My only point is, if we want to be treated fairly by these powerful countries and corporate interests, then we should know how to play their crazy little games.

That the JPEPA is encountering huge problems regarding its ratification is, for me, a good sign.

Benign0′s contention on our being “hooked” — well, that problem isn’t exactly new. In the previous generation we were hooked on everything “steytsayd”. How do you something so deeply ingrained as that?

Quite the contrary, these are things we have full control over. But when markets are the talk here, I just don’t think a simple action as not “falling into the cheapest of their ploys” is a concrete action at all.

We’re no pushovers, but concrete solutions are hard to come by especially with The World Bank, WTO, and other so called “independent” world organizations, who have at the heart of their hierarchy, officials close to Washington.

So, no crying over here on my part, just stating the facts, letting everyone know, and hopefully enlighten the people a bit. That’s the first step after all, lest we just punch wildly at an enemy we know nothing about.

Hopefully, at the heart of that statement, you mean government officials who let the country be pushed over. I say, the only concrete action against that, is to wipe out these damn trapos once and for all. And thus, we go back to Cocoy’s need for a new politic in The Philippines… Maybe then, we can get some guts, and balls into these officials who ultimately make the decisions for the masses.

Boohoohoo, they’re gaming the system.

Problem? We’re letting them, falling into the cheapest of their ploys.

Will there ever be a time when Filipinos cease to be pushovers?

The way “globalisation” is pitched, it promises to

(1) opens broader markets for producers; and,
(2) broadens scope of available products and services to consumers.

BUT

For countries hooked on consumption — such as the Philippines — with utterly weak track records of high-added-value production, the effect of Item 2 is like letting a 3-year-old kid lose in a candy store selling cheap sweets.

That’s the Philippines today — hooked on Chinese celphone trinkets and Mekong Delta rice.

I commend that congresswoman who proposed that ICT hubs be established in all provinces outside of the province urbanity or capital; while her project is ambitious she’s at least on the right track.

It’s hopeless to catch up with India or China now in manufacturing, and it is utterly useless and brainless to wallow in the tradition of manual factory labor. Time to adapt, time to catch up. Time to start fighting for real.

We can only compete on price for so long as China and Vietnam — with far lower labour costs have already started eating away at our labour cost advantage.