a problem that most people today are too theoretical that they miss out what it means to be practical. You must set a competency-based system first before you can expect Filipinos to be competitive.
Do they want to know why countries like Taiwan, Singapore, Hong Kong, Japan and other first world countries have better services? These countries didn't reject foreign investments and decide to push for the pambansang industriya. It was through the acceptance of foreign investments and setting healthy boundaries that made these countries progressive. They just don't accept foreign investors for the sake of accepting them. They also set rules and regulations that foreign investors may continue doing business with 50% to 100% ownership as long as they follow the country's labor laws. Not following the country's labor laws meant they can lose their privilege while following them means that they can continue doing business.
The OFW program is a cycle of contradictory stances
The OFW program itself benefits from countries that benefit from free trade. What I mean by that is aren't OFWs sent to first world countries to work there in the first place? They are sent to work in countries that benefit from free trade. Are these OFWs applying for jobs in North Korea or to South Korea? Are they applying for jobs in Venezuela or in the U.S.? Are they applying for jobs in progressive Asian countries or in non-progressive ones like Bangladesh? It's obvious that they're sent to countries that have benefited from free trade.What these people don't see is that OFWs are sent to countries that benefited from free trade and they get a higher pay in those first world countries abroad than in their home country because of the use of free trade.
There are some who want to end the labor export policy such as Migraine International but they don't want to welcome foreign investment. They may go ahead and say that foreign investors are foreign invaders or use the whole "loss of sovereignty" excuse. Do they realize that foreign investors became a key factor in reducing unemployment and poverty in developed countries? How do they expect that the pambansang industriya should even bring bring in more jobs when the government can't produce all the jobs? It was through foreign investment that brought China out of the dark ages of Maoism and into the light of Deng's capitalist policies. It was Deng and not Mao that made a Communist nation like China prosper. The labor export policy exists because of protectionism and not because of free trade.
Others may ignorantly think that the OFW program means that Filipinos are taking over the world. What they are ignoring is that W in OFW means worker. How can they be taking over the world when OFWs are meant to bow down to foreign governments in the first place? If OFWs means that Filipinos are taking over the world then why aren't those nations with OFWs bowing before the Philippine government? Instead, it ended up with the Philippine government begging and asking for the lives of guilty OFWs to be spared and why was Edz Ello deported from Singapore? This is nothing more than stupid idealism and sense of entitlement. On the other hand, economic liberalization will mean foreigners bowing down before the Philippine government and following Philippine laws while they provide jobs for Filipinos. This also means easier time protecting Filipinos from abusive foreign employers because the setting is just right there in the Philippines.
Message to any pro-economic protectionist reader of this blog entry
If you want economic protectionism then this is what I can suggest to you. You can move to North Korea or Venezuela and see if it really works. Better yet, if you want to continue economic protectionism then start your own separate state and see if you can achieve a first world state without foreign investments. But for one, you have nothing but the island to industrialize. I hope you can find ways to modernize that island into a first world country with nothing but trees and nature to use for the ultimate protectionist utopia. I would like to see you offer the best services in the world without any foreign intervention.
If you'd rather remain poor than open up the economy or even commit suicide rather than open up the economy then be my guest and enjoy your blunder to the grave. If you want to remain poor or become poor then go ahead and eat pagpag but leave the economic realists alone. Eat pagpag but don't force others to eat your pagpag. You want to live in the slums, live there but don't force others to live in the slums with you. If you want to commit suicide than accept economic liberalization I don't mind either. You can go ahead and stage a protest, threaten to hang yourself, threaten to shoot yourself or whatever but economic realists would care more about the welfare of Filipinos than idiots who want to remain in the protectionist era. You are invited to change your mind about it but you don't then go ahead and commit suicide.
If all you can respond is mockery and more mockery then that shows you've already lost the argument. It also means that you can't accept it that you've lost so you decide to get dirty. So there! Deal with it! You can go ahead and get mad, say I'm stupid but you've exposed yourself by reacting in such a way. You attack others but cry foul when you're attacked. You can get mad and still get mad but as said, you have to get the specifics or you're just a point misser.
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