Philippine Poverty and Overpopulation: Dire But Not Hopeless

In a given society where the majority of its members live in poverty, this condition is usually structural. And you can really see that  in the Philippines where there's not much upward mobility from the lower ranks because the odds are stacked against them. What rigs the game of course is their sheer numbers and their percentage of the total population. So under these circumstances in a supply and demand setting, naturally the lowest bidder will get the job. This is despite a national minimum wage law which is not very effective because it's base is too low, has many exemptions, and it's is not well enforced anyway, especially outside of Metro-Manila.

So it's no wonder that members of the middle class and above here are often too lazy to wash their own dishes or raise their own children. They can--and do--get live-in domestic help for a song. Recent legislation has required that these employers pay into SSS (the counterpart  of U.S.social security) for their helpers. But it's questionable as to how many will really comply with this law .

On the other hand, Filipinos on the whole do value higher education (or at least the prestige in having a degree) Formerly,  primary and secondary public schooling was limited to a combined total of 10 years. With  with the recent addition of seventh and eighth grades it's  now 12 years. And starting next year tuition-free college education at public colleges and universities will become available.

But all these reforms will be for naught if the people here, especially the poor,   don't start practicing birth control on a wide scale,  Now that the Reproductive Health act is in effect, it will be easier for them to do so despite  the Catholic Church's pressure to keep them barefoot and pregnant. But they need to be shown how limiting family size will work to their advantage. If this happens, a positive response may well  finally break the cycle of poverty that has stranded the Philippines in a third world economy and may also ameliorate the damaged culture that has accompanied it as well. 

Gimme (A Tax) Shelter

For various reasons including poor service I had planned to rollover my 401(k) account form my present custodian to a new financial institution. In  doing so, I have discovered a serious problem that potentially affects all American expatriates who also  have retirement accounts in U.S.based financial firms.  The door is closing or has already closed against American citizens living abroad who  hold such assets. And many of these companies are not only refusing to accept rollovers or other fund transfers, some are kicking existing account holders to the curb by unilaterally closing and paying off their accounts, possible  tax repercussions to these customers notwithstanding.

Why are they doing this? The reason is explained very well in an article in "International Advisor: us institutions to expats take your retirement''.  Briefly, since the early 2000's security has  become a paramount issue with banks and other financial  institutions. So they want to know whom they're dealing with in their  customer base, which they really can't for account holders who live abroad. But it's only recently that they've intensifying this campaign and at the expense of us expats. Further, partly thanks to FATCA, foreign governments have started reciprocally creating unnecessary red tape for U.S. financial custodians firms whose expat customers. reside in their jurisdictions. So these firms just don't feel that dealing with overseas Americans is worth all this hassle. They are taking the easy way out, and there are no federal regulations to stop them.

A few days ago I contacted a financial consultant who was mentioned in the above ''International Advisor''piece, He suggested Charles Schwab as a possible option for stranded expats, and according to their website  ''Explore Schwab’s services for U.S. Expats''  they do indeed accept accounts for Americans living abroad. However a responder in the ''International Advisor'' comment section said that's not so, Charles Schwab is also giving their expat customers the boot. Sure enough I found a site that confirms this policy  ''Charles Schwab Announces Account Closures For US Citizens In Five Countries, More Expected''.

The Trump administration favors deregulation of  the finance industry. Hence  it it's unlikely that  Americans residing outside the country will get any relief for our predicament in the near future from that government  branch. However the legislative branch may be a different story when it comes to recourse. So today I sent a message regarding this issue to U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren who as a political and economic progressive and member  the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs may be of  assistance in correcting this state of affairs.  Whether that actually happens of course remains to be seen. So at least for the time being,  limited options may be a brick in the wall that we expats, despite our being American citizens, will just have to put up with.