The excuses they give: Kung ayaw ng wage hike, maraming dahilan

Pebrero 20, 2024

COMMENTARY

Opponents of a minimum wage hike say it will be “catastrophic” – cause inflation, lead to layoffs, and bankrupt firms. They say it will only help a few and only for a little while. None of these arguments holds water.

The spectacular errors of economic cha-cha proponents

Pebrero 4, 2024

COMMENTARY

It has become Cha-cha etiquette to always sugarcoat political changes with promises of a bright economic future once the charter’s economic provisions are fixed.

DOTr doesn’t want to admit that jeepney fare hikes are coming

Enero 7, 2024

COMMENTARY

There is much to improve in making public mass transport safer, cleaner and more convenient but ‘modernization’ by making transport profitable for private capital is the wrong direction.

Beyond rice price populism

Setyembre 5, 2023

The standalone rice price caps will not just be ultimately ineffective but might even backfire

National budget for 2024: A Budget Badly Made (Part 2)

Agosto 25, 2023

FEATURES

Band-aids are not necessarily a bad thing. Social spending can be wielded to improve people’s conditions – which is important in itself even if not prioritized by the administration. But it can also be used to increase overall aggregate demand and stimulate the economy – which presumably even a narrow, growth-fixated mindset would appreciate.

National budget for 2024: A Budget Badly Made

Agosto 25, 2023

FEATURES

Contrary to incredible “pro-poor” claims, the proposed 2024 national budget’s numbers tell a much different story about the administration’s priorities.

Growing global economic distress as G7 meet ends

Mayo 22, 2023

The global economy is being dragged down by fundamental forces that even the mighty US is still captive to. It may be the world’s dominant imperialist power but it is still merely monopoly capitalist and as such subject to the deeply-ingrained contradictions of capitalism.

BBM’s US trip: It’s all about US

Mayo 9, 2023

The current Marcos Jr administration will have US support despite its deeply corrupt, dynastic and rights-violating character. Or at least as long as the US keeps getting what it wants, and the Philippines doesn’t ask for anything that the US doesn’t want to give — like real freedom and development, or sovereignty and independence.

The right size for development?

Marso 9, 2023

The Marcos Jr administration’s rightsizing program goes in the direction of further weakening the government just when it is so needed to become bigger and better to transform the economy to serve the public interest.