Andrew Loh / Deputy Editor
One made $3.6 billion, another, $1.086 billion last year. Yet another had profits of $505 million. Two others reaped $150 million and $50 million.
All have increased further the prices of their services this year.
What’s more, all these companies are providing essential services such as public transport, electricity and newspapers.
All are owned or partly-owned by Temasek Holdings – and thus, are classified as Government-Linked Companies, or GLCs.
Has greed run amok? That despite achieving such handsome profits, these companies find it necessary to raise prices at a time when the economic outlook isn’t that great, the stock market continues to be in flux and the cost of living has spiralled out of control?
Singaporeans are left at the mercy of the relentless pursuit of record profits by these GLCs. And in case anyone accused them of profiteering or being greedy, some of these companies, such as SMRT, SBS Transit and SingPower, have announced that they will provide “vouchers” for the poor and needy. It is, to me, nothing more than just a public relations exercise – to make the companies look good while they suck the lifeblood out of Singaporeans.
So, you have SMRT and SBS Transit giving out vouchers worth some $400,000 and SingPower giving out vouchers worth $1m – compared to the hundreds of millions and, in SingPower’s case, $1.08 billion, in profits which these companies have made.
Consumer watchdog bodies such as the Consumer Association of Singapore (CASE) and the Public Transport Council (PTC) and the Competitions Commission all seem to be useless and worthless and toothless in helping curb such profiteering by these companies.
It would seem that Singaporeans are standing naked, as it were, in the face of the blatant and pure greed of these “corporate monopolies”. Yet, the saddest thing is that no one seems to be speaking out for the average Singaporean – not the 84 MPs in Parliament, not CASE, not the Competition Commission, not the opposition parties (except maybe the S’pore Democratic Party).
For the record, the abovementioned list of profits belongs to:
$3.6b – Singtel, which raised phone charges this week.
$1.086b – SingPower, which raised electricity prices by 22% this month.
$505m – S’pore Press Holdings, which upped its newspaper prices this month.
$150m – SMRT, which raised its train fares on Oct 1st.
$50m – SBS Transit which also raised its fares on Oct 1st. (Its parent company, ComfortDelgro, netted $223m last year).
It is quite evident, to me, that greed is the driving force behind these price increases. What is, however, even more regrettable, is that the Government of Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong is allowing such greed to run amok. These companies are, after all, Government-linked companies, all under the umbrella of Temasek Holdings, the Government’s investment arm.
———
Below is a comment posted by Donaldson Tan in response to another commenter, inspir3d:
inspir3d (#6):
Computing the EBITDA margin (ie. EBITDA/Revenue) is sufficient for quick comparison. Values are from their respective 2007 annual reports.
Singtel = $4,540M/$14,844M = 30.6%
SingPower = $2,103M/$5,446.8M = 38.6%
Singapore Press Holdings = $634,391,000/$1,172,442,000 = 54.1%
SMRT = $273,293,000 / $743,126,000 = 36.8%
SBS Transit = $87,961,000 / $670,042,000 = 13.1%
A healthy EBITDA margin is usually between 10-20% margin whereas an EBITDA margin exceeding 30% is regarded excessive by the standards of many overseas industry regulators.Singtel, SingPower, SPH and SMRT are clearly doing too well at the expense of Singaporeans. I can’t see any good justification that the competition commission or PTC would approve the price hikes for these 4 companies
———-
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GOOD ONE !!!!
First thing came into my mind was email this artical to all the MPs, OppMPs, NCMPs and NMPs….
They need more fund to supplement the heavy losses in the investments caused by their major shareholders. So any say from the gahman ?
Well, looks like Singaporeans had no choice but to tighten their belts & spend less. Let the service & retail sector suffers for all these.
I think you missed out NTUC which also generate profits, give out DISCOUNT vouchers and raise prices?
Additionally, do you think it’s possible to give details of the vouchers that are being given out by the respective companies?
The govt is also human, the ministers, the civil servants, the GLCs’ top guys, they are all humans.
These price increases also directly affect their families and all their relatives in Singapore. I am sure the govt will have a heart and look into making cost of living more tolerable for all citizens. Otherwise we are all choking & suffocating with the financial crisis at such a serious magnitude globally. We all need help from the govt to arrest this “self-inflicted” runaway inflation which is within our govt’s control.
During good times, it is okay for the govt to lecture all of us that there is no free lunch, that too much state-subsidised public services is harmful, that all govt-run companies must make profits and so on and so on. But if these GLCs are making the kind of profits we are seeing and yet still have the audacity to increase prices further during this difficult time then we must voice our concerns constructively. The sole objective is for the govt to really “hear us” and respond with a kinder pricing system – with a heart – for like I mentioned earlier, they, the ministers & civil servants, also have families and relatives, who must also be abdly affected, especially by the Electricity tariff increase of 22% when OIl price has dropped and is still dropping. I really hope the govt will hear us and respond positively. Make our lives more tolerable during this global financial turmoil.
“$3.6b – Singtel, which raised phone charges this week.
$1.086b – SingPower, which raised electricity prices by 22% this month.
$505m – S’pore Press Holdings, which upped its newspaper prices this month.
$150m – SMRT, which raised its train fares on Oct 1st.
$50m – SBS Transit which also raised its fares on Oct 1st. (Its parent company, ComfortDelgro, netted $223m last year).”
your analysis is incomplete without considering the rate of return on investment…
you need to incorporate ROE, ROA vs cost of capital analysis in order to conclude whether the profits are outsized or not. absolute numbers do not mean anything.
e.g. 1billion in profits on 100b in capital is only a 1% return (1/100), which is very very low.
indeed, if i were to use your argument, then Warren Buffett would be one of the most greedy people in the world, since berkshire makes billions in profits?
No.
You need to perform profitability and rate of return analysis in order to properly conclude whether the profits of these infrastructure companies are outsized or not.
Leong Sze Hian should be able to tell you how to do this.
inspir3d,
it is not the amount of money that signifies greed. After all, these are bread and butter services which should be enjoyed by citizens at a relatively low costs.
See lah, those people who deride the likes of JBJ are now enjoying their own fruits of supporting the PAP lah. Serangoon Gradens incident, the Mas Selemat incident, the prices just keep going up, up and away and nobody is there to fight for your human rights.
Good article… can we let the 66.6% read it as well? They are at the Core of these problems…. We need to evangelise (to borrow a term) more to these ignorant people out there on what is happening.. they are still living in mindless bliss.
I feel that a responsible government should do something about all the increases.
The first step should be the removal of `dubious’ taxes, like that on petrol, and the conservancy taxes of utilities usage etc. The GST that comes on top of them all should be calculated for the pre-taxed amount. Even the amount one pays as income tax is further taxed as part of one’s earnings for that year, in the following year of assessment!
Then perhaps we can all believe what the ministers said about making Singaporeans pay real market prices………….. not the kind that have been artificially inflated in the first place.
Perhaps the government is building up its resources to prepare for the next elections…………when it could then be very generous. If that is the case, then we can all be hopeful………..and grit our teeth for now.
Some of your points and anecdotal examples are valid, but NEWSPAPER? In layman terms I would say “get a life”.
There are many international newspapers and even free ones, and definitely we can live without one. If there are easily available substitutes then you should not mention it else you are going to complain about every bak chor mee price increase?
I agree with inspir3d as well. Your article is not objective and seemingly biased written with an agenda.
Any more talks to provide alternative commentaries to the people of the dot who get info mainly from the MSM?
How about this saturday?
These are hot topics of strong public interest.
Do the right thing!
Pragmatism is shallow.
Follow your ideals, sometimes!
The GLCs are making handsome profits and yet they still increase prices like there’s no tomorrow – like they are in a hurry to squeeze us for the last drops of blood – if we are lucky to still have some blood left ????
Actually, the CEOs who are running these profitable GLCs are working under tremendous personal pressure and stress. They must perform better and better so that their report cards look damn good to their bosses. Their financial rewards are also performance-based. So they have to work even harder to deliver more profits – until the dangerous point where they forget the greater good of society – or even worst when they sacrfice us, the ordinary consumers, to achieve their very narrow objective of $$$$ and more $$$$.
So, in a very significant way, the greatest flaw is in the financial-reward-system (or merit-based system) of measuring CEOs’ performances when it comes to running public services – one main cause of the pain we are experiencing now. The ideal situation is of couse, when the CEOs know how to (and wish to ) strike a healthy balance between personal financial rewards and gains and the greater good of society at large. Or “Reality” will hit home in some way or the other – and when that happens, we as a whole nation will suffer even more.
LLS #Post 1;
hi, all those people You mentioned ‘SHOULD BE MORE AWARE AS THEY ARE PARLIAMENTARIANS’.
They should have been the very people representing us to remind the Government of social and livelihood problems. The Netizens seem to be doing such duties for the Parliamentarians in SIN now. How laughable!
In any case, profiteering on the citizens by the Managers of the State is simply UNCONSCIONABLE AND SINFUL.
patriot
2) sunp on October 8th, 2008 9.50 am
Is it? Why does the people always, I say again, ALWAYS accept hikes of all kinds for decades and decades and decades and decades non-stop?
If I am wrong, show me 1 hike that is ever not passed through.
regards
Self-proclaimed Kangaroo ….meat lover.
“Consumer watchdog bodies such as the Consumer Association of Singapore (CASE) and the Public Transport Council (PTC) and the Competitions Commission all seem to be useless and worthless and toothless in helping curb such profiteering by these companies.”
as long as these bodies are not independent from the powers, people should not be naive that they have been created for the sole purpose of protecting and defending the people’s rights, interests or well being.
and i do not think corporate gain is all about greed for the simple fact that money talks. look, you are not going to get international accolades and foreign powers to respect our chief/s if your profit margin is like the kachumputeh man you know.
when you have CEOs running the countries, you need a lot of money to raise his profile in the international game of finance.
it is all about the man in power and what he is supposedly able to do for you.
power robs and power corrupts at the end of the day? is it self serving or is it self giving? who gets hurt eventually?
you decide.
See all the pics at : http://s478.photobucket.com/albums/rr143/stoompingg/
I think the government should not be attempting to cushion every price increase and fostering a crutch mentality among Singaporeans.
That said, I still think that there should be a balance between economic pragmatism and social welfare. If any government governs a country based on pure economic pragmatism that would be a very sad situation indeed. A mandate to govern comes with social responsibilities i.e. going beyond token measures to help the struggling masses.
In the face of soaring inflation and pending economic gloom, prcie increases on such key services and goods like telecommunications,public transport services and newspapers are insenstive. They exhibit a lack of compassion on the government’s part.
The very irony. The government has no qualms in splurging big money on greedy Western banks; yet it has a huge issue with alleviating transport costs in a meaningful way.
Life is more than about economic theories . It is about having a heart.
Our government will probably point to its track record and give a patronising lesson on the economics that necessitates price increases.
I say, there is a balance between long term measures and short term measures. Any responsible government will balance them properly. We cannot be pouring big money only into “long term investments” like rotten Western banks. We need to be investing in the future, as well as the PRESENT welfare of the people.
I think that the people are not asking for subisidies on the scale of Temasek or GIC investments; we merely ask for more than the token concessions currently given.
The PAP always says that it views the economic and material welfare of the people above boisterous claims for democratic expression. Well, it’d better be doing a better job regarding the former for now.
inspir3d (#6):
Computing the EBITDA margin (ie. EBITDA/Revenue) is sufficient for quick comparison. Values are from their respective 2007 annual reports.
Singtel = $4,540M/$14,844M = 30.6%
SingPower = $2,103M/$5,446.8M = 38.6%
Singapore Press Holdings = $634,391,000/$1,172,442,000 = 54.1%
SMRT = $273,293,000 / $743,126,000 = 36.8%
SBS Transit = $87,961,000 / $670,042,000 = 13.1%
A healthy EBITDA margin is usually between 10-20% margin whereas an EBITDA margin exceeding 30% is regarded excessive by the standards of many overseas industry regulators. Singtel, SingPower, SPH and SMRT are clearly doing too well at the expense of Singaporeans. I can’t see any good justification that the competition commission or PTC would approve the price hikes for these 4 companies.
Tired of all these lame excuses to raise prices & fatten their pockets.
Wonder what’s next?
Prices of food and commodities increase due to electricity hike?
Nope… that’s the primary effect only.
Secondary effect:
Foreign firms and corporation moving their factories to Malaysia (or nearby Asian cheaper countries)..
Singaporeans lose their jobs.. Gahment lose their taxes, need to attract foreign firms & corporation again..
cannot have minimum wage (set up business in Singapore is costly enough),
this time get a pay-cut so that they willing to invest here.
gahment allows price increase for their services or goods provided to us so as to make them stay here.
no point voicing out how you are being fleeced because gahment won’t do anything against their vested interest.
The vicious cycle goes on & on.
Many couldn’t take it & are planning to flee.
Most already fled to Australia or US.
Not enough people here thus need to import more foreign talents.
Better import more than needed else the economy cannot function when there’s a sudden outflow of people.
Life is hard, birthrate is down, increase birth incentives or else population of singaporeans become disproportionate.
That doesn’t help when prices increase subsequently, couples drop their babies plan.
And what’s left of the little red dot?
Its actually $3.96b after-tax profits for SingTel. This includes 66% revenue contribution by Optus in Australia. At least in SingTel’s case, ordinary Singaporeans were given shares ie we get dividends (I wonder if part of it includes Australian profits). With 1,000 shares, one would have gotten ~$160 last year. Unlike ERS, dividends are continuous with shares so long as the coy is profitable.
Still, I agree its a lot of profits…In any case, with mobile phones, less and less people use fixed line.
My worry is that someone will take a look at SMRT figures, compare it to SingTel’s and say that’s not enough.
Compare the frequency of price increases between the 2 differing services and its clearer if this is what’s happening.
And then SingTel, SPH, etc looks at SMRT and say if SMRT can do it that frequently, why can’t we?
21% increases in electricity price is very, very steep. That considering that oil price have dropped from $148 to $8X representing a 40% drop.
Whilst SMRT fares gets a price increase due to oil increase, there won’t be a price decrease when oil price decreases. No such mechanism. That’s the fallacy of the system.
I think Jack works for the govt….mybe he is in the civil service…way to go jack
“Computing the EBITDA margin (ie. EBITDA/Revenue) is sufficient for quick comparison. Values are from their respective 2007 annual reports.
Singtel = $4,540M/$14,844M = 30.6%
SingPower = $2,103M/$5,446.8M = 38.6%
Singapore Press Holdings = $634,391,000/$1,172,442,000 = 54.1%
SMRT = $273,293,000 / $743,126,000 = 36.8%
SBS Transit = $87,961,000 / $670,042,000 = 13.1%
A healthy EBITDA margin is usually between 10-20% margin whereas an EBITDA margin exceeding 30% is regarded excessive by the standards of many overseas industry regulators. Singtel, SingPower, SPH and SMRT are clearly doing too well at the expense of Singaporeans. I can’t see any good justification that the competition commission or PTC would approve the price hikes for these 4 companies.”
EBITDA margin is NOT a sufficient measure. EBITDA excludes the capital expenditures which can be highly costly to Free Cash Flow.
I reiterate my statement that you have to perform an ROE/ROA or IRR analysis in order to analyse the returns on investment. Profit Margins are NOT sufficient.
i am merely trying to point out the incompleteness and the flaws with your financial analysis.
if you are going to present financial arguments but your financial analysis is unsound, nobody is going to take you seriously.
do you correct and appropriate financial analysis and your arguments will be much stronger
23) inspir3d on October 8th, 2008 3.16 pm
24) inspir3d on October 8th, 2008 3.20 pm
Hey good explanation and analysis.
So what do you think. What if I say that even with a high ROI (even after accounting for depreciation or whatnots or you just name it as many as you like) still does not tell you much about the efficiency of the company in the context of monopoly / oligopoly on some important and essential services. In short, no real competition.
Because you can simply jack up the prices (the most important & flexible variable in a monopoly) of services given the nature of it being treated as Ah Kong funds – the customers do not much choice except to pay & yes to protest loudly (if it is allowed here & if it does escalate into something translated as security issues).
Talking about protests. Just compare Singapore with Hong Kong (a society which can give us a respectable fight as far as benchmark is concerned)
Andrew, it is not greed. this is all done for our own good, so that no one can “do us in”.
If they dont raise the tariffs and profits, how else are they going to raise funds to acquire all the companies around Asia and beyond? Its such a quick and easy way to raise money.
electricity tariffs to go up? well, SingPower has plans to buy up all the power plants in the region. of course they need money! they cant always depend on CPF and fines, can they, since they’re reducing corporate taxes?
its all taken care of. which other country in the world has govt departments taken on the role of investment managers? we read so many stories about town councils, govt depts making investments…even religious organisations. only in Singapore!
once we have control over telcos and power plants and airlines in the region, then we have control over our neighbours. Then Singapore will continue on its path of Golden Growth, as MM Lee said.
I am waiting for the day when Mediacorp/SPH will start competing with Rupert Murdoch or Ted Turner. Our casinos will also be better than the rest of the world – Macau only has F3, we have F1!
and once these companies make money – they will share it through the singapore shares. we can enjoy the best transport/port/ financial/legal system in the world, a virtually crime-free society, a country protected against terrorism and any foreign military, where there is no unemployment, everyone is a homeowner etc etc.
We may be a red dot, but no one is going to mess with this red dot.
All we have to do is just work, pay our taxes, pay our loans..just dont question them, please. everything else is taken care of.
“26) aygee on October 8th, 2008 3.40 pm
once we have control over telcos and power plants and airlines in the region, then we have control over our neighbours.”
Hey, imagine the nationalistic sentiment that one can easily fan in the host country and you are in for it. Singapore does have a string of experience on this which will definitely look good in its resume.
Certain host countries just do not have the culture to be ready to see their own national darlings being privatised away to another country (oops to another private entity which so coincidentally may be owned by a national sovereign funds of another country).
Please bear in mind, a lot of other sovereign funds are due to something from heaven or earth (e.g oil).
Now make a guess where ours comes from. (no prize for getting it right).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sovereign_wealth_fund
#26 aygee says: “It’s all taken care of”. Really???
“Ignorance is bliss” – as one saying goes!
“See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil” – as another saying goes. Somebody forgot to add “Just do evil”.
The Pariah, singaporeenbloc.blogspot.com
another point i would like to make is that painting the corporate sector as greedy is often uncalled for and unfair. there are many public service providers that have made losses, and have even gone bankrupt while serving the public (take example the failure of the rail franchise in victoria, australia, where a couple of operators went bankrupt).
a proper public services system needs the cooperation of both the public sector and the private sector. the government needs to provide a sound regime that allows the private operator to earn an acceptable return, otherwise nobody is going to invest in the projects, and nobody is going to provide the power, transportation and telecoms services that are vitally important to a functional and prosperous economy.
on the other hand, the licence regime needs to protect consumers from oversized profiteering. this is where i feel the government has fallen short, and this is the fundamental issue that needs to be addressed when discussing public services in singapore.
The common denominator in all the companies quoted – they all have the “Singapore” in their name. (You left out Singapore Airlines). What does that tell you? Also, they are all effectively monopolies, duopolies or oligopolies – hence the super-normal profits.
Don’t forget DBS. Remember the $2 charge for account? I do
I think someone called it “damn bloody slow” once… Even here, takes 30 post to get mentioned. :-)
Great article – TOC’s best ever!
Makes you wonder …..
What is public service?
What is servant leadership?
27) inspir3d on October 8th, 2008 4.13 pm
“public utilities and infrastructure providers around the world are usually natural monopolies. this is because there are massive economies of scale in providing such services (such as a railroad, a powerplant, or fixed line telecoms services). in order to prevent the providers of these essential services from abusing their monopoly power at the consumers’ expense, these essential services are highly regulated.”
Good explanation. ROI just gives you % which still does not address the real efficiency issue. Perhaps let me illustrate.
Country A (population 4.5 million person trips) = 10million profit / 100 millions assets = 10% but price per person = 2.22 unit dollars
Country B (population 4.5 million person trips) – 9million profit / 90 million assets = 10%
but price per person = 2.09 unit dollars
Country C (population 4.3 million trips) – 8.9million profit / 90 million assets = 9.88% but price per person = 2.06 unit dollars.
Assuming all other things being equal like landmass, etc which is not in reality.
Any organisation with a higher ROI can claim better utilisation of assets. However, I tend to feel your explanation (suggestion ?) of outsized ROI more believable in our context – having seen this Copperfield act done on us all too often.
Please bear in mind, our country is small & compact, therefore infrastructure cost per unit of area coverage should be much smaller whereas in a big country, the area coverage is much bigger where the population is more widely dispersed.
Plus, they have added dramas that we do not have (e.g union strike to be perhaps beautifully matched up by an equally responsive commuters’ strike if they are not happy with certain services). All these contribute to added costs.
And they do have a wonderful common understanding to scre* their regulators (government) if the latter do not play ball. I am not saying through speculation, I have talked to people (of course they are foreign talents lah).
Hi. This is a little passage that I created to comment on the situation face by the majority of Singaporeans.
My Tuesday are meatless
My transit card is worthless
My utilities bills are endless
My month flat installment is ridiculous
My investments are in pieces
My job hours are ever-creasing
The time spent with my family are lessen
My life is lacking liveliness
The rebates given are pointless
Everyday I get poorer but wiser
God Damn, I do hate the self serving government
Unless you nationalised the companies, the price increase is here to stay.
The 1st goal of a company and its CEO is to MAXIMIZE SHAREHOLDERS VALUE.
Further, the listing of the companies means they are in more pressure to have earnings growth.
Essentially, it is a conflict of interest between a public operator and a listed company.
inspir3d (#23):
Free Cash Flow (FCF) = EBITDA + Change in Net Working Capital (NWC) + Capital Expenditure (CAPEX)
I don´t see the point to continue arguing with you over the technicality on EBITDA vs Free Cash Flow. I merely wanted to use a simple indicator to inform the average layman than rather confuse them with complicated sounding terms.
However, I feel the need to add the point that if EBITDA margin is healthy while the FCF margin is relatively low due to massive CAPEX, then it is clear that consumers are being charged a lot to fund internal investments than rather using financial surplus accumulated over the years.
Nevertheless, you made pretty good points on the market of essential goods and services.
Excuse me why can’t I post?
Inspirid check your tmr, Harphoon wants to contact you, by the way you always need to check the net value of yr cap? yeah. Otherwise how do you determine your net asset value against opportunity cost? Think about that. If you need help we will come in and help you this is easy peasy
Singapore daddy
Your e-mail that we used to contact you with I mean.
some people lost their heart and soul somewhere along the way up… hmmm.
Whatever the rate of returns, the fact that these are Govt-linked companies, providing essential services, to me at least, mean that they should be sensitive to the circumstances of citizens – especially at a time when the economic outlook isn’t that good, uncertainty with the stock market and the last two years of rising cost.
And if such companies are already making profits – some even record profits for the last few years, like SMRT – then we have to question if they are run with public good as their intention or greed as their driving force.
To just look at the ROA or ROI or ROE and conclude that because they are just “1%” they are or may not be doing that well, is to ignore the reality that these are providers of essential goods.
I think many will agree with me that if such companies make half a billion or a billion dollars in profits (net profits, mind you), they should be quite happy with it and not seek to squeeze more out of Singaporeans.
It is true that I am no financial expert. But sometimes, it is the non-expert which can recognise financial or monetary greed better than the experts in the field.
Money is the road to all evil, we have few hundred $$$billions in our reserve, do you guys agree? Money buys power, they control ppl, even saints can turn into devils overnight . . . vote for them some more lah! serve you right!
It’s a cliche but still runs true; power corrupts.
Although the global financial meltdown is a disaster to say the least, on the brighter side, I think the not-so-kind-and-honest-bankrupt rich people should think that this is a golden opportunity for them to prove that they are not a flash in the pan but rising from absolute poverty to rise again and reach the top again as multi-millionaires. So, if rich but evil people go bankrupt due to meltdown, they should thank their lucky stars for this chance to prove themselves.
evil and rich people go bankrupt also is part of financial ecology and if this does not happen, the evil and rich will forever remain rich. But I hope the rich and evil who go bankrupt down think negatively and jump when the stock maket also plunge.
MIW says and act in all…
What is public service?
Ans: Money
What is servant leadership?
Ans: More Money
MM Lee = Money-Maker Lee , no wonder he called himself MM Lee.
“Please bear in mind, our country is small & compact ”
On top of that, most importantly there is NO NATURAL DISASTER in Singapore, only PAP-MAKE DISASTER etc exorbitant money losing investment but still white-horse get away, cover-up, ShittyTimes, Price Hike like nobody business. Compare to other countries like Thailand, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Japan etc, we are lucky that God bless us with no natural disaster but the devil is running the country.
With the rate going for all these enomously huge self-approved salaries + the $$$billion lost in foreign investment funds, our nation reserves would be empty in no time. No wonder, they have to start selling off our power stations and other nation resources to make the balance, not even to mention our life long working contribution of CPF monies are as good as all GONE! These are all no different to daylight robbery. Hope not to see another similar thaksin case around, who knows, there is no transparency or accountability at all in our system.
The huge amount of reserves that Singapore was due to the prudence and hardwork of all Singaporeans. It should not be seen as a evil or greed. In the current economic turmoil, these reserves act as a buffer to cushion our export-dependent economy. Compare our economy with Iceland whereby the country is practically going bankrupt due to the huge debt of the financial institutions.
We seem to have a lot of socialists in the forum. How about giving tax-payers money to those companies if their EBITA drops below 10%?
“40) singaporedaddy on October 8th, 2008 8.33 pm
Your e-mail that we used to contact you with I mean.”
ok will look out for it
Public service privately-run
Profits unlimited, accountability none.
Monopoly good for everybody
Don’t be a busy-body
Complaint and complaint
You will get delayed trains.
Come next election
See who got the rations.
Cheers to all Singaporeans.