APEC 2024 Peru. Biden shafted to a corner in the back row. Xi in front row next to Peru's President
8/25/2010
More concessions
While the anger has still to subside, and the benefits yet to come, more reasons were given to explain and justify how fair and good the transport fare hike under the distance based system is. Everyone, or every article or speech heard is that it is a better system. Better for who?
I read a small column in the ST saying that NSF man's train pass cost $50 now instead of $48. And it gets a bigger concession than before. Heh heh. This sounds like HDB, bigger subsidy. Or Singapore Sales, big discount. I think they should mark up the price higher and announce higher discount. That will sound even more impressive, 70% discount!
The plain fact is that students and seniors are paying more. And these categories of people are not income earners or mainly small income earners. The rich seniors will be so rich that they will be driven around.
So big concession good ah? Good reason to explain away the fare hike?
There are three words in the vocabulary that Singaporeans dread to hear from the Government. They are 'help','subsidies' and 'benefits'.
ReplyDeleteI think true blue Singaporeans know the reasons. GST increase to help the poor, HDB subsidies and now public tranport benefits are perfect examples.
More good fears to come after the election.
Do Singaporeans understand sacrifices ?
ReplyDeleteTo subsidize the citizenry to housings means forfeiting the National Income by billions of Sg Dollar. By giving benefits means our leaders will have to take less pays. To make the old folks work is to make them useful and more importantly healthy and independent.
What do we want our oldies to do ?
Why is it that students of all levels including those in tertiary institutions never complain and yet bloggers see so much issue. Do you know that our primary school children take taxi to school and almost all use Nokias, I-phones, Sony Ericsson mobile phones ?
Do Singaporeans see that Schools, Mosques, Churches and other places of worships run short of carpark space and have to park at places and locations where parkings are supposedly committing traffic offences ?
Can Singaporeans see how luxurious and wonderful their lives are ?
We are a rich first world country with plentiful of money. Why are we demanding the people to sacrifice and sacrifice? Why are we having car park problems, flooding problems, jam roads and jam trains?
ReplyDeleteCan't we solve them even with our money? Singaporeans must not be complacent and think everything like dat is ok. We need to keep improving, not by making Singaproeans paying more to temporary remove a problem. We need real solutions to real problems.
Short of car parks, raise parking fees lah. This is idiotic.
Wow!
ReplyDeleteNow I understand why they cannot give benefits. It is to enable our leaders to take more pay.
And I also begin to understand that not subsidizing the citizenry's housing means having billions more of the National income for some people to gamble and loose big overseas. Oh yeah, sacrifice!
And as for making old folks work to make them useful and more importantly healthy and independent, I think the real reason is to make sure that they do not go to the government for help or trouble the MPs, because some old folks are bad tempered and can be unpredictable.
Students don't complain, because most of their problems and complaints are taken care of by parents, and moreover most are apolitical and naive. When they start their working careers and step on the coals, then they will feel the heat. Then they will start to complain.
Just go and read letters published on Temasek Review about students complaining about the YOG.
As for primary school kids having handphones, well, Telcos are giving them away practically for free nowadays.
Keep your Senior Citizen concession card up to date.
ReplyDeleteWho knows, we oldies may even find a big ang pow credit the next time we swipe it at the barrier.
So that will at least pacify us oldies before the next round of increases.
Give me a big angpow, a real big one like 50Ks to my CPF Ordinary Account. Will persuade every voters me comes across to vote all the Incumbents.
ReplyDeleteI am oldy and mouldy 2.
Wow! 50Ks in CPF ordinary account. Definitely not within my lifetime for sure, me being also an old foggy.
ReplyDeleteDon't think they will do that. They will rather baptize more foreigners as citizens, for fee, who will vote for them for sure, rather than spend that kind of money on oldies.
For me, even if I live to see the 50K, I'll just take it and still do the right thing at the ballot box. It's money squeezed from us.
when u add 3 or 4 ZEROs.. 50K or 100K or any figure can be possible, it may happen very soon with public debt > 100% GDP.
ReplyDelete>>..raising GST to "help the poor".
ReplyDeleteAll casino entry levies...are use to fund projects which benefit the community.
Really?
ReplyDelete