The incredible shrinking pan de sal

If you generally have bread for breakfast you’d already have noticed any of the following:

• You’ve paid more for the usual quantity;
• You’ve been having less for the same bill;
• You’ve had the same number of pieces for the same bill.

The adjustment of choice for our local bakers is to shrink pan de sal so we don’t really notice the rising prices that much. What do you think? Economists assert that when the price of a good in your consumption basket rises without any compensating rise in your income, you would reallocate your budget to minimize the impact on your welfare or happiness. Ultimately, you would have to have less of everything and feel poorer.

Two days ago, our friends at the National Statistical Coordination Board (NSCB) released findings that the Philippine middle class has shrunk along with pan de sal. This seems to us to be a general law of physics and not just economics. Everything shrinks at the same time, save for the inflated egos of our government officials.

If you happen to come from the south and have your pan de sal with sikwati (gikan sa tableya ba!) or local chocolate, you might consider having budbud or suman instead. (e-kunomista).

Note: In some parts of the country, na-sikwati means all your plans have turned to mush. An alternative expression of unanticipated disappointment is: munay na unta, nabato pa gyud!