11/07/2007
Curb skyrocketing prices or quit
Taiwan PM was told by his own party to quit if he cannot curb the skyrocketing prices of basic goods. The prices of food, rice, flour, eggs, vegetables etc are shooting to the sky. Quite familiar here.
What is the reaction of the people? Forget about the party or parties. Other than some reports in the msm, I think Singaporeans are generally quite happy or resigned to their fate. Nothing can be done. Just tighten belt and move on. There will be no protest. Not even a whimper of unhappiness.
Singaporeans are really tough in this way. Singaporeans will cope with the rising cost of living. No sweat. Life will go on. And they will elect the same party to power in the next general election with bigger margins, for a better and brighter future.
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13 comments:
.... prices of commodities are going up all around the world, so prices here has to rise.
this "cant be helped".
Price rises across the board is caused by only one thing:
Central Bank Inflation of the money supply.
The main culprit is the US. Most of the world has (finally) caught up with this fraud and have punished the USA by severely discounting the currency—which has been steadily dropping, but fell sharply recently. Today I got 1.44, some places it was as low as 1.42.
Other central banks—in this case the Taiwanese central bank, have been "piggy-backing" their currencies on US-dollar assets and currency, and inflating their own money supplies.
When the volume of money rises, the general price level follows.
Solution? Like US Presidential hopeful Dr Ron Paul says—GET RID OF THE FED!
How does our own MAS compare with the rest of the world's central banks?
IMO, MAS is one of the most "well behaved", although they too have been a little "naughty" in the last 2 or 3 years.
next time when we hear pay rise across the board, just remember that the supply of money is going up and prices are going up as well.
it is like adding fuel to a fire and let it burn. the hotter and bigger the fire, the more fuel is needed.
it will burn itself out one day, sooner or later.
another point to look at is that a declining US dollar and an appreciating Sing dollar should make our purchase/import cheaper and should bring down such cost.
why is the savings not translated into cheaper cost?
meelo/kopi/teh ko-song always go up when sugar price hikes giving the idea the watchdog is nodding or snoring on her watch... so ninabeh jilat?
Ok, I shall blatantly flout my ignorance again:
1. What is the case against the Fed? I thought the Fed was granted independence because monetary policy is ALWAYS better to be away from the control of politicians.
2. How is MAS's track record - and I don't get the 'naughty' gibe either =/
3. To repeat redbean, why isn't savings translated into cheaper costs?
Heh, in fact - why not a full fledged matilah treatise on monetary and fiscal policy?
there is nothing wrong about the fed. when they made the right policy, people will clap. if they made the wrong one, they will be cursed.
our mas is doing fine. their policies are in many ways dictated by what the big countries are doing.
why savings do not translate to lower cost? savings do not determine cost. actually our strong dollar should reduce our cost of imports.
if we do not seriously manage our cost, we will surely kill destroy ourselves. we don't have the god damn right to be paid more than other people. they will catch up with us. just india and china will have enough talents to replace us, at much cheaper cost. so will their infrastructure.
what we can do, they can do better and cheaper.
after the initial PR exercise, all the watchdogs have gone to sleep. no more watching. job done.
It's crazy...Costs escalating but my interest on savings seem to be declining. Am I suffering a double whammy or what?
you are not savings. you are wasting your money in the savings account. they are being eroded away at a rapid pace.
who is the wise guy who encourages singaporeans to put more money into the cpf for the future when your $1 becomes 10c in real value in time to come?
> why not a full fledged matilah treatise on monetary and fiscal policy? <
Already been done, by people far better that I am.
http://mises.org
Look for and down load the free e-book "What Has Government Done To Our Money?" by Murray Rothbard.
At the mises site,look for the video documentary on the Fed.
There is also a classic 170's debate between a very young Ron Paul and some govt/US Fed lackey. It is either on audio or video.
Go to google video and download Aaron Russo's film "America—from freedom to fascism".
Redbean,
Then why the hell isn't the Govt protecting our savings from hyperinflation?
Afterall, there's so much talk abt saving for a delayed retirement.
Credit around the world is supposed to be tight, but hell, in S'pore, it's plentiful...that's why the frigging interest is less than 2%, not enought to cover inflation. Sth is not right somewhere...!
I'm not redbean, but I'll take a shot...
> why the hell isn't the Govt protecting our savings from hyperinflation? < anon905
Because it is the state who benefits from inflation of the money supply.
Remember, inflation is a TAX, an INVISIBLE tax.
When the govt inflates, it is the govt and those closely connected who get the new money first, and therefore get to spend it BEFORE it filters thru the economic system causing prices to rise.
This is an old Keyenesian "smoke and mirrors" trick: inflate the money, spend it quick on "social programs" (or buy assets before the prices rise)...and when the workers (the suckers) finally get the money, prices have started to rise.
As we know, wages never keep up with inflation. It'll take a year or more to even get a pay rise, and by that time the govt
may have inflated god knows how many times.
TAXES, ALL TAXES hurt the poor and those on fixed incomes THE MOST.
Here's a fact we all know from experience:
When prices go up and your wages stay the same, your overall purchasing power dimishes. Your productivity is now "cheaper" but your spending on living costs increase.
And the less WEALTHY you are, the more you will be hurt. I repeat, taxes hurt the least wealthy the hardest.
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