cashless in quarantine? Not yet, but it's in the plans

We are still in quarantine lockdown, and can only legally go out two days a week to shop.

So yesterday, I went to the bank to remove cash for next week's expenses, and picked up dog food and medicine on the way back. Then I gave money to the maid to pick up groceries. (most of our food is fresh and bought by our cook from the vendors at the palenke. She goes every day. Don't ask me how she is allowed to do this in "strict quarantine" but she has connections with half the town so I doubt anyone would stop her).

It is "tag init": The hot season just before the monsoon hits, so it's been in the 90's F for the last week. Luckily, no brownouts so I can run the Air conditioner all day and night.

Why no brownouts? I suspect this is because most offices and larger stores have air conditioners, and are closed so the electricity use is down.

We had two short blackouts during the night yesterday, lasting about 15 minutes. The city has been doing basic repairs during the shutdown (they even fixed a leaking waterpipe up the street), I suspect they are replacing the jumble of wires with a larger cable and transformer.

The brownout lasted long enough for me to decide to light candles because the dogs get upset in the dark. Not too dark however since there is moonlight. The only time we see the full starlit sky here is when we have brownouts at night and no moon. Even at the farm, we have lights for security reasons.

The lockdown is scheduled to continue through May 15; if they don't start to reopen, I suspect there will be problems, since a lot of lower middle class folks are out of money and want to go back to work.

And the rice has to be planted in the near future: That means getting seedlings, preparing the fields, getting fertilizer etc. All hard to do with the lockdown.

Kuya had two young men to help fix the farm machinery yesterday. And since he has to do deliveries and everyone is getting shaggy, he asked a neighbor to come over and cut all their hair. Alas, the guy is not skilled enough to do women's hair, so I might just allow my hair to grow long and put it in a bun, as I have in the past.

I'm sort of ignoring the news, especially the US news, which is full of "sound and fury signifying nothing"...

I am happy that General Flynn's case was dropped: A political railroading case in revenge for opposing President Obama's attempt to make nice with Iran... something I supported, by the way, but alas Obama was naive: he got stiffed by the mullahs in the deal, and so Trumpieboy, who is used to dirty tricks played in business deals, reversed the agreement.

 Lots of stuff about General Flynn on the conspiracy sites about the corruption behind his political prosecution.

These overreach prosecutions happen all the time by both parties, yet the really corrupt just find a way to get around the law (and yes, I mean you Uncle Joe). 
But the Qbies are happy.

Q is a conspiracy movement, and I usually follow these movements to dig out the ten percent of their reports that are true but ignored by the MSM.

 My take on Q is that much of what the press calls Q are the crazies who hang on and push crazy conspiracies,, but if you follow the "real" Q, it is about keeping the good old boys calm by assuring them that the system works so keep cool and be patient.

Maybe they need a Q here in the Philippines: The latest kerfuffle is that ABS CBN lost their license to broadcast. That means to get local news in English we have to go to CNN Philippines, which is very biased.

 No, I don't know what's going on: Duterte is pushing back, of course, and the international money (?CIA money probably in there too because Duterte is too nicey nice with China) The outsiders are funding the opposition sites, with the cooperation of the rich students who feel guilty about being rich and become SJW to assuage their guilt. But things are more complicated than good vs evil because a lot of the pushback on Duterte is because he is going against the corrupt.

sigh.

but if the economy collapses, there is a tradition of rebellion, and the NPA, which is small but has friends in the real reformer types, could expand and cause trouble.

Sigh

In the meanwhile, if you are paranoid, here's another nice article to ponder:

From the Inquirer:

Visa Philippines study shows Filipinos are ready to go cashless

A recent study by Visa Philippines called “Consumer Payment Attitudes,” have shown Filipinos to be generally interested in cashless transactions. A cashless transaction refers to an electronic transfer of money enabled by store and online payment systems. Examples are debit and credit cards, e-wallets, mobile wallets, and online transfers.

While the most common manner of payment is still with cash, the study finds that most consumers, who already use traditional credit cards, are likely to try other contact-less payment methods.

(italics mine)

hmmm... wonder who did their polling, and who was included in the survey?

There is a lot of credit card etc. use because of all the overseas workers sending money home, etc. And in the mall, some people use credit cards at the grocery store. But what about poor people?

or is this a conspiracy by the "NWO" to take over and control everyone, and hey, isn't it convenient that the wuhan flu came around and will help them do it? (/sarcasm).

The convenience of going cashless has become especially relevant during these times, when an enhanced community quarantine is in place and people need to stay in and work from home. With the global pandemic affecting the supply chain and halting the operations of physical stores and businesses, many are learning to rely on e-commerce to purchase necessities and pay off bills in the safety of their own homes. 

India was doing a "cashless society" experiment awhile back and really stiffed the poor and working class folk during the turnover. I haven't read about how that is going lately. And E banking is a big thing in Africa. And of course, Jack Ma's AliBaba (think Amazon/ebay on steroids) had revolutionized China's ability to buy stuff outside of cities.

so part of this is good: But there is a difference between encouraging the use of modern technology, and with implementing a "cashless society", where you are at the mercy of the banks (or cyber criminals).

of course, one doubts the cybercriminals will bother with a few hundred dollars from ordinary folk here, but stealing your information from stores is an ongoing problem in the USA, so one suspects a similar problem could happen here.

But the big problem is how to "verify" that it's you when you use the credit card.

Again from the Inquirer article:

There are several measures that can be observed to ensure safety in one’s online transactions, such as setting up biometric authentication methods on phones and banking apps, like fingerprints or facial recognition...

hmm... sounds like the "mark of the beast" to me (biblical reference that in the time of the anti christ you won't be able to buy or sell without having a "mark" on your hand or forehead. Conspiracy theories are not new you know).

one wonders if the small but growing middle class Protestant/Pentecostal churches here will oppose the move (one doubts the Catholic bishops would worry about it: the good ones are worried about the poor starving and the PC suckituptothePope types are worried about the environment)

so what could go wrong?

Uh Oh:

Business Insider article

China is building a vast civilian surveillance network — here are 10 ways it could be feeding its creepy 'social credit system  

read the whole thing.

as for the virus: more here on Stratagypage about The Philippines and the virus,

May 7, 2020: The Philippines has suffered six covid19 (coronavirus) deaths per million population so far and has 91 known cases of the virus per million people. In early April the government ordered a nationwide lockdown to halt the spread and make it easier to treat those who have it. So far so good. Neighbors Malaysia have 199 cases and three deaths per million, Singapore has 3,452 confirmed cases per million and three deaths per million while Indonesia has 45 cases per million and three deaths per million. The Philippines has the advantage of having no land borders with any other nation. Moreover, the Philippines consists of 7,600 islands, which further limits the spread of the virus.

 SP has a big discussion of how China is continuing their grab of fishing areas and sea lanes (and potential petroleum resources) off the coast in the west Philippine sea while the world is busy fighting an epidemic that they caused by their corruption and are pretending they didn't do it.

and JohnBachelor has Michael Yon discussing how China is going after the Hong Kong protesters: