Breaking News: Ms Melanie Kirkpatrick, the deputy editor of the Wall Street Journal’s editorial page, was fined $10,000 for contempt of court by Justice Tay Yong Kwang on Thursday. (Straits Times)
From the BBC, 18 March 2009:
Related posts:
- Upturn the downturn – NTUC sings to lift spirits
- PM Lee urges citizens to do their best to get through downturn together
- So, has the NTUC been able to “upturn the downturn”?
- Bridging Gaps- Malaysian and PRC Scholars Speak of Struggles
- Recession in Singapore is over, says MTI
So does having foreign talents in Singapore help?
Does paying our ministers astronomical salaries help Singapore?
Are we cheated into believing we are living in Swiss Standard of Living?
Does LKY still stand by his words that Singapore is in Golden Period?
Despite Singaporean guys all having to serve their National Service and ICT thereafter, is this the kind of Perfect storms environment our govt has created for them to face while foreigners all start packing up their golds and leave Singapore dry for Singaporean to put up with pieces?
Has PAP been complacent and riding on Singaporean hardship for so many years that now they are clueless and headless of what to do next? Are scholars really talented to think they can produce miracles or are they just waiting for Singaporean to do miracle for them?
I think the above are many thought provoking issues for us to decide whether this govt of ours is really as competent as they claimed to be. There is no better time than now to judge and see for ourselves their capability (of simply waiting and doing nothing about it).
Yes, indeed, we have been too reliant on the US economy. I, for one, do not think that the US economy will recover soon. That’s because the government bodies in America are too arrogant to acknowledge that their financial system is the root cause of this mayhem in the first place.
Here’s my take on how the US is in self-denial that the very system, which gave them economic dominance in the 20C, is now bringing their economy to its knees in the 21C.
http://wherebearsroamfree.blogspot.com/2009/03/more-american-hubris.html
It was the Geograhhical Location takened advantage of and developed by Stamford Raffles(of British East India Company) that had brought in the wealth of this tiny land called SIN.
Had SIN been located in Timor Island(Indonesia), hypothetically speaking, can anyone imagine a Timorese developed it like SIN ? Even a genius will not be able make it flourish. This theoretical comparison is just to show how the City State had benefitted and flourished due to natural attributes rather than the abilities of its’ leaders. However, the geographical advantage dwindles and will diminish as trades bypass SIN. More countries have developed their own seaports and airports and trade with each other directly.
The struggle is likely long and arduous.
We know the implications of export model since long ago. I expect economists to know this even 40 years ago.
And the solution discovered over 40 years is ….? what is the solution?
Life is about overcoming problems. problems always exist. Its talents who must come up with solutions to fix the problem. This is what it takes to claim to be a talent, in my honest opinion. When credit we take. When debit leh?
When problems exist, we expect the best solutions for obvious reasons ;)
Today’s papers reported Spore & Taiwan to be even more badly hit by the global crisis, ahead of HK & Korea.
Yes, our govt has placed too much emphasis on trade and an export orientated economy driven predominantly by the western markets.
Hindsight, we should have downplay our ego and be better & more cordial neighbours with our asean friends, esp Indonesia, who are well endowed with natural resources. We could have leveraged on their abundance with our better management skills.
Now, we’re like sitting duck awaiting the USA & eruope to recover and pick us up along the way.
My thoughts here: http://singaporesocialactivist.blogspot.com/2009/03/risks-of-unchecked-export-driven-growth.html
We pay millions of dollars to these ministers, yet they say we actually have to wait for other countries to save our economy? Then by right we should be paying $$$ to other countries?
“Hindsight, we should have downplay our ego and be better & more cordial neighbours with our asean friends, esp Indonesia, who are well endowed with natural resources. ”
Indonesia??? hahaha
The small sampan alway claims to be a powerboat….. it entered the big ocean for once and is now awaiting the sea to calm and others to come by and pick us up along the way.
Let this be a humbling experience and perhaps the golden age may really come one day…
Meanwhile while waiting for others to do us up, can all the redundant ministers be sent packing so that we need nor draw on the reserves later for payment of salary purposes…….
No worry, no matter how bad, things will still be very peaceful. If an election is called, PAP will be returned with a bigger majority than last election.
More people may get depressed, hot tempered, go to loan sharks or whatever.
But one thing for sure, nobody will dare to organise or have mass protests on the streets. So things will be peaceful and normal, at least on the surface. After all PAP care a lot about face.
So just ensure you have enough of your own reserves. So that no need to see MP or lose dignity.
American companies are shifting their oversea operation back home, so that the jobless rate will be reduced. Put it in another way, means that more retrenchment for the locals in SEA, may be China too.
Those local companies that depends on business from USA will definitely suffer.
Our old man MM still got (old) guts to tell Singaporeans how our economy is and how difficult it is to managed, why begrude Ministers of peanut salaries.
And let me tell ALL of Singaporeans, that the guts that our old MM dont have is to announce to Parliament AND all Singaporeans that our economy cannot recover from the efforts of all the ministers/PM’s doing, the reserves spending is not of much use BECAUSE its the world’s economic recovery that unfortunate Singapore is dependent on, s t u p i d ! !
Wow, i din know Expprt model can have such a problem.
how many understand this problem?
Retire?
“S’pore will have to depend on global recovery to revive its economy, says PM Lee.”
So we can’t rely on the MIW that gets extraordinary pay to solve this, although this is expected….but what happen to those people who promise extraordinary result when getting pay increment? so in the end, they are just normal people, hankering for extraordinary pay and thus , their extraordinary pay aren’t justified especially in this time of crisis.
so now what, it is just pointing to the fact that SGP growth wasn’t because of our extraordinary leader with extraordinary unjustified pay
SZ
They are extraordinary because they can make you vote for them at every election
with 50 % walkovers, 66 % mandate and 98 % seats won.
Don’t you think this is extraordinary?
Our MIW with their million dollar salaries are no different from the shamed AIG honchos who continue to draw million bonuses despite the uncertain times and money coming from the near empty pockets of the citizens.
The only difference is that we have been conditioned to be fearful to protest and thus they continue to milk us till we dry. All the prohecies as depicted in George Orwell’s 1984 are happening here.
SZ #14,
Former Worker Party’s GE Candidate Tang Liang Hong once said “公鸡不叫，太阳照样起来”. How true his words are.
GIC’s 2008 loss was S$50B and that is equivalent to S$136M a day.
aiyoyo
looking at the elites investment (negative gains)
really pain commoners (cpf how? when can take out + spend?)
still do not see the logic why these elites dont invest in homeland?
how commoners to feel ‘belong’ to this place then?
aiyoyo
The above BBC TV interview is not as extensive as the following BBC radio interview:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/video_and_audio/7950333.stm
It talked about the following:
*recession (minus 10%?),
*stimulus package (Is it enough?),
*export driven economy (too compacent and dependent on western mnarkets?)
*GIC/Temasek investment (Are your concerned about paper lossed?)
*Lee family running the funds (In retrospect, do you think it is better for your family to take a lower profile?)
*Election (Are you anticipating some show of anger and displeasure by the people?)
*PM’s pay (You are paid 5 times of President Obama. Are you worth the money?)
ST has published an extract of the radio interview on 20 March, but it left out BBC’s questions on election and PM’s pay (see last two line of the above list)
Self censorship at work in ST again !!!
To #20 Anonymous
Thanks for the BBC radio interview. I notice LHL were speaking with so much of a denial: “Not because LKY is my father. Not because Ho Jin is my wife”. “They are the best and that is how Singapore is run.” As usual he spoke of “we need top talents to be paid top dollars to run billion dollars fund” and “his govt is the best to deserve top money”. I felt so sick about his denial and self praising speech day-in-day-out despite our economy in chaos right before his eyes.
When Singapore achieved prosperity and great economic success by riding on the vibrant US and global economy then, and almost every Singapore was enjoying a stable and comfortable livelihood (compared to may other countries within the region), I wonder why no one ever says that the government made the right decision and has the right policies??
True, the government owe it to us that they find ways and means to fix the current crisis, but did anyone realised that that current situation was a global situation and challenge, and that it is well beyond any single government ability to manage, contain and control?
But at least, there were measures being inroduced by the government to help the needy, and if you check the comments about the stimulus package that the Singapore government had introduced, it was well received and positively reported by many reputable news agencies and media, with some countries even lamenting why their government did not introduced simiular packages!
Another point that we should also take note of is that we were using our own reserves and money for the stimulus package, and not having to borrow and create huge debts for our future generations, unlike many developed countries in the west and also within our region!
Singapore thrived on an open economy model, and we had enjoyed the fruits of this policy for over 40 years…why are we blaming the Singapore government now for having the “wrong” policies??
Let faced the reality!
To #22
You are assuming that Singapore has been doing the right things all the time. Check out http://www.transitioning.org/?p=702 and ask has our government helped our private enterprises like other governments are helping theirs in creating jobs?
Truth indeed should prevail.
#23 Small and Suffering
Before you narrow your reading scope to only those negative blogs and reports, please do yourself a favor – read and understand (if you are willing) the following links and articles, and enlighten yourself:
http://www.straitstimes.com/Breaking2BNews/Singapore/Story/STIStory_339565.html
http://www.kpmg.com.sg/publications/Industries_HelpingSMEscopewiththedownturn.pdf
http://www.spring.gov.sg/Content/PrintPage.aspx?group=nw&id=385b8db0-56dc-4e81-bf50-67c98ba4e9a8
http://www.ace.org.sg/Site/PageContent.aspx?id=12fe02a4-6202-49df-b075-8cd0f630dc8a
http://www.spring.gov.sg/newsarchive/news/releases/98_03_02.html
Hopefully, this will balance your perspective that indeed, Truth Will Prevail!
#24 truthwillprevail
what crap- referring to gov web sites- you call that reading widely?
Do yourself a favor and read widely , instead of looking thro the rose tinted glasses the gov and MSM is providing you.
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Southeast_Asia/KC20Ae02.html
We lost billions of our nation’s reserves thro unwise investments – MM Lee admitted as muchabout going into US banks too early . And we are paying them top dollar for this?The point of contention is these people pay themselves top dollar claiming to be super human , and then blaming everyone else for failure, and saying that our subsequent recovery and success depends on the recovery of the US and Europe.Then why do we need to pay them so much?
Singapore’s past success in none too spectacular when you look at the economic development of Hong Kong , Taiwan and Korea. All were riding on the economic trends of the time and all grew .
Truth wil prevail indeed- what crap!
TruthWillPrevail,
The government can come up with all sorts of suggestions and/or schemes. All those are NOTHING, if they don’t work in real life. Stating the government reaffirms support, suggesting renegotiation of leases, blah, blah, blah, means NOTHING to the local entrepreneur.
If the government is sincere, there are a few things they can do which will alleviate entrepreneurs financial burden in an instant. They can lower petrol tax, ERP rates, car park rates, public transport rates, GST and even lease rentals held by HDB, JTC and other government link departments.
For sure if that is done, the cost of business will come down IMMEDIATELY. Why is the government pretending to be concerned coming up with paper suggestions that look impressive but does not work?
“I wonder why no one ever says that the government made the right decision and has the right policies??”
bcos they r expected to do so given the high expectation they’ve cultivated.
It is very strange that my responses to #25 what crap had been selectively deleted, I wonder why? Is it bcos of my language (but looking at the language that what crap used, was TOC being bias and taking sides in deleting mine??).
#25 what crap – I really do not know what crap you were referring to, as it seems you are off topic. Perhaps, you should come back to the topic of whether the government had done enough to help the SMEs, and not whether we had lost billions of reserve, which is happening to all countries on a global basis. So, any of your enlightening perspectives in challenging the articles and the stimulus package that the government had given out, and not just criticising without knowing what you are criticising!
#26 Solo Bear – I fully understand your point and know where you are coming from. It just that there is always a delay factor between implementation of policies and getting the results. The package had just been given out, and it will take time before we see the effects. It is still too early to judge whether the package works or not. And if indeed it does not work for whatever reasons, then it is time we react and demand for more from the government.
#27 Little Peanut – I agree with you, as I have the same high expectations of the PAP government, given the kind of high salary they are getting and the promises they had assured us of. I will for one, react, when things do not happen the way the PAPies had told us it will happen.
“Perhaps, you should come back to the topic of whether the government had done enough to help the SMEs, and not whether we had lost billions of reserve,”
The applauds should come from SMEs if they feel they are being help effectively. For most of us where perhaps we are not bosses of SMEs, losing billions of reserve may mean a lot of things to us (e.g CPF, more collection of future direct / indirect taxes to make good reserves being taken out, etc)
Is Singapore the only country that lost billions of reserve…common, let’s face the reality! It is quite interesting to see how people can conveniently blame the government for a global crisis that was beyond any single government’s control when it happened (except for United States, the main culprit of the current crisis).
I agreed with #22 TruthWillPrevail, we failed to acknowledge the government’s effective policies which provided Singaporeans with so many years of good times (and simply brush it as their duty to do so), but when times are bad, we will shoot every available blames (or even inventing many such craps that are not true) at the government, whether or not such blames were justifiable.
If indeed it was the Singapore government’s fault alone for the lost in billions of reserve, then perhaps, all governments on planet Earth had failed miserably and disastrously, as all had already lost billions (or trillions) in their respective reserves.
It is important to see what the government is doing to help its citizen, and just this morning, TV stations and news report in Japan had urged the Japanese government to take a leaf from the stimulus package the Singapore government had implemented, as it is perhaps the most practical approach both from a short and long term perspective.
If Singapore government had been ineffective in what they are trying to do in helping Singaporeans to overcome the current crisis, would the media and news commentators of the world second largest economy make such a call to their government?? Please, let’s be rational and let’s at least give the government the time and space to do the necessity, and we can all be the judge to determine whether or not they have been effective in dealing with this crisis.
Remember, we have our votes on hand to show our discontent and dissatisfaction, if indeed PAP fails!
Truthwillprevail,
>> I fully understand your point and know where you are coming from. It just that there is always a delay factor between implementation of policies and getting the results. The package had just been given out, and it will take time before we see the effects. It is still too early to judge whether the package works or not. And if indeed it does not work for whatever reasons, then it is time we react and demand for more from the government.
>>
Somehow I have a feeling you are working for the civil service. You sound like one anyway.
Why do we need to have programmes that have time lag to see if they work or not? Why can’t we have actions will work IMMEDIATELY? What is the government’s objection to lowering:-
- petrol and diesel taxes
- ERP rates
- car park rates
- rental rates
- conservancy rates (that will help HDB businesses a lot)
Won’t lowering the above have IMMEDIATE effect?
Lowering GST may take some admin work. That may have a time lag. But for sure, that too will bring costs down in the long run.
What is all the Job Credit stuff? What is this “you should negotiate with your landlord” thing? What is all this dipping into our reserves thing?
Can’t the highly paid ministers and civil servants see? You don’t need to be a President’s Scholar to understand the above. So what is preventing the government from lowering all the taxes and rates suggested IMMEDIATELY?
What is their objection?
Correction:
Earlier I posted:
- (lowering) conservancy rates (that will help HDB businesses a lot)
Meant to say – that would help business THAT RENT FROM HDB a lot.
“It is important to see what the government is doing to help its citizen, and just this morning, TV stations and news report in Japan had urged the Japanese government to take a leaf from the stimulus package the Singapore government had implemented, as it is perhaps the most practical approach both from a short and long term perspective.”
Hello, japanese leaders resign to take responsibilties. Their TV stations and news report are much much freer and they may even retract and apologise when necessary. Do you know the kind of games that Japanese play openly in open public – it will put you to shame. In Asia, you need to beat the Japanese first even before you even talk about some first world european countries.
“would the media and news commentators of the world second largest economy make such a call to their government??”
The world second largest economy is doing a lot of other things. Are we following them also. remember WSJ, so what has happened to them – they are from the world largest economy.
“If indeed it was the Singapore government’s fault alone for the lost in billions of reserve, then perhaps, all governments on planet Earth had failed miserably and disastrously, as all had already lost billions (or trillions) in their respective reserves.”
The problem is that the people of other more democratic countries have a system to make sure that their ruling elites are held accountable if this is so. when you are compensated so much more than the other governments on planet Earth, you need to be exceptionally magical. You cannot still have the cake and eat it comes rain or shine.
To: Truth will prevail,
The issue is not whether or not the Singapore government has done enough to help SMEs but whether the Singapore government has benchmarked themselves against what other governments have done, successfully (and mind you at an enviable cost of only 3% of the benefit) to help their private enterprises to create jobs.
I suggest you visit http://www.transitioning.org/?p=624 and read the article and comments found there
I’m a taxpayer and I demand that our government account to us whether the Singapore government has investigate what others have done successful. If not, why not and what are and should be the conswequences? Let me quote one ot the comments found in the link I gave you:-
“maybe it’s time again to check if our civil servants have been failing us. Yes, again. This time we don’t have to wait and pray that no harm will come our way. Some people’s livelihood is in the course of, if not already destroyed and more are being threatened”.
solo bear, it is a pity that you are not woking for the civil service or the government, you’ll be a savior to all, perhaps even surpassing MM Lee’s foresight, SM Goh’s wiisdom and PM Lee’s solutions in turning around Singapore during this crisis! Why are these three still talking so much and wasting taxpayer’s money when they can simply adopt solo bear’s bright ideas for IMMEDIATE results!
perhaps, LHL and all his cabinet members should consult you for more bright ideas in getting IMMEDIATE results, instead of relying on all those scholars and elites that were being paid such high salary! It is a sin to waste such a great resource like you! I had forwarded your comments to all these 3 top gun and hopefully, they will adopt your suggestions!
I am sure they will be drooling when they see how great and bright your ideas can be!
Hip Hip Hurray (3x)!!
solo bear, you seems to have conveniently forgotten about all the various rebates and the surplus dividends that the government had plot back to the citizens over the years, which had caused the government several billions dollars to do so.
In addition, your suggestions (while likely to be welcome by many) can only merely lower the cost of living, but not too much, cos:
1) If you are out of job, you would not be buying too many things (so GST does not mean much)
2) You are likely to sell away your car (so not bother by ERP and car-park fees)
The emcompassing solutions that governments must prioritize at this very moment is really to create job for Singaporeans, so as to ensure a stable society and continuous consumptions, which is one of the foremost cornerstone if we need to recover from this crisis.
#36 Small & Suffering…thanks! I’ve read your links one more time, and do understand where you are coming from.
Incidentally, are your aware that the government had dispatched “consultants” to the various business and industry associations to explain and explore how these associations can help their members to have a deeper understanding and thus, maximize the utilization status of the stimulus package. I should be attending one such seminar the week after, and I will share with all how the government position the various packages specifically for the SMEs, and we can again discuss whether it will be useful and effecive for the SMEs.
#32 solo bear – I am not a civil servant…strange, what makes you said that? Anyway, my thoughts are in-line with Melany’s views (#38), but I do concur with you that for the short term, those suggestions you’ve made could be very attractive for PAP to score points with Singaporeans.
In the long term however, it may create implementation problems and obstacles for the government when they want to launch other future initiatives or policies, so, my guess is that it is unlikely that the government will cut or reduce all the various fees, rates or tax. But if they can be successful in creating or keeping jobs at hand, then at least, it will still help. Let’s see…
Melany,
My post was in reply to truthwillprevail on the point of helping SMEs. Your point about rebates is about helping INDIVIDUALS to cope with the downturn. You are bringing up an irrelevant point to address the issue of helping SMEs.
On your point of job creation. You are out of touch. Job creation was the issue from 1970s to 1990s. Now the issue is not job creation but JOB PRESERVATION. To preserve the current jobs, you must preserve the current companies, SMEs included.
By reducing tax on fuel, ERP rates, rental rates etc, you help companies reduce their costs. When you reduce their costs, they remain operationally viable. When they remain operationally viable, they need to keep their current staff to keep the company going. People then get to keep their jobs. That is my point.
All the job credits, negotiating with your landlords, blah, blah, does not guarantee that operational costs will go down. However, FOR SURE, when petrol taxes, ERP and rental rates go down, operational costs WILL go down – IMMEDIATELY.
That is my point. Plain and simple. Why is the government not doing that?
Truthwillprevail,
I said you sound like a civil servant. That’s why I suspected you work for the civil service.
All right, so you say my suggestion is only for the short term. Good! Then implement them NOW – to get the short term effects – and then implement the long-winded suggestions by the government which will take months or years to see if that takes effect.
Any objections to that? What is keeping the government from lowering fuel tax, ERP rates, car park rates, rental rates, conservancy rates and GST? They will face problems when they want to launch future policies? How so? Wasn’t it a stroke of pen that caused those taxes to be raised in the first place? Isn’t it always by the stroke of the pen new policies are created? What difficulties are you talking about?
Excuse me, but you really DO sound like a civil servant!
So what exactly is the government’s objection to lowering all those taxes and rates I mentioned?
Solo Bear…you sounded very irritated and aggressive, are there no rooms for some mature discussion and less arrogant language of yours? Though we have different views and opinions, but a discussion precisely exists because different parties have different views that we want to bring to the table.
I do not have any answers for your questions, I am not MM, SM or PM, and certainly not a civil servant (as you claimed so) that possess any authorities in implementing any policies, so keep your fiery rhetoric and channel it to SM, MM and PM (no point just posting here and waste your super-talented mind in immediately fixing Singapore’s economy and the current crisis), and please be as gutsy as your choice of words towards a ikan-bilis like me here.
Conclusion I get from my discussion in this thread (my first and last in TOC) is that there are indeed differences between those who can DO big things in the real world, and those who only know how to TALK big in the cyber world only!
Sorry if I had irritated you and your righteous views, but there’s no point to engage in any further discussion on this topic anymore, and I will rest my case with this last posting. Sayonara for good!
“Solo Bear…you sounded very irritated and aggressive, are there no rooms for some mature discussion and less arrogant language of yours?”
No, solo bear dont sound very irritated and aggressive. You seems to be making assumptions.
” . . . (no point just posting here and waste your super-talented mind in immediately fixing Singapore’s economy and the current crisis), and please be as gutsy as your choice of words towards a ikan-bilis like me here.
Conclusion I get from my discussion in this thread (my first and last in TOC) is that there are indeed differences between those who can DO big things in the real world, and those who only know how to TALK big in the cyber world only!
Sorry if I had irritated you and your righteous views, but there’s no point to engage in any further discussion on this topic anymore, and I will rest my case with this last posting. Sayonara for good! ”
These are superficial humility and false humbleness
Truthwillprevail,
All I am asking is what is wrong with lowering taxes on fuel, utilities, ERP rates etc, as a measure to help out SMEs. What is so aggressive about that?
Now you say you don’t have any idea. Fine. I accept. But you didn’t say it earlier, did you? So I naturally re-question you. You call that aggressive?
I do not expect any logical answers from the government to my questions. They will always siam such questions.
My purpose of this post is to highlight how simple the issue can be resolved, yet the government makes it like you need to have a double PhD to solve it. I, for one, never believe that our ministers and top civil servants deserve the high pay. Putting it simply, they can’t think. So all the high pay to attract is horse-sh*t.
>> Conclusion I get from my discussion in this thread (my first and last in TOC) is that there are indeed differences between those who can DO big things in the real world, and those who only know how to TALK big in the cyber world only!
>>
Agreed. Has not PAP been over-talking lately?
PS – if you read my blog posts, more than 50% is directed at the government’s inability to think.
To Truthwillprevail and Melany,
I have addressed the points you both raised in http://www.transitioning.org/?p=624 instead of here because the unemployed among us should have the benefit of the clarity this discussion has brought. I for one, found it beneficial.
“Solo Bear…you sounded very irritated and aggressive, are there no rooms for some mature discussion and less arrogant language of yours?”
Hehehe, if you are in a comfortable protected position where you are benefitting from the system much much more than the others, you will be as cool as a piece of dry ice and it is easier to make smug remarks on others who may be irritated and aggressive as they see themselves having to suffer from having to contribute in upkeeping your comfortable portected position while not getting justifiable returns. maybe you are not one of those that I am referring but you do sound so close like them.
wait wait wait…. i try to answer questions ok. i no phd keh kiang only.
The export economy issue… sell to singaporeans only yao yao si loh, sell to ppl other than singaporeans is called tourism ($300 prawns) and exporting wat.
we have enough consumers to drive growth meh? somemore we all also so chow kuan, got money only buy imported goods… other than petrol which other thing you buy is really made (refined) in singapore?
no choice one lah. we are a country in a pretty much LPPL situation since lao li was seen crying on TV.
ok so here’s my answers:
#1 So does having foreign talents in Singapore help?
- Yes, i think more ppl better. i think the orang laut also had the same complain last time when the coolie started coming in….
#1 Does paying our ministers astronomical salaries help Singapore?
- pay so high job so good i also dun see you trying to be minister… this one go so high because of suply and demand wat. they cannot tell you only or no lagi nobody want to do.
#2 we have been too reliant on the US economy.
- world’s largest economy you dun want a slice of the pie meh… we also try number 2 but kenah ketok…. number 3 also export economy, number 4 very unionized…. neighbours all so poor…. not much choice…
#3 It was the Geograhhical Location takened advantage of
-still need the ppl mah, you these days ship cannot go past singapore to somwhere else, need shelter from monsoon meh. is “the singapore system” that keeps them coming back for more…
panama also good location but dun have so many kids with DS lite and PSP leh…. why ah?
#4 And the solution discovered over 40 years is ….? what is the solution?
- create a greater consumer economy. greater consumer economy need more ppl. 2 ways to get more ppl. make or import. we dun make fast enough so have to import loh. then import ppl complain…. how?
#5 Hindsight, we should have downplay our ego and be better & more cordial neighbours with our asean friends, esp Indonesia
- we best friends with Indonesia noe… all their suharto money is here, we still goin to help them lagi with the new thing coming up in the end of this year…
#13 Wow, i din know Expprt model can have such a problem.how many understand this problem? Retire?
-solution… PCC less, KTV less go home make kids more, take more tax rebate.
#26 Why is the government pretending to be concerned coming up with paper suggestions that look impressive but does not work?
- they are genuine one…. they get paid from money that they tax from us wat. we no money they no tax , they no tax also no pay wat. really want to help you, reason for helping i dunno lah.
#32 Won’t lowering the above have IMMEDIATE effect?
-not really. give you money you spend all end up going out of the country via esso, shell, caltex, Louis vutton, air pork, mc donalds, sony… garhmen keep the money give to chip eng send do upgrade at least multiplier effect get one more cycle. workers all take money buy singtel/starhub phone cards.
#32 But for sure, that too will bring costs down in the long run.
- cost is not so much an issue if you are not earning.
#32 What is all the Job Credit stuff?
- this is your chance to get rich quick if you saw the opportunity early. now too late already.
#32 What is this “you should negotiate with your landlord” thing?
- secret message telling you they won’t help the landlords.
#32 What is all this dipping into our reserves thing?
- where else to get money? IMF meh? or we do an iceland borrow rom moscow lah. putin sure lend us one i think we colatralize the whole country can get AAA ratings.
#40 What is keeping the government from lowering fuel tax, ERP rates, car park rates, rental rates, conservancy rates and GST? They will face problems when they want to launch future policies? How so? Wasn’t it a stroke of pen that caused those taxes to be raised in the first place?
- you start of recession only all your pattern come out when it worsen what will you have left to appease the public? you tactic no good wat.
#40 Isn’t it always by the stroke of the pen new policies are created?
- no… dinner table gao dim sai no need pen one.
#40 What difficulties are you talking about?
- faher and son also will argue one wat. everything so smooth meh?
#40 So what exactly is the government’s objection to lowering all those taxes and rates I mentioned?
- problem is they think you dunno where to spend it and no matter how much you have available to spend it is not going to help the general economy beacuse….
we are and export economy…..
The plan is to tong as long as we can so that when the rest start coming up we are as ready as possible to catch the wave. let you send all your worker learn new pattern they pay school fees and half salary sound like good deal wat.
gahmen policy is macro one. we get too attached to it will feel very un luved one.
they say dun give you only complain on website… sit around complain complain. so many other ways to help dun want. come here complain.
start union and fight retrenchment and retirement benefits lah. then we can have repeat the UAW saga and make ourselves irrelevant to the rest of the world.
sound like good plan.
High pay does not equal superhuman ability. Just as ordinary as you and I. The difference is the fat pay cheque at the end of the month. The economy is going to get worst before it get any better so guys tighten your belt for more hardship on the way. We have to look after ourselves as our gahment is too busy counting their fat pay cheques. Don’t expect any free lunch and if one was unfortunate to fall ill, then big expect trouble. No money to pay HDB, better look out for a void in HDB flats otherwise all the good places will be taken. I must say we have trememdous tolerance to take suffering without any compliant. Our pain treshold is also incredibliy high. We took it for 50years as a nation and we are still sleep walking into another 50 more years? When are we going to wake up.
Management is there to take the credits with thing goes well and equally to take the blame when thing failed. It is norm but we have also heard the phase, “highly educated idiot ” – to justify high salary because a person had done well in his/her education especially as a minister, with no previous ministerial experience, had shown itself during this recession that talent had its limit. This situation (high expectation) was created by PAP and Sinkaporean rightly demand that they come up with a solution. Compare ourself to our neigbours, are we better off in dealing with this recession? Most Sinkaporean would say “Yes”, more out of pride then based on careful analysis. Politic aside, the fact is talent and PAP had its limit. They are the master in Sinkapore but for the rest of the world they are no more then spectator. When USA economy slowed, Sinkapore fellow. Many economist believed, this recession will take a few years to settle down and even if the economy start to grow, it take a time to return to the pre-recession day. The answer for all Sinkaporean is come the next GE, are they prepared to change their voting habit? Or like all voters around the world, they have very short memory? Taiwan and Japan had shown the way, are we ready to fellow them?
32) Solo Bear on March 21st, 2009 6.15 pm
Can’t the highly paid ministers and civil servants see? You don’t need to be a President’s Scholar to understand the above. So what is preventing the government from lowering all the taxes and rates suggested IMMEDIATELY?
What is their objection?
Of course they will not agree to lower the taxes which then will lower their earnings and then later their daylight robbery salaries would be affected so badly that they are enable to think properly every day worrying them sick, and then they will not be able to put their interest into protecting their very own MIW party there resulting in their ability to govern the nation efficiently. What else do you expect them to tell you the real answer? how many or in which country will you ever know of any politicians ever tell you the truth in what they are actually doing?