Economics and the Parable of Talents and Alkansiyang Bumbong

Dear insansapinas, 

alkansiyang bumbong

photocredit
The Philippine government has been crowing about its less expenditures since it took over last year. As I have been saying, this underspending to save would not spur growth to the economy of the nation. You do not need to have a doctorate in economics  to know that money begets money. Any economics degree holder would know that like this senior economist of ING Bank who has the same observation. Even Jesus Christ who teaches about love  is aware of it as expressed in one of His parables. Even an unschooled farmer knows that it is a fact. 


This is the opinion of the senior economist: 

A senior economist of Amsterdam-based ING Bank NV said the Aquino administration’s “underspending" in the name of good governance has cut down the country’s economic growth.
At the Dutch Investment bank’s mid-year economic briefing, Joey Cuyegkeng said the country lost about 1.8 percent in growth because government spending declined 10.7 percent to P591.04 billion in January to May this year.
Gross domestic product grew only 4.9 percent in the first quarter. 
Cuyegkeng said he foresees even more spending cuts, with the projected budget deficit likely shrinking to P256 billion. That, Cuyegkeng estimates, will improve the country’s deficit-to-GDP ratio to 2.7 percent from 3.2 percent. http://www.gmanews.tv/story/214430/business/phl-2011-budget-deficit-to-reach-p300b-dof
Cuyegkeng also said GDP growth will settle at 5.2 percent this year and slip to 5.1 percent in 2012. These figures are slightly above the International Monetary Fund forecast of 5 percent but much lower than Aquino economic planners’ projections of 7 percent and 8 percent. 

The Parable of Talents 

Jesus often told a story to teach a lesson about faith, soul and love for other people. This is more about economics.  Hear the story of the talents.

One day a man was going on a long trip. He needed his servants to take care of his property while he was gone, so he called them to him.

To the first servant he gave five talents of money. (A talent was not a coin, but a weight of a precious metal such as silver, and one talent was worth more than $1,000. So this servant received money worth more than $5,000.)

This man went to work at once using his money until he had doubled it. He now had ten talents instead of five.

The master gave the second man two talents. He probably thought the man was capable of managing that amount of money. The second man was successful also, and doubled his money. He began with more than $2,000 and now he had twice as much.

The third man was not as capable as the other two, but the master gave him one talent with the expectation that he would manage it well. He, too, could have increased his money, but he dug a hole and hid it in the ground.

After a long time the master returned. (Some think the master's trip is a picture of Jesus returning to heaven, and the return from the trip is the judgment of mankind.) He was ready for a report from the servants.

The man who had received five talents brought his money and showed the master that he had doubled it. He was happy to show his master the results.

The master was well pleased. He said, "Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master's happiness!"

The man that had been given two talents showed the master that he had also doubled his money. He received the same words of praise as the first man who had received five talents.

The man who had received one talent dug up the talent he had buried and brought it to the master. He accused the master of being a hard man to work for, said he had been afraid, so he just buried his talent. He gave it back to the master saying, "See, here is what belongs to you."

The master was very angry with him and called him a wicked, lazy servant. He said the man should at least have put the money with bankers and received some interest. (Now the Jews could not charge nor receive interest from a fellow Jew, but they could get interest from a person who was not a Jew.)

The master took his one talent away from him and gave it to the man who had ten talents, and the one talent man was punished because he had not properly used the talent he had been given.

What can we learn from this story? We need to use whatever "talent" God has given us. It might be money or ability. If we use it wisely, He will increase it so that our lives will glorify Him.

Alkansiyang bumbong is a piggybank made out of bamboo. That is where people in the provinces, boondocks keep their money. Mang Tasyo an ordinary farmer is aware of the fact that if he would keep his  money  in his alkansiyang bumbong or in the bamboo post in his nipa hut, it would not "grow". It will double or earn income only if it is spent /invested in seedlings, fertilizer and labor paid to the farm laborers to grow his parm produce.


Notwithstanding the risks brought by typhoon and other calamities, Mang Tasyo will continue to spend for his farm production otherwise, he will die "Dilat ang mata pero maraming perang nakatago".


Whoever are the economic planners of the government must be habitual absentees from their economic classes.


Pinaysaamerika