Thoughts on the Satisfaction of Man

Economics is best described as the proper allocation of limited resources to man's unlimited wants and needs.

I think it's important to reiterate that man has unlimited wants and needs for this post. I for one, should admit that I never seem to get satisfied with whatever I have. When I graduated from high school to college, I asked for an allowance increase. When I got that increase, I told my parents the increase is not enough. When I got my job, I got a decent pay. And now, what I earn still seem to be insufficient. This could best be explained by the income effect wherein our expenses increase with respect to our income. I also think that this has something to do with the nature of our expenses. Surely, our expenses are very different from 5 years ago?

As opposed to my header, I will not dwell much into man's satisfaction as to man's DISSATISFACTION. If truth be told, man will never be satisfied BECAUSE he has unlimited wants and needs. So, I guess the challenge is not so much on satisfying man. The challenge that our insatiable wants pose is: How could we minimize dissatisfaction?"

Let me cite a concrete example and sadly, I am part of this example:

A couple of months ago, a lot of us were complaining about the workload. There really is just too much work being given to us and we do not have enough time to finish them. We have migrated a lot of processes to the other teams during the re-organization. So strictly speaking, a significant chunk of our day-to-day activities has been lessened. I for one could find time to read the news for twenty minutes after I take my lunch (But I rarely consume my whole hour for lunch). It helps that I stopped smoking (saves me 20-40 minutes a day). I rarely render overtime work now. Now I realize I don't have as much money as I used to make. But it's ok! Because now, I feel less burdened. I am not as stressed. However it sickens me when some people still complain about work. I do not get it! Our work is a little bit lighter; we are less stressed and people are still complaining about the exact same things???

What happened in the past, was unjust. In fact, it was inhumane. And up to now, I think some teams do not share the same good fate that we have in our team. It is just a tad irritating when people complain even if measures were made to make our lives easier. Apologies. I digressed too much.

Going back to the topic of minimizing dissatisfaction, I firmly believe that minimizing dissatisfaction should not come from lowering people's expectations so they become complacent and are easier to please. I believe that the key is having a completely transparent understanding of what people are in for and staying true to promises. In every agreement, both parties should set a common goal and both parties should deliver. I cannot stress this enough. Both parties should set a common goal and both parties should deliver!

Let me share to you some quotes that pertain to this topic:

"If the blanket is too small, you bend your legs so you would fit."

- While it is true that we should make use of the current resources that we have; I think it best that though we should bend our legs for the time being, we could look into our options on how we could get a bigger blanket for the future!

"Money does not solve your problems. It never does!"

- Relatively speaking, yes. Money does not solve all our problems. The more money we have, the more we spend. However, I really think there is an income floor for this. Up to a certain level, additional money won't really help. But what about those who earn 100 pesos a day with 5 mouths to feed? Surely, acquiring more money would help? I do think that if you're single with no familial obligation whatsoever, a net income of 30k pesos should suffice. Everything else is extra (for savings, car, vacation, etc.)

sembreak corporate world style!

I have been on leave for 5 days and since today is my last day of vacation, i start to wonder, where did i put all my time? i was actually supposed to be on leave for 6 days but i had to cut it short because they need me back in the office.

ok. here we go:

September 15:

No biggie. I decided to stay home and have some rest because it's my first day of leave. I played like 9 hours worth of video games. Dang! Oh! I actually went to the mall to watch Going the Distance! :)

September 16:

I talked to someone regarding a business prospect which I may not go into because I do not have that much time in my hands. And quite honestly, I don't know if it would work now.. Later in the afternoon, I paid a visit to my high school and got my yearbook after five long years! Later that day, we treated Uncle Charlie to dinner before he goes back to LA. Very fun day!

September 17:

I had my license renewed in the morning to midafternoon. I then went to Jav's place and he bought me dinner over at Charlie's burgers as my advanced bday gift! :)

September 18:

I was late for my bowling celebration with my college best buds. Turns out bowling alley is closed anyway (Megamall) so we decided to watch a movie instead (Pres and Mia - > Resident Evil, Nadine and I - > Last Exorcism), We then had dinner at Gotti's and I got another free dinner. We were supposed to get drinks at Aysee but it was full so we decided to have drinks over at Presly's pad.

September 19:

It was a Sunday. What a good day. We pretty much just went to mass and had dinner together. Typical Sunday for everyone.

Sepember 20:

I did nothing but play video games, watch DVDs and respond to text greetings the entire day. My mom treated me to dinner over at Mexicali. We're having the celebration another day cause Ate Len's on midshift in her new job. I also watched Letters to Juliet.. It's true. I am in love with Amanda Seyfried. oh! and i had my car serviced.

September 21:

Today. Last day of my five day leave. :( Watched Resident Evil and chatted with Manang Jona, Manang Delia and lola all day. I also responded to fb bday greetings over at fb. Spent almost two hours responding. Guess fb really helps out people get connected. :)




September 22(tomorrow):

Supposed to meet with a friend but has to report for work. Postponed my plans to the 30th. I hope I wouldn't be too stressed out and I hope there won't be too many e-mails and escalations (I hope there'd be none on this actually) I don't wanna work yet!! hahaha! :(



I guess it's not that bad. I didn't really waste a lot of my time and made good use of it actually. I guess I just miss long vacations! :)

Sunday Morning

I know I haven't been posting any good reads the past couple of months. I think my mind has really stagnated ever since I left college... I do not want to talk about the hostage crisis (which in my opinion has been totally blown out of proportion).

It is funny how people from the metro undermine the 7.2% percent 2nd quarter gdp growth. Truth is, people from the metro really won't feel a lot of the impact because we are comparatively better off than the rest of the Philippines. And I heard majority of that growth could be attributed to mining. Really, how could you feel the growth when we don't have mining here? On the downside, mining is the most volatile and unreliable investment you could ever make in the stock market! All was good with investor and public confidence in the Aquino admin and that helped out our local investments but I think the hostage crisis would somehow taint that. We'll have to wait and see... I really hope people would get over it already. It is a one off mistake and could happen to just about any country. There was a college massacre in the US a couple of years ago. People get abducted every now and then but that doesn't really make a specific country completely unsafe right? I think the more important issues to be tackled pertain to global warming, waste disposal and homeless people relocation. Why? Because hundreds of people die from these every year. Mostly because of the flood that ensue due to these problems ---> very important especially now that we are in the rainy season (it is just weird how unexpected the rainfalls are)

I now realize how cluttered my ideas are. I can't even make a coherent entry.. haaaay...