Things you need to know before idolizing marcos

[jhnkvn]

then please tell me what is the sustainable plan if Marcos was not overthrown? Hindi nga makabayad. Remember 95% gdp to debt. Restructure how? Longer payment, more interest, lower monthly/annual? So 5% left will be 10% to 15%? That's nearly enough to run a country. In turn, kailangan pa rin umutang. Tama? Tapos restructure again to run at least 50% gdp to budget. Longer payment again hangang apo ng apo na ang magbabayad? All these for infrastructure that don't turn to gdp.

If you were an investor, would you loan more?

Of course that I do not know. How would he have done it? Who knows.

Do a partial sovereign default maybe? It had been on the table for years after Marcos-era and yet there wasn't any real progress to it has there?

Why do people view GDP to debt as inherently bad? Australia has a 95% external GDP to debt ratio. Japan is a classic case of over 100% GDP to debt ratio and yet.. we purchase a Camry, play with a PS4, drop-by 7-11 after office hours and wear Uniqlo shirts.

What matters is government efficiency and growth. If your economy grows more than your debt, not only does your GDP to debt fall but it also lowers borrowing and repayment costs.

I'll give you an idea but it's only being done gradually. Why doesn't the government pay off the entire IOU by restructuring the debt now that a 2013' 1-year T-bill is less than 1%? Think about that? Just paying peanuts for debt servicing. In the corporate world, IBM threw out bonds.. IOUs essentially just to further increase its share repurchase program to increase shareholder value by leveraging the favorable macro-environment. Why can't the PH gov't do the same even on a slightly higher interest rate? Because you'll need to pass bills nanaman sa Congress, have them bicker, revise it and pass the second, third,... tenth amendment..

We could say his crony-ism led to his downfall. It dented government efficiency and growth. But at the very least from somebody wielding "power", removal of cronies aren't hard. Poof and they're gone. What about now? Our legislators still clinging along their seats in our Congress and Senate.

No matter which President sat in the early 1980s, the oil crisis cannot be avoided given our huge dependence on oil - a resource we unfortunately don't have aplenty. You could daresay loans from the IMF to increase import oil credit to prevent a national economic halt was downright inevitable.

Throw in ridiculous amount of political instability just before People Power and you aren't painting a rosy picture at all. Double -7% from 84 to 85? Of course it'll affect the bottom line in an absurd way.. just look at Thailand right now. They're so desperate in drumming up support that they're having women in skimpy fatigue outfits posing next to tanks (me likey! kidding.. a bit)

But let's say we take the average GDP growth from 1970 to 1983. Let's trade-off the removal of that absurd negative figures brought about by political uncertainty transition with Marcos' first term as President where he.. according to textbooks.. performed well. We'll start with his second-term in office which signaled his supposed downfall. My data shows that given GDP growth constant of 1985 prices, 1970 to 1983 was an average of 5.2% growth. If we were to take Arroyo's term, although plagued by corruption.. but was fiscally correct, you would have arrived at 4.4% annually from 2001 to 2009 and that includes the US subprime mortgage crisis. Cory's administration paid off $4b of the loans to attract foreign investors but at the end her administration borrowed $9b leaving a $5b net deficit.

Subsequent trade balances were mostly deficits as the country went from rice exporter to the top rice importer over time. What local industry? The fiscal policies destroyed it entirely. The entire textile industry alone was dead by 1980 onwards due to that absurd overhead cost.



If corruption really deters growth. Why has Indonesia outpaced the Philippines? Given that their own dictator Suharto took the top spot in 2004's Global Transparency Report while Marcos was second? Taking $35b over three decades versus our own $10b over two decades?



The end conclusion is that.. although Marcos was horrible.. his successors were worse in my opinion. And given the constant bickering we see with our legislation and the amount of idiocy democracy has sprouted like.. seriously, a front-page Vhong Navarro issue? *facepalm* I probably won't mind giving some freedom in exchange for discipline and order.

Trust me. China is corrupt as hell. Municipal officials can simply grab your land without just compensation because the state owns the land. Some of them grab entire businesses either and you can say the country is governed too by crony-ism. But when the Red Party's ass is on the line.. crony or not, you'll just magically disappear. Dictatoral powers.

As long as things get done, hell.. I'm happy. Sadly, that isn't happening in the Philippines -- can somebody please just raise those damned LRT prices. Hindi afford yun additional transportation costs? BS. How much San Migs do you think these people even consume on paydays but can't afford to pay additional "fare" costs.

[[archie]]

Of course that I do not know. How would he have done it? Who knows.

Do a partial sovereign default maybe? It had been on the table for years after Marcos-era and yet there wasn't any real progress to it has there?

Why do people view GDP to debt as inherently bad? Australia has a 95% external GDP to debt ratio. Japan is a classic case of over 100% GDP to debt ratio and yet.. we purchase a Camry, play with a PS4, drop-by 7-11 after office hours and wear Uniqlo shirts.

What matters is government efficiency and growth. If your economy grows more than your debt, not only does your GDP to debt fall but it also lowers borrowing and repayment costs.

I'll give you an idea but it's only being done gradually. Why doesn't the government pay off the entire IOU by restructuring the debt now that a 2013' 1-year T-bill is less than 1%? Think about that? Just paying peanuts for debt servicing. In the corporate world, IBM threw out bonds.. IOUs essentially just to further increase its share repurchase program to increase shareholder value by leveraging the favorable macro-environment. Why can't the PH gov't do the same even on a slightly higher interest rate? Because you'll need to pass bills nanaman sa Congress, have them bicker, revise it and pass the second, third,... tenth amendment..

We could say his crony-ism led to his downfall. It dented government efficiency and growth. But at the very least from somebody wielding "power", removal of cronies aren't hard. Poof and they're gone. What about now? Our legislators still clinging along their seats in our Congress and Senate.

No matter which President sat in the early 1980s, the oil crisis cannot be avoided given our huge dependence on oil - a resource we unfortunately don't have aplenty. You could daresay loans from the IMF to increase import oil credit to prevent a national economic halt was downright inevitable.

Throw in ridiculous amount of political instability just before People Power and you aren't painting a rosy picture at all. Double -7% from 84 to 85? Of course it'll affect the bottom line in an absurd way.. just look at Thailand right now. They're so desperate in drumming up support that they're having women in skimpy fatigue outfits posing next to tanks (me likey! kidding.. a bit)

But let's say we take the average GDP growth from 1970 to 1983. Let's trade-off the removal of that absurd negative figures brought about by political uncertainty transition with Marcos' first term as President where he.. according to textbooks.. performed well. We'll start with his second-term in office which signaled his supposed downfall. My data shows that given GDP growth constant of 1985 prices, 1970 to 1983 was an average of 5.2% growth. If we were to take Arroyo's term, although plagued by corruption.. but was fiscally correct, you would have arrived at 4.4% annually from 2001 to 2009 and that includes the US subprime mortgage crisis. Cory's administration paid off $4b of the loans to attract foreign investors but at the end her administration borrowed $9b leaving a $5b net deficit.

Subsequent trade balances were mostly deficits as the country went from rice exporter to the top rice importer over time. What local industry? The fiscal policies destroyed it entirely. The entire textile industry alone was dead by 1980 onwards due to that absurd overhead cost.



If corruption really deters growth. Why has Indonesia outpaced the Philippines? Given that their own dictator Suharto took the top spot in 2004's Global Transparency Report while Marcos was second? Taking $35b over three decades versus our own $10b over two decades?



The end conclusion is that.. although Marcos was horrible.. his successors were worse in my opinion. And given the constant bickering we see with our legislation and the amount of idiocy democracy has sprouted like.. seriously, a front-page Vhong Navarro issue? *facepalm* I probably won't mind giving some freedom in exchange for discipline and order.

Trust me. China is corrupt as hell. Municipal officials can simply grab your land without just compensation because the state owns the land. Some of them grab entire businesses either and you can say the country is governed too by crony-ism. But when the Red Party's ass is on the line.. crony or not, you'll just magically disappear. Dictatoral powers.

As long as things get done, hell.. I'm happy. Sadly, that isn't happening in the Philippines -- can somebody please just raise those damned LRT prices. Hindi afford yun additional transportation costs? BS. How much San Migs do you think these people even consume on paydays but can't afford to pay additional "fare" costs.

O god... Kaya Ayaw ko ng hypotheticals eh.

Sabi ko nga, Wala ako pakialam sa corruption for this topic.

Eto na lang eh... Give factual numbers that the Philippines were in a better economic standing. Baka Sabihin mo na ang tanungan is "are we better off". Simple lang yan, compare his regime and after.

Dun na lang tayo sa factual, masyado lumalala imagination mo. Comparing first world countries gdp to ours? Haha come on.

[jhnkvn]

And were first-worlds always been first-world? Or did they enforce good governance and fiscal policies to get them where they are?

You're comparing it by the numbers. I'm comparing it by the essence on why human right violations happens in the first place. May pinagbago ba? Think a politician can't simply make his rival "disappear". Why do you think politics is often viewed as "dirty"? I believe I need not link out the number of politically-viewed killings here in Tsikot because we're exposed to it and yet has justice been done? Sure, we know of it.. but do the cases close or do they languish in court? Do people actually care if it doesn't concern them in reality?

[ClaNker]

Human rights violation during Martial Law days compared today... "May pinagbago ba?"

Noooooooo.

[[archie]]

And were first-worlds always been first-world? Or did they enforce good governance and fiscal policies to get them where they are?

You're comparing it by the numbers. I'm comparing it by the essence on why human right violations happens in the first place. May pinagbago ba? Think a politician can't simply make his rival "disappear". Why do you think politics is often viewed as "dirty"? I believe I need not link out the number of politically-viewed killings here in Tsikot because we're exposed to it and yet has justice been done? Sure, we know of it.. but do the cases close or do they languish in court? Do people actually care if it doesn't concern them in reality?

O god... Of course meron violators of human rights. If wala, bakit pa may human rights committee.

Mabagal justice, justice is for the rich, justice can be paid? Do you think may justice dati for all the killings? Moving to a better direction is what is happening now. There's a chance of justice now, dati, damputin parents mo with no arrest warrant and never see them again. What choice do you have?

Of course numbers will tell facts than" essence". That is purely subjective.

[jhnkvn]

O god... Of course meron violators of human rights. If wala, bakit pa may human rights committee.

Mabagal justice, justice is for the rich, justice can be paid? Do you think may justice dati for all the killings? Moving to a better direction is what is happening now. There's a chance of justice now, dati, damputin parents mo with no arrest warrant and never see them again. What choice do you have?

Of course numbers will tell facts than" essence". That is purely subjective.

You talk about justice and yet.. justice denied is no justice at all. Chance of justice works theoretically but when did you see a poor farmer win against a person with wealth and political connections?

Numbers are numbers -- how accurate are they? Essence is subjective? Mightily so. But look around you.. is the Philippines safer now compared to before? Try walking around the slums with an iPhone and other wealth-displaying items at hand. Safety during the Marcos era was selective -- depends on which side you are actually. And that still continues until today down to our micro- barangay levels where we have X candidate died and police are now looking at it as a politically-motivated killing. Is there much change? I daresay not. Unless the underlying fundamentals are changed, human right violations are here to stay and saying that the number is less doesn't change that it's done with impunity as it has been at the past.

[[archie]]

You talk about justice and yet.. justice denied is no justice at all. Chance of justice works theoretically but when did you see a poor farmer win against a person with wealth and political connections?

Numbers are numbers -- how accurate are they? Essence is subjective? Mightily so. But look around you.. is the Philippines safer now compared to before? Try walking around the slums with an iPhone and other wealth-displaying items at hand. Safety during the Marcos era was selective -- depends on which side you are actually. And that still continues until today down to our micro- barangay levels where we have X candidate died and police are now looking at it as a politically-motivated killing. Is there much change? I daresay not. Unless the underlying fundamentals are changed, human right violations are here to stay and saying that the number is less doesn't change that it's done with impunity as it has been at the past.

No change because may killing pa rin. You refuse to acknowledge that there was no law back then. No warrant? No problem. Damput lang ng Damput.

Any safer? maybe not. But I can walk around with no fear kasi I spoke against the president. His power was absolute... Kahit nung Marcos era may criminals pa rin. And no, I would not take out an iPhone in the slums... I'm not stupid.

Walang change??!? O god... Killings in his time was a standard. No one was surprised. All you can do is mourn because there's a good chance hindi na babalik yung dinampot. No case against the person, pero can be subject to imprisonment or death.

Justice now is weak, justice back then was non existent.

[jhnkvn]

No change because may killing pa rin. You refuse to acknowledge that there was no law back then. No warrant? No problem. Damput lang ng Damput.

Any safer? maybe not. But I can walk around with no fear kasi I spoke against the president. His power was absolute... Kahit nung Marcos era may criminals pa rin. And no, I would not take out an iPhone in the slums... I'm not stupid.

Walang change??!? O god... Killings in his time was a standard. No one was surprised. All you can do is mourn because there's a good chance hindi na babalik yung dinampot. No case against the person, pero can be subject to imprisonment or death.

Justice now is weak, justice back then was non existent.

And is weak justice. Justice at all? Let's say somebody murdered your sister due to her voicing her opposition to a certain candidate. The court issues an arrest order two years later, trial began three years after that and even after several years of trials the court has still not concluded the trial. Is that justice? Justice is only applicable if it has been served.

In reality, the justice system has a shadow economy developed over time. In practice, everybody knows of its existence but it's usually just hushed about for fear of possible unwanted attention. Witnesses testify in fabricated cases and testimony in exchange for cash. We have remedies in place to prevent such unwanted practices but whether they apply in reality is another matter.

Just because you walk around without fear does not mean others equally are. What about those journalists who was given the scorn of local provincial politicians? Do you think they walk around without fear? I have a sister who's an award-winning journalist in Canada writing for the Vancouver Sun but she opts to write there rather than here because of how justice is served in the country. This is a shame really because her investigative journalism is absolutely lauded with plaques of recognition.