Back to work with GMA, the iron lady

LOS ANGELES, California – It's the first working dayof the new year. My son's back at work and I'm all set to fly back home tomorrow evening. I can't wait to get back to work and it seems from what I have heard from Filipinos here, they can't wait to see our country back at work too.

Strange as it might seem to a visiting Pinoy, hardened by years of frustration since the first EDSA revolution, Pinoys here do put a lot of hope on Gloria Macapagal Arroyo finally providing the leadership we need. As such, the best piece of really great news from Philstar.com and the other websites of Philippine newspapers is that item about GMA being named Asia's Iron Lady.

I couldn't, for the life of me, explain to them why the Financial Times of London would give her such a tag. If the Brits were thinking Madame Thatcher, the iron-willed lady Prime Minister who privatized utilities and other government businesses and won a war against Argentina for the Falklands, I find it hard to justify the comparison.

There is no doubt we need an iron willed President who will put the Abu Sayyaf in their place and make the trapos think country for a change. I like GMA a lot but still somehow find GMA still a bit too compromising a politician to deserve the honor.

What did the Financial Times see that we locals couldn't see? It couldn't be because she was reported to have thrown a cell phone and a tuna sandwich at Cabinet members caught attending the Tuesday Cabinet meeting without doing their homework. I don't even know if that's true but when I heard that story in that bastion of vile rumors known as Myther's, I was immediately hopeful that maybe GMA is just what the doctor ordered for our sick country.

But the Financial Times wouldn't have given her the honor of being compared to Lady Thatcher for something so visceral as hitting Cabinet members with flying objects. It must be because she has an iron will to succeed and a readiness to stand-up against politicians and vested interests as needed. Thus far, I get the feeling that she is so worried about 2004, she is ready to do anything to make sure she has the major power brokers lined up behind her.

Maybe the Financial Times named her Asia's Iron Lady simply because she survived the May 1 march to the Palace of Erap loyalists, the war against the Abu Sayyaf and the coup plotters. Indeed, the mere fact that she is still in office a year after the Supreme Court allowed her to take the oath of office, is achievement enough.

What the Financial Times has done is to open my eyes to the possibility that our very own GMA, like George W. Bush, may surprise us yet. Also named President by the Supreme Court, Bush Junior has matured into one tough leader after 9/11. Maybe all that GMA is waiting for is the right moment to show what she is made of.

Will Misuari make her day? Or Abu Sabaya? Or Ed Angara?

Hopefully, 2002 is the year GMA will show she deserves the citation of the Financial Times that she is Asia's Iron Lady. We need leadership of the caliber of Lady Thatcher, Queen Elizabeth 1 and Golda Meir. She should go beyond throwing cell phones and sandwiches at stupid Cabinet members. She should throw them out instead so we can get going.

Chaos in Argentina

It is with sadness and apprehension that we watched the growing civil unrest that has led to violence in Argentina over its failed economic policies. The middle class has taken to the streets to protest the harsh economic sanctions imposed by government to address their deepening economic crisis. The current interim president is the second one in less than a week and no one is inclined to assume the responsibility of putting the country together again.

In this regard, I found the admonition of US President Bush for Argentina to work out a rescue plan with the IMF as something totally pathetic. No one told Mr. Bush that it was precisely because Argentina worked too closely with the IMF that it is in this troubled condition today.

If the IMF geniuses run true to form, they will most likely prescribe even more restrictive domestic policies that would be like putting high octane gasoline into the smoldering anger in the streets.

Dedicated to the protection of international banks, the IMF will first of all see to it that Argentina pays its over $130 billion in debts even if the last Argentinian goes hungry and keels over.

We have seen the IMF do that in Indonesia and even in the Philippines. If Mr. Greenspan eases monetary policies in the wake of a recession in America, the IMF prescribes just the opposite when a similar recession hits any of its client states in the Third World.

The collapse of the Argentinian economy couldn't have happened at the worse possible time. The on-going worldwide recession leaves it little room to maneuver.

What happened to Argentina should serve sufficient warning to our policy makers and legislators to take economic policy making seriously. They should drop all attempts to rewrite economic laws to protect their interests. In the end, nothing could be truer than the observation that there is no such thing as a free lunch. Someone always pays and in our case, it is always the common man. The consequences of failed economic policies are often dire, as Argentina illustrates today.

Opportunity cost

One economic concept Dr. Ernie E wants us to keep in mind as we enter the new year is that of opportunity cost.

A man was sitting at a bar, morosely staring at his untouched beer. The bartender walked over with a sigh, and asked "What’s the problem, pal?"

"My brother just told me that there’s a sperm bank in his neighborhood that pays $40 for a donation."

"Yeah, so?"

"Don’t you realize?" the man cried. "I’ve let a

fortune slip through my fingers!"

(Boo Chanco's e-mail address is bchanco@bayantel.com.ph)