Panic at the Ranks Again

So my mom really panicked and bit my head off.
After this negotiation, the other side called her and told her to offer the subsidy we used to offer. Ok, now as i've said before, I go with accounting as to where to draw the line of cost. Its up to us to negotiate for the best price...

We have never gotten any favors from these guys, we were the ones giving favors. They owed up to Php8.3M and they only paid now because THEY escalted the negotiation to their boss and we told them about their outstanding dues.

So now prices have increased, its been 6 months. I don't need to explain so much, because Finance backs me up on this, and one assumes Finance knows what they are doing.

My decision making is based on my experience with this company, TM. Their malice and difficulty to deal with. They are very very difficult and Its never been a two way street with them. How can we be a partner when there really is no long term goal and good for us. It is a purely economic relationship, as soon as there is a better cost they will leave us. There is no "relationship" to speak off; especially if the other uses lies and has tried to trick us many times (lying blatantly about a contract).

We have margins at 10% and if anything should happen, we would be negative and out of business. What is living a life so close to the edge, vs making a stand so that in the future you wont have that constant fear. These people lie, their excuses are documented and all lies... why trust them at all, they will rape you if they get the chance.

I know there are many reprehensible things I will do in my life that I need to be comfortable with. My wife finds bribing officials who act as gate-keepers to projects intollerable; and I tollerate it. I see a future where I will have to tollerate it much more or else I will never win a single project.

It is all game theory - I can't because I know there is a bastard who will pay of the gate keeper. I'd rather be the one to do the Job than the other guy I can't trust. That other guy, is not me, I know my own cogntive biases will affirm and rationalize many things I do, but rest assured its me Justin, who will be at the helm. I will do my best to make it as fair and honest as possible.

That unwillingness to accept that compromise... its like that discussion about Education as a Business. The Education biz owner has Education and Profit as conflicting forces,

*balancing conflicts of interest* 
education as a biz in the philippines. you have to balance education and your profit margin. there are many many instances where people are in a position to balance profit with ideals. When they give in to profit vs ideals, what can I say? Should I curse them? There are levels and nuances to costs; as economics teaches us in diminishing returns. There are little details that say so much about who we are. 
What pissess me off is branding without exception, without consideration. Like as if others have a choice in the living they make. I pretty aware about the costs of educations and the costs of changing career as a former artist, and i find it really pisses me off that people would make that qualification about the ethics of doing business in the "emerging market" about bribing gate keepers and getting important projects underway. Already, in the news this past month 3 bidding projects for gov't had no bidders and thus failed. 
Duh, there was a gate keeper. Gate keepers in this projects don't care who they affect, they just want their cut. Ok, now f*ck that project, who ultimately loses: how about the millions of filipinos who rely on those gov't benefits and regulations. Projects and bidding take another 3-12mo to start again, biz plans take about months to prepare, NEDA audits of biz plans, etc... F*cking give the gate keeper what he wants and move on. We can't have a perfect world, but we can make it better to live in when that Tech is in place. 
Oh and those who ask others to "get out of that biz" cause its dirty, someone has to live with the shit of this world, do you trust the person who would take your place dealing with that crap or yourself? Do you trust that person who has to bribe officials to get his projects? What if that was your job and its as shitty as Good people think it is, do you think you have the power to change career and walk away? Its a f*cked up situation. Its not like that person is living the high life; he still goes to that shitty place he lives in and is not immune to the shitty stuff we all have to deal with. 

I know US companies are not allowed to invest in a project with any potential corruption, China has no qualms. So the projects go to China. I have no problem with that. Most of these projects are Telco, its the freaking Internet, its the cost of computing, its education. This politco gets a big cut of the project (they charge it to the public, so the cost of the project + "tribute" is the total cost of the project) I don't give a shit. 

Many projects in IT the cost of the "tribute" in the late 1990s and early 2000s were 80%. These days the projects are being publicly funded (tolls and transaction fee, etc..) the gov't doesn't pay for anything and there are still gate keepers. Because of how committee based our gov't departments are there are times some of the people intentionally don't get a cut. Improved technology also makes it harder to hide bribes. These days there is less of a cut... but still a cut for a gate keeper. 

Time is a factor th