Oil, what’s it to you?

Oil is at a record high at around 140USD a barrel. There is ample enough supply say several oil ministers. The probem lies with the traders and speculators the world over. The price of oil can be artificially increased via the markets. I still don’t know how they do it but they are able to do it. Add to that the political instability that some of the world’s suppliers of oil are undergoing. The traders get nervous when bombs near pipes and wells go off.

This is all well and good in a macroeconomic sense. The rules of supply and demand are still at play with a little interference from speculators. 

But what does oil mean to the average individual on the street? (more…)

Typhoon batters Philippines

It seems that you really won’t know what you have until it’s gone. 

For a few hours I was dispossessed of my electricity. Feeling ill as I was reduced to how my ancestors were, I sought the refuge of the nearest mall. The controlled climate, the bright lights, the seats, these were things that I missed during those few hours of darkness. My electric eclipse passed at the end of the day at around 7pm.

I find that the typhoon that is tearing through Manila is a tad weaker than what hit us a few years ago. This time around I already had electricity as the sun set and the entire city wasn’t paralyzed. This is in NCR the teeming capital region of the Philippines. Other regions have not been as fortunate.

Outside of the NCR in Sibuyan a ferry carrying 700 people ran aground and proceeded to sink. There is still no certainty as to the number of casualties. On a computer screen or as heard across the room from the television set this number seems paltry. 700 people stuck on a boat that cannot be approached by the intrepid Philippine Coast Guard. 

From a distance the number seems paltry. Yes, 700 is a drop in the bucket for a nation nearing 90 million people. However, that drop in the bucket is 700 lives, 700 friends, 700 fathers or mothers, 700 sons or daughters, 700 brothers or sisters. It is incorrect to overly simplify the death toll of an event to numbers. Viewed from a webpage, heard from the radio this loss is sad but not tragic. But one death out of the 700 seen from the relatives of the deceased is cataclysmic. I pray that few will perish during this storm.

The damage done by the typhoon to businesses in other regions is likewise tremendous. The flooding caused by the typhoon has closed many shops for the day and probably for the next few days.

I hope that the Philippines will recover from this typhoon as soon as possible.