Keeping the #Philippines poor is in keeping with the interests of the country's Elite classes

By -


Policies are all well and good but when it comes down to it there have to be people who want to implement the policies or at least make sure that there is rule of law to allow good policies to take shape.

Sadly we might never get to a stage where these policies can be implemented since the interests of our ruling class run counter to implementing these policies.

Let's start from the basic and fair assumption that the ruling class (including the Aquinos, Roxas, and Binays) want to protect their wealth and their power and let's move down to the problems that have been mentioned.

Would our ruling elite really want a strong modern philippine military? No. Why? Imagine there being more than a handful Trillanes-type mutineers running around and wielding high tech weaponry. Not good for keeping your money or power at all.

Would the ruling elite want to promote policies that eliminate economic inequality without sacrificing entrepreneurs and businesses? No, as to the poorest of the poor they constitute a controllable voting base. As to a would be entrepreneur class…why would they allow more people the opportunity to get wealthy and potentially challenge their economic superiority and down the road political power?

The rebuke of history on these ruling elite must come through action. Either the elite must have a change of heart (highly unlikely, although I do want to direct all to a link… I know it's from Noynoy's father…. but damn the apple fell far from the tree and into another dimension

http://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/24006/benigno-s-aquino-jr/whats-wrong-with-the-philippines) or action that will force them to change.

As it is the elite in the Philippines have a good thing going because the elite rather luckily or smartly implemented pro-emigration policies. An astounding 10% of the Philippine population works overseas and sends remittances. Now if they were not working overseas this could result in the formation a formidable organized middle class opposition of overeducated unemployed discontents that the elite would have to deal with and could force them to change policies.

In short, while people are still unorganized and relatively happy the current elite will continue to rule and squeeze the country. It is in their interest to keep the majority of the people poor. This means pro-equality and other seemingly common sense policies will never be implemented since they run counter the ruling elite's interest. Fun times.

----------------
This is a GRP Featured Comment. Join the discussion!
http://getrealphilippines.com/blog/2014/11/4-things-that-will-happen-when-jejomar-binay-becomes-philippine-president/comment-page-1/#comment-932356

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular this week

The sound of a #Tagalog convo: 'like chickens and hens cackling in unison'

By -
Image
While I'm not sure the language should totally go the way Latin did, one can't deny the limited use of Tagalog. As it is now, a sentence can't be done without two or three borrowed words in English which makes it redundant in academia. Somehow you gotta address the technical jargon but there really is no equivalent to it in Tagalog so the English term just ends up jammed in between the local vernacular. Nevermind the fact that reading Tagalog online is cringey no matter who wrote it. Add the fact that it just doesn't sound pleasing to the ear. Normal conversation with Tagalog is like chickens and hens cackling in unison to the uninitiated. It's the peasants' language through and through. ------------ This is a GRP Featured Comment. Join the discussion! http://getrealphilippines.com/blog/2014/06/kudos-to-the-commission-on-higher-education-ched-for-finally-junking-tagalog/comment-page-1/#comment-544143
Read more

Poor people in the Philippines seem to prefer poverty over aspiring to be not poor

By -
Image
Sadly, a MAJORITY of the poor people here are bad people. That is WHY they are poor. They disrespect others, they disrespect themselves, and they disrespect God’s creation. Exactly how do they think they’ll be rewarded for that? If you genuinely had empathy, you would be able to get inside their heads and understand why they do these things, and perhaps know how to fix it. However, you are confusing “empathy” with “sympathy”. I have yet to meet a poor person who actually WANTS to do the things necessary to escape poverty. The funny thing is, everyone can see that I’m more successful than they are. They think this is because I’m “rich”. I’m sure a lot of them are full of jealousy (as benign0 describes) and sit around thinking “ha, it’s not fair, that foreigner is so rich and I’m so poor. I guess it’s OK if I steal his stuff”. Which they do. Regularly. I grew up poor. I know how it feels to be hungry, all the time, every day. I decided I didn’t like feeling like that. I’m successf
Read more

Rappler CEO @MariaRessa suggests that Duterte was ORDERED to sing by Trump! 😮

By -
Image
In a tweet fielded by Rappler CEO Maria Ressa today, the causality reader could be led to believe that Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte was ordered to sing by US President Donald Trump. But was he really? It seems Ressa is just being too quick to selectively interpret a common Filipino colloquialism that is no different to the way we use terms like "bossing" and "chief" to address peers or even subordinates in a tongue-in-cheek manner. Ressa is most definitely grasping for straws here.
Read more