The Unlawyer

Sad news for Philippine tourism, as another link from Europe to our country will be severed as Lufthansa will cancel its daily flight from Frankfurt to Manila via Guangzhou and vice versa on March 30, putting an end to more than 20 years of service.

Having flown Lufthansa on several occasions when it used to fly from Manila to Frankfurt via Bangkok, I noticed that only a few passengers would board the flight at the NAIA Terminal 1 – one could choose to sleep on all four seats in the middle row in economy class, it was that empty – only to fill up to the brim at Don Muang with Germans returning home from their vacations in Thailand. The process would reverse itself on the return journey, an eloquent commentary on the desirability of Philippine vacation spots to the ordinary German out to enjoy his generous vacation benefits.

Lufthansa has been known be sparing in supplying amenities in its long-haul Economy Class cabins, as compared to its Asian and Middle Eastern competitors, but it looks like the German airline is getting up to speed, such as the installation, for example, of in-seat video screens, in its Airbus A340-600 jets.

It’s rather odd for the ABS-CBN News report to mention that Lufthansa, a member of the Star Alliance, is suggesting that its soon-to-be-stranded passengers to take Cathay Pacific, a member of rival oneworld, to connect to its European flights from Hong Kong.

Back here at home, the Congress finally got around to delivering what they promised to produce by the fourth quarter of last year: Legislators okay ’08 budget: House first to ratify bicam report; Arroyo expected to sign this week.

“The bicameral committee report on the 2008 budget was signed yesterday by Mr. Lagman and Senator Juan Ponce Enrile, chairman of the Senate finance committee. The expenditure ceiling of P1.227 trillion proposed by Malacañang under the National Expenditure Program (NEP) was “virtually” unchanged, Mr. Lagman said.

“The report recommended a total budget of P1.226.7 trillion from the original P1.227 trillion, with the P300 million representing the Priority Development Assistance Fund allocations of senators Panfilo Lacson (P200 million) and Antonio Trillanes III (P100 million), who had said they did not require such.”

In Philippine business news, Philippine stocks closed higher today:

“Stocks bounced back Tuesday, buoyed by Wall Street’s 176-point jump on firmer hopes that the US Federal Reserve will slash its key rates this week.”

Former Fed chairman Alan Greenspan makes a bold forecast:

“Expectations of the rate cut came amid comments at the weekend from Alan Greenspan, former chairman of the Fed. In an interview with The Sunday Times, he said he did not believe that there was sufficient evidence to show that the US is in a recession but he gave warning that there was a greater than 50 per cent chance that it would be. He added: “Growth in the United States at the moment is probably zero. We are at stall speed, and we are vulnerable.” “

Market punters will not be interested in holding stocks for any length of time and will probably buy on weakness and sell at the first opportunity into making a profit, and so on.

One stock market that bears watching is China’s, as investors elsewhere are interested in how last week’s plunge in the US and Europe will affect punters in the Shanghai and Shenzhen stock exchanges, dominated as they are not by institutions but by the Chinese equivalent of Joe Schmo. Read China’s Wild East stock market.

At any rate, investors in the Shanghai stock exchange took a cold bath last Monday. That market closed somewhat higher today but will this panic-selling trend continue tomorrow and in the days to come?

This has got to be the understatement of the day:

“”Equity markets are back under pressure once again, and that’s going to reduce risk appetite,” said Ian Stannard, senior currency strategist at BNP Paribas SA, France’s biggest bank. “Low-yielding and safe-haven assets such as the yen and Swiss franc will be outperformers in this kind of environment.””

You don’t say.

This early, some experts are telling retail investors to put their money in bond funds in the pursuit of a well-balanced portfolio if nothing else.

In the Philippine blogosphere, there’s a healthy debate at Manuel Quezon III’s site about the adversarial relationship between organized labor and business: Labor out of the picture. Manila Freelancer suggests, what else, Linking Up: 3 Best Mobile Phones for Freelancers. Walk This Way bids goodbye to the Coconut Palace.