Back to basics

The crisis is predicted by many experts to last towards the last quarter of next year. And assuming they're correct (and I really hope so), the economy may start to pick up by then and full recovery may probably come later in 2011. But the question now is how we cope with the difficulties between today and 2011. What is there to do especially those who just lost their jobs or forced to close shop?  

In a period of deep crisis, most governments respond by initiating heavy infrastructure programs or what economic managers term as Keynesian Economics to help generate back jobs in the construction industry. The goal under a Keynesian intervention is to generate a "multiplier effect" from the jobs created to stimulate consumer spending thus help save businesses from falling off during a crisis.    

I am no critic of the Keynesian model but I am no staunch advocate either. I think this crisis should serve as a springboard to explore other methods of coping than just government-led spending alone.  

I have always been fascinated by how Cuba coped with what they call the "Special Period" sometime in the mid-1990s. The Special Period was marked by a total wreck of the Cuban economy after the Soviet Union stopped buying Cuba's sugar which was worth like five billion dollars annually. There was no oil to churn the factories or fuel to run farm machineries.

Hunger lingered like for five years that left some desperate Cubans risking the rough seas just to get across the United States.

But what can be culled from the Cuban experience is how they leveraged the crisis to bring out the industry in every Cuban. With government that was nearly bankrupt to work on a Keynesian stimulus, it initiated self-help programs for Cubans to plant crops for food. Idle lands even in the urban centers were utilized for food production. And in order to keep the Cubans healthy during that challenging period, government started to explore the use of natural medicine; the use of natural farming was also employed to reduce dependence on manufactured fertilizers and pesticides.

Cuba is not a rich country. But it isn't starving either. Health care is free and Cuba can afford to educate every single child being born there every day and is probably the only country with the highest doctors, teachers and engineers per square mile. And interestingly, Cuba is now exporting its natural pharmaceutical products worldwide and found some of its antiviral products in our government clinics or hospitals.      

Cuba is perhaps the only country today that is immune to the global crisis. That Special Period taught them a lesson – a lesson that drove them to think and make use of whatever they had to survive. It didn't take a stimulus package or some borrowings as what most countries do. What was only needed for Cuba to rise back from the adversity is simply to go back to basics. And it worked!     

In this period of crisis, it pays to going back to the basics. The role of the government during hard times is not only to recover a sick economy. Remember, not everyone will benefit from the jobs it creates. Its role should go beyond than just saving or generating jobs but to encourage or initiate programs toward self-reliance; start working on our health care products and reduce dependence on imported farm inputs.

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The Philippine Allied Chamber of Real Estate Brokers and Licensed Salesmen (Philacre, Inc) will be holding a seminar entitled "An Inside View of Real Estate Selling; Regulatory Framework, Current Professional Practices and Issues" on Friday, February 27, 2009, 3:30 - 6:30 p.m. at the Sacred Heart Center, on D. Jakosalem Street, Cebu City.

Resource Speaker will be Ms. Zaide Bation, DTI Chief at the Trade Regulatory Division who will cover legal issues governing real estate practice as well as addressing buyer and agent-broker relations. The seminar is free and participants will cover only for their food for only P100.00. Real estate brokers, licensed salesmen, developers, investors / buyers of real estate, businessmen, aspiring brokers and salesmen are invited (Reservation is required).     

For details and reservation, visit www.philacre.com.

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