6/27/2007

something unbelieveable

ST Forum June 14, 2007 $200 GST offset, but so much more to pay ad infinitum I REFER to StarHub's announcement that it will increase cable TV subscriptions by between $4 for basic groups and $10 for sports content. This is an increase of 17 to 67 per cent. The reason given was that 'the price hike is a natural result of ongoing increases in prices of pay-TV content", without any mention of the GST increase. When I received my GST offset letter informing me that I will receive $200, I began to recall the things that I have had to pay more for in recent months. Over the last 12 months or so, there have been media reports about increases or announced increases in electricity, taxi fares, development charge for non-landed residential sites, refuse collection fees, food courts upgrading and food prices, bus and MRT fares, one- and two-room HDB rental, university fees, Goods and Services Tax (GST), postage, property tax, registration fees for medicines, polyclinic fees, hospital fees, car park charges, Electronic Road Pricing (ERP), Nets charges, ElderShield premiums, removal of medical fees guidelines, plastic bags, hospitals means-testing, electronic share application fee, a second postage rates increase, and now cable TV, et cetera, in chronological order. All these increases or announced increases are not even related to the impending GST increase, except for SingPost's postage rates increase which is 'specifically to offset the GST hike'. With the economy booming, resulting in increased revenue, profits, surpluses, possibly lower costs due to economies of scale, et cetera, why is it that prices can only go up but never lowered, or at least kept level? With the assurance that government fees will be frozen for one year after the GST hike, I hope that particularly those fees for essential goods and services that are not in the 'frozen list", like electricity, taxi fares, ERP, bus and MRT fares, university fees, health-care costs, et cetera, will not continue to rise again soon. Leong Sze Hian Is Leong Sze Hian right or wrong? The latest figure released is that cost of living is up .4% over the last month. And looking at such statistics, even after July 1, the next 6 months' CPI will not be more than 2.4%. Why are people claiming that everything is up? Mee rebus up 50c only, what else? All the items mentioned in Leong Sze Hian's article? Sounds quite fictitious. Something is unbelieveable here. It must be Leong Sze Hian's article. CASE has set up a special section to monitor any unreasonable or unjustifiable increases. So Singaporeans need not have to worry.

20 comments:

Anonymous said...

ay your pay up 1 million why mee rebus man cannot up 50cts?

Anonymous said...

Yah, CASE will set up a section to monitor any unreasonable or unjustifiable increases, after everybody have up their prices months ago. What a great idea!

Anonymous said...

When the leaders greed getting undesirable & uncontrollable, therefore everyone’s in business will just follow especially government investment link company so to stop further we got to kick out those government investment link company inorder to stop cost of living go up further.

Ex.
StarHub's recently announcement that it will increase cable TV subscriptions, why are we paying TV licence to MDA to watch stupid programme from Mediacrop, why not StarHub TV subscripted programmes channel to Mediacrop so as to offer more channels, more quality programmes (documentary etc) than at least our yearly TV licence fee more of less worth, rather than a lot of china (ancient series), Taiwan & Korea (slow drama series) & a lot of super idol competition & charity show (the artists seen just waste times & talent with mediacrop or some may idle more than a year without acting.)
hen the leaders greed getting undesirable & uncontrolable, therefore everyones in business will just follow especially government investment link company so to stop further we got kick out those government investment link company inorder to stop cost of living accerate further.

Chua Chin Leng aka redbean said...

i just check my own cpi, unchanged. my plate of vegetarian noodle same price. my pack of 3in1 kopi, same price. my glass of plain water, same price. my barber, no barber. cut my own hair.

mrt is not increase yet.

so my cpi no change.

Anonymous said...

redbean occasionally makes a valid point.

CPI (and other sorts of econometric indicators and methods) are largely a legacy of Keynesian macro economics, where attempts were made to "quantify" phenomena by lumping things together and expressing them in numbers.

Price increases are not across the board without exceptions. Also, even if there is inflation going on, some sectors are so efficient, that prices keep dropping whilst values increase—for e.g. computers and digital electronics.

Prices however will generally increase, especially if the goods are energy dependent, and all goods are energy dependent to varying degrees. Energy costs are rising.

Inflation is insidious too—it tends to spread through the economic system. So eventually we will see rises in areas where no price increase has occurred.

So redbean's personal cpi will eventually increase when he gets his power bill in the near future, as Sing Power have announced an increase. If redbean is driving, he might notice a rise in the cost of fuel. If he is a Starhub subscriber, he will pay more etc etc

Chua Chin Leng aka redbean said...

you are wrong matilah.

my power bill is going down. i am going to cut down on watching tv and switching to renewable fuel, oil lamp, palm oil.

as for petrol, going to switch to bike and use muscle power.

my cpi will only go down.

Anonymous said...

Why not become a sleeper. Your power bill will go down even further.

Anonymous said...

redbean, sad to say that even if all of us here cut down on consumption singapore will still live on becos we are not the targetted spenders, the foreign Prs are. so carry on to enjoy your maggi noodles in your oil lamp room. you can get your one day late papers from your neighbors or read that in the library with the ah peks foc.

Anonymous said...

redbean, cutting expenditures to operate at a "lower" standard in lifestyle does not "reduce you cpi".

CPI is essentially an aggregate measure of the populations purchasing power—i.e. the amount of goods and services they can purchase on the market at whatever the sell their labour for on the market.

i.e. if you earn 3k a month, what goods and services can you exchange it for. Answering the question: "Can you get MORE or LESS goods with the same amount of money now" will give you an idea on whether your purchasing power is going up or down.

Because the govt and their partners: the banks, inflate the money supply by producing copious amounts of CREDIT, the exchange value of the currency tends to FALL over time.

Since your wage doesn't increase to keep up with inflation (there is a lag of sometimes several years, if you are lucky...), the result is FALL in your purchasing power, which means you have to work HARDER just to keep up, and that your savings LOSE VALUE.

This system is guaranteed to keep the majority of people in debt and working like as if they're on a treadmill, going around and around, just keeping up and paying bills...

Anonymous said...

This system is guaranteed to keep the majority of people in debt and working like as if they're on a treadmill, going around and around, just keeping up and paying bills...

i wonder then how much needed to retire in thailand ah....

Ⓜatilah $ingapura⚠️ said...

anonymous 9:05

Retirement in Thailand:

Depends on what level of wealth would make you "happy".

If you are exchanging foreign currency which has greater purchasing power than the Baht for Baht, then your per unit of foreign currency will buy you a lot more "wealth" than what you will get with the same amount in the country of your origin.

There are foreign folks who live in Thailand quite inexpensively, and there are others who like the high life. And in Thailand you can have the high life on a level unimaginable in the more "developed" world.

And real estate is getting more expensive too. For e.g. prices of some property in Phuket jumped 15-30% in the last 18 months.

Chua Chin Leng aka redbean said...

i can only create my own cpi to bluff myself. and i can substitute the goods in the basket to make me feel good.

but the real cpi or market cpi will be what it is. yes my dollar will get smaller. my lifestyle will be cheapen unless my income can exceed the inflation number. how many fortunate people are out there whose income is always adjusted to double or quadruple the inflation rate?

i can hide in my room eating maggi mee. i think once i have to do that, life will become a misery for many in singapore.

Chua Chin Leng aka redbean said...

and if we live by being what we are, pragmati and realistic, the next destination is anywhere out of singapore to spend our retirement.

we will look stupid and be a disgrace to our pragmatism to stick to a place when the cost of living is outstripping our income and stripping our savings clean.

Anonymous said...

When you gently nudged off and disappeared your place will be replaced you with super income abc or Sheikhs that are high yielding and less complaining

Anonymous said...

got no money why talk so much? if everyone like redbean cuts his hair, eat maggie mee, go to the $30 for 3 tailored trousers, then the takashimayas and tangs will have to close and david gan may have to sell his blvd. that's bad!

no, i think for everyone sake people like redbean better consider retiring in batam or johor so that the country can have new blood, swinging PMEBs to keep the high end places alive. rich foreigners are best.

think abt that, are you an asset or a liability to others? always talk n ask for subsidies instead of spending to help our economy old farts like that shud take a boat ride forever away to enjoy their sunsets under the coconut trees some where else will be good for everybody dun you think?

Chua Chin Leng aka redbean said...

never use the term old fart. very sensitive.

for me, i can out drive you in the golf course. you want to go to the track, i can out sprint you in the 100m.

that is how old i am: )

Anonymous said...

so do u take viagra when u go geylang :)

Anonymous said...

i mean we must be honest right?

Lost4ever said...

Everything is Pay And Pay, Poor Also Pay.

This is what Singaporean wants in May 2006, so.... this is what we get.

Anyway, we will get more, just add the ZEROs on the notes that u use for purchasing... until it becomes banana notes, as this is BananaLand.

BTW we are having the greatest percentage increase of high net worth people, with a third from IndoLand, that happens to be the reason for the ban on sand & stones...sigh....

Now u know why most of us will have to work till we drop, BananaLand is surely for high net worth, but the rest, please continue to work like slave till we drop.

Chua Chin Leng aka redbean said...

hi anonymous,

when i look at you standing in front of me, definitely i will need viagra. no doubt about it.

other nice things, i am still very healthy to feel the excitement of a normal man.