CBBjr, CPA

12/10/2026

12/10/2026

Deep Thoughts of Good Nonsense?

The page is a slideshow article titled We’ve pumped so much groundwater that Earth’s rotation has shifted (MSN): Here's how. Based on the content available from the page, the main points are:

• A scientific study published in Geophysical Research Letters found that human activity has measurably affected the Earth's tilt.

• The activity highlighted is the large-scale pumping of groundwater from underground aquifers.

• When groundwater is extracted and ultimately redistributed across the planet, it changes how mass is distributed on Earth. This redistribution can influence the planet's rotational characteristics and tilt.

• The article's central message is that human water use is now significant enough to produce detectable geophysical effects on a planetary scale.

11/10/2026

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A 7.2% inflation rate (September, 2026) does not mean prices rose by only 7.2% for every item. It means that, on average, goods and services that cost ₱100 a year ago now cost about ₱107.20. The purchasing power of money has weakened.

For ordinary people, especially the poor, the significance is more practical than statistical:

Simple explanation for the masses:

If a family used to buy:
• 10 kilos of rice,
• some fish,
• vegetables,
• and household necessities

with ₱1,000 before, the same ₱1,000 may no longer be enough to buy the same quantity today.

Why the poor feel it more. The poor spend most of their income on essentials:
• Food
• Transportation
• Electricity
• Water
• Cooking fuel

When prices of these essentials rise, they have little room to adjust.

A wealthy person may postpone buying a new gadget. A poor family may have to:
• reduce food portions,
• skip nutritious food,
• delay medicine purchases,
• borrow money,
• or cut children's allowances.

This is why inflation is often called a "silent tax on the poor."

Example understandable in barangay discussions

Imagine a tricycle driver earning ₱500 a day.
Last year:
• Rice: ₱50/kg
• Sardines: ₱25/can
• Gasoline: lower

Today, with higher prices, his ₱500 income may still be ₱500, but it buys less food and fewer necessities.

His income stayed the same. His expenses increased. His family becomes poorer even without a salary reduction.

The deeper implication
When inflation rises faster than wages:
• Real income falls.
• Savings lose value.
• More families become vulnerable to debt.
• Poverty reduction becomes harder.

For pensioners, laborers, farmers, and fixed-income earners, inflation can be particularly painful because their income does not automatically adjust whenever prices increase.

Inflation at 7.2% in September is not merely a statistic. It is the widening distance between a family's income and its daily needs. When prices run faster than wages, every market day becomes a lesson in sacrifice. The poor do not measure inflation in percentages; they measure it in meals reduced, medicines deferred, and dreams postponed.

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