I don’t really know but is it due to my blogging here that some big honcho financial folks invited me for drinks in a tony Makati watering hole last Thursday?  Of course I have known these folks before (some of them I knew from college,three big bankers and one exec in S’pore) but why should they invite a science academic?

It turns out that they wanted to hear the economic “tsismis” from UP. But I told them that the School of Econ website has the “tsismis” but its couched in academese. I also advised them to attend ALL THE CENTENNIAL LECTURES! Nonetheless I briefed them about the latest bloody struggles in academe, the question of where to get the cash to improve profs pay?, research grant allocations cut etc. Now that UP is largely on its own (as a result of the new charter), the question of money comes at a wrong time. It seems that the Charter is a good idea at a wrong time.

For instance there is a bill in Senate committee “Government Classification and Compensation Act” that updates the Salary Standardization Law (SSL). Since UP ain’t part of the SSL anymore,if in an act of pre-election generosity, the politicians double government salaries,  we won’t be part of it! UP has to find its own money.

Anyway the S’pore based exec with huge interests in China says that Singapore has been savagely hit and jobs are falling off like autumn leaves. I was surprised to know that in China 30% of the new rich had their money in the stock market. The money is now pffft and with it middle class aspirations.  So according to him we are not that bad. None of the middle class is in the predicament as some Chinese. Public participation in the stock market isn’t very big.

But the whole night was about what would be the first and second quarter effects of the global recession on us ordinary Pinoys especially the business outsourcing industry and retailing. The larger than expected retail slump is expected before the summer as parents save up for school fees.  But it is all official now and not “tsismis” as the Finance Secretary just said.  Government plans to accelerate spending on infrastructure.

The advice from the financial biz whiz is to 1) save and tighten belts, 2) if you have investments that aren’t losing that much, let the bad weather pass on, 3) if you have investments that are risky, get out now, 4) invest in yourself (go back to school!), 5) buy dollars! (They say we may hit 60:1 next year according to the S’pore based exec) and most important 6) hold on to your job. Those in the civil service have the best job security.

I’m no economist but what do think of these advice?

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