The Philippines just elected their least unpopular candidate to become its President. Rodrigo Duterte became the President of the Philippines that has a population of almost a hundred million people with just 38% of votes. In other words 62% of voters rejected him but they lost. Mr. Duterte rode the wave of a populist agenda advocating strong arm tactics to stem corruption in the Philippines government and funnel the funds recovered to the impoverished in the nation where a quarter of its population live by meagre subsistence. Mr. Duterte is known for his infamous past, which he is proud of, of permitting extra judicial killings to clean up the city of Davao of criminals as its mayor. Many people fear that Mr. Duterte might become the next dictator of the Philippines especially if he gets back to forming death squads to quell crime.
Mr. Duterte's appeal is understandable. He is willing to spare no means to go after corrupt Filipino government officials, civil servants and criminals. But allowing a leader of a nation to get away with end results to justify the means is inherently dangerous because power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely. So the risk the Philippines faces is if their President actually comes good on his promises. To strong arm the entire nation to clean it up he will need an independent posse answerable to him only. He might create a new national security force headed by his most loyal lieutenants empowered to disregard due process to carry out his bidding unquestionably. If this doesn't happen and all Mr. Duterte was doing during his campaign was just pandering to the most disenfranchised Filipinos then all he was spewing from the stump was pure rhetoric and the Philippines will continue more or less as usual.
What's good for the Philippines is good for the Philippines, what's bad for it is bad for itself. For the rest of us who are not Filipinos or not doing business with the nation its no big deal that Mr. Duterte is the next President, just interesting news. However I hope a similar situation doesn't happen in the US, where Donald Trump becomes the next President of USA because what's good for the US is good for all of us and what's bad for the US is bad for all of us. Like Mr. Duterte Trump stokes his base with negative expletives of their country and vows to fix it miraculously and quickly by banking on his business acumen which he always describes with the most positive expletives. But even as the presumptive nominee of the Republican Party he is already the bearer of bad news except for those who hate the USA and want to see it go down.
Recently Trump called himself the King of Debt. He is going to rid the US off its 19 trillion dollar national debt in no time. How? Simply don't pay it. Default on the national bonds and declare bankruptcy. Just like that the 19 trillion dollar debt disappears from US national accounts and he is done! What a fool! And fools are prone to falling in traps. The trap here is to think a country can be run like a business.
I am a citizen of a country. It doesn't matter to me if my government is profitable. All I ask is that my tax money is not wasted. That to me is the most important job of the head of government. If a government has to spend more money than it earns in taxes and fees to serve the people than by all means borrow money. It is very, very difficult for governments to be profitable because it is the job of the government to give security to its population, provide justice, care for its citizens even the ones who are old or unproductive, provide free basic education and much more. Most of these activities from a business standpoint are financial liabilities that cannot be profitable. The best you can hope for is to break even in the accounts. The worst thing a government can do is to foster a climate that creates lack of confidence in the productivity of a country. Nobody will want to lend money to such a government and that can be the worst thing for its citizens. By saying he is willing to default on federal bonds Trump has made a threat as dangerous to the USA as Mr. Duterte's vigilante squad to the Philippines.
Really there is no reason to allude to such a possibility because the US is renowned for its innovations. Even if the US National Debt hits 50 trillion people will still want to buy US bonds because of the technology and products its citizens create that the world wants. From segways to aeroplanes, medical tech to entertainment the world likes US stuff and can't get enough of it. It is to the benefit of US allies and friends around the world that the country thrives. It biggest failing would be to elect Trump as its President. That would erode confidence in the country like kryptonite sucking energy from Superman. Trump says stupid things, what he doesn't realise is that confidence is fostered by what is said as much as by what is done. Of all the foolish things he has said so far in this race, by far the most dangerous is his willingness to default on US debt. The damage of that statement will be felt on the very first day of a Trump Presidency and unfortunately not only in the US if such a day ever comes to pass.
Mr. Duterte's appeal is understandable. He is willing to spare no means to go after corrupt Filipino government officials, civil servants and criminals. But allowing a leader of a nation to get away with end results to justify the means is inherently dangerous because power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely. So the risk the Philippines faces is if their President actually comes good on his promises. To strong arm the entire nation to clean it up he will need an independent posse answerable to him only. He might create a new national security force headed by his most loyal lieutenants empowered to disregard due process to carry out his bidding unquestionably. If this doesn't happen and all Mr. Duterte was doing during his campaign was just pandering to the most disenfranchised Filipinos then all he was spewing from the stump was pure rhetoric and the Philippines will continue more or less as usual.
What's good for the Philippines is good for the Philippines, what's bad for it is bad for itself. For the rest of us who are not Filipinos or not doing business with the nation its no big deal that Mr. Duterte is the next President, just interesting news. However I hope a similar situation doesn't happen in the US, where Donald Trump becomes the next President of USA because what's good for the US is good for all of us and what's bad for the US is bad for all of us. Like Mr. Duterte Trump stokes his base with negative expletives of their country and vows to fix it miraculously and quickly by banking on his business acumen which he always describes with the most positive expletives. But even as the presumptive nominee of the Republican Party he is already the bearer of bad news except for those who hate the USA and want to see it go down.
Recently Trump called himself the King of Debt. He is going to rid the US off its 19 trillion dollar national debt in no time. How? Simply don't pay it. Default on the national bonds and declare bankruptcy. Just like that the 19 trillion dollar debt disappears from US national accounts and he is done! What a fool! And fools are prone to falling in traps. The trap here is to think a country can be run like a business.
I am a citizen of a country. It doesn't matter to me if my government is profitable. All I ask is that my tax money is not wasted. That to me is the most important job of the head of government. If a government has to spend more money than it earns in taxes and fees to serve the people than by all means borrow money. It is very, very difficult for governments to be profitable because it is the job of the government to give security to its population, provide justice, care for its citizens even the ones who are old or unproductive, provide free basic education and much more. Most of these activities from a business standpoint are financial liabilities that cannot be profitable. The best you can hope for is to break even in the accounts. The worst thing a government can do is to foster a climate that creates lack of confidence in the productivity of a country. Nobody will want to lend money to such a government and that can be the worst thing for its citizens. By saying he is willing to default on federal bonds Trump has made a threat as dangerous to the USA as Mr. Duterte's vigilante squad to the Philippines.
Really there is no reason to allude to such a possibility because the US is renowned for its innovations. Even if the US National Debt hits 50 trillion people will still want to buy US bonds because of the technology and products its citizens create that the world wants. From segways to aeroplanes, medical tech to entertainment the world likes US stuff and can't get enough of it. It is to the benefit of US allies and friends around the world that the country thrives. It biggest failing would be to elect Trump as its President. That would erode confidence in the country like kryptonite sucking energy from Superman. Trump says stupid things, what he doesn't realise is that confidence is fostered by what is said as much as by what is done. Of all the foolish things he has said so far in this race, by far the most dangerous is his willingness to default on US debt. The damage of that statement will be felt on the very first day of a Trump Presidency and unfortunately not only in the US if such a day ever comes to pass.
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