This was taken inside the Kai Yuan Temple in Quanzhou during my recent trip to China. The girls were tourists visiting the city.
10/13/2008
Is my memory failing?
If I can still remember, sometime, not too long ago, there was an official announcement that there will be no increases in govt services or charges. But today we are facing higher electricity tariffs, higher phone bills, higher transportation cost, while we were told to brace up for a recession.
Maybe I did not read them or understand them correctly. All these are private organisations, so it is still correct to say that govt services and charges have not gone up. Would hospital or medical bills be considered private as well? How private are our private organisations?
Can a govt organisation or govt linked organisation be private by simply restructuring it and call it private when the major shareholder is still the govt?
These are difficult and tricky things for the simple minded Singaporeans to decipher. It is easier to just accept any thing as private when it has a private label. That all is well.
Hi Redbean, I see you are never satisfied. When you have one of the best living standard in SE Asia you still complain all the time. You have the best of everything, schools, transport, infrastructure etc, you still moan. Why can't you be thankful for a change??
ReplyDeletethere are parents who are happy that their children scored 60 marks. there are some who will be happy with 80 marks. some will still be unhappy with 90 marks.
ReplyDeletewe are about 80 marks but declining. soon we will be 70 and then 60.
there are people who are happy earning $2k a mth. there are people who are unhappy earning $100k a mth.
As you often say, someone earning $100,000 per day wants more and more and never satisfied. You called that greed. Aren't you also greedy in this case? Practise what you preach Redbean!!
ReplyDeleteA while ago someone claimed that Singapore was in the Golden Era too.
ReplyDeletethe danger this country is facing, as lky has warned, is complacency. if we can take the attitude that everything is so good and keep quiet, go to sleep, then we will wake up one day, like rip van winkle. it will too be too late.
ReplyDeletewhen we are paying top dollar, we must keep demanding that we get top dollar's worth.
was america in good hands?
oh, i am not earning $100k a mth or anywhere near that.
ReplyDeleteI have heard that someone in Singapore is earning $100,000 per DAY. I wonder who that lucky guy is.
ReplyDeleteWait till they privatise the CPF Board. Then your CPF money will be there for a really long, long time.
ReplyDeleteI do not know the guy who earns $100,000 per day, but I do know someone who earns $10,000 per day, ie. more than $3 million a year.
ReplyDeleteJust like the PAP cycling event, the minister will tell you that SP has been privatised and the government has no control over its operations.
ReplyDeleteYeah... right. And the ministers acting as board members still collect directorship fees.
Heh.
Kaffein
There seems to be a misconception about those in the high income brackets that they should be the ones most rooted here.
ReplyDeleteFrom my social networking, I came to believe that the ones holding PRs in developed countries are usually well to do so called high networth individuals who have made it in singapore, and for some reasons saw the need to have that option in mobility.
In other words those who opted out of here are NOT ALL LOSERS as has been frequently mentioned in this forum, and I am baffled too.
When CEO get paid indecent amt salaries, there will always be suspicion in ppl mind; that while these companies made monies, why do they still make policies to take more monies from the ppl.
ReplyDeleteSIN are so so stupid, they know who owns or run the companies and the profit they made. Oil prices fell - what spot prices are they talking about. Also arent our power station run on gas from Natunas island instead? dont see the rationale for increase.
To #01 Anonymous - when policies only benefit a select few, ppl will moan. There will never be leveling playing field but make the field playable. Maybe you are too young for this now.
#01 Anonymous should start his own website called it the happy site and i hope many many ppl like him will go there. Get the hitch.
It is OK to allow such gribs to take place for true pent-up feeling to surface, #01 Anonymous is one of those who prefer to paint a nice glossy pictures same like a communist state where you praise the leader but go home empty or hungry.
01 Anonymous , do you have anything to contribute besides acting like a brainwash parrot of the state. "we are the best"
#01 Anonymous is a typical brain-washed parrot who have not travel much or see much. #01 Anonymous is a politician who is no difference from a second hand used car seller. The state like ppl same as #01 anonymous - unquestioning, blind royal & faithful, trusting the master absolutely including licking his boots.
but we are the best, like it anot that is a fact.
ReplyDeleteNow, I dun think I am a bootlicker just becos I disagree with you that the grass is greener over yonder. I could be color blind and faithful though. How about you?
ReplyDelete> Can a govt organisation or govt linked organisation be private by simply restructuring it and call it private when the major shareholder is still the govt? <
ReplyDeleteNot only can, but it is the reality right now.
The wonderful thing about the Westminster system it that it has lots of power. People believe they have "rights". Sometimes these "rights" might even be mentioned in a constitution.
Well folks, any constitution under the Westminster system of (so-called) parliamentary democracy can be rolled up and used as toilet paper.
The "rights" people think they have (under a constitution, no less) are nothing but temporary privileges which can be voted away in parliament -- at anytime, for any reason.
In other words, wake up and smell the kopi-oh: the state can do whatever it likes -- democracy or not.
Why don't we privatise PAP? or may be it is already.
ReplyDeletei think it is a good suggestion to have a happy blog for happy people. then they can get together, rejoice, and be happy talking about the good things and all their blessings.
ReplyDeletePrivatisation is a process that yields a magic pill(panacea), a pill that can absolve and immune one from liabilities and culpabilities in some cases.
ReplyDeletePrivatisation works like magic!
patriot
But it seems that everywhere in the world they are just doing the exact opposite now. They are nationalising the banks again. Hooray, communism is alive and well!
ReplyDeletewhen the west starts to adopt and practise communist principles and communist practise capitalism, imagine the contradiction.
ReplyDeletethe west should start to praise communism.
redbean said...
ReplyDeletei think it is a good suggestion to have a happy blog for happy people. then they can get together, rejoice, and be happy talking about the good things and all their blessings.
Well you could always rename this blog as "The solace for the unhappy and the negative minded" or "Distressed and out in Singapore" or "With an axe to grind, only" or something that is more approapriate to your intention. ;)
re: anonymous
ReplyDeleteI presume you're here to join redbean's unhappy-and-negative-minded -anonymous group ;)
i think he is enjoying every bit of our posts. he is a convert and will be supporting us always.
ReplyDeletehe is being enthralled by us and can't find a better blog that is more captivating than this blog.
I suspect there could be people surprised by what I'm about to say:
ReplyDeleteAs a market-driven capitalist, you might make a lot more money under communism than in what most people consider the "free" market these days.
How?
The Black Market.
When you have communism -- where everything is controlled -- you get a HUGE and EXPANDING blackmarket for lots of goods -- especially goods considered to be "immoral" by the regime. E.g. comics, internet access, clothing, medications etc.
Trade will be conducted in a meduim of exchange which would be more stable than the commie currency.
The only downside is that you might have to "fight" the govt. But that would be rare and extreme case. Most of the time all you have to do is bribe the authorities.
Free markets are wonderful. But our global economy, whilst reasonably free is still bogged down by too much regulation.
Therefore, depending on what you do and how you do it, you could become very rich under communism.