6/05/2008

Quality FTs coming

(SINGAPORE) Thousands of job cuts in US and European banks - a fallout of the sub-prime mortgage crisis - are forcing bankers in those countries to seek jobs further afield. And they are showing interest in a region still relatively insulated from the crisis: Asia, particularly Singapore. 'It used to be difficult to get any senior finance professional in the US interested in moving to Asia. Now we are getting way too much interest!' This is the best news for Singapore. Real and quality FTs from the US are coming here. Let's start to be more selective and pick the best instead of any donkey that carry a foreign passport. This is a great opportunity for the banks to upgrade their mediocre talent pool and transform themselves into real international banks. As for the not so talented locals or those not so talented FTs who are already here, please make way or seek employment elsewhere. The best are coming.

18 comments:

Anonymous said...

Are these moral and ethical people coming here to improve our financial system or to suck up our hard earned money after they had already plundered the banks, pension fund houses and other financial institutions in their own home country? But of course the government will welcome them with glorifying reasons I am sure.

Ⓜatilah $ingapura⚠️ said...

American expertise is cheap at the moment as their dollar is in decline.

Singapore is a de-facto American state, so why has anyone have a problem with this?

I say bring it on. Come on folks, be a little more polite and inviting, and welcome newcomers instead of giving them the snub.

Chua Chin Leng aka redbean said...

singapore welcomes talent. as long as it is a talent, that is all we want to know. see all the ex talents from nkf? you see them swinging around everywhere confidently without any sense of guilt. we treat our talents well.

never mind what these american super talents will do. we will sing in praise of them when they come.

matilah, i welcome real talents.

Ⓜatilah $ingapura⚠️ said...

I welcome EVERYONE, including the fucked-up ones who succeeding bullshit their way through life.

These kind of people are usually quite entertaining. They are talented in the art of bullshit. What separates the wheat from the chaff is that these folks are GOOD at it and have gotten away with bullshitting all their lives.

I think they would add to the hue and subtlety of life in S'pore.

In a causal universe where one of the hard-cold nature's laws is "You can't cheat an honest man", bullshit artists are NEVER entirely to blame for their success.

No, no.. it is the "victims" who allow these bullshit artists to prevail, and become better by gradually honing their craft, eventually reaching the status of "high art".

Singapore offers a plethora of gullible people who will believe ANYTHING as long as you can convince them that they are going to benefit, and are going to "increase" their status above and beyond that of their neighbours, acquaintances, co-workers, family and friends...and the people living in other countries. (Singapore Number 1!!)

Once you do that, you can write your own pay-cheque in Singapore.

Anonymous said...

There seems to be a wide lag in the perception of most singaporeans when it comes to such events. Look I have been talking about the impending competition and displacement in our job market for months already, since the sub prime crisis. It seems that singaporeans are forever slow to catch the drift of things and impending changes each time new events unfold. This displacement may not concern people like me who have anticipated them from day one, although we are not directly affected. Yet those who are, have been sitting on their laurels totally unconcerned about the implications.

Put it this way, we still get the same tax and gst collections. Perhaps more. Therefore the more foreigners here, the more vibrant this place will be. But if you change or lose your job, good luck to you becos the queue for your next job is filled with foreign applicants from raffles place to the woodlands. Much easier to drive taxi or work in Macdonalds. You may be out of luck, but this has nothing to do with the rest who are not. So as I was once disturbed, now I finally believe that it is a good thing for everyone. Becos competition will make this a more intense and a better place. Those not affected, should not lose sleep over it.

Chua Chin Leng aka redbean said...

i dread the day when making money is the end all of greatness. and making money by any means, moral or immoral, ethical or unethical. and how good a man or talent is, is only measured in the money he can raise.

i bow to thee, almighty god of money. i bow to thee with bended knees. you are so adorable...so handsome.

Ⓜatilah $ingapura⚠️ said...

The world doen't owe anyone a living -- least of all lazy motherfucking Singaporean cowards who are so scared of a little foreign competition, that they are shitting in their baby-diapers.

FT's who come pay a high price: they have to leave their homes, disengage their social networks, uproot thier kids, etc. By going overseas these FT's demonstrate that they have courage, drive, ambition and the motivation to leverage whatever skills they have to the max.

Cut to -- The Lazy Craven Singaporean, living the myth that it is his bosses' "duty" to employ him, and it is the govt's job to protect all the jobs in Singapore for Singaporeans -- exclusively. Unless of course they are the jobs Singaporeans consider intfra dig.

No one can earn more than they are worth. If Person A loses his job to Person B, it simply means that Person B offers more VALUE as far as his labour services are concerned.

In other words it is NEVER (no exceptions) B's fault that A has lost his job. The responsibility is squarely on A's shoulders to reflect on his life and see where it is he can increase his value to others, and make the necessary changes, or exist his field of employment and try somethng else.

Let the flood gates open and the good, bad and ugly FT's come to do their thing. Bring it on!

Anonymous said...

agree! bring in the poor and driven workers from China/ Myanmar and the tens of thousands displaced bankers from the US. singaporeans are not afraid of competition. :)

Chua Chin Leng aka redbean said...

if singapore govt will to adopt your principles, singaporeans will become refugees, and yes, the womanfolks will become maids. the world has many pockets of poor countries whose people will move to find better living conditions.

between india and china alone, just take their poorest 10%, that is 100 mil each to flood our 4 mil residents. you open the flood gate and all singaporeans will be flushed out by the tidal wave.

the influx of foreign workers must be managed and the cost/return ratio must be in favour of singaporeans.

i am never in favour of your 'open the legs wide wide and wait to be screwed by foreigners' policy.

govt policies must be carefully considered with the interest of the CITIZENS in mind. if not, screw the govt.

Anonymous said...

if you want to screw, go jalan besar. and if you are above 40, have low qualifications, you should be worried. but there's hope. new jobs will sprout up at the IRs. i suggest you go take a look. if you think even that is not enough, well, we could always set up a dozen more IRs like thailand did. in this world, winners keep, losers weep and nobody owes you a living. just get real and not be too demanding and you will live. i am happy with the FTs, they help our economy thrive. why are you whinning?

Anonymous said...

there are always safety nets to support those who need help, it is not that bleak as you make it out to be.

Anonymous said...

Are current issues in spiking food prices and runaway fuel hikes more worrying than this argumentative topic here?

Chua Chin Leng aka redbean said...

the problems and merits of having more FTs is like having growth. with growth, with more economic activities, more jobs created, more workers needed, pay will be higher, and everything will be more costly, rentals up, food prices up, costs up. money worth goes down. earning more but actually earning less.

finally it is LPPL. and does the quality of life improve? it just takes another form with more materialism.

take the reverse, every thing cheaper, with lower demand for jobs and workers and lower salary, lower cost etc.

the economist will strive for an optimum point, just like supply and demand curve. reckless drive for growth or the other extreme of no growth are both bad.

Ⓜatilah $ingapura⚠️ said...

I don't know where redbean gts his economic theory from, but it is incorrect.

Firstly, there is no such thing as an "optimum point" in an economy which is "controllable" by fiddling with numbers. Economy is demand driven.

Secondly, economic growth doesn't automatically translate to "higher prices". If the growth is REAL i.e. a product of mostly improvements in efficiency and producing and selling more "stuff" to more customers, then REAL wages will increase. Real wages increasing is the increase of PURCHASING POWER. This doesn't mean that the the actual quantity of money one earns increases automatically. It means that what you earn buys you more because of improvements in production lead to falling prices (thus increasing your purchasing power, which means your real wages go UP -- the money you receive from trading your labour services buys you more).

Thirdly, we live in a material world which means your standard of living is proportional to the way your material and economic life is structured.

Singing songs, buring sacrifices and performing perverse acts of self-immolation in order to please some imaginary angry old asshole, living in an imaginary utopia somewhere up in the sky neither improves your standard of living, nor is it good for your self-esteem and psychological health.

The wealthier and more successful you are, the better your standard of living, the happier you will be, the better you will feel about yourself, about others and about the world.

Article:
Everything You Love You Owe To Capitalism
MP3 version: HERE

Chua Chin Leng aka redbean said...

i believe we read the same economic textbooks in econ101 or econ202.

i am not going to discuss about all the fundamental economic theories and assumptions.

our present system is based on a bigger pyramid system. the demand to sustain growth is in numbers. that is why the call for more population growth, which if apply to the world scale will lead to the destruction of gaia. overpopulation.

there is another theory from my observation, is the economics of substitution. instead of going for increasing numbers, go for increasing quality or qualitative change. of course this has its own limitations as not everyone can become a dip or degree holder. the quality of the population has its own limitation.

we have mixed up and got confused with the solution. and simple economic growth is chasing the economic numbers. without growth means recession and depression.

so the simple solution is go for the numbers. this is very shortsighted. the number cannot go on and on without weighing itself down.

Ⓜatilah $ingapura⚠️ said...

> i believe we read the same economic textbooks in econ101 or econ202. <

I can assure you I don't read from the same sources as you do :). Neither do I learn by reading alone.

> i am not going to discuss about all the fundamental economic theories and assumptions. <

Thank you jesus!

Judging from the content (on the subject of the political economy) of the rest of your post, I believe you've made a wise choice.

boon said...

I hv no problem with REAL FTs coming here, but I hate it when they bring with them the bad behavior ie the arrogance, bad driving skills, their perceived superior advantage, etc. What needs to be done (or maybe already done) shd be a basic screening by MOM which shd include attaching conditions for demerit points attained when too many wrong things are done. Perhaps, they shd be made to attend a short cultural familarisation course before being approved, similar to those foreign senior appointees having to clear the interview/written chinese test in China.

Chua Chin Leng aka redbean said...

agree. we should take in only two types. those at the lower end where singaporeans shun the jobs. and those at the upper end that will bring in value add.

we don't need the in between. now i think we are facing the problem of our graduates being elbowed out in the middle level. if we keep this level for singaporeans, a 4th university may still be relevant.