Thread by @marortoll

Where is the substance in this piece by Mang Tonyo? Numbers he cited comes from Ibon's Sonny Africa. That's biased to begin with. Tonyo also displays a lack of grasp of economics and public finance. The basic is, any revenue shortfall of the government is
mb.com.ph/2021/07/24/p10…

financed by borrowings; external and Internal. The ideal is to have a balanced budget. Government is not a business that's run for profit. It's easy for Tonyo to say the monies are there without taking into account the budget deficit, debt service and funding extraordinary

contingencies arising from fortuitous events such as the projected Delta surge. He deigns to compare the Philippines with the US which is a rich country and has the dollar as fiat currency. Has he looked at the current US budget deficit? The inflationary pressure tax-and-spend is

putting on the US economy? Is he ware of Philippine banks real estate exposure? If the economy is locked down again and there's an increase in the NPLs of the banks, where will the government get the funds to prevent them from failing? Managing an economy is not as simple as

Tonyo thinks it to be. This is why they're not good for anything except agitating and exploiting the poor. Mendicancy is not an option in the pandemic environment. Every Filipino has to do his part. Tonyo's attitude is typical of leftist-militants. They have no idea what their

ideology is. It is liberal capitalism with safety nets or is it socialism with even bigger safety nets? As it is, the poor are already benefiting from free education from primary to tertiary levels. The Duterte administration has spent the highest amount on social services

compared to previous administrations. It is easy for Tonyo and his cohorts to demand. But where to get to pay for what they want they are silent on. How convenient.