Follow the money (Sabong News)
Author
Jullie Y. Daza
Date
MARCH 10 2022
That’s what bankers, stockbrokers, arbitrageurs, traders and merchants say and do, the way police detectives “look for the woman” (cherchez la femme) and engaged couples are convinced that “love conquers all.”
So we follow the money, because, like it or not, the world is carried along in waves by the ebb and tide of currency (money is a current, see?). Rich countries have more power than the middling, developing and undeveloped ones, but when the big ones experience head winds, the small ones run for cover. Years ago when I was in Beijing, I asked officials of the Ministry of Finance if the US dollar would forever remain the world currency and if China had any intention of replacing the $$$ with their yuan or RMB. The spokesman spoke up, “We’re working on it.”
For now the USD is king, and as money watchers watch, the peso-dollar rate swings, forcing more watchers to watch more keenly. From closing during the last weekend at ₱51.74 to ₱52.20 Tuesday, who knows if the exchange will stabilize. All we know is that the prices of fuel, imported, are running away from minimum wage workers, fishermen, professional drivers, budget-conscious housewives.
Follow the money, follow Atong Ang’s admission that his e-sabong operations earn him ₱20 billion a year! The quiet, self-effacing librarian who worked with me in another newspaper office for eight years never let a day pass without buying a lotto ticket, always with the same number. How much did she win and lose? She never won the jackpot but there were enough little winnings to balance her investments.
Another popular saying among gamblers as well as stock market players – aren’t the two the same? – goes like this: “You win some, you lose some.”
When the going gets tough (or depressing), look at last year’s remarkable profits: RCBC ₱7.1B; ALI up 40 percent, ₱12B; DMCI Mining, ₱1.7B; PLDT ₱26B; ICTSI 321 percent to $429B; GSIS investment fund ₱891B; Aboitiz Power ₱21B; BDO Leasing up 650 percent; URC up 109 percent to ₱24B; Bloombery trims net loss to ₱4B from ₱8B.
Elsewhere, China’s exports are up 163 percent as trade with Moscow surges. Shipments to Russia January-February totaled $545B, a 41 percent increase. A sign for us to stay neutral between Vladimir and Volodymyr?
