Yes, I understand how this intimate billionaire boys club works, and how influential they are both to the government and the top local corporations. And yes, how many Wharton degrees are hanging from their office walls. And yes, the government coddles them, wines and dines them and keeps them "in the loop".

But if you do a press release citing a 70-person survey (we have more people on our Christmas parties, by the way) and say that "nearly 2 out of 5 business executives expect the economy to slow down this year" the *news* there is not the two guys with pessimistic expectations, but is that the other three don't know what the f is going on.

That said, the two recent surprising numbers -- a well-improved peso and record GDP -- had most of them stumped:

Guillermo Luz, executive director of the Makati Business Club, said that the growth rate was quite good, considering that “2004 was perceived to be a bit of a difficult year.”

“We had so many events,” which could have hurt the economy such as a series of destructive typhoons and uncertainty after President Arroyo’s victory in the May elections, which the opposition had charged was due to cheating.

Luz said the growth in agriculture had been “the big surprise” of the year, and that this would greatly benefit the 30 percent of the work force that depends on that sector.

Luz said, however, that growth was not likely to be as high in 2005, remarking that “the expectation is slightly more tempered for 2005 than for 2004.”

We can hope that the 3 guys who didn't know what was going on continue with their winning streak. MBAs, after all, are not economists.