Our “good” economy is good only for the rich!

We’ve always known that the Aquino Regime has always used its close allies for propaganda purposes and one of them is that pollster Social Weather Station (SWS). Well, there was a Dec. 4 Inquirer report by Ana Roa that was quite revealing, entitled “Economy bright, but not Pinoy lives.” I’ll go straight to the point with this quote from that report, “Asked about the quality of their life over the past 12 months, 21 percent said it had improved (gainers) while 28 percent said it had worsened, for a net score (gainers minus losers) of minus 8 percentage points, slightly better than the previous figure of minus 9 percent.”

While SWS claims that their polling system is scientific. I really don’t need to find out whether the poor has gone richer and the rich has gone poorer. Take a good look at the motoring section of the Philippine Star last Wednesday and there is a feature story entitled “California Dreaming” that the brand new Ferrari California 30 was now available for sale at the Autostrada Motore, Inc. showroom in Bonifacio Global City. Another sports car the BRZ from Subaru was also available at around P1.9 million in either automatic transmission or manual transmission.

That these expensive modes of transportation is now available for the rich and famous to acquire to show that they have arrived is visible proof that indeed the Philippine economy has become strong and robust. Alas, that is only for the top 2 percent of the Philippine population who can afford to buy these expensive toys. The rest of us have to be happy and contended to be in the middle class. These are the people who frequent the shopping malls, eating in chic restaurants and living in modest homes or condominiums.

For the rest of the Filipinos… nothing much has changed. Whether they were under then Pres. Joseph “Erap” Estrada or under the current regime of Pres. Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino, III, they are still below the poverty line with no hope of moving up a little bit to be in the middle class group. This tells you that no matter how much propaganda the Aquino Regime pours into the mainstream media… the good economy that the upper crust is enjoying is not trickling down to the masses, who are responsible for voting the majority of our political leaders… because they sell their votes anyway.

So how do we solve this problem? Honestly now… we’ve already written volumes of columns analyzing what is wrong with the Philippines and what we ought to do to solve the problem? So what will we do? Throw away the towel and leave the country? Hmmm that’s exactly what a great number of Filipinos are doing, including those who got visas to go to Rome for the canonization of San Pedro Calungsod who didn’t return home anymore.

At this point, allow me to reprint a portion of my PhilStar column printed last week, which I need to reprint for our local consumption. This new book was launched only last March entitled “Why Nations Fail” The Origins of Power, Prosperity, and Poverty” written by two American economists, Daron Acemoglu, a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (NMIT) and James Robinson a Harvard Professor.

Call me lucky that I got the last copy of this book from the National Book Store in Glorietta, Makati. Let me reprint the review of this book, which reads, “The volume presented a detailed argument for a proposition that a nation’s economic success is predominantly determined by its political institutions. Inclusive states have no single centre of power but are innovative and prosperous thanks to the jostling of competing interests under the rule of law and secure property rights. Inclusive democracies with strong independent judicial systems thrive. It claims that importance of politics is far ahead of geography, resources or culture, that freedom begets prosperity.

Countries such as Great Britain and the United States became rich because their citizens overthrew the elites who controlled power and created a society with political rights more broadly distributed and the government accountable and responsive to citizens. In the countries the great mass of people could take advantage of economic opportunities. To the contrary, nations dominated by self-centered elite fail and they are extremely poor. Extractive totalitarian states are in a vicious cycle of plutocracy, suppression of technological innovation and economic and personal freedom.”

Thanks to the present 1987 Constitution, our present centralized system of governance favors only the political elite that has ruled this country since the Filipino people got rid of the Marcos Dictatorship 25 years ago. This is the same political elite that removed a sitting Chief Justice of the Supreme Court on charges that could render many of our senators to be equally as guilty as the Chief Justice; but they have effectively placed the Judiciary under the Office of the President. More on this in future columns.

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