A shameful economy

CONSUMERS' DEMAND!
Herman Tiu Laurel
2/20-26/2012



The Argentine economy has grown 94% in the past decades since it defaulted on its debt to global bankers.

Those were years 2002-2011, according to the Center for Economic and Policy Research (which has Joseph Stiglitz on its board).

It was called the “fastest growth in the Western Hemisphere for the period.”

Argentina’s growth is seen as double that of Brazil, a country already much admired especially by the present Aquino III government which has been emulating its program like the CCT (Conditional Cash Transfer) and the PPP (Public-Private Partnerships).

It is vital to note, on Brazil, that it does not borrow to fund its CCT and this is a world of difference from the disastrous Aquino III CCT here.

But back to Argentina. Compared to Argentina’s average annual growth of 8%, the Philippine’s average growth is Lilliputian 4.8% in the past 10 years, just a little over half of Argentina’s and shameful.

The Philippine Senate has made a mountain out of the molehill of the incident involving Argentine boxing fans that roughed up Filipino boxer John Riel Casimiro, making what was purely a fight incident into a diplomatic issue.

Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile wanted the Philippine ambassador to Argentina recalled, Sotto called the incident a “black eye” on Argentinians and Lito Lapid wanted to know what the weight class of Casimiro’s opponent, Jose Alberto Lazarte, as he may fight him.

The Argentine government, of course, had nothing to do with the incident and it was purely an “utak boksingero” outburst which often happens in emotionally charged fights – especially for Latin spirited South American cultures.

We’ve seen this happen before and such incidents will happen again but these do not reflect any government policy so why should it be treated as a diplomatic incident?

The Argentine ambassador has made the perfunctory apology after the Senate whipped up the imbroglio over it, but the Senate and its senators appear all smaller to me as I watched the incident put the pettiness of our senators on the spotlight.

The Senate has not expressed outrage over the growth in hunger that puts 26 million Filipino infants, children, mothers and grandparents and fathers to sleep with growling stomachs.

The Philippine Senate has never taken the step that new Argentine political leaders finally did in 2001 – default on the unjust, oppressive and destructive predatory debts imposed by the Western powers.

The Philippine Senate has not even tackled the biggest economic drag on the country, the “highest power rate in Asia” that beset our nation’s economic potential. They’ve spend two weeks on a pointless impeachment but not a second on these issues.

Argentina’s economy is projected to grow by 6% in 2012 its central bank announced and, Dow Jones reports “… a healthy pace but down from the blistering growth seen in recent years due to an expected downturn in the global economy”, the Philippines’ economic planning body Neda said in early February it saw a 3% to 5% growth rate for the country in 2012; a figure of 40% variance simply shows they do not know where this economy will be going.

The reason for this is that the Philippines does not plan its economy and waits for the economic winds blowing from the West to dictate where it goes – and out policy leaders in the Senate or anywhere else in government are not doing anything about this.

But they’ll have time to react to a boxing incident, and engage in the diarrhea of legalese in the impeachment hearing to impress the shallow public with court jargon while presiding over the unmitigated economic collapse now going on for over two decades.

Bernie Villegas, Cory Aquino’s “prophet of boom,” said at the Asia CEO Forum that the Philippine economy can grow “by 7 to 10%” in the next 10 years. Is he saying that it can grow by 7% to 10% annually, or did he mean that it will grow by that aggregate in the next 10 years?

Given the realities, he must mean the latter, and if that is what he means then let’s compare it with Argentina’s 94% aggregate growth from 2002 to 2011.

The difference is obvious, and the singular act that made Argentina achieve the “miracle” is the debt default its post-2001 revolt against the IMF and international predatory creditors.

If Villegas is right that the Philippines will only grow by 10% at the end of this decade, then we should see Zimbabwe catch up with the Philippines; and at the rate our Philippine national political, financial and economic leaders are conducting themselves, with “utak boksingero,” maybe we’ll even see Burkina Faso catch up with us. They are all shameless frauds and charlatans.

The Philippines still has to reach the heights of public and national outrage that Argentina saw in 2001 when it finally dawned on the people that their leaders at that time were simply taking them for a ride while serving as tools for the plunder of their economy.

The outrage and indignation were such that Argentines were spitting at their politicians when they were seen in public, such as restaurants, and the “caserolleros” (from casserola) banged their pots and pans everyday to oust those dirty politicians.

That’s the kind of politicians we have in our Congress these days, in both houses, as well as in Malacañang and the entire Cabinet.

While the people are still made by media to ooh and aah over the antics of these politicians at the Senate impeachment hearings and on such trivial incidents as the boxing brawl, we’ll not get to the point of building enough disgust to throw them all out and their corrupt system with them.

Let’s shout at these “utak boksingero” again: “It’s the economy, stupid.”

(Tune in to 1098AM, DWAD, Sulo ng Pilipino/Radyo OpinYon, Monday to Friday, 5 to 6 p.m.; watch Destiny Cable GNN’s HTL edition of Talk News TV, Saturdays, 8:15 to 9 p.m., with replay at 11:15 p.m., on “Hocus PCOS, new evidence? visit http://newkatipunero.blogspot.comfor our articles plus TV and radio archives)