More retail stores being established in PHL despite closing trend in US

Every generation needs a revolution - an entrepreneurial revolution

As this post travels and bikes, it is observed that the construction of retail convenient stores is on the rise.  The experience of this post is that retail margins are paper and even blade thin. Couple this with high

power costs  high labor costs due to night differential, security cost and theft from shoplifting and you can see that risks are high.

Or the business model is that of a convenience stores where margins could be 15% to 20%

See the folding up of many retail stores in US closing by the thousands (being replaced by on line stores)

Is the situation in the Philippines markedly different.?   Will the stores survive?

Being an achiever in real estate

Every generation needs a revolution - an entrepreneurial revolution

We have in business for 40 years.  One of the mantras for secret of success we keep is "Keep your word"

Last week we had two meetings to signal our comeback to subdivision development which we left in 1997 due to Asian financial crisis.  One reason we had this meeting is to recover our exposure to our developer who is well known to my daughter who is now a senior officer of the company.  The objective of the come back was to recover the exposure we had to her former boss through packaging fees or profit from the undertaking.

The tripping meeting was to show us lots that could be payment in kind to almost 8 figures of exposure.

However the lots presented were to be priced at 5 numbers but it was badly developed:   cracked roads, incomplete road network, wrongly placed open space.  No centralized water system network and to think that the owners developers of the project are well known personality:   congressman from Visayas, former GM of a pharma, and now the former boss of my daughter.

It dawned to me that my daughter did not get this secret of success of keeping our word.   The former boss said he was willing to shoulder 1/3 of the debt (but their PN did not say so).  So much for the display of pomp and status of "execs"  from CBD who are all words and spreadsheets but no achievements

Should we return to the Gold Standard

Every generation needs a revolution - an entrepreneurial revolution

The US leaving the gold standard has been alluded to the cause of inflation, (printing of too much money) and the de dollarisation (shift from dollar to other currencies in international trade.

Indeed what are the pros and cons of return to gold standard.     (some of the rapid progress we had was due to leaving gold standard)   There is a leak somewhere in the system as banks create money due to lending and the fractional reserve system)

https://www.britannica.com/story/pro-and-con-gold-standard

• old retains a value that has been recognized across the globe throughout history, and a gold standard self-regulates to match the supply of money to the need for it.
• A gold standard would reduce the risk of economic crises and recessions, while increasing income levels and decreasing unemployment rates.
• A gold standard puts limits on government power by restricting the ability to print money at will and increase the national debt.
• Returning to a gold standard would reduce the US trade deficit.
• A gold standard would force the United States to reduce its military and defense spending and could prevent unnecessary wars.
• Many politicians, businessmen, and organizations support the return to a gold standard.

CON

• The availability and value of gold fluctuates and does not provide the price stability necessary for a healthy economy.
• A gold standard would limit the ability of the Federal Reserve to help the economy out of recessions and depressions, and to address unemployment.
• Gold standards create periodic deflations and economic contractions that destabilize the economy.
• A gold standard would increase the environmental and cultural harms created by gold mining.
• Returning to a gold standard could harm national security by restricting the country’s ability to finance national defense.
• Many prominent economists oppose returning to a gold standard.