APEC 2024 Peru. Biden shafted to a corner in the back row. Xi in front row next to Peru's President
5/08/2008
As the truth sinks in
The spectre of high cost of living is sinking in gradually. One of the first to be hit is car ownership. You may be able to buy, pay the instalments, but you cannot afford to drive that precious car of yours. Every trip out is going to cost that much more. The MPVs and SUVs are going to be hit badly. Cars that guzzle petrol are going to be sidelined.
The latest COE dip for cars under 1600cc is a clear signal. The big cars will go on selling as that market is quite inflation proof. The rich will still have plenty of small cash to spare. The hardlanders who wanted that car to enjoy a little luxury will find it that much more expensive for the thrill.
Malaysia is rethinking on the high toll fees and may reduce them to lower the high business operating cost. We are still sitting mighty high in ivory towers and will not budge in cutting a little on petrol tax to bring down the cost of transportation and related essential services. Always good to err on the high side with more taxes. Then can be generous to throw a few handouts around and the lucky few who are dying may relive for another few months. Those that miss the net, sorry lah.
The MY govt got a very clear message from their citizens last month. Shows you what people power can achieve. Don't hope for this sort of thing to happen in red dot, for as long as the SG citizens are bo lam pa. PAP can continue telling the citizens, "You die, your pasar"
ReplyDeletenot really like that lah. generally the people's life has been quite good. but that seems like going to be the past.
ReplyDeleteat the way things are, the people will feel alienated and things can get rough. singaporeans are not stupid.
Singaporeans are not stupid but they are still bo lam pa. No matter how rough it gets, for as long as Singaporeans bo lam pa, they will continually be ridden roughshod by the PAP.
ReplyDeleteeverything will have its moment of truth. for the time being we shall live by the tooth.
ReplyDeleteFor bo lam pa Singaporeans, when they really tak boleh tahan, they will simply jump onto train track or from their hdb block. That si the tooth.
ReplyDeleteAnd life still goes on in PAPradise. The jumpers won't be missed. The pappies will be silently thankful for they now have less needy citizens to worry about :P
ReplyDeletewhy do you think the truth is called the brutal truth? reality is always very painful. it is always survival of the fittest. but the fittest will destroy themselves eventually as nature will guarantee that. the fit and strong will become weak and poor one day.
ReplyDeletehow nice if there is no poor and no idiots. but then it is all relative. when everyone is a genius and rich, then the lesser genius and the slightly poorer will be detested.
The fit and strong, if they are smart, will have put processes and institutions in place for their cronies to succeed them and hence perpetuate the repressive system. LKY is one smart fellow. The power structure he has put in place will survive him, and ensure that his system will live long after he has turned to dust. Even a non-intellectual like Suharto was smart enuf to engineer a system such that when he lost power, the system was still impotent to touch him. What more the great LKY.
ReplyDeletewhen self is more important than group, when group is more important than country, it is only a matter of time when the bubble will burst and tooth becomes brutal truth.
ReplyDeleteYes, the bubble will burst but the rich will have made off with their fortune, like what happened in Indonesia 10 years ago. The masses will be left picking up whatever scraps the rich have left behind. That is the brutal truth.
ReplyDeletewell, that's what life is. be it the animal kingdom or beans, it is always the fittest survives, the weak should be trampled.
ReplyDeletethe conventional wisdom is to be with the winning side. halellujah.