No one can make a ‘mouse’

SEVERAL months ago our No. 2 son moved out of our house and into a condominium near his office. For the first two months we barely saw him, as his newfound freedom from the watchful eye and protection of his parents and family meant late nights and long weekends of enjoying that freedom.

But lately his weekly visits and his excitement of being on his own have given way to more mature considerations on what happens next and further securing his future. His new laptop, bought with his own money, and his seriously looking at opening a food franchise are not only signs of his freedom, but also of his new maturity.

Nations are like that, too.

The Philippines has been struggling in the last decade with the realization that it is truly on its own. The country’s continuing engagement with China over territorial disputes and other matters show that it is no longer a “little brother” of the US and must make its own way in the region and world. No longer can the Philippines depend on the US to carry at least part of its economic or security well-being. That is what it means to be an “adult” on the global stage.

While my son must now figure out how to properly manage his finances, the Philippines is being forced to come to terms with the new reality of having to make its own way against the backdrop of a troublesome and difficult global financial situation, which compelled some countries—large, small, rich, not-so-rich—to make decisions that are in their own self-interests.

No longer can the Philippine government easily and conveniently go on a begging mission to Washington and ask Uncle Sam for money or protection any more than the armed leftist groups expect Uncle Mao to help them in their quests.

However, there remains the mindset of some very diverse groups that think and act as if this was still the 20th century, or even earlier.

It is almost humorous to hear the groups calling for the end of the Philippines’s participation in the concept of globalization talk about their ideas being for the benefit of the poor and the Filipino people, arguing that a closed economy serves only the interests of the entrenched economic oligarchies that they supposedly despise as being anti-poor.

The anti mineral-development groups prefer to ignore the wealth the country does possess and would rather spend the hard-earned money of the people buying raw materials from other countries, such as China, that are only interested in their own economies.

The greatest economic fallacy is that the Philippines should strive to be self-sufficient. Notice the term used: self-sufficient. When we speak of a farmer or fisherman being self-sufficient, we mean poor, having no more wealth than is absolutely necessary to survive.

For centuries there were many societies that were self-sufficient. Many of the kingdoms of the early Middle Ages were self-sufficient, with the majority of the people, called serfs then, only working to keep the elite comfortable.

It was globalization, the exchange of ideas and goods, which raised the standards of living around the world. Perhaps it is coincidental and not causal, but since globalization in the 20th century started in earnest in the 1970s, the global average per capita income (adjusted for inflation) of the average person across all nations has tripled. The human life span is up 30 percent. Per capita food production has increased by one-third.

In 2010 British author and scientist Matt Ridley gave a talk, saying that no one can make a computer mouse. This was based on “I Pencil,” a 1958 essay by economist Leonard Read. The idea is that, without the interchange of both ideas and goods, economies and societies cannot advance.

That simple computer mouse that you might be holding in your hand right now requires plastic from crude oil, silicon and metals mined from the earth, as well as a laser device and other electronic equipment that no individual could gather alone to build the mouse. Few nations can even build a mouse, and the Philippines is certainly not one of them.

The Philippines does not have the oil to make the plastic case, as well as the rare minerals to produce the laser and other components that are not mined in the country.

Those that would economically isolate the Philippines share the same mindset of the kings that subjugated the serfs to build wealth for the monarchy. –John Mangun, Businessmirror