Yushui Village in Lijiang, Yunnan, with snow mountain backdrop and cascading waterfalls.
11/30/2006
award of sentosa ir becoming a pr execise
no need for charity shows anymore
myth 98
11/29/2006
buddy buddy appointment! goosh!
giving more than gst increases!
11/28/2006
kdf and surplus fund for research?
the NOBLE Award
11/27/2006
Signs of a Nation losing itself.
cabinet salary increase?
myth 97
11/26/2006
Have we failed in nation building?
Old, immobile and lonely
11/25/2006
chasing after a red herring
slavery in singapore
myth 96
11/24/2006
Returning kindness with hatred
it is good to be successful
11/23/2006
talent schools not for nerds
my god, so many complainers
Talk to your neighbours
11/22/2006
when 8 As are not enough
happy old singaporeans
myth 95
GST - The realists and the cock teasers
GST - The realists and the cock teasers
11/21/2006
it is great to give
thoughtless violation of ownership
11/20/2006
now no fear to post at redbeanforum
Then please use the very same technology to banish all FUD (Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt) about your IP address being traced. Regain your anonymity, freedom and privacy. Exercise your free speech in order to preserve what little freedom you have left. Do you like anonymity? Do you wish to circumvent MDA's or any censor's content filters for that matter? Then use Tor technology. It's a network of onion-routers operated mostly by private individuals (some .edus and non-profit orgs also do so). But coz no one person/company own/ have access to the entire network - a common pitfall of so-called "free anonymous proxies" - they can't store all details about you - even if they want to). Tor continually hops and cycles through thousands of IP addresses in its network before exiting your data stream through hundreds possible exit nodes. So unless you're being watched and timed at both entry and exit nodes, no one knows where you came from nor where you're going. Anyway, so what? You easily re-establish another ID using new hardware with fresh MAC addresses. And of course using a public hotspot helps, too. If you want to try out Tor, go to http://torrify.com/ and download Torpark and run that from your machine. Once you've got it running go to http://cmyip.com/ to verify that your IP is indeed masked. Better still go download the Firefox browser from http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/ and torrify it from http://tor.eff.org/download.html.en so you get the benefit of Privoxy as well. Allow yourself to speak out freely without any more FUD. So you see, Knowledge is Power and Information is Freedom in an information-controlled and fear-induced environment. BTW, Tor, Firefox, Privoxy software that power such technology is Open Source Software. Meaning it's FREE and LEGAL to be downloaded and used. So use and support OSS to enjoy a better tomorrow today. PS. don't complain if your surfing speed is now slower. That's the trade-off you make to enjoy anonymity and circumvent content filters. You choose if it's worth it. Anyway, there's the Tor button that toggles if off - if you feel safe to do so.
increase in postage rate
littering no more
11/19/2006
myth 94
world class transport, according to who?
in the footstep of the master
11/18/2006
Many Singaporeans don't pay tax?!
like hell, complain you must
11/17/2006
brutal truth in malaysia
Leong Sze Hian, what is your problem?
youth reporting
Call for Unconventional NMPs in Parliament
11/16/2006
steve job said
fund expenses from income, not taxes
the magic of GST
11/15/2006
myth 93
The devil to the rescue
independent directors need to be independent
singaporeans to celebrate increase in GST!
11/14/2006
straw that breaks a camel's back
gst to the rescue
11/13/2006
dark cloud over parliament
What is this hoohaa about welfarism?
Preparing for the inevitable
the complaining culture
the poor had it (part 2)
what's the problem?
11/12/2006
haze ransom will travel
Talkingcock.com facing tough competition!
How to learn to love another people...the American way.
myth 92
Dreaming like an elite
Sunday morning fantasy. Allow me to day dream a little, to feel good that I am an elite. Hmmm, a $50k salary, and maybe 10 directorships. Wow! Bee tang. Can’t imagine the amount of money going into my bank accounts monthly. Each directorship may average $5k a month. More if the organization is big. Well, probably I will lose track of who is paying into my accounts or how many accounts I have. I may even forget to attend board meetings. Or often the meetings clash on the same day and either I miss one or attend one for a while, then pop into another for a cup of tea.
Now that is life. And got bonuses and increments annually some more. Well, they need to keep feeding me out of respect for my position or my talent, or my connections.
Now would I be weighed down by problems? Of course problems are aplenty. So I will need to prioritise them. Only deal with the major problems. Often I will feel very irritated by little whinings and complaints. Can’t they bring it somewhere else for others to solve them? I only take care of big problems and big issues. Haven’t they told them that a captain handles only captain’s problem while every problem going to the major becomes a major problem?
Now better to do a quick check on my bank accounts and bank balances. Should have enough to place a booking for St Regis.
While I am busy looking for another important investment, those leeches better buck up and straighten up their lives. And stop thinking of handouts. It is for their own good. Too many handouts will develop in them a crutch mentality. And soon the company will be bankrupted. Now that will be a real big problem. It will definitely affect my next increment and bonuses.
Isn’t that a nice Sunday morning fantasy?
11/11/2006
myth 91
‘$5000 household income is rich’
Is this really true? It should be. $5000 is a big sum of money. And a household income of $5000 must be middle class. Let’s look at the details. A family of 5, father, mother and three working children, father earns $1,600, mother $1,000, 3 children each earning $800.
After CPF and a $200 monthly transportation cost for each member, the disposable income left will be: father - $1080, mother - $600, each child - $440. Assuming each member needs $200 for his/her personal expenses eg taking lunch or dinner at workplace, the disposable income will be further reduced to: father $880, mother $400, and each child $240. For a family of 5, the household expenses will probably be $1500 plus $250 for utilities and conservancy fees, or a sum of $1750.
Now the combined balance available of the family, $880, $400 and 3 x $240 is $2000. This would mean that the family will have a balance of $250 to spare. Would this amount be adequate to pay for all the social obligations, more bills and a little eating out or entertainment? In reality, it is likely to be nothing left as there are many things that will eat up $250 a month easily.
Is a $5000 household income sufficient to qualify a family as being comfortable? No car or motor cycle definitely. Very likely the family will be living on a hand to mouth existence. That is how the cost of living in
A $5000 income is quite handsome if it is the income of 1 or 2 bread winners with a couple of young children. If the income is contributed by every working adult who needs to feed and cloth themselves, and also incurring expenses while working, a $5000 monthy family income is bearly enough to live on.
inspired by mah bow tan
After listening to Mah Bow Tan’s plan to build more rental flats for the less well off citizens, I am truly inspired. The govt is now actively tackling the problem of the poorer Singaporeans and to help them. More empty flats will be converted to 1 rm and 2 rm rental flats to solve the problems of housing for the poor. And the rentals will definitely be affordable, calculated with computer precision to fit the income of the poor Singaporeans. This is to prevent the more well off Singaporeans from taking advantage of the system and deprived the more needy Singaporeans of rental flats.
So what will happen is that the household income of the family will be carefully scrutinized not only on eligibility but also to determine how much each family will pay for the rental of the flat. A family with a higher income will have to pay more than a family with a lower income. This kind of micro management to ensure that the poor cannot abuse or cheat the system is one of its kind in the world. It is an obsession to make sure that the poor are managed to every detail of the little money they have. Put them under the microscope. And once they earn a little more, they should be made to pay a little more. This is absolutely fair and righteous. This is equitability at its best. Means testing was not mentioned, but means testing will have to be done to assess affordability.
This principle of paying according to income or affordability is the most ingenious part of the solution. It convinces me that means testing is important and relevant in the
And for this scheme to be effective and implemented across the board, all Singaporeans must be means tested. Testing only the poorer Singaporeans is discrimination by wealth and is disgusting. Also, since all govt services and fees are to be paid according to affordability, it is necessary to means test the more affluent Singaporeans to ensure that they pay more for the same govt and public services. As an example, the price of a 5 rm flat should vary according to the family income of the buyer. Or hospital ward charges shall be computed according to the patient’s family income and applicable to A, B and C wards. School and university tuition fees shall be also payable according to the family’s income. The higher the family income, the higher should be the fees. It is the fairest and gracious formula for the better off citizens to cross subsidise for their poorer counterparts.
With such an equitable scheme where those who can afford more pay more and those who can afford less pay less, the govt will be seen as fair and progressive instead of being mean and petty if means testing is only applicable for the poor. I will definitely support such a great scheme.