http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,473744,00.html

I almost pity the pols.

Because (most) candidates make money out of our elections. And because (most of) the Filipino electorate expect to be “bought”, meaning that their candie spends something on them during elections. Not necessarily that their votes get bought outright (and these days, its said that its far better to buy the canvassers than the voters themselves), but that the tradition of campaigning for one’s votes be done during our often-festive elections.

We had a candie before in the LP (I can’t remember who it was, for the life of me…) who didn’t deign to campaign in his area kasi daw panalo naman. Ayun, talo. Incumbent siya nun, ha.

the author of Revelation never had the historical Babylon in mind when he used the word ‘Babylon.’ at the time Revelation was written, the Babylonian empire was no longer existing. the author was referring to something else

election expenses in the u.s. must be viewed in the context of its size, voting population, costs of media ads, salaries and overhead of campaign personnel. personally, i don’t believe any part of it is used for buying votes (on the contrary, supporters usually contribute -give rather than receive for the cause they really believe in.

http://www.aer.ph/index.php?Itemid=63&id=452&option=com_content&task=view

Besides, corruption is not the only problem [aka 'binding constraint] to economic development in the Philippines. We still have the problem of the Oligarchs, land and income inequality as well as a lack of industrial policy (where government helps local businesses grow).

The more successful countries (both communist and capitalist) got rid of their Oligarchs (or the Oligarchs themselves initiated reforms), carried out land reform (quickly and decisively), and implemented an industrial policy that built local production capabilities. Because of their relative social and economic equality, their economies were able to grow and therefore, and are able to better tolerate corruption.

When you say that we are the only country where communist parties are considered ‘legitimate’, on the contrary, i observe that we are one of the few countries left where the Reds are still considered bogeymen. In other countries like India, they even get elected to run the State government.

I am not sure why Communism gets such a bad rap when it has proven to be successful in Vietnam and China. As i mentioned before, the winning combination for economic development for latecomer countries, as observed in both our communist and capitalist neighbors seems to be a two-phase approach where you implement Phase 1: Social and economic equality (via land reform and other asset reform) and then Phase 2: Industrial Policy and Capitalist reforms.

By contrast, we have remained a highly unequal society which is why Capitalism over here does not seem to work as well.

If US voters are independent of their candidates while Pinoy voters are not, then why do Pinoy candidates spend so much? Would you spend on a “loyal” or “captive” electorate? (For the record, among all the major industrial democracies, the US has the highest election spending bar none, so maybe this is just a Yankee-Pinoy thing)

If we really wanted clean politics, we’d do at least two things.

First, all information about all political parties and candidates would be on the web…free of charge…paid for by the State. This is not as expensive as it sounds, since there would be loads of volunteers to do this.

And anyone would be allowed to gather and post this information as well. No censorship.

Second, we would have campaign finance reform. Full disclosure. All foreign and domestic donors identified. No one banned from giving money, but all of it accounted for.

Then, let’s see….

If corruption is such an impediment to development, how come other countries that have very high corruption rates continue to develop while we don’t (I think our corruption estimates are overstated and our foreign competitors’ levels undereported).

Test: Imagine that we could all abolish corruption from all countries tomorrow (assuming we could all agree on what exactly constitutes corruption…it’s not all the simple “lagay” kind), would the Philippines draw equal to its overseas rivals or are other factors involved?

Also….

When the Peso fell against the dollar, administration critics were critical. When the Peso strengthened against the dollar, administration critics were critical. Interesting consistency.

Finallly….

We should ask oursleves why our country is the only one left in Asia (except those where the local Communist Parties hold absolute control, and that one odd exception, Nepal), where the most extreme leftist, Marxist and Communist opinions are still considered to be not only legitimate but sensible in many respectable quarters? It’s as if the national discourse was a record player that got stuck in the groove of the 1960’s.

But it also means we’re fairly democratic about these things, doesn’t it?

sabi ko na nga ba na ang ‘Babylon’ referred to in the Book of Revelation is the US! – Anthony

Iraq = Babylon
Babylon = US

Therefore, the US = Iraq?

Bencard, what’s your Plan B if Obama turns out to be the Antichrist?

sabi ko na nga ba na ang ‘Babylon’ referred to in the Book of Revelation is the US!

agree but more people are now aware of this old mercantilist trick. Not sure if they have gotten away with it. The US is feeling the inflation first, worst in its history. Yes it might be a trick or its policy, but i will partly blame this whole mess to greenspan. he lowered interest rates when demand of homes soars. the dream of every american became a nightmare.

How Does the Weak Dollar Affect Oil Prices?

http://www.turkishweekly.net/news.php?id=55612
this article explains better.

Here’s another article that Weak dollar not sole reason for high oil prices… ( supply and demand) http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-04/18/content_7999121.htm