Fifteen key economists, policymakers and strategists weigh in on a week of volatility and economic turmoil.My theory is that the stimulus package announced by the Palace, besides being difficult to challenge because it’s a copy of Bush’s stimulus plan, also makes perfect political sense, as it keeps Congress where the President likes it: on its knees, groveling, and keeps local officials in a groveling posture, too, extending her lease on political life and by so doing, keeping her options open while narrowing those of her critics.Yet Salceda’s ostensible economic assumption is that a one year, one-time-only special appropriation of this short, will be in keeping with a US Recession that might be sharp, but not protracted, either.Even as this chirpy view is the official one, The Financial Times reports that US slowdown deals surprise blow to Canon….  With credit cards raining down like manna, we bought plasma tele vision sets, new appliances, vacations.With dollars artificially high because foreigners continued to hold them even as the nation sank deeper into debt, we summoned inexpensive goods and services from the rest of the world.But this final coping mechanism can no longer keep us going, either….  Will it be any different this time?Similar thoughts were expressed by some people from an outsourcing company I talked to last Saturday, who briefly described the various scenarios their bosses are playing out, to see if an economic slowdown will have serious effects on the whole company, or its various parts, only.Also, from Newsweek, The Slow Fall of The Greenback: The dollar is as weak as it’s been in more than three decades.

The Business Mirror editorial points out that Congress has abandoned trying to hold the budget hostage, because it only enabled the executive department to spend without congressional oversight by doing so:Time was, not too long ago, when lawmakers tried to put the squeeze on the Executive branch by prolonging their budgetary deliberations….  The Executive prerogative to adopt “reenacted” budgets merely gave the Palace a free hand to dig into the national coffers—then spend billions of taxpayer pesos as it saw fit, with members of Congress unable to do anything about it save for rant and rave before the media.As one pundit pointed out, a reenacted budget is nothing more than a huge pork barrel that Congress—intentionally or otherwise—gifts to the incumbent administration.  During an election year, in particular, congressional dereliction of its duty to produce a budget often left the Palace crying all the way to the bank.This time, Congress has managed to pass the national budget pretty much on time.

The Long View Individualistic yet part of the whole  By Manuel L. Quezon III Let me try to stitch together two books and three conversations. Five years separate the publication of “In Search of Heroes,” by the FILIPINO Foundation in Cebu, and “Profiles Encourage,” a joint endeavor of Pagbagago@Pilipinas and Anvil Publishing. Both books are [...]

The editorial cites the following laws and decrees: Presidential Decree 1638 as amended by Presidential Decree 1650, and Republic Act 8186 as amended by Republic Act 9188, as well as the provisions of the Constitution (since Esperon term extension possible only in case of war – Palace)….  He also points out, and if he knows it the military knows it, too, that efforts to organize the peasantry are at their lowest ebb since the 40′s and 50′s.On a related note, see Solita Monsod’s Two challenges, where she says the ranks of the truly poor have shrunk while most Filipinos have become slightly poorer across all classes.Politically, the weekend had news that Arroyo douses plot vs Speaker via phone call — Ermita and that as Congress resumes session, GMA tells Rainbow Coalition to stand by JdV….  Which means individuals like Christian Monsod, groups like the PPCRV, and even the Cardinal Archbishop of Manila (who strongly backs the candidacy of Howie Calleja, for example, for a Comelec commissioner slot) might find themselves quite disappointed with their nominees, after Appointment of Melo as COMELEC head welcomed.

“Brains of the Nation: Pedro Paterno, T.h.  Pardo De Tavera, Isabelo De Los Reyes and the Production of Modern Knowledge” (Resil B.

I wish more people would explore the political goings-on in other countries in our part of the world, to see if some sort of patterns emerge to show whether or not politics as our part of the world practices it, has common characteristics.  I believe it does: dynasticism, the single-part urge, tight connections between business and the political class, to name just three.Reading the dynamics of Japanese politics, see Japan’s Dilemma, where basically they have had single-party governance for close to six decades; or of the Taiwanese, see Taiwan Does the Presidential Math, where after decades of dictatorship they have developed a vigorous democracy, or Malaysia, see Malaysian Yumpies Just Wanna Have Fun (which suggests Tim Yap represents a regional Zeitgeist); or Thailand, see Thaksin’s Friends Are in Power, where they’re confronting the failure of their own version of Edsa Dos; the list goes on and on, as far afield as India.

All the hullaballoo about the 50th anniversary of SM, oddly enough, never mentions how salespeople remain contractual, and have had their contracts reduced to 3 months instead of 6 months as before.Recalling a meeting he held in Manila in 1936, the American Communist Sol Auerbach (James Allen), wrote,I was determined to gain at least one concrete advantage from the interview….  Before the promise of amnesty was rescinded, prominent Americans – including former Governor-General Frank Murphy, congressmen and liberal leaders-had sent congratulations to the President….  Vargas wrote the International Labor Defense (and along similar lines to the Americal Civil Liberties Union and others) that amnesty was withdrawn “in view of recent events which disclose the existence of concerted actions on the part of some individuals in Manila to case a general destruction of property by setting fire thereto with the use of bombs or otherwise, it is felt that the granting of a genral amnesty may be interpreted by the lawless elements of our community as a tendency to treat leniently offenses of this nature, if not an indication of weakness on the part of the government.”

His novel, Harlot’s Ghost, had been an enjoyable read for me back when I was still in college, and his thoughts provide a kind of ending theme for the documentary: how Oswald remains a kind of ghost, who haunts all investigations of the Kennedy assassination, but who, being a ghost, can never answer the question everyone wants to ask the most (did Oswald really do it, and alone?).The PBS website includes an extract from Mailer’s Oswald’s Tale: An American Mystery: the following passage, I think, was more eloquently expressed by Mailer in the documentary, but this is what he wrote:…Oswald had a choice….  Now he had to improvise a defense: I’m a patsy.It may never have occurred to Oswald that the obfuscation and paranoia which followed the assassination of Kennedy would contribute immensely to the sludge and smog of the world’s spirit.Mailer said that most people think Oswald was some sort of feebleminded crank, but that his life proved that the man, though not well-educated, was quite intelligent, and had managed some rather difficult transitions on his own, without connections or patrons….  Describing Oswald as an utopian, and one who’d studied Hitler’s life and career not because he sympathized with Nazism, but rather, as a kind of case study for how poor, obscure individuals can, by sheer force of will, become great and powerful figures, Mailer then says that Oswald saw killing Kennedy as the chance to make himself a great world-historical figure himself.Now what struck me about the documentary was how in it, three assassinations -JFK’s, Martin Luther King’s, and RFK’s- served as kind of psychic bodyblow on American social cohesion and public morale: Kennedy had been the first US President born in the 20th century, himself pointing to the passing of the torch of leadership from the last American President born in the 19th Century (Eisenhower) to himself; a generational shift as dramatic as any.

369,366Akbayan !

3,468,039If you use Comelec figures (PDSP is the party of Norberto Gonzales et al., you could argue also technically part of the Left):Left = Sultan Jamalul D.

And that as trust in authority weakens, so does the willingness of some people to accept simple, but emotionally unsatisfying, explanations.  The documentary says conspiracy theories as we know them, began with the assassination of John F.  Kennedy.In the beginning of the documentary, it makes two assertions (based on surveys of British people):*If you trust friends and family, you probably won’t believe in conspiracies.* The poorer you are, the more likely it is you’ll believe in conspiracy theories.Then the documentary focuses on four particularly popular conspiracy theories in the UK, based on surveys:*58% of people think that President Bush wanted 9/11 to happen.* 45% believe Diana was murdered.* 15% of people think the British government planned the London Bombing.* 32% of young people believe the government have hidden evidence of alien landings.These numbers are significant (the larger figures, for example, represent portions of the population large enough to say, elect a government).