Posted by ednathan on October 22, 2008 · Leave a Comment
by Ednathan Thadeu Andrada
Everything seems to be going fine for Democrat presidential nominee Barack Obama. He is up in all nationwide opinion polls and he is slamming his Republican rival John McCain in virtually all battleground states. Then suddenly he bumped into an ordinary plumber from Ohio, a meeting that both men wished never happened.
That plumber turned out to be Samuel Joe Wurzelbacher, now popularly known as ‘Joe the Plumber’. While Obama was doing his routine house-to-house visit in suburban Ohio, Joe the Plumber took the chance and asked the Democrat hopeful whether he will be taxed more under the latter’s proposed tax plan should he become president. Obama’s ‘spread the wealth’ response not only put his tax plan under scrutiny, but his ability to steer the country out of recession.
McCain called the Obama tax plan as socialism and Obama supporters fired back that the current Republican administration’s bailout efforts in the financial system is the highest form of socialism. However, the Joe the Plumber saga has definitely provided the McCain campaign a lifeline less than three weeks to go before election day.
In the last presidential elections in 2004 here in the Philippines, taxes were never a huge debating issue between incumbent President Arroyo and opposition standard bearer the late Fernando Poe Joe Jr. In the upcoming 2010 polls, though, taxes are expected to become a factor as the country moves towards a slowdown and possibly a recession. With steady high inflation and unemployment crippling the economy due to rapid population growth and the global financial crisis, the Filipino middle class will surely be interested how the presidential candidates plan to make their every peso worth.
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Posted by ednathan on October 22, 2008 · Leave a Comment
by Ednathan Thadeu Andrada
In another twist in the markets this week, the Dow rose to 401 points bucking negative economic news that hounded Wall Street investors during trading day. This came after the industrials lost 733 points the previous day. In this kind of market environment, no one seem to have the answers. Perhaps one can suspect that the only rational explanation for the rise is bargain hunting.
But does that mean that the market has already seen the bottom? Many of the so-called pundits are skeptical with the notion that the markets has reached the abyss and there is no way to go but up. With how the markets are behaving lately, what lies ahead looks even more daunting since any form of logic that was left has clearly been thrown out of the window.
As expected, the local markets followed Wall Street’s lead yesterday with the Phisix slipping to its 18-month low. The peso also breached the P48 to a dollar mark as dollar holders are keeping their greenback in hopes for a better opportunity to sell. A weakening peso holds off any significant reduction in prices of petroleum products here in the Philippines.
I believe any move by the Bangko Sentral to control inflation through monetary measures like increasing interest rates is absolutely counterproductive because it will not address the problem. On the political front, Congress must anticipate a recession next year and should allocate enough funding in anticipation for any pressure to the financial system.
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Posted by ednathan on October 22, 2008 · Leave a Comment
Just hours before the two US presidential hopefuls square off for their third and final debate, Wall Street suffered one of its worst losses in a single trading day, with the Dow falling 733 points, most coming in the final hour of trading. After Monday’s record breaking rebound, today’s losses reminded people that the economy continues to be the main focal point of this year’s elections.
Democratic nominee Barack Obama currently enjoys a lead in nationwide opinion polls and is ahead in many of the key battleground states. In this debate, the American public will surely be hungry for specifics from the two candidates on how they plan to solve this crisis and avert a 1930s Great Depression-like meltdown.
Four years ago, opposition presidential candidate the late Fernando Poe Jr. backed out from joining any debates. President Arroyo, sensing it was no use being on those debates without her closest rival anyway, decided not to participate as well.
I believe people have the right to see whoever plans to occupy the highest office in the land to at least participate in these healthy exchanges so that they would have a better understanding of the people who would lead them. Nobody said a president has to be a rocket scientist but at least someone who can show that he or she is capable of handling the pressure of a debate.
Posted by shalomsiy on October 22, 2008 · Leave a Comment
An avid reader of this blog sent me a link of the promo Fly away to LA with Piolo and Angel. If you are updated on my latest blog posts, then you would probably say that this is somewhat very similar to the post Who wants to Win a Trip to L.A.? For those who sent me an email, you know who you are, your chances of winning just doubled. All you have to do is resend your emails and give a reason why you should be the one to Fly away to LA with Piolo and Angel.
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Posted by pinoyblogero on October 22, 2008 · Leave a Comment
When I first heard about the new TV show on GMA called “Ka-Blog”, I almost jumped to my feet.
“Ka-Blog? Wow. Is that a new TV show about blogging?”
The thought of such a show was enough to get me excited. Finally, people are slowly starting to realize how big blogging here in the Philippines has become.
Much to my disappointment, I later found out that the show Ka-Blog was in no way related to our favorite hobby. It was actually a magazine type show that features everything about adolescent life.
Dang.
Read more at PinoyBlogero.com
