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4/07/2010
A simple way to solve the housing problem
The ST has a full page coverage on the housing problem that is making a small section of the population crying foul. It even features replies by Mah Bow Tan on the issue. Would it make any difference to the problem? Nay, except to make it worst. There is really no problem at all, and it is so easy to let the problem, if it is real, to go away by adopting a few simple measures.
The first thing is to prevent the real estate agents and developers from talking up the market and frightening would be buyers of homes. And the speculators seeing so much money can be made will keep the musical chair game going on. At the moment the agents and developers are just adding fire to an already over heated oven.
And some organisations are setting up indices on housing prices to tell where it is heading. Another no no. It can be very alarming as well.
The third thing is to make sure that there is a blackout on housing news. Don't talk about it, don't report about it. After a while it will die down naturally, and the problem will be no problem anymore.
But there is still a loophole in the internet. The nasty and irritating bloggers will want to continue to keep the topic alive. This hole must also be closed.
Then all will be peace under heaven. The problem will go away if it is not in the news anymore.
Like that can or not?
You want to kill enthusiasm for the property market. It's as simple as ABC.
ReplyDeleteReduce the price of new HDB flats by half. Increase Land sales by 100%. Jack up bench mark interest rates to 4.25% like what the Aussies did. Heck, I love the Aussies. Look at their economy. So robust and healthy. What a lucky country!
Now why didn't anyone think of the above huh?
Just take $5 billion from GIC or Temasek and that should do the trick.
If this doesn't kill the speculators and obnoxious property agents, nay parasites, nothing will.....
Then, everyone will be happy including Mr. Bean who worries too much that his children and their children may not be able to get a decent roof over their heads.
Is there any housing problem ? The STI is near 3000 and will probably cross it tomorrow.
ReplyDeleteSinners need not toil, need not sweat and can be millionaires, billionaires just by playing with properties and stocks.
And yet complain, complain and still complain. Think your suggestion to close down the internet should be implemented. Otherwise there will be more grousers by the days.
That's why they said Singaporeans are so ungrateful. Life is so good here, and the whole world is descending onto paradise but the citizens are unhappy and want to get out, and complaining everyday.
ReplyDeleteBetter replace them with the happy foreigners.
Nah, they are not interested in killing problems. They are interested only in capitalizing on them, to make more money.
ReplyDeleteGee, redbean. You haven't shown that there is "problem". Where is this problem?
ReplyDeleteSeems to me you're tilting at windmills -- making up "demons" in your mind, jumping at shadows... heck, I must be in a metaphorical mood. Sure beats being a "labeller" though. ;) But I digress...
Singapore has one of the highest rates of home "ownership" according to the official figures.
But seriously... all jokes aside. If you say the problem is "homes are too expensive", you've commited a fallacy: in most of recent history homes in limited-land Singapore have always been comparitively expensive compared to elsewhere.
Land is a very scarce resource. How can you logically expect "cheap houses"? Buying a home in S'pore will always be a stressful financial committment.
Get real lah.
I no need to show whether there is or isn't any problems. It is all in the media. If no problem, why is HDB and Mah Bow Tan 'gabraing'?
ReplyDeleteAnd it is not important whether I say there is or isn't any problem. It is not my problem. Only Mah Bow Tan needs to know and if he thinks there is a problem, then there is. If he thinks there is no problem, then there is no problem.
Haha, redbean
ReplyDeleteThat's exactly the problem with those dumb people upstairs. Many years ago, when residents of Upper Serangoon Road were complaining ceaselessly about the daily traffic jams over there, this same dumb donkey keeps on saying that the jam was not serious enough to justify widening the roads and building flyovers. Not because the problem was not real, but because he said so.
Some years later, this same guy admitted that the jam was indeed serious, thus flyovers were constructed to ease the traffic problem.
So you see, whether there is a problem or not, they do not see it objectively. Were they honest in their opinion? I think they look at it more from a political point of view and whether solving it will give them political advantage, and not because the problem needs solving.
"The third thing is to make sure that there is a blackout on housing news. Don't talk about it, don't report about it. After a while it will die down naturally, and the problem will be no problem anymore. "
ReplyDeleteMajority of property in Singapore are owned by the govt/GLCs and many PAP cronies make obscene amounts of money flipping properties. Hence they don't want it to stop. Hey, they even brought in boat loads of foreigners (talent and trash) to boost demand for housing, so property prices can go UP!
Hence it is not surprising to find that the PAP has always been using their 151th ranking propaganda mouthpiece to TALK UP the property market. There is too much to lose for the handful of property flippers if prices actually go south.