How to Earn $49 Million in One Year

            The year I turned 26, I earned 49 million dollars (P2.25 billion) which really pissed me off because it was three shy of a million a week.  Thus said Leonardo di Caprio playing real-life Wall Street stockbroker and convicted financial scammer Jordan Belfort in the film, “The Wolf of Wall Street.”  

Making money by the truckloads
(photo from the internet)

            Throughout the nearly three hours of debauchery depicted in the movie, the audience was treated to the underhanded tactics that Belfort and his crew employed to make millions of dollars. They “pumped and dumped” stocks, meaning they bought chunks of cheap penny stocks, hyped them and pressured unwitting customers to buy, thereby driving up the price, at which point they dumped the stocks, resulting in a price collapse and ultimately leaving their customers with virtually worthless stocks.  Another way Belfort enriched himself was by manipulating  the initial public offerings of firms like Steve Madden Corp. And while doing all of this, Belfort and his cohorts sought “executive stress relief” by way of sex orgies and drugs and other extreme behavior.  They inaugurated a viewing elevator  by having a female sales associate do a blowjob on a client in full view of everybody else.

Is all of this legal? Absolutely not. Leo as Belfort also said.

            The film is glossy, boasting a stellar cast. It oozed with manic energy that engaged the viewers. But at least two things disturbed me about the movie. It was not the non-stop gratuitous sex nor the “F” word being said an average of 2.8 times per minute, though some editing could have been done to tighten the movie. It was that the victims were virtually ignored,  with  the emphasis on all the carousing,  and on Belfort  getting off too easily. In a three-hour movie, not even one single frame was devoted to the victims of the scams, some of who were said to be blue collar workers such as garbage men,  and postal employees.

            A number of critics have likened di Caprio’s Belfort to the despicable slave owner Calvin Candie that the actor played in "Django Unchained". But the suffering victims of   Django Untamed were shown and Candie did suffer as well at the hands of an avenging slave.

In the case of the Wolf, he was shown making a deal with the Feds to rat out his cohorts for a reduced sentence of four years instead of the thirty years he would have gotten if he went on trial. And towards the end of the movie, he was introduced as “the world’s greatest sales trainer” by the real Belfort himself, playing a cameo role. Not bad for someone who allegedly scammed some $150 million from an assortment of people.

            In this regard, the film fails to be the cautionary tale it was touted to be, and instead may be seen as glorifying the excesses and the behavior that made them possible.  The heretofore virtually unknown Belfort was in practically all of the scenes. His having been portrayed  by the charming Mr. Di Caprio,  may even make his abhorrent behavior seem less distasteful.

Money coming out of their ears and other places?
(photo from the internet)

            Dr. Albert Bandura, one of the most influential psychologists of all time said, “…most human behavior is learned observationally through modeling: from observing others one forms an idea of how new behaviors are performed, and on later occasions this coded information serves as a guide for action.” (Social Learning Theory, 1977)

            Thus, people can learn that they can get away with something merely by watching others get away with it.  So if scammers get away with scams, are punished lightly, or can make deals by implicating their cronies, then others will also try to get away with such behavior. Interestingly, the real Belfort said in interviews that he idolized the fictional character Gordon Gekko in the film “Wall Street”. The film was released in 1987, a year before Belfort made the aforementioned $49 million that pissed him off. Compared to Belfort however, Gekko who thrived on insider trading and in acquisitions, would seem like a character from a Hallmark movie.

            Five years after Belfort’s 2003 conviction, the United States went into a financial crisis that exploded into a global crisis.  This was traced to the subprime debacle and the shenanigans in Wall Street. According to news reports, hardly anyone had been jailed for that even if it bankrupted not only individuals, and corporations, but even a whole country (Iceland).

            This sad state of affairs is also observed in the Philippines. There have been a number of bank closures where fraud was suspected and charges brought against erring bank owners and officers. Only a handful had been convicted so far.

Similarly, in the recent past, there were a number of high profile financial scams and an undetermined number of minor ones.  There was the Franc Swiss internet-based scam which reportedly duped investors of $150 million (P6.75 billion). Lately, there surfaced Aman Futures Trading Group which reportedly scammed P12 billion from 12,000 people including a town mayor by promising 50% to 80% return on investment in twenty days. The perpetrators of both scams are yet to be incarcerated.

            Among the highly publicized cases, one perpetrator was jailed.  Rose Baladjao of Multitel, who was convicted for defrauding investors some P20 billion was sentenced to life, but her sentence was reduced to twenty years in 2012. One of her cohorts , Cyrus Yao Hao even did a copycat with his Royal Mancehster Five which reportedly bilked investors of P2 billion.

            These scams recur despite warnings from government agencies like the SEC, the BSP, and the PDIC.  This is because of unmitigated greed all around. Greed of the perpetrators and investors, who want instant returns and believe in get-rich-quick schemes.

            Unless the punishment is made to fit the crime, and the people are educated on risky behavior, this recurrence will continue.

            Meanwhile, I hope those who watch “The Wolf of Wall Street” will find more affinity with the diligent FBI agent played by Kyle Chandler who resists bribes and does the right thing, rather than with Belfort who was brought to life with the oily charm of Leo di Caprio.

(photo from the internet)

Having said that, I still hope Leo wins the Oscar. 

This article was published in the Business Mirror, January 28, 2014

The Baby Grandmother

            When I introduced my mother’s youngest sister whom we called “Auntie Baby” as “Lola Baby” to my then five-year-old daughter, she looked at me, then at Auntie Baby, and whispered, “Ma, she’s an oxymoron,” never once stumbling at the four-syllable word.

            That set me thinking, well, Auntie Baby is indeed a complex woman, who may at times seem like a walking contradiction.

           

            Back when we were young, Auntie Baby was the strictest among our aunts. She would chastise us when we slouched or when we did not finish our vegetables. In my pre-pubescent mind, I sometimes I thought of her as the “Baket nga Ung-unget” (Angry old Woman) of Ilocano folklore.

As if clairvoyant, she knew when we messed up her room. If even one pillow on her four poster bed was slightly askew, she would know.  I remember thinking of her room as a haven where things were always in their proper places. The narra planks gleamed from the sunlight streaming in through the big capiz windows. It was a corner room which gave perfect access to the roof of the ground floor from where we could pluck low-hanging caimito fruit. The trick to not getting caught was to be careful not to let any of the sweet caimito juice drip on the narra floor.

When my sisters and I were in our early twenties, it seemed that she had magically transformed into a fun-loving woman out to savor life to the fullest. We called her “Ganado nga Baket” which in Ilocano roughly translated to “excited old woman”, though at close to forty, she was hardly old. She was “game” to out of town trips, and would keep a conspiratorial commentary on our suitors.

Fast forward to the 21^st  Century. She is now happily married to Uncle Vance, a kind, loving American lawyer. No wonder she exudes such joy.

They spend their days in idyllic retirement in the sunshine state of Florida, taking frequent vacations, mostly cruises all over the world. When my daughter and I went on our first cruise, they gave us better tips than most travel sites.

Though a practitioner of Ilocano thrift, Auntie Baby is generous, sometimes to a fault.  She is quite thoughtful, greeting us on special occasions, and letting us know she thinks of us fondly.

She will be 72 on February 4 and she still holds herself poised and erect.  She is as sturdy as the pyramids of Egypt, though in no way as ancient (he-he-he). Maybe we should have taken her admonitions about posture and vegetables more seriously.

Aside from maintaining a beauty queen posture and eating grass, Auntie Baby says she keeps her youthful energy by not worrying unnecessarily. She is focused on the present, enjoying her hobbies such as quilting, knitting, and of course eating. They rarely eat out, so they make their own food fresh. This domesticated side of her is also something new for me. I had always thought of Auntie Baby as a driven career woman. She was Director of Fisheries when she was here in the Philippines.

Auntie Baby also credits her youthfulness to her positive outlook in life. And of course, there is Uncle Vance, whom she describes as a “wonderful mate”.   

Above all, she keeps faith in God, strengthening it with an active prayer life. No wonder she has aged so gracefully.

Happy Birthday, Auntie Baby! May God continue to shower you with blessings and give you many more joyful years to come. May you continue to bloom as you enter the next decades of your life.

A Senior Citizen's Guide to Bangkok

    Would an octogenarian enjoy, let alone survive swinging Bangkok, and its myriad sights and sounds? Would she cope with the frenetic energy of sprawling Pratunam Market, the bargain-hunter’s paradise criss-crossed by roaring tuktuks? Would she have enough stamina to walk and climb her way to the city’s hundreds of temples? These were the questions that my sisters and I asked each other when we were planning a trip for our mother.

     The short answer would be “yes”. She survived beautifully. In fact, she enjoyed the trip immensely.  All it took was careful planning and a resolve to see the city at a laid back pace and enjoy its mellow side. That way, even my sisters and I returned from the vacation feeling relaxed, instead of vaguely tired as we always do after the usual travel tours crammed with as many sights and activities as possible.

Here is how we did it:

     First, we made sure that Mother wore walking shoes and cool shirts. Next, she had to be well- hydrated. Then, because Bangkok was a mecca for shoppers, we interspersed bits of shopping with the sight-seeing, so that we practically shopped everyday, and yet, did not tire Mother.

Day 1

     We arrived at our Pratunam-area hotel at 3pm.

      After freshening up, we walked to Indra Square, a multi-storey airconditioned building a few meters from our hotel. It housed a food court and several shops selling clothes, accessories, footwear and souvenirs. It was a great alternative to the teeming street market because it was cool and the prices were a lot cheaper than Manila’s. Bargaining is also expected, and as with the street market, you get discounts if you buy 3 of a kind or more. We bought finely embroidered blouses, sequined bags and even belly dancing belts crocheted by the saleslady  herself.

     We took a light snack of Yaki Soba which was surprisingly tangy in a pleasant way. The food court followed a coupon system that contributed to good hygiene as the food attendants did not have to handle money.

     Back in the hotel, we got ready for the Chao Praya Cruise which started at 7:00pm from a city pier. Pretty Thai ladies with orchids in their hair welcomed us with drinks and corsages. They posed for pictures, but only with their official photographer. Later on, we found out that they sold the pictures mounted on frames made of thai cloth.

     We sat near the buffet table arrayed with international and Thai dishes. Crisp, bright green salad vegetables enticed us. The sweet, juicy watermelons, pineapples and papayas burst in our mouths with a refreshing succulence. Mother said they tasted like an eternal summer.

     We sailed along Bangkok’s famed river to the lilting music of a band  dishing out samba, jazz, and even the Filipino  ballad “Anak”. Gentle waves speckled with jewel tones of garnet, sapphire and topaz from the brightly-lit buildings along the riverbank lapped at the ship. We glided by the Wat Arun or Temple of Dawn, which, in its gleaming splendor looked from afar like the Eiffel Tower. The Rama Bridge, with its streaming trusses mimicking spin gold was a sight to behold. The shimmering Grand Palace and the Wat Pra Kaew which housed the Emerald Buddha seemed to wink at us, promising more wondrous sights when we visit them up close later.

     Before we knew it, the cruise had ended. And we did not even have a chance to dance.

Day 2

     Suitably sated with a hearty breakfast that included rice, grilled chicken, ham, and other breakfast staples such as eggs, cereals, pastries, and fruit, we took the half day city tour.

     Our guide told us that she would take us only to the most important temples in Bangkok. First stop was the Temple of the Four-Faced Buddha. The Four-Faced Buddha is really the Hindu god Brahma with four faces and eight hands. He is believed to be a god of creation, mercy, and benevolence. He grants wishes for good luck, good health, good fortune, and love. Our guide said that we must be precise in making our wishes, because the Buddha requires accuracy. “If you want money, you have to say how much, and if you want a boyfriend or husband, you have to describe well,” she said with a twinkle in her eyes.

     “Oh, so I should say I want someone as handsome as Brad Pitt and with as much money as Brad,” I joked.

     The guide said, “Precisely!”

     I stole a sidelong glance at Mother, a certified Catholic Church “Manang”, who heard mass at least once a day. To my relief, she was laughing along.

     The temple air was cool and tinged with the scent of incense. We climbed up the steps to the temple and were instructed to take off our shoes before entering. We were to repeat this for all other temples. Inside, a meditating Buddha was surrounded by intricately painted panels. A good number of people were already sitting cross-legged on the floor. The scent of incense grew stronger. I also sat down and gave gratitude for our safe journey to Bangkok. Mother was admiring the gold ornaments, doubtless taking mental notes for future altar beautification in the Parish church back home.

     Outside the temple, hung rows of bells. A group of students started ringing all the bells, filling the morning air with their rousing peals.  Somehow, this made the experience more intense.

     Next, we went to the Temple of the Golden Buddha in Chinatown. The entrance arch to  Chinatown in red and gold reminded us of the Binondo arch. Legend has it that the ten-foot  tall Buddha, the largest solid gold buddha in the world was hidden beneath plaster by monks to prevent its theft by marauding armies. It was discovered only after an earthquake, when some of the plaster cracked showing the treasure inside.

     The temple housing the 13^th Century Buddha was new. It was topped by a four-storey ziggurat-like building of marble, pristine white with a golden roof and accent details.

      Mother was hesitant about climbing all the way up to the fourth floor, but she finally relented. Upon reaching the top, she said she was glad she made the climb. Just to show you how much stamina she still has. And perhaps some "asim"? Look at the guy on the right. Was he checking her out? Hahaha.

     The chapel itself was not big.  Worshippers knelt or sat in a lotus position on the tan and beige marble floor. A lattice-like pink and green pattern acented the walls, and an arch in gold  leaf framed the Buddha which sat in the lotus position, gazing meditatively in all its golden glory. Pink and white flowers and golden vessels adorned the chapel, their fragrance mingling with the scent of incense.

On the grounds of the temple was a laughing Buddha with a big belly, the one that most Filipinos are familiar with. Upon our guide’s suggestion, each of us rubbed the Buddha’s stomach clockwise three times with our wallets to bring prosperity. Mother said she felt prosperous already because her daughters, who were a parent’s wealth, were with her. Sweet! 

     Next, we went to the gem store where we were treated to a film clip about Thailand’s jewelry industry. Then on to the leather shop. Interestingly, the leather shop carried the American brand Dooney and Bourke at prices comparable to that in the States. Our guide said this was because the leather shop made some of the Dooney and Bourke items. We picked up a few bags, wallets and belts there.

     After the tour, we went by ourselves to the Paragon for lunch and some shopping. Paragon is a modern mall somewhat like Greenbelt. Naturalizer  shoes are a good deal there because there is supposed to be a Naturalizer factory in Thailand as well. 

       The shoe salesman was very patient with Mother and us three sisters that we took a souvenir photo of Mother and him. Next, we went to Discovery Mall and on to MBK for the pasalubongs. MBK is popular with us bargain hunting Filipinos. It is like a vertical Greenhills Shopping Center. On the way, we saw some young ladies giggling and milling around a very handsome man.

     “Hey sis, the Buddha has granted your wish,” one of my sisters said, giving me a nudge.

I looked closely, and instantly recognized the blue eyes and the fashionably stubbled  strong jaw, of  Brad Pitt!

            Or more accurately, an uncannily life-like wax statue of Brad Pitt. Giddy like school girls, we took turns posing with Brad, except for Mother. So we teased her, “Ah, okay, anyway, you had you picture taken with Brad Feet at the Naturalizer shop.

     After shopping, Mother was too tired to have dinner out. So we ordered room service and reviewed the photos of the day.

Day 3

     My sister Lina and I took a quick tour of the Night Market at 6:00am. It was still dark, but a lot of people, mostly bulk buyers and delivery men were up and about. We bought a couple of blouses at incredibly low process.

     For our regular tour, we went to the Grand Palace. It is a marvel that in the heart of Bangkok, an 18^th Century palace still exists with its splendor intact. There were hordes of tourists that day and I was afraid Mother would have a difficult time, but she was okay. Though the King had stopped living that the palace at the turn of the 20^th Century, it is still used for ceremonial occasions.

     The palace itself is a fusion of the East and West, with the bottom part European  in architecture and the top part definitely Thai, resplendant with gold leaf slopes and arches. Since it Thailand’s most sacred place, no shoes, slippers, sandals and revealing tops were allowed inside. My sister Rose who was wearing  leggings was asked to don a sarong skirt before she could enter.

      Verdant, well-tended topiaries surrounded the splendid palace. It was like walking into the set of  “Anna and the King”.

     “We could run into Yul Brynner any moment,” Mother quipped, thinking about the star of the movie,  “The King and I”.

     “I sure hope not,” I said remembering that Yul Brynner was dead.

     Unlike other temples, the Temple of the Golden Buddha located within the palace complex, did not house any monks. Inside the temple surrounded by richly detailed panels, the Emerald Buddha sat atop a series of intricately decorated platforms. The Emerald Buddha, which was really carved out of jadeite, is one of the most revered Buddha images in Thailand. It has three sets of golden garments that are changed according to the seasons as a ritual to bring good fortune. The King himself or his representative presides over this ritual. Like the Golden Buddha, the Emerald Buddha was hidden by monks in plain site in the olden days by covering it with a lesser material, this time, with stucco, to protect it from marauders.

     Outside the temple was an altar with a footed gold colored bowl with holy water. Lotus flowers lay on a golden tray. Custom has it that you dip the flower in the water and sprinkle your head with the water for wisdom and good luck.

     After the tour, we had lunch and then did some more shopping at Central World. Lina got a Longchamps Le Pliage bag for her daughter, but it turned out that the duty free shop in the airport sold the bag at a cheaper price. In fact, the duty free shop price was very close to the price I paid when I got the same bag for my daughter in Basel.

     Before our last dinner in Bangkok, we had traditional Thai massage at the hotel. The pulling and the pressing melted the tenseness from all the walking the past three days and prepared us to lug our now heavier suitcases on the trip home.  As I was telling my sisters, Bangkok to me is a strange Asian city in that there were no porters or bag boys to help. Even in the States, some airports have  skycaps to assist.

On the plane back to Manila, I thought to myself,  Bangkok is a lot like its famous buddhas. Layers of plaster had to be peeled away to uncover the Golden Buddha, and stucco to discover the emerald Buddha. In the same way, the traveler has to look beyond the frenzied energy  of Bangkok to see a laid back side where a senior citizen could see the sights at a leisurely pace and where people still say welcome with a reverential bow and the endearing hand- clasping wai.

     Indeed, in Bangkok, things are not always what they seem. So, prepare to be surprised, and amazed.