4/08/2008
$1 million solution to rising food prices
This has been touted as a nation wide scheme and the best stop gap measure to the food crisis. 'Community leaders say it is likely to be the best measure, although certain troubling questions will have to be addressed.' Lin YanQin reported.
This is front page news, top news in the Today paper. Amy Khor feared that such a great scheme would breed the dependency mentality, a sense of entitlement.
But Zaqy Mohamad and Fatimah Lateef were concerned that it might be too little and not enough.
For $1 million and it is already a nation wide solution, imagine how much can the ministers can do with their $3 million pay cheques? If ten ministers were to offer $1 million each, we could avoid ten of such crisis nation wide.
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9 comments:
I was thinking when they announced their $1 million dollar scheme - wow, that's peanuts for a population of millions. Less than a dollar for each person. And this has raised fears of breeding the dependency mentality, a sense of entitlement. Amy Khor should direct that at the ministers who are being paid millions and expecting the citizens to shoulder the blame for Mas Selamat's escape.
Haggled over $1 million for peasants while it is perfectly acceptable to lose billions on troubled foreign banks.
Previous poster, you don't know, meh ? Anything and everything foreign is considered high-class in Singapore. Peasants are well, peasants, imbeciles, idiots who are the scum of society and don't deserve any assistance from their masters, lest they cultivate a dependency attitude towards their honourable masters. Foreigners, we welcome with open arms and kiss their backsides, but peasants can go sell their backsides to make ends meet.
anon 1025
> wow, that's peanuts for a population of millions. <
Exactly right. It is a "token" move at best, which is what it should be.
Price subsidies are FUCKING BAD NEWS for a free economy and the liberty of the people. Why?
Because they have to be paid by TAXES, and that means, food producers and sellers will get FREE MONEY from the govt. i.e. the govt is paying them to KEEP THEIR PRICES HIGH. Fucking bullshit!
What should be done instead:
Pressure on the US to STOP its farm subsidies and most importantly their CORN SUBSIDIES for ethanol fuel ($50 billion, not counting the other associated subsidies for production, research, distribution etc)
US govt subsidies are a TAX on everyone else in the world and they are ONE of the reasons food prices are skyrocketing all over the world.
I thought farm subsidies actually makes American agricultural imports cheaper - and the subsidies themselves encourages overproduction too, which again lowers the prices of goods.
Yes they make US farm produce cheaper and thus price out struggling (say) African producers and those from EU, Aust Canada, UK where there are no subsidies or very small subsidies.
So eventually the number of producers declines, leading to shortages (as all govt interference results in shortages) which drives the market price of produce up.
So you start with (artificially) lower prices, then over time the objective reality cuts in, supply declines, prices go up.
So how much have you decided to donate to help lower food prices?
Any better suggestions than being sarcastic here to attack the government?
ya, must ask matilah how much he donated.
but don't say people attack govt lah. govt not happy, scold people. people not happy, complain. fair or not?
Z-e-r-o. Absolute zero donation.My charity is reserved for worthy causes.
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