Budget Deficit down 80%

This is significant. Past performance had us believing that the deficit was an unkillable beast. We rejoiced at improvements of 10% to 20%. While some PHP10.0 billion is substantial it's a far cry from 80 billion pesos. Lets check that again: 80 is greater than 10.

Considering the performance, I wonder how the P-Noy team managed when other administrations did not. Some point to the increase in revenues from the BIR, but that's about 1 billion in improvement leaving 79 billion to account for. Customs seems to account for a similar amount. Could it have been the zero based budget policy?

Simply put, zero based budgeting means all budget items get reviewed not just incremental increases. Programs that did not deliver had their funding cut. Check the Wikipedia definition of zero based budgeting. It may seem minor but I suspect it has a psychological impact. Program proponents must show results thus encouraging them to become efficient or at least effective. Corruption has a diminished impact. Even the corrupt have a  reason to serve well - if they don't they lose their kickbacks. 

It would be useful if we could see where the deficit improvements came from. Then we can concentrate on these targets. Citing another efficiency theory, the Pareto Principle, most results come from only a fraction of our activities. This is sometimes called the 80/20 Principle. Studying the recent results could be a gold mine of efficiency information. It may be one of the few chances we'll get in a long while.

Porsches and Champagne

P-Noy keeps getting flak because of his penchant for fast cars. Everyone's favorite is, of course, the Porsche. It;s pretty obvious why. The Porsche is iconic; everyone knows what it is and that it is expensive. It makes a great target.

Reconsideriing the subject, I realized that letting the president have one isn't as bad as it sounds. Don't believe me? Then get ready for a ride.

First off, P-Noy's Porsche was bought with his own money. He's rich and so is the family try as he might to hide that. Next, that Porsche was bought second hand from a local. Assuming the papers are in order some taxes and fees would have been paid to bring it over. That's money for the country. The people handling its transportation get paid as well. That's employment. Some of the maintenance would likely be done here as well. I'm sure they wouldn't ship that car overseas for an oil change and a tank of gas. I can add that local spending has a multiplier effect on the economy especially when that money gets invested locally.

Compare that to the president having dinner in the US. The money spent would have come from taxes. That tax money does not return to the country unless the restaurant sources a lot of ingredients from the Philippines. Last, I checked though, we don't produce French wine. If the restaurant staff were mostly Filipinos maybe some of them would have sent money home.

So the Porsche doesn't sound so bad. We just need to make sure the president and his allies don't eat out too much.