Friday, September 25, 2015

POLITICAL ECONOMY by Cheyenne Chelsea D. Empuerto BSOT1B

         "Globalization has produced a new level of interdependence among us. The economy and multinational supply chains do not abide by political boundaries". Economy comes from the greek word "oikonomos" which means household management, refers to the productions distribution or trade, and consumption of limited goods by the individuals in the society and services by different agents in a geographical location.

Three basic steps that involves economic activity:

1. Natural Resources
2. Labor
3. Capital  

          In our economy, as individuals of the society, we experience a common problem involving humanity across history which is scarcity. Scarcity refers to the state of being scarce or having a very small or limited supply causing for organizations, nations and certain humans to lead to problems that are needed or in dire to be solved, due responses. There are 2 bases of the economy, the first one is the market based which refers to an economy in which decisions regarding investment, production, and distribution are based on supply and demand while the second one is then command base that refers to production and distribution of goods and services wherein men and women have the control and imposition. The most popular doctrines are hold by the most popular sociologist who imposed materialism, Karl Marx.

Evolving modes of production in the history of humanity:

1. Primitive Communism - production is not permanent and characterizes Paleolithic and Neolithic Age
2. Asiatic Mode - ruled by Gods using violence existing in some parts of Asia
3. Ancient Mode - ruled by a class professed to have secular principle of dominion
4. Feudalism - primary from of property is the possession of land
5. Capitalism - a way of organizing an economy so that the things that are used to make and transport products are owned by individual people and companies rather than by the government
6. Socialism - a way of organizing a society in which major industries are owned and controlled by the government ratger than by individual people amd companies
7. Communism - which the government owns the things that are used to make and transport products, not privately owned property

          Politics comes from the greek word "politikos" which means for citizens, exercise of power of governance. It is always associated with power in administering & organizing an society. Constitutedby members of the society, by lawsand policies in the management , administration and mechanism for maintaining order in & ot the organization refers to what we call political system.

5 types of political system:

1. Authoritarianism- a basis for legitimacy based on emotion
2. Monarchy- sovereignty is actually and nominally embodied in one/ several individual(s)
3. Democracy- people of the state are involved in making decisions about affairs

          A) Direct- in which people decide policy initiatives directly
          B) Representative- founded on the principle of elected officials representing a group of people 4. Republic- country that is both a republc and democracy
5. Communism- social, political and economic idealogy and movement whose ultimate goal is the establishment of the communist society.

          "Vote to stand tall against terrorists, receieve social security privatization. Vote to strike a blow against etilism, recieve social order in which wealth is more concentrated than ever before in our lifetimes, in which workers have been stripped of power and CEOs are rewarded in a manner beyond imagining." Privatization is premisedon the idea on better performanceand increase efficiency of services to consumers, an area that is not complied by the government. Deregulation refers to the removal of governments rules and regulations that restrict the operation of market activity. Philippne external debt is the amount owned by the government of the Philippines to foreign creditors. The Philippine does not only borrow from financial institutions but also from foreign countries with high supply of money like US, Japan, United Kingdom, France and Germany. A fundamental question that confronts succeeding political leaders is how much of the foreign debt incurred by Marcos dictatorship was ellegitimate and therefore not the obligation of the Filipino people to pay. Tax revenues are also a subject of many criticisms because of varying issues of tax collections. Because of the tax measures that were passed by Corazon Aquino administration, in 2006 alone in the Philippines was able to repay its total outstanding debt obligations to IMF but our country still faces budget deficit due to corrupt government officials. The Philippines being debt dependent to the world bank etc, results for our own taxes to increase.

          Our basic needs as individual of the community to be able to survive have rapidly increased since 1990s. These price increases are attributed to what are called Asian economic debacle, rising prices of global market, increasing taxes, economic bubble, inflation and etc. Another vital component for fiscal consolidation is migration and remmitances which can also benefit and serves as advantage to the countrys source of foreign exchange. Our country is only dependent to internattional institutions and the to our fellow Filipino migrants, not our own, but despite this, us being so dependent to them, we still experience a massive poverty and very low unemployment rate of people leading to some informal settlers and hunger. Migration is an alibi for economic and political inefficiency of the Philippines. Higher remmitances are not even supported by economic overhaul of the country that would guarantee higher employment, adequate social services, increase wages of workers and develop agriculture.

         The Filipinos are suffering from great scarcity of food, poverty, hunger, unemployment, robbery etc due to the countrys economic status and the root cause of this is clearly corruption. We are supposed to be the ones controlling the society instead of being the ones being controlled. Economic and political studies help explore the condition of man and the society, crises in the Philippine economy demands for a response from Social Scientists. We must also find little ways as a member of the society on how we could improve our economy instead of being blinded.
     

    15 comments:

    1. Nothing has been left temporary and as enormous social economics, political, and spiritual forces contribute to the vast dependency of the Phil. government, there is a rethinking of how things should be given to people's power. Based from the article; "Migration is an alibi for economic and political inefficiency of the Philippines" by Cheyeene Chelsea, I truly do agree with the writer. Suggesting, that more than possessing the ability to handle more materialistic things in the country, we; the students, teachers and Filipinos must be expected to develop innovation to place what we see, hear, and learn into perspective, helping Filipinos develop common sense in dealing with the pressure of the status quo.

      ReplyDelete
    2. It is true that we are supposed to be the ones controlling the society instead of being the ones being controlled. Since we are the inhabitants of the society, what we need is to survive through being economically and socially fair with each other. Also in regarding to corruption, since it is the root of the scarcity of the society, the government should also think about the daily needs of the citizens and give us the right and power not only for ourselves but to improve the country.

      ReplyDelete
    3. We are supposed to be the boss of the government officials. We must do something about this rather than just let them abuse their power

      ReplyDelete
    4. This comment has been removed by the author.

      ReplyDelete
    5. The money that we, the citizens, provide to the government should be used for the betterment of our economy and not to fatten up the wallets of these government officials.

      -Paul Beltran

      ReplyDelete
    6. We the Filipinos, are suffering due to the government.. Well in fact, we chose our government officials so the blame cycle goes back to us. - Mia Russell

      ReplyDelete
    7. We the people are suppose to be the most important part of the state. The money we pay is for the betterment of the country but look ? we dont see much of an improvement to our country just more debts from other countries this just goes to show how our decisions of electing people to lead us are just very biased.
      -Marc Lim

      ReplyDelete
    8. In order to eradicate corruption, we the people should vote for leaders who are selfless and not selfish.

      ReplyDelete
    9. Yes, no corruption equals to no poverty. But how can there be no corruption when in fact we, the citizens, are also corrupt by means of voting for our leaders and living our everyday lives in this country. If we, the citizens want to have a corrupt free country then the best way for us to do something is take initiative and not be blinded by the powers we get from being corrupt.

      ReplyDelete
    10. People should vote for the right leaders in the first place so that corruption can be eliminated. We should remember that we choose the leaders, not the other way around.

      ReplyDelete
    11. If we not only think ot ourselves but also the people around us then I'm sure we can elect the right leaders. I also think that we should research on who we are gonna vote. We should know the background of the people that we are electing.

      ReplyDelete
    12. It talks about how the civilians are supreme. The government will always go through the hands of the citizens before they could get the diadem of the position. Therefore, we cannot always blame the undesirable ethics the government is showing, it is also the citizens' fault due to the unwise votes.

      ReplyDelete
    13. We should be responsible enough to choose our leaders and we should know who are holding our country. And not only by popularity but by the ones who will end graft and corruption.

      ReplyDelete
    14. In my honest opinion, we should not blame the government for our corruption over the past years. We are the ones to blame. Why? We are the ones who placed them in the positions they are in right now and continue to abuse their power and get richer and richer, while we become poorer and poorer. We have to stop being so ignorant about everything and open our eyes and act responsible NOW.

      -Therese Alcoseba BS OT 1-B :D

      ReplyDelete
    15. Political parties are essential components of democratic governance. Democracies require political parties as these offer the voter political choices at election time. They also represent and channel divergent social interests and diffuse them in what is typically a protracted political process. Therefore, we should vote potential leaders who are capable of making our country a better place to live in.

      Frances Bosque BSOT 1-B

      ReplyDelete