6/23/2008
Practise what you preached
After Mah Bow Tan, Lim Swee Say met his residence and provided the most brilliant arguments so far for all the price hikes and high cost of living. He looked so earnest and sincere. He told the audience that there was no reason for the Govt to want to make life difficult for the people. The price hikes were necessary. The Govt worked on the principle of market forces. The Govt did not want to meddle with market forces and people must be prepared with the consequences of market prices.
As for ERPs, it was a separate issue. It was done to curb traffic congestion. I think they are planning ahead, for a 6.5m population. Otherwise, with the high cost of petrol, no one is going drive around just for fun and will cut down on driving when possible. This will take place even without the increase and hikes in ERP toll rates. In other words, there will be lesser driving around.
He also revealed that the high cost of living was affecting everyone. I believe him. Those holidays in the US or Europe are going to cost more. Those children studying overseas are going to ask for more pocket money. Got to feed the limousines more, the aircons, and pay more ERPs. Now these are expensive things and even millionaires will have to pay more. Pity them.
OK, the Govt is not going after more revenue by all the increases. It is just market forces. Then can we let market forces determine how many people go over to JB by removing the 3/4 tank rule and the tax on purchases bought over there? In fact we should practise this market force principle fully. No more subsidies for housing and medical fees, or education fees as well. Let the market decides how much it should be. And no more compulsory savings. These are against market forces.
Was Lim Swee Say able to convince those people listening to him? For one, I am not convince even a little bit.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
14 comments:
Ask Mr. Mah if he wants the 'market' to decided how much his salary should be?
He's statements over the weekend are aboslutely ridiculous. No one in Singapore is asking for Fuel Subidies.. Just reduce your TAX!
No one drives around just because petrol is cheaper. It never happend when it was $1 a litre and it won't happen if the price is reduced to $2 now !
Please lah, stop treating people as idiots.
Ha ha, they are always full of half-baked reasons. Example: hospitals cannot cope because rich people are opting for 'C' class wards or wanting to stay hospitalised longer because it is so cheap. GST is to help the poor. Hugh salary increases for ministers is for the good of Singaporeans. Foreign beer ladies help to create jobs for Singaporeans.
By the way there is a write-up in Littlespeck.com about a coming book by Rodney King shooting down the myths of Singapore's so called exemplary economic and other achievements. I hope they do not ban the book here.
it is not easy trying to tell the tooth, oops, truth i mean.
After the 2006 budget surplus, I simply cannot trust what Lim Swee Says about how govt is making a loss on the ERP gantries. I cannot believe Tharman (MOF), our finance minister and I believe wherever they can, each ministry will try their best to increase their revenue pool - means testing (MOH) Maid levy (MOM) HDB pricing (Nat development) ERP (Transport) Tertiary education (where many countries, it is free for citizens but very expensive for foreigners (MOE)).
And each of them has a checklist to check off to justify their million dollar pay.
PS - why is Lim Swee Say travelling by car instead of MRT? Would it not be more environmentally better to travel by train?
You poor Singaporeans ! You certainly have my sympathy. What a miserable lot you all are. You moan and you whinge on cyberspace, but when it comes to the real opportunity to speak your mind through the ballot box you get conned by a few hundred dollars. How pathetic !! You deserve all you are going through.
Me think we the People of Singaporeans better believe in our Talented Leaders, without them Singaporeans will not feel the way they do now.
Is it too hot nowadays? Is it the weather or the soothsayers?
Listen, listen and beware!
patriot.
this is perhaps the lowest the poor singaporeans can go. totally blank and no longer what to do with their lives.
when will singaporeans take their future into their own hands and decide to live their lives the way they want it and not be led by the nose?
Never in a million years !!!!!!
Yeah, let the market forces determine these useless coffers' salary too. Pretty sure they worth $1,800 instead of $400,000 per month (Remember millions dollars coffers get 9 months of bonus !)
For everyone to know, the government is running every ministry as profit centre not cost centre ! That's why all the citizen get screw !
To make more money for Santana Ho to loose on troubled banks? Just think of what we could have done with the money lost on all the overseas venture. And this is all money squeezed from the sweat of the people. Have they got a conscience? I guess I am asking a dumb question.
i believe in the principle of quid pro quo. i also believe that it is fair for the govt to use our reserves for investment but the return should be returned to reward the people, not just for fat bonuses of the managers.
i am strongly against anyone deliberately scheming to hold back the people's money so that they can use it for whatever purposes. this is wicked. i am not saying that people are actually doing such things. invest in the money that are there and not work out schemes because of this intention.
There is a problem.
How do one practices what one preaches when one is just doing doublespeaks(says one thing but means another)?
patriot.
i don't see any double talk at all. different people, different situation, call for different solutions. we cannot apply straight jacket policies except for things like medisave, cpf life etc etc.
for instance the hardlanders will only be affected by fare hikes. the top end will not be affected even if petrol prices shoot to the sky. so you will need to deal with them with a different set of premises.
Post a Comment