The shooting of Donald Trump; pesky Phl inflation problem

Donald J. Trump, bleeding profusely on his upper right ear, blood criss-crossing his reddened face, yet the former president looking defiant, his right fist pumped into the air as he hollers “Fight! Fight! Fight!” while surrounded by at least four Secret Service personnel to protect him from further harm if not death, early evening of Saturday, July 13, 2024 in Butler town, western Pennsylvania.

It’s an image that will forever be etched in the memory of millions of Americans, one that could possibly catapult Trump into the presidency again and change the course of the history of the greatest nation on earth – for good, or perhaps, for the incredible tragedy of many around the world. Bullets, not ballots, would define America’s destiny. Sad.

Trump survived the assassination attempt. Or an act of domestic terrorism. A spectator was killed in his rally. Two others were critically wounded. His shooter, a lone wolf gunman, identified as Thomas Matthew Crooks, 20, of Bethel Park, Pennsylvania, a student said to be strong in math and science in high school and at the time of his deadly act working as nursing home employee.

Crooks was killed by Secret Service snipers. Perched on a rooftop about 350 meters away from Trump’s rally site, using an Ar-15 rifle, the suspect had fired up to eight shots, a number missing the former president by a hairline, except for the bullet that pierced his right ear.

President Joseph Biden condemned the assassination, calling it “sick.” The country, he said, needs “to lower the temperature…Politics must never be a literal battlefield or, God forbid, a literal killing field.”

Yet, indeed, America is a literal killing field. Gun violence is a fixture of American life. According to Gun Violence Archive, for each of the last three years, there have been more than 600 mass shootings in the US, an average of almost two a day. The deadliest, in 2017, killed more than 50 and wounded 500.

But the shooting that would define American politics, from here on, and perhaps forever, is that of Trump.

Inflation people’s No. 1 problem

The No. 1 problem of Filipinos is inflation. Or simply, the high and rapid increase in prices of basic commodities consumed by the people.

A report from Pulse Asia last Friday (July 12) said 72 percent of Filipinos feel controlling inflation should be immediately addressed by the administration. Next most important concerns were: 2) increasing the pay of workers (44 percent); 3) reducing the poverty of Filipinos (32 percent); 4) creating more jobs (30 percent) and 5) fighting graft and corruption in the government (22 percent).

Inflation is the only urgent national concern mentioned by an overwhelming majority of respondents in the June 2024 Pulse Asia survey – 72 of every 100 polled, almost equal to the combined 76 percent garnered by increasing pay, 44 percent, and reducing poverty, 32 percent. What people mean is that the government does not need to order pay increases nor reduce poverty, as long as it can lick the inflation problem.

People have common sense. If you reduce inflation dramatically, you will effectively increase the people’s purchasing power much better than increasing wages will do. And if you increase purchasing power, you will actually reduce poverty because poverty basically is the inability of the people to buy their basic needs.

In measuring inflation, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas has the so-called consumer price index or CPI which has 100 points. Of the 100 points, the biggest component is food and non-alcoholic beverages, 37.75 points. Under food are: 1) rice, 8.87 points; 2) meat, 6.43 points and 3) fish, 5.66 points, a total of 20.96 points.

Today, if you go to the supermarket, like Unimart, rice is as high as P60 per kilo (P99 a kilo if Japonica), galunggong P450 per kilo and pork, P600 per kilo. A family of five to survive in a day will have to buy a kilo of those items daily. That’s P1,110. But the minimum wage is only P570.

You know what is more expensive than rice, the single biggest item in the CPI Housing,12.82 points. So there, wala nang makain, wala pang tirahan.

According to the BSP, headline inflation eased to 3.7 percent year-on-year in June from 3.9 percent in May.

This, says the BSP, is within its forecast range of 3.4-4.2 percent for the June month.

The resulting year-to-date average of 3.5 percent was within the government’s inflation target range of 3.0 percent ± 1.0 percentage point for 2024. On a month-on-month seasonally adjusted basis, headline inflation was nil in June from 0.3 percent in May.

Meanwhile, core inflation held steady in June from the previous month’s rate of 3.1 percent year-on-year.

BSP said headline inflation moderated with the decline in non-food inflation. Retail electricity rates were reduced with the implementation of the staggered payment scheme to temper the impact of high generation costs incurred in the May 2024 supply month. Transport inflation also slowed down in June. Meanwhile, food inflation rose due to the faster increases in vegetable and meat prices, while rice inflation remained elevated.

The BSP claims the latest inflation outturn is consistent with its projections, indicating that full-year average inflation will settle within the target range for 2024 and 2025.

Looking ahead, the BSP will continue to ensure that monetary policy settings will remain in line with its primary mandate to safeguard price stability conducive to sustainable economic growth.

I am quoting above almost verbatim the BSP’s latest June inflation report. If you don’t understand it, then maybe it’s one reason why our inflation problem cannot be licked. The BSP needs to communicate in simple terms what the inflation problem is all about.

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