Wages, Salaries, and Stuff.

Facebook Homepage Response.

AVERAGE annual income in China is $49,000 with Gini coefficient or income inequality at 0.46. Pay in the United States is from $50k to $67k to as high as $90,000 in some states. Gini coefficient or inequality measure is at 0.49. Shows that there's not much difference. 

       But China's population is 4x that of the U.S. And how people consume or spend is way different. America is the runaway #1 market consumer in the world. Mostly, we should blame how a government or leadership fixes the societal discrepancy. Yet we instead level trajectory at the rich per se and/or political partisanship. 

       News trumpets that China's current economy is faltering based on GDP growth etc. Fact is, after the CCP observed its 100 years in 2021 and upon reflection of the surge of billionaires out there, Xi Jinping reminded his people of the nation's "Common Prosperity" ideal. Right after, China's billionaires or private corporations donated billions$ to the country's projects, with focus on countryside development and Belt and Road Initiative investments overseas. 

       China has eased its manufacturing mojo to give away to BRICS partner India. Instead, China's leadership hands money to its people to up trade stakes abroad a.k.a. FDIs. Which worries the U.S. China's trade expansionism which benefits its own 1.4 billion people, who live per their socialist per Han Buddhist style of happier life, which we in America brand as "poor." 🇨🇳🤌🇺🇸

Artwork: iStock.

Morris Dancing and Clogging in North Carolina.

NEWS: “In England, Morris Dancing Is Loved, Mocked and Getting a Makeover.” And adds: “Morris dancing, a folk form with origins in the 15th century, is opening up to younger dancers who approach it as a living tradition.” It’d seem anything that is “traditional,” rooted in cultures past, and deemed conservative are demonized these days. Culture war has slipped from academic self-righteousness to political arrogance, or worse. Of course, we know why the mockery: Only because the tradition belongs to the past. 

       Morris dancing is a form of English folk dance, based on rhythmic stepping and the execution of choreographed figures by a group of dancers, usually wearing bell pads on their shins. Implements such as sticks, swords and handkerchiefs may also be wielded by the dancers. In a small number of dances for one or two people, steps are near and across a pair of clay tobacco pipes laid one across the other on the floor. They clap their sticks, swords, or handkerchiefs together to match with the dance.

       The earliest known and surviving English written mention of Morris dance is dated to 1448 and records the payment of seven shillings to Morris dancers by the Goldsmiths' Company in London. Further mentions of Morris dancing occur in the late 16th century, and there are also early records such as bishops' "Visitation Articles" mentioning sword dancing, guising and other dancing activities. 💃👯‍♂️🕺

IN the United States, a similar cultural tradition is “clogging,” a type of folk dance in which the dancer's footwear is used percussively by striking the heel, the toe, or both against a floor or each other to create audible rhythms, usually to the downbeat with the heel keeping the rhythm.

      American Clogging is associated with the predecessor to bluegrass—"old-time" music, which is based on English, and Irish fiddle tunes as well as African American banjo tunes. Clogging primarily developed from Irish step dancing called Sean-nós dance; there were also English, Scottish, German, and Cherokee step dances, as well as African rhythms and movement influences too. It was from clogging that tap dance eventually evolved. Now, many clogging teams compete against other teams for prizes such as money and trophies. 

     Clogging is the official state dance of Kentucky and North Carolina. In the United States, team clogging originated from square dance teams in Asheville, North Carolina's Mountain Dance and Folk Festival (1928). We watched this summer’s event at the Lipinsky Stadium in UNC. 

      I must say they weren’t the best cloggers and bluegrass performers that I’ve seen in years but it wasn’t all about the “show” per se but the sublimity that some people let the culture live. 

      The best in the mountain perform in the yearly “Shindig on the Green” though I haven’t seen one in years. But last time I was there, it was fiesta vibe. And no alcoholic drinks! Ain’t that different? 💃👯‍♂️🕺

(With some info copy-pasted from Wikipedia.)

Superpowers and smaller nations or the Philippines.

Facebook Homepage Response.

SUPERPOWERS gobbling up smaller nations is a global reflex or universal deduction. The West devoured the world for centuries before the 21st. When China's trade dragon was essentially asleep, and Beijing's state owned industries were basically dealing business selectively, we Filipinos were protesting America. All Philippine presidents were controlled by Washington, we cried. “Sabwatang U.S. Marcos!”

       Meanwhile, when Cold War was focused between the United States and Russia, China was quietly buying acres and acres of lands in 4 corners of the earth. That was Deng Xiaoping's plan–per "Four Modernizations" to open door policy–after Mao Zedong died in 1976 and went full-blast after Tiananmen revolt in 1989. So when China entered World Trade Organization in 2001, after a trade pact with the US in 2000 (signed by Bill Clinton and Jiang Zemin), Beijing was set and ready for trade expansionism. 

       Meanwhile, Russia entered WTO in 2012 as friendship with China was apparently revived through the years. In 1992, the two countries declared that they were pursuing a "constructive partnership.” In 1996, they progressed toward a "strategic partnership.” And in 2001, they signed a treaty of "friendship and cooperation.” Anyhow, Beijing state-owned banks advised Moscow’s Central Bank  to diversify per oil/natural gas anchor and ease up the apparatchik mojo. Do West-styled capitalism. Etc etcetera. 

       And so as President Biden works per beck and call of America’s 1 Percent which lost clout and juice vs the East, Russia, and Gulf's oil sheikhs--to regain power pedestal-- here we go, Filipinos, throwing darts at China. Consider this fact: President Ferdinand Marcos Jr got quid pro quo, decades overdue, to deliver to Uncle Sam. But remember, China got together 14 economies in the region via the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) as the Democratic Party was rejoicing Joe's win in Nov 2020. 

       My point. It is not about China or the United States. It all boils down to how the Philippines negotiates on the trade table. Singapore is friends to both but it is rich with no natural resource but its people. Vietnam is a recent example of a country or leadership that plays the West/East card so well. Cambodia is also surging. 

       But here we are. Blaming China as we blamed the U.S. before, during Marcos dictatorship. We blamed China as well during Rodrigo Duterte’s time. Yet we are within top 5 producer/exporter of sugar cane, banana, mangoes, coconut, rice as well as "climate change" industry minerals such as cobalt -- plus a strong labor manufacturing force -- but we never really used our leverage to the max. 

       Meantime, our strategic position in South China Sea is like Oman or Iran in Strait of Hormuz but again we up the China bully narrative out there than play the political or economics tactics better. 🇨🇳🇵🇭🇺🇸

The Politics of our Lives

Posted on Facebook years ago.

IT is always tempting to say something about presidential elections (both here in the US and in the Philippines, the country of my birth). I'd be excited to say one or two “contrapuntos” in regards matters back home but I'm not as exposed to current events there than before—and I don't like to say something sans documented facts (apart from historical info). I've been reading Facebook posts and comments related to elections—and I must say, I am astounded by the degree of cluelessness that some people spew, especially those that pertain to America's global relationships. 

       Some glimpses... 

       One, the oil producing universe is controlled by essentially Muslim nations. What if they bonded and insist on solely dictating crude oil prices irrelevant of the West's pressures? Are we going to invade another country for oil? I bet the Koch brothers will accede to that. Not counting that those anti-Muslim darts are endangering Americans scattered all over the globe. Two, China controls factories (eg Foxconn) that supply our electronic lives, not counting almost 90 percent of retail shelves in the heartland.  

       Computer companies' R and D budget totals beyond $5 billion each fiscal year. Also, take note South China Sea—which is currently an object of maneuverings between Beijing and US-allied countries in the region. This sealane is an important trade route east to west, teeming with natural oil, and America's security bulwark (that is why US bases in the Philippines that were evicted in early 1990s are back). Three, Mexico isn't an “illegal immigration” rostrum bait. 

       Mexico is a next-door neighbor of the US, and historically—an important trade buddy. The country has the fifteenth largest nominal GDP and the eleventh largest GDP by purchasing power parity. The Mexican economy is strongly linked to those of its North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) partners, especially the US. By 2050, Mexico could become the world's fifth or seventh largest economy.

       Voters should look beyond partyline partisanship and study political platforms and campaign promises vis a vis what's going on. President Obama isn't ridiculing so-called spike in auto industry's growth. He is telling us a stark truth. Spare parts that are assembled (at least partly) in Detroit are procured by China, Brazil, Russia and India—countries that boast of humongous workforce. Enough of one-line potshots and see within. And then vote sensibly, sensitively—but with utmost practical sense. 

       People should not just believe and share political memes on social media. We must keep on reading, educating ourselves—beyond the internet. 🙂🏛🙃