Over the weekend, the Inquirer editorial said current commanders are Nostalgic for Palparan ; but it was this news item -Ships’ 45 accidents listed: Lloyd’s details Sulpicio’s 28-year history– that provoked the most commentary, from yesterday’s editorial, Sucking up to Sulpicio, to today’s editorial, MV Scandalous .
Especially interesting to me is that it took digging around by Inquirer’s research department, and access to Lloyd’s database, for this story to emerge, when it should have been front and center from day one. And the reason it wasn’t -if you’ve noticed, letters to the editor basically supplemented original reports of the number of Sulpicio-related sea accidents- surely has everything to do with the slovenly way our government agencies maintain records. This is fruitful grounds for Congressional action but… the legislature is no paragon of record-keeping itself.
(On a related note: Passenger shipping industry drowns while budget airlines fly high.)
My column for today is Chaos in Barangay Bansot.
Last week’s columns, Bringing the world to our shores and Embracing evolution, were remarked on by The Warrior Lawyer and blackshama’s blog . Even in the context of religion, in Ren’s Public Notebook. Earlier blog entries was commented upon by missing points and Howie Severino.(A kind account of my show also appeared in Jose A. Carillo’s column recently) Incidentally, the website of the program I’m looking at is here: University of Western Australia MBA Program in Manila.
Provincial-related stories to explore further (specifically: is this a real emerging news story or a well-managed media campaign by Evardone?): PDCC brings hope to Eastern Samar bad roads and E. Samar’s biggest calamity: Bad roads.
Als, with regards to food: Food gets scarce in Cotabato as floodwaters continue to rise and P18-per-kg rice disappearing from Bicol markets.
Overseas: Stagflation Sightings Multiply:
Unfortunately for policy makers, different weaponry is called for to vanquish the two heads of the stagflation dragon. Recession can be held at bay by lowering interest rates, while inflation is usually tamed by raising interest rates. Given the impossibility pursuing both courses of action simultaneously, priorities come into play. Historically, inflation has been considered the greater long term economic menace, and has therefore been dealt with first.
This was the plan of attack successfully mapped out by President Ronald Reagan and US Fed Chairman Paul Volcker in the 1980s. With the president’s political backing, Volcker was able to kill stagflation with a short but heavy dose of double-digit interest rates. With the stable currency and low inflation that resulted, the stage was then set for a sustained and robust economic expansion.
Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke has recognized the stagflation threat for some time. But rather than studying the playbook of Volcker and Reagan, his gaze rests on events 40 years earlier. A well-known student of the financial history the 1930s, Bernanke is well aware that when the same beast raised its head following the Crash of 1929, the Fed rapidly raised interest rates. His conclusion was that this overreaction magnified the recession of 1930 into the Great Depression of the ensuing decade.
Scared stiff that these events could repeat themselves on his watch, Bernanke is loath to push up rates. In so doing, he is ignoring the much more recent and equally instructive lessons of the 1970s, in which a politically cowed Federal Reserve stood by while inflation raged uncontrollably.
Also, a long overdue link (from July 4): Secret report: biofuel caused food crisis: Internal World Bank study delivers blow to plant energy drive.
Today is Bastille Day, the national day of France, a day of inspiration to republicans and revolutionaries down the ages.
The French Revolution gave us the metric system and, along the way, the blueprint for the abolition of monarchy and its replacement with a constitutional, republican regime. And one of its seminal documents was the Declaration of the Rights of Man.
It’s interesting that Jose Rizal set out to translate the Déclaration des Droits de l’homme et du citoyen du 26 août 1789 into Tagalog, which clearly suggests he felt it to be one of those seminal documents necessary for the public instruction of the citizenry. According to Ambeth Ocampo, it’s in Escritos Varios or Escritos Politicos de Rizal, under the title Manga Karapatan ng Tao.
(illustration above: Lafayette’s copy, Library of Congress collection)
Here is a very recent (re)translation of the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citzen:
Preamble
The representatives of the French people, formed into a National Assembly, considering that ignorance, neglect or scorn of the rights of man to be the only causes of national misfortunes and the corruption of governments, have resolved to set out, in a solemn Declaration, the natural, unalienable and sacred rights of man,
so that this Declaration, always present to all members of society, reminds them constantly of their rights and their duties;
so that the acts of the legislative power and those of the executive power, being able to be compared at every moment with the aim of the whole political institution, should have greater respect for that aim;
so that the demands of the citizens, founded henceforth on simple and indisputable principles, are always oriented to conserving the Constitution and to the happiness of everybody.
Consequently , the National Assembly acknowledges and declares, in the presence and under the auspices of the Supreme Being, the following rights of man and of the citizen:
First Article – Men are born and remain free and equal in rights. Social distinctions can be based only upon benefit for the community.
Article 2 – The aim of every political association is the preservation of the natural rights of man, which rights must not be prevented. These rights are freedom, property, security and resistance to oppression.
Article 3 – The fundamentals of sovereignty has its origins essentially in the Nation. No organisation, nor individual, may exercise any authority that does not expressly come from there.
Article 4 – Liberty consists in being able to do anything that does not harm other people. Thus, the exercise of the natural rights of each man has only those limits that that ensure to the other members of society the enjoyment of these same rights. These limits may be determined only by the law.
Article 5 – The law has only the right to forbid those actions that are detrimental to society. Anything that is not forbidden by law may not be prevented, and none may be compelled to do what the law does not require.
Article 6 – The law is the expression of the collective wishes of the public. All citizens have the right to contribute, personally or through their representatives, to the forming of the law. The law must be the same for all, whether it protects or it punishes. All citizens, being equal in its eyes, shall be equally eligible for all important offices, positions and public employments, according to their ability and without other distinction than that of their qualities and talents.
Article 7 – No man can be accused, arrested or detained except in the cases determined by the law, and according to the methods that the law has stipulated. Those who pursue, distribute, enforce, or cause to be enforced, arbitrary orders must be punished; but any citizen summoned, or apprehended in accordance with the law, must obey immediately: he makes himself guilty by resisting.
Article 8 – The law must introduce only punishments that are strictly and indisputably necessary; and no one may be punished except in accordance with a law instituted and published before the offence is committed, and legally applied.
Article 9 – Because every man is presumed innocent until he has been declared guilty, if it should be considered necessary to arrest him, any force beyond the minimum necessary to arrest and imprison the person will be treated with severely.[2]
Article 10 – No-one should be harassed for his opinions, even religious views, provided that the expression of such opinions does not cause a breach of the peace as established by law.
Article 11 – The free communication of thought and opinions is one of the most precious rights of man. Any citizen can therefore speak, write and publish freely; however, they are answerable for abuse of this freedom as determined by law.
Article 12 – Guaranteeing the rights of man and of the citizen requires a public force[3]. This force is therefore established for the benefit of all, and not for the particular use of those to whom it is entrusted.
Article 13- For the maintenance of the public force, and for administrative expenses, a common tax is necessary. It must be spread in similar fashion among all citizens, in proportion to their capability.
Article 14 – All citizens have the right to verify for themselves, or through their representatives, the necessity for the public tax. They further have the right to grant the tax freely, to watch over how it is used, and to determine its amount[4], the basis for its assessment and of its collection, and its duration.
Article 15 – Society has the right to ask a public official for an explication of his management and supervision.
Article 16 – Any society in which the guarantee of rights is not ensured, nor a separation of powers is worked out, has no Constitution.
Article 17 – Property, being an inviolable and sacred right, no one may be deprived of it; unless public necessity, legally investigated, clearly requires it, and just and prior compensation has been paid.
How very far off we are, in terms of achieving what these 18th Century Frenchmen envisioned not only for themselves, but for all humanity.
A magnificent retelling of the story of the French Revolution is “Citizens: A Chronicle of the French Revolution” (Simon Schama). The great Catholic historian Christopher Dawson and his views on The Rights of Man predate Schama’s by two generations, yet his views seem to be echoed by Schama and incidentally, illuminates the Philippine situation as it’s existed since the 1960s:
For the French peasants and workers had not been taught, like the English, to follow their landlords and employers. It had always been the policy of the French government to detach the people from the privileged classes and to maintain direct control of them through the Intendant and the Cura. They lived their own life in their communes and guilds and looked for guidance not to the nobles and the rich merchants but to the ultimate sources of all authority — the King and the Church. And hence, though they had little class consciousness in the modern sense, they had a strong national consciousness which had found expression hitherto in their loyalty to the King and their devotion to the Church. Now, however, everything conspired to shake their confidence and disturb their faith. Ever since the death of Louis XIV they had seen the higher powers at war among themselves; Jansenists and Jesuits, Church and Parlements, the government and the magistrates; and more recently the continual succession of reforms and counter-reforms, such as the abolition and re-establishment of the Corporations and the changes that produced the rises of prices and periodic crises of unemployment and food shortage, caused an increasing feeling of insecurity and discontent. There were the disorders and the revolutionary agitation of the last two years, the sinister rumors of treachery in high places, and finally the appeal of the King to the nation by the summoning of the States General and the extraordinary democratic forms of election which exceeded the demand of the reformers themselves.
All these factors combined to rouse popular feeling as it had not been roused since the days of the League. The deeps were moved. Behind the liberal aristocrats and lawyers who formed the majority of the States General, there lay the vast anonymous power that had made the monarchy and had been in turn shaped by it, and now it was to make the Revolution. To the liberal idealists – to men like Lafayette and Clermont Tonnerre, to the Abbe Fauchet and the orators of the Gironde, the Revolution meant the realization of the ideals of the Enlightenment, liberty and toleration, the rights of men and the religion of humanity. They did not see that they were on the edge of a precipice and that the world they knew was about to be swallowed up in a tempest of change which would destroy both them and their ideals. “Woe unto you, who desire the day of the Lord. It is darkness and not light. As if a man did flee from a lion and a bear met him, or went into the house and leaned his hand upon the wall and a serpent bit him”; they were a doomed generation, fated to perish at first by ones and twos, and then by scores and hundreds and thousands, on the scaffold, in the streets and on the battlefield. For as the Revolution advanced it gradually revealed the naked reality that had been veiled by the antiquated trappings of royalty and tradition — the General Will — and it was not the benevolent abstraction which the disciples of Rousseau had worshipped but a fierce will to power which destroyed every man and institution that stood in its way. As de Maistre wrote, the will of the people was a battering ram with twenty million men behind it.
A subsequent passage illuminates, too, the problem with Year Ones and Year Zeros, of New Societies and those who aspire to raze and refashion entire societies:
But if it was a time of freedom and hope, it was also a time of illusion. The Constituent Assembly went to work in a mood of boundless optimism without any regard for the facts of history or the limitations of time and place, in the spirit of their arch theorist Sieyès, who said that the so-called truths of history were as unreal as the so-called truths of religion. When their work was finished, Cerutti declared that they had destroyed fourteen centuries of abuses in three years, that the Constitution they had made would endure for centuries, and that their names would be blessed by future generations. Yet before many months had elapsed their work was undone and their leaders were executed, imprisoned or in exile. They had destroyed what they could not replace and called up forces that they could neither understand nor control. For the liberal aristocracy and bourgeoisie were not the people, and in some respects they were further from the people than the nobles and clergy who remained faithful to the old order. On the one hand there were the vast inarticulate masses of the peasantry who were ready to burn the castles of the nobles but who were often equally ready to fight with desperate resolution for their religion. On the other hand there was the people of the communes, above all the Commune of Paris.
The Commune of Paris would, of course, keep throwing up barricades in an attempt to return to the republicanism of the Revolution. The France of 1789 and of 1870 (the Paris Commune) are commemorated in two songs detested by the Right: the French national anthem and the Internationale, anthem of Socialists, Communists, and Anarchists.
The Marseillaise has ferocious lyrics, which may explain the unease it inspired in regimes wary of the republicanism established by the French. My favorite examples: the Czar of Russia, manifesting a new alliance with France, shocking his fellow monarchs by standing at attention while the French anthem was played; years later, when Lenin arrived in Russia after years of exile, a band played the French national anthem; in Tchaikovsky’s 1812 Overture (and mention has to be made here of Beethoven’s extremely jolly Wellington’s Victory which showed how a national anthem could be woven into a crowd-pleasing piece of bombast), and in fiction, see this marvelous paper, Bogart’s Nod in the Marseillaise Scene: A Physical Gesture in Casablanca.
The Chinese also pay ritual Socialist homage to the song, in this case, beginning with the original French version and then shifting to Chinese, complete with large scale rhythmic clapping (not very different from this 1965 version in the same hall):
A Chinese heavy metal version!
Which is nice n’ rhythmic, but this other (truncated) version which mixes the rock version, which begins with Mao proclaiming the People’s Republic at the Gate of Heavenly Peace, then shifts to creepy Cultural Revolution iconography, is enough to send shivers down anyone’s spine:
And of course, there’s a version in Filipino (an old revolutionary once tried to explain to me the nuances of the various versions floating around, one apparently belonging to the Huks, the other to the CCP, and woe unto any radical singing the wrong version in the wrong company: I wonder what this video set to a photo of the Great Helmsman with Imeldific is all about?): but so you know what all the Socialist, Communist, and Anarchist fervor’s about, here’s a version in English:
Article 10â€â€No-one should be harassed for his opinions, even religious views, provided that the expression of such opinions does not cause a breach of the peace as established by law.
September mssacres:
http://www.thenagain.info/WebChron/westeurope/SeptMassacres.html
Article 8â€â€The law must introduce only punishments that are strictly and indisputably necessary; and no one may be punished except in accordance with a law instituted and published before the offence is committed, and legally applied.
Marriages republicains:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Republican_marriage
I dont want to rain on your Bastille day parade, but it’s best to consider what really went on instead of the romantic pictures in our heads of what this revolution did and what the revolutions that followed its ‘principles’.
Upn (at 9:48 am), that ‘only 40%’ still translates to 800 lives lost and is little comfort to the victims of this government and market failure. If the market was working correctly (via insurability or insurance premium price signals), those 800 lives would have been spared.
KG,
I don’t think one can graduate with an MBA if one will not know how to prepare it. It’s actually basic.
In addition to Manolo’s justification.
The typical MBA will include in its curriculum advance courses such as finance, accounting, marketing, HR, R&D and organizational behavior. It also includes some soft skills classes to help form future political leaders besides training /managing local government units on how to analyze and solve economic situations. it also prepares them on how to deal and manage change especially the current ills of globalization.
Political managers need to propose solutions to problems and situations that are constantly changing in our surrounding (problem solving). In addition, an MBA degree can promote ethical conducts in our society by incorporating social responsibility, risk management and environmental sustainability issues into all of its units or departments. These are courses not found in any other degrees unless one will specialize.
Advance knowledge of macroeconomics,, microeconomic, statistics, constitutional law, income tax, advance business planning, budgeting, knowledge of general culture and humanities, the ability to manage change and work under uncertain situations, and the ethical commitment towards society and the environment are among the best.
Politicians prompt hundreds upon hundreds of important legislative actions every day that changes the inner workings of our towns, cities, and regions. Also, most politicians are highly visible community figures who must feel at ease speaking in front of large groups and making tough decisions under close public scrutiny.
The whole package of knowledge will definitely help politicians to be more prepared to manage change, maintain or grow.
there’s really more… it also includes outsoursing, merging, partnerships, types of corporations, rule of law, contracts, negotiations, international trade and many more. it covers everything.
upn, re: your questions on local government revenue, you may find executive order 723 interesting:
http://www.ops.gov.ph/records/#EO
leytenean: don’t forget the rolodex, the language of bullshitting, and how to hold a drink. If you finish the MBA and have not learned these 3 skills, your education is seriously incomplete.
those are dvance UP N . needs CEU’s for that. lol
Apart from qualification, a leader should be able to feel the people’s pulse and that can only be a Gift from God.
mlq3: thanks for that link. The executive order tells me that the IRA funds to the LGU’s were not denied, they were delayed. Now, damage is done when funds are delayed, (the LGU’s have to find (and pay the transaction costs for the) pesos to meet their cash-flow requirements) but “delayed” apparently is consistent with the powers granted to Malacanang. Section 2 – monetization again reiterates that the LGU’s can go to the trustee banks so they can monetize “now” the pesos they will receive later from the Treasury.
I actually think that’s the essence of an MBA, kinda like a finishing school for Ateneans.
“I think Kuratong Baleleng is not a military creation. You may be referring to the Ilaga”.
Christian Ilaga is the brainchild of military tactician and UP baron Ferdinand Marcos and so was the Jabidah massacre and Martial law. Kuratong Baleleng was created in 1986 by the Philippine Army 101st. I have generations of military relatives including 2 generals.
Hawaiianguy, D0d0ng, when i was in Misamis Occidental back in 1993, a resident told me that the ‘godfather’ of Kuratong Baleleng was an AFP General (his name skips me right now).
What is happening????? The sector of the economy with the highest number of mathematicians, economists and business managers with PHD’s – the financial sector in the U.S. is going bust. Mr Public is now having to rescue these guys behind Mr. Market…..
How did a guy with no experience in either of these disciplines, FDR, solve the problems then created by the then masters of exchange of mankind’s goods, then in 1930….
Which maven with a boatload of Phd’s do you see who will have to preside over these times when demand destruction becomes an imperative.
Capitalism’s penchant for creative destruction is weaving its way throughout the globe.
To save it you have to destroy !!!!!!!!!!!!!
leytenean: on “…being able to feel the people’s pulse”. A bureaucracy that depends on gifts from God to read the people’s pulse are sitting ducks doomed to make serious mistakes. “Feel the people’s pulse” is a skill that can be taught. In fact, University of Michigan has been actively teaching it to China for the past few years.
Kuratong Baleleng was created in 1986 by the Philippine Army 101st.
I remember another group coddled by the army to fight the communists: the cultish Tadtad, so named because of their penchant for chopping commies into little pieces. When I was in Zambo sur riding on the back of a dump truck, a group of them hitched a ride, armed with long bolos and sporting red headbands. They started talking to each other and my companion at the back who understood the language grew quiet. When they got off, I asked him what they were saying. He said one of them was scolding the other for cutting off a head too soon.
agree UP N , everything can be taught.
but for one reason… the result of the collective ( team) performance do not reflect the people’s pulse. I am seeking for the gift of God… it could be the Youth.
http://www.merinews.com/catFull.jsp?articleID=132607
cvj: Of course, you know that you are an elitist, right? Evidence — the number of times you present your point of view as automatically correct.
There is an assumption buried in this sentence :
“Capitalism’s penchant for creative destruction is weaving its way throughout the globe.”
Under FDR, US became the principal arms supplier and key financier of allies which dramatically opened new opportunities, achieved full employment and vast expansion of industries unparalled in history. The irony US became the most powerful at the time of chaos. Many scientists believed that our generation is dealing with 3 theories namely, relativity, quantum mechanics and chaos. Capitalist exploited chaos (profitability peak at chaos).
Profitability Peak at Chaos and No economy in the world is decoupled.
http://www.mindfully.org/Industry/2008/Asian-Economies-Hit20mar08.htm
Like the crash of ’29, its all about excessive greed. The financial geniuses got carried away making money, they forgot their common sense. In simple terms, you cannot pool substandard risks and re-package them as improved risks. First sign of trouble, this sub-prime segment will default. They don’t care, they’re already bad credit anyway.
Why this time this stagflation is different. When the term stagflation was first used after the oil crisis of 1973 the economies of the West responded by cutting their use of oil and finding newer sources of crude in the North sea and elsewhere. Both these actions cut the influence of OPEC then. The Iranian revolution brought the other oil shock.
But oil demand was predominantly coming from the West. This time it is different. There is more demand from China, India and the GCC countries themselves. Supply situation is tight for many reasons. 1973 & 1978 oil crisis was political. This time it is fundamental with the dollar crisis making it worse.
There is no question the repeated debasing of the dollar since Nixon then Reagan and now this similar attempt to save the domestic economy of the U.S. has its unintended consequences.
Since the unit of account for commodities is the dollar and the international settlement of trade is still denominated in dollars the resource based countries are reeling from the inflationary effects of too many dollars. To save the U.S. from deflation it has to create inflation and thus the internationality of the dollar is creating this massive waves of inflation for the rest of the world.
This time the solution of the Volker years demand destruction (high interest rates) resulted in the fall of Marcos.
The Philippines is till in the cross hairs of a demand side jolt in the form of high interest rates that will have to come.
All those bonds issued during the last few years of low interest rates will have to be repriced in the bond markets. Hence you saw the shorting of the bond markets in the Philippines that resulted in the weakening of the peso.
Low interest rates = high bond prices. High interest rates = lower bond prices.
Hence Big Mike and GMA will have to make sure that the budget deficit is severely limited as higher interest rates are on the way. Even if the budget deficit (as far as the GAA is concerned) is balanced interest rates have to rise.
This would be a perfect time for an agricultural revolution in the country.
Forget the urban areas. They can fend for themselves.
No amount of policy planning that does not start with getting the primary sector in shape- agriculture – and asset reform in the primary sector will get anywhere. Forget about plantation agriculture or the Danding model as it will not work to give high incomes to the largest number. Small owner owned farms are the most productive.. The issue of economies of scale do count where we ares still labor intensive in the primary sector.
That is the only way. Intensive farming requires absolute control and possession of the means with adequate support and parameters to achieve productivity. Only persons with the knowledge that the produce of labor will accrue to them will work hard to raise productivity.
No more photo -ops of Yap planting rice. Those tillers out there know what to do. they have waiting long for a revolution to come along to change THE POLICY FRAMEWORK from consumption for a few to incomes for the many and production for all.
Let the productive forces loose and they will respond.
“Like the crash of ‘29, its all about excessive greed. The financial geniuses got carried away making money, they forgot their common sense. In simple terms, you cannot pool substandard risks and re-package them as improved risks. First sign of trouble, this sub-prime segment will default. They don’t care, they’re already bad credit anyway.”
Sub prime mortgages account for less than 10% of all mortgages in the U.S. Most were written during 2004-2006.
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have far more stringent requirements for mortgages. They are not involved in the sub prime crisis.
Without government intervention the company could very collapse. Why????
Why not let the market go to a hard landing which would be demand destruction on a scale unseen since the 1930’s. Postponing the inevitable would prove to be more dangerous in the end.
Sooner or later the Volker model will have to be used and it will be painful too.
The last few days have seen the rising loss of confidence in U.S. Banks. That can get contagious.
UPn, what assumption?
So you said it yourself Leytenian, you have an MBA degree.
are just playing dumb,in your as if you were born yesterday comments?
para saan yung mga binato mo sakin na mba subjects?????
are those to impress me,or the others who think you are clueless???
have you looked up Occam’s razor like I asked you to?
keep it simple,……..!!! K.I.S.S.!
As i have been explaining in the previous entry, payment of the IRA to LGU is delayed due to paperwork requirement or timing difference.
the statistics shown in the previous post about the budget where cut-off was 2007 does not reflect the financial transactions for the whole fiscal period of 2007-2008 and therefore not all reimbursements, clearances of advances and release of more financial subsidy for the LGU are fully accounted for.
This is what i have been harping about. getting the pulse by using more scientific results from the survey and not just because one taxi driver says so, one friend thinks so and a group of biased columnists declared so.
and the process is not complete if the reports or news will fail to mention how many says so and what is the confidence level and margin or error.
so if you find me pooh pooh-ing some comment just because the commenter find their opinion similar to a few and states as if it is already the universal truth, it is because my training is more on quantification of the opinions and subjecting them to validity.
Once mlq3 takes the MBA and has taken the subjects, quanti and research i am inclined to believe that there will be a change of outlook.
BTW, the some nonthesis programs do not really mean you do not have to
prepare a major paper and module types can make you concentrate on one subject at a time but classes are hectic because of the shortened period of attendance.
Some World Leaders talk about protecting the environment, some about conserving the beauty of Nature, but most of them just talk about them, but would not commit..Today Premier McGuinty has committed 225,000 sq. kms. of the his Province for permanent protection from development and this area is rich with Mineral Resources and Forest Products.
http://www.thestar.com/News/Ontario/article/460305
Ontario has made the largest conservation commitment in Canadian history, setting aside at least half the Northern Boreal region – 225,000 *square kilometres – for permanent protection from development, Premier Dalton McGuinty announced yesterday.
* approx. 21% of the province area..
It’s an area almost the size of the United Kingdom.
“It is, in a word, immense. It’s also unique and precious. It’s home to the largest untouched forest in Canada and the third largest wetland in the world,” McGuinty said.
The announcement is globally significant in the fight against climate change, advocates say. Nearly 100 billion tonnes of carbon are stored in the Northern Boreal region and another 12.5 million tonnes are absorbed each year.
These lands remain, for the most part, untouched by development. But with increasing world demand for resources, it was just a matter of time before mining and logging inched up from the south.
Now, those resource industries will be barred from half the land and have to work with the government and local First Nations communities to create sustainable development plans for the rest, McGuinty said.
Over the next 10 to 15 years, the province will work with scientists and communities to map out the specific lands that are the most valuable as carbon storehouses and for species protection and which lands have the greatest resources and should be developed.
“We’re going to strike the right balance between conservation and development,” McGuinty said. In the interim, the government is relying on prospective developers’ respect for the laws governing Crown and First Nations lands to protect the region’s forests and wetlands.
The government will introduce legislation in the fall to reform the outdated mining act so all future mine developments will need approval of local First Nations (natives), which will get a share of the revenues.
to PSI: this sentence is not true : In simple terms, you cannot pool substandard risks and re-package them as improved risks.
Go check some statistics books and you’ll see why the sentence above is NOT true.
Also note that there were buyers of these “re-packaged” notes with substandard risks. The buyers were sophisticated, too (i.e. the buyers were institutions with their own analysts with graduate degrees).
The scheme fell apart more because of the valuations and not as much because of the math.
UPn, what PSI said is true. I don’t think PSI was criticizing the portfolio approach per se but the process of repackaging the loans (i.e. securitization and re-securitization), where valuable information is lost.
http://www.cvjugo.blogspot.com/2008/01/ingenuity-of-market-primer-on-subprime.html
It’s the simple lesson of garbage in, garbage out which the financial wizards ignored. They believed too much on their own sophistication.
‘And so when I found out you could take an Australian MBA without going to Australia, my interest got piqued. The University of Western Australia sends its professors to Manila to conduct classes designed to appeal to the working professional. This is really quite an unprecedented opportunity: to break out of our insular confines, without having to leave the home islands.’
If mlq3’s future classmates are mostly Filipinos from UP, La Salle or Ateneo then I think mlq3 is better off taking the MBA in Australia.
cvj: I was not commenting on what I thought PSI said. I was commenting on what PSI said. [ Ain’t got that gift — mind-reading. ]
Securitization is like MV Princess Stars. When operating safely within the boundaries of its designed capabilities (waves under 1 meter, competent captain, winds less than 20 mph, maintenance “up to snuff”) no problem.
Subject securitization to serious stress — who knows what happens next?
Garbage-in/garbage-out — human-interface operator-problem — not a math problem. [ My opinion…. ]
——————–
mlql3’s future classmates will gain a lot from Q3’s participation. So will the professors. I can not imagine Q3 being intimidated by white-devils 😉 speaking in their funny accent, spouting highfalluting terms.
cvj: I keep getting the impression that you are old-school in business thinking, I imagine like the Chinese that Lee Kuan Yew says are, well, old-school. I’ll be the last to say that there is no place during these days and time and given the diversity of opportunities for old-school business transactions where the vetting process includes checking out the other side’s reliability based on their last-name pedigree and recommendations from the people who have dealt with them before.
This may be the explanation (that you were not looking for), a reason why many of Pinas old-money keeps thinking of malls, office-buildings, beer/soft-drinks, cigarettes. haciendas. They do not want to operate outside the boundaries of their capabilities.
As the securitization/re-securitization has illustrated (and likewise the Internet-bubble a few years before that, and the Tulip bubble of many many years ago) there is wisdom when cvj and a number of Pinas “old-money” folks say they do … not want to operate outside the boundaries of their comfort-zone.
UPn, as far as businessmen go, the local Taipans are timid and lackluster compared to their Taiwanese or Korean counterparts who have built world class industries. However, i don’t think you can compare the Taiwanese and Korean industrialist with the Wall Street financial-types since the latter are not entrepreneurs but speculators who don’t build any real value, but rather shuffle values around producing bubbles in the process with the now familiar consequences.
Your analogy with Sulpicio (at 12:25 am) is applicable only if it was Sulpicio itself that created Typhoon Frank which is clearly not the case. The stresses that the financial system subjected itself to are not because of an outside phenomenon but is self-generated via the process of securitization, speculation and re-securitization and further speculation.
– cvj
You’re right, even in Ozamiz almost every street corner thug knows who protects the Kuratong Baleleng (KB). But there’s one up there, a senator, the same guy who is charged with the rubout and murder of some of its members. But this group, I learned, is a break-away faction – like a lost command, which has earned the ire of the central KB.
Still, I can’t make sense of Dodong’s claim that the military is the one that created the KB in 1986. I’ve lived around the area and know who’s behind it, a mafia-like group cum-vigilante, one of whose notable members became Ozamiz City’s high ranking official. The patriarch of KB was assassinated by a military guy, who was in turn liquidated by his kin with dispatch.
Whatever, human rights are frequently violated when one talks of this group and its military protectors.
“With the publication of the Lloyd’s database record on Sulpicio, it’s becoming clearer to me what the source of the ‘market failure’ may have been. Either it was the lack of passenger travel insurance, or if ever there was, a travel insurance premium that did not reflect the actual risks of travelling via Sulpicio. I’m now wondering why no such proper insurance appraisal has been done considering that the info is already in Lloyd’s database.”
With or without insurance coverage, a transport company is liable for damages under due care principle. This is regardless wether the transport company is at fault.
Insurance is also not a factor on the decision to travel. In fact, the riding public have no idea of the carrier insurance and its amount.
The role of the government is to set a MINIMUM requirement for third party liability on all carriers, so when accident happens the riding public will have the minimum coverage to begin with and can be paid prior to actual settlement. Actual liability will be settled in court which can take years to determine.
Comprehensive insurance is only required if one company has business interest over the other such as the case of a bank financing the loan to a transport carrier to cover the loan balance.
Sulpicio as it owned its ship, did not need to have insurance except for third party liability. Insurance company limit their loss exposure by capping the amount of group or umbrella coverage to certain dollar amount. With only the third party liability plus a cap amount, the premium is not that prohibitive.
“your questions on local government revenue, you may find executive order 723 interesting”.
Under the IRA monetization program, the local government can opt to get a lump-sum net of fees today than receive the total amount in equal installments over 7 years.
Very interesting:
1. Naturally, the local officials whose term are less than 7 yrs would rather use the discounted amount right now than have their successors (could be political opponent) enjoying the receipts.
2. Facilitators from DBM, DOF and DILG can get a cut.
3. The discount (IRA less Trustee Bank releases) becomes a windfall amount sitting at the President discretionary “Unprogrammed Fund” (to support her blank checks).
“Still, I can’t make sense of Dodong’s claim that the military is the one that created the KB in 1986. I’ve lived around the area and know who’s behind it, a mafia-like group cum-vigilante, one of whose notable members became Ozamiz City’s high ranking official. The patriarch of KB was assassinated by a military guy, who was in turn liquidated by his kin with dispatch.”
I found a similar claim in this link:
http://www.pcij.org/imag/PublicEye/kuratong.html
supremo,
“If mlq3’s future classmates are mostly Filipinos from UP, La Salle or Ateneo then I think mlq3 is better off taking the MBA in Australia.”
do you have any other reason why mlq3 may want to go to Australia? i am curious.
“I can’t make sense of Dodong’s claim that the military is the one that created the KB in 1986.”
Even NPAs have to raid police stations for arms. In a country where guns and ammos are illegal, the military has the monopoly and has the information on who possess the weapons. Any armed group have to be well financed to begin with. The 101st army provided arms and allowances to Kuratong (bamboo instrument to alert) Baleleng (young girls) to counter insurgency. KB became the paid assassins for the army. A change in army commander changed the support system. The group turned to robbery and hijacking. Leader Onkoy Parojinog was later killed by another military unit PC 466th over a cockfight. Aldong (the son) took over.
“UPn, as far as businessmen go, the local Taipans are timid and lackluster compared to their Taiwanese or Korean counterparts who have built world class industries. However, i don’t think you can compare the Taiwanese and Korean industrialist with the Wall Street financial-types since the latter are not entrepreneurs but speculators who don’t build any real value, but rather shuffle values around producing bubbles in the process with the now familiar consequences.”
Of the richest Americans only Warren Buffet is in the investment industry.
The rest are in IT and retail.
Of the richest Asians: The richest from HongKong although has a diversified portfolio ,built his empire on the container port terminals; the next richest Asian an Indian national is an It mogul.
I don’t know the criteria for forbes,because I don’t see any Bolkiah or any Arab there.
why talk about securitization, the closest thing we can talk about securitization is the SPV law which was only meant to transfer bad debts of banks to another party.
If you mean corporate securities;kaya madikit pa din ang pangalan ng mga taipan at mga sikat na apelyido ay dahil mahilig tayo sa name recall,di dahil sila ang may ari ng corporations or the business is actually family run.Kaya nga na uso IPO, pero you can not escape the thought that most are still family run, dahil sa listahan ng mga richest pinoy.
======================================
Tulad ng sinabi ko Ports involved ang richest asian on forbes .
Kaya wala akong nakitang taga Dubai sa top 25 ay dahil they have been busy spending. The US might have turned them down but there are plenty of fish in the sea; dyan tayo pwede makisabay through Ricky Razon,yun nga lang Dubai is handling ICTSI’s rival Asian Terminals,dirty as it might sound Razon should partner himself with Dubai to stay alive in the Ports business. If Razon can do it alone,then better.
Sa IT, we have been the next best thing in outsourcing .If we play our cards right we can do it on our own.
=====================================
Madami pa tayong kakaining bigas,so better solve that first.
In the seventies OPEC and oil crisis lang ang napansin, but there were agricultural shocks, like the sudden problem in Peruvian Anchovies were most fertilizers then were based.
=================================
FDR was mentioned, he acted fast after blaming everything on Hoover
nagpakitang gilas sya on his first 100 days.
Everyone was depressed, they did not want to invest.
he had this emergency banking act were 66 to 75 % of the banks reopened , he separated commercial banking from investment banking,he created FDIC,etc etc.
The subprime mess also went to Europe.
http://www.stratfor.com/analysis/global_market_brief_subprime_crisis_goes_europe
Sure, Fannie Mae,and FreddieMac were not exposed to the Sub prime lending market from 2004-2006.
Can they escape it now?
Many are having bad credits,so the subprime lending market, can be the way to go.
The recent foray into the subprime mortgage market by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac has renewed the debate over their role in the affordable housing arena. The subprime market targets borrowers with credit problems or limited credit histories who do not qualify for cheaper, prime loans. Fannie and Freddie traditionally have purchased a small share of these loans, but this figure is expected to grow significantly in the next few years. Proponents say that the two huge intermediaries can bring better pricing for some subprime borrowers and help to curb predatory lending. Competitors and some analysts say they will only cream the least risky borrowers, making other subprime loans even more costly to borrowers who need them. Still others forecast that a bigger role in the subprime market may pave the way for making traditional prime loans more expensive for some borrowers.
Pinas also offers 15-year, 20-year and 30-year fixed rate loans.
————————-
GSIS offers 6% loan
By Cynthia Balana
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 01:29:00 04/27/2008
MANILA, Philippinesâ€â€The Government Service Insurance System will charge only 6-percent interest for 15-year housing loans, the GSIS said Saturday.
Guesting on Vice President Noli de Castro’s weekly radio program, “Para Sa Iyo, Bayan,†Joseph Andres, GSIS vice president for business development and accounts recovery, said the agency’s board approved a program of fixed-interest rates for housing loans to enable low-income members to own homes.
For GSIS members wishing to avail themselves of the 20- to 30-year payment period, the interest rate would be 8 percent, Andres said.
KG, Dodong
Thanks for the info. KG’s link is also very useful for those who don’t know much about Kuratong B. Actually, the people behind it were already known, feared – even venerated – in Ozamiz City before the formation of the group. They had been engaged in mafia-like activities (e.g., masyaw or illegal numbers game), the military just capitalized on their reputation.
However, compared to the deadly Ilaga and Alsa Masa (of Davao), KB is not as violent.
KG:
This is where I see the Forbes World’s billionaires. Two Filipinos – Lucio Tan/family and Henry Sy/family. Five from Singapore; thirteen Saudis (led by Prince Alwaleed); one from Oman; fourteen Aussies.
http://www.forbes.com/billionaires
The sub prime mortgage crisis was born in a decade-long housing boom fueled by low interest rates and excess liquidity. During these ‘boom’ years, mortgage brokers enticed by the lure of big commissions, talked buyers with poor credit into accepting housing mortgages with little or no down payment and without proper tax documentation and credit checks. And so the groundwork was established for the coming mortgage meltdown.
These loans, usually adjustable rate mortgages (ARMs) were known as subprime mortgages. They typically cost two or three points above those with less-risky credit reports and carry interest rate structures with low ‘teaser rates’ for the first couple of years, followed by a reset to much higher rates. This RESET or JUMP, frequently resulted in raising the borrower’s monthly payment by as much as 100% and thereby making it financially impossible for him to handle.
The new homeowners saw a rising value of their homes during the initial year or so of their mortgages, and frequently took out home equity loans for extra cash.
In addition, banks and financial institutions often repackaged these debts with other high-risk debts and sold them to worldwide investors creating financial instruments called CDOs or collateralized debt obligations.
now the whole story began, starting in June of 2007 when two Bear Stearns hedge funds collapsed….
UP N, what’s the downpayment for GSIS mortgage loan? i think it’s 50%? right. that’s very safe compared to US 3% down for FHA loans.
the blurb on Lucio Tan says Former engineer from Fujian Province in China started out mopping floors to put himself through school.
And of course, we all know Henry Sy is old-fashioned with his pre-disposition for malls. Both of these guys will be impressed with #462 Xiaofeng Peng from China and that USA-kid ex-Enron trader now a billionaire, too.
supremo, the clases i sat in are about half and half: half expats, half pinoys, and the pinoys are from varied backgrounds, one reason i liked the program.