1/22/2006

april 1 comes early

sunday morning is a time for a little senseless digression. it is good to read of laughters and applauses in the sunday times, during speeches by koh boon wan and ng eng hen. both must have been telling a lot of jokes to draw the laughters from their audiences. it is good that ministers have a good sense of humour. a rare quality in this highly stressed singapore when children playing with white elephants are taken very seriously by adults. now for a little good news. boonwan announced that from april 1, withdrawal of medisave is up from $300 to $400. this is one of the reasons for the loud applause reported by the serious sunday times. i think the applause will be thunderous if the announcement is for medical fees to by slashed by another 10%. but good news is good news. no need to bother about substance. another piece of good news. an average c class hospital bill is $800. and 9 in 10 patients in b2 class paid less than $2,200. and the medisave account as at end 2004 showed a balance of at least $17,000. more than enough to pay for hospital bills. so no need to worry. given that not many people will be hospitalised more than 3 times in their life time, and using the $2,200 figure as a guide, would a $6,600 medisave balance be more than adequate? take in the continuous increases in medical fees, a $10,000 medisave balance will surely be sufficient. ahem, i think the roar of approval will bring down the roof of the hall if boonwan would to announce that from april 1 medisave will be capped at $10,000 instead of the current $32,500 and will go up further. and eng hen drew laugher in his rebuttal of wp's 4 dangerous time bombs in its manifesto. maybe the wp should take his advice and do a thorough audit on the team that put up these dangerous proposals. are the proposals seriously thought out to win votes for the wp or to undermine wp? if i can agree with 3 out of eng hen's four rebuttals, then i think it is serious. the four points may be announced too early. april 1 is still quite some time away. the point that i agree with wp is subsidies and assistances to those who need help. after spending $2.5 bil on upgradings of parks and facilities, and $1 bil for needy folks, i thought it will be better to spend $2.5 bil on people and $1 bil on parks and plants and upgrading. then no reason to say money not enough. with 240,000 on the official list of being poor, money sure not enough. $1 bil really can't do much. it is better to give, maybe $100,000 to one person and he will be so much happier. and cheaper to do so. and one can claim authority from the divine who said, 'for those who have, more will be given to them.' with divine authority, who dare to say it is wrong? so if you are earning a lot more, maybe $2 mil, you need not have to complain that you need a raise. you need not have to tell people that you need more cash to stash away in your bank accounts. more will be given to you without asking. isn't that nice? it is a beautiful sunday.

11 comments:

  1. Hi Redbean, Good morning.

    People who earn millions will have bigger expenses, high lives, expensive holidays and all the credit cards to pay. It is for these things that they need the high salary rises.

    For those who earn pittance, around $1200 pm, why would they need any large rise in salary? They cannot go for any holidays, no credit cards, no high lives, only foodcourts and stay home to watch the TV. Therefore they do not need more money. As long as a dinner in the foodcourts stays at the same price, they cannot ask for more. To do so would be considered unreasonable?

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  2. hi speed,

    i try very hard to disagree with you on this. but what you said is pure wisdom. flawless.

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  3. Wha-ha-ha... Damn siong to be poor in S'pore. The govt takes money from you when you are productive, and keeps it in "trust", then when you really need the dough - for e.g. when your fucking life depends on it....

    they tell you HOW MUCH you can spend of YOUR MONEY!

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  4. Hi Matilah, just imagine if the govt hadn't done that and saved your money for you in CPF, you gone and spend it all and have a good time when you are young, then when you are old and need the money, who will support you? I do not think you can depend on your children to cough up the money for you because they will have to be thinking of their old age too.

    Be thankful you have the PAP to think of your old age.

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  5. hi bocharp,

    welcome to the blog. i hope you will enjoy our little expression of pent up feelings.

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  6. this paternalistic thing is ok up to a certain limit, just like anything. when carried too far, it is a problem itself.

    the people pay taxes. those who need help must be helped. this is a responsibility the govt cannot avoided. forcing the people to help themselves is a bit too tough. forcing people to keep what the govt thinks is reasonable is unreasonable.

    many people do not need so much money to survive as suggested by the cpf. many people do not need so much in their medisave as proven by the statistics.

    a policy that originates from good intention can become coercion and repulsive if the thinking is screwed.

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  7. hi speedwing,

    don't take it too personal with matilah's strong words. he is like that when he has too much of red wine. you will get use to him. he is a nice anarchist.

    hey matilah, speedwing doesn't know your style yet. it will take some time for him to be comfortable with your strong expression.

    now i better include you into our coffee drinking session. one in london, one in perth and one in singapore. we shall drink in christmas island. that is the only place we have something in common, owners, past and present.

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  8. maybe matilah still got his cpf money stuck. i have mine stuck as well. very angry.

    at my age, they are treating me like a kid or a senile old man.

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  9. redbean,

    May I compliment you on your "people skills". ;-)

    I owe you a measure of thanks for "enhancing" my image :-)

    You should definitely be in sales. You'd make a pile. Serious.

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  10. BTW, CPF is "sunk money". It is a tax. already gone.

    Forget about it. Plenty of opportunity around to make money. "The Gold Is On the Ground. Someone has to Pick It Up".

    Whatever you cna get back from your CPF is a "bonus".

    Split milk.

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  11. matilah,

    i am in a way in sales. made some money but lost them again. now my retirement is going to be postponed further. and i want my cpf money back. those jokers.

    one day i might decide to take it back myself. i have been hoping that the opposition will take this issue up strongly in their manifesto. let them make this a key issue in the next election. if i were to stand, i will make this my battle cry. so many people are made poor when they need not be because of this issue.

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