3/13/2011

Today we plan for economic growth

Our economic growth is the envy of many countries. We took pride in our economic growth and place all our bets on it. Economic growth, growing the economic pie, is the answer to all our social problems. And the key to our economic growth is economic activity, and the basic ingredient is human beans. The more human beans there are, the more economic activities can be generated and all the numbers added up to a lovely piece of cake, a bigger cake for all. The formula is simple. More human beans, more work, more productivity, more revenue, more activities, more needs, and more of everything. There is more creation of wealth, more consumption, more expenditure, more demands which will create more and more demands of other supporting and service activities. Today we plan for growth. Tomorrow this growth will dictate how the economy will run and all the other human activities. More people mean more food, housing, transportation, jobs, services and space. We can build up and build down. We can share the piece of rock with more people and more people. There will be higher demand for food, water and electric power. So more facilities will be built to store water and generate power. The nuclear option will not be an option but a necessity. There is no way out. The nuclear disaster that is awaiting to blow up in Japan must be food for thought for many who think it is a logical road to take. Our economic growth and growing population and needs for power will push us down this road. Japan, with probably the most efficient and trained workforce, is now staring at a human disaster they think will not happen. It happened. They are trying to play it down. People from a radius of 20km were evacuated. If we have a nuclear plant on our shore, 20km radius means the sea. No where to evacuate, no where to run. And the beautiful architectural feat of high rise buildings, the new Towers of Babel, are massive disasters and tragedies waiting to happen. They are death traps. So are the massive underground living space. No, we don’t have to face an earthquake or a tsunami. The worst we could get was a little tremor from a distant quake far away. And the water level, if there is, will be a knee deep flood in Orchard Road. We are blessed with no dramatic natural disaster, yet. We cannot escape from human error and human created disasters. With so many people packed tightly together, even a full loaded sardine packed train can take several hundred out at one go. A high rise collapse can be more destructive. Our planning for economic growth today could be our planning for a major disaster tomorrow. If the Japanese can foul up a top security nuclear plant with all the safety measures, the lesser beans of this region better restrain their ego trips and don’t think they can do better than the Japanese.

6 comments:

  1. hope that the nuclear leak in Japan will convince our Super Talents to stop talking about nuclear power in Singapore, as we do not even have 20 km radius across.

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  2. Hahaha......

    80+ Parliamentarians and NONE can match Redbean aka Mr Chua Chin Leng in foreseeing the calamitous future Sin is facing.

    Maybe, by then they(parliamentarians and their families) will be foreign talents in other countries. Whatever happens here WILL NOT BE THEIR CONCERN. They will not be affected at all. You die your bizness!

    Possible for Redbean's prognosis and my opinion to become realities??

    patriot

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  3. Like to add that with or without Nuclear Plant(power generator), the Fate is sealed if population is increase further for the sake of economic development.

    The Leaders have to find alternative ways for Economic Developments unless of course they're already well planned and prepare to abandon ship(Sin) when things turn bad.

    patriot

    ReplyDelete
  4. Like to add that with or without Nuclear Plant(power generator), the Fate is sealed if population is increase further for the sake of economic development.

    The Leaders have to find alternative ways for Economic Developments unless of course they're already well planned and prepare to abandon ship(Sin) when things turn bad.

    patriot

    ReplyDelete
  5. What does the views of lesser mortals matter? All that matters is what the higher mortals think.

    When they want to go ahead, they will not care about whether we have a 20 km radius. All else, including loss of human beans, is colateral damage in case of any disaster.

    Redbean is right. At this point the Japanese Government is downplaying the severity of the nuclear leak and radiation problems. But make no mistake, they cannot continue to hide the genie in the bottle. Sooner or later it has to come out.

    The experts are saying that it will not become another Chenobyl, but nobody can outguess nature. The Japanese are known for their meticulous planning details, with all the fall back plans in place, but they never expect total failure of all their plans in times of need.

    Let us hope they manage to control the nuclear meltdown and avoid a really massive disaster.

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  6. The people of Planet Earth can expect more seismic disturbances and resultant tsunamis in the coming years -- probably because of climate change. Yes, climate change can cause earthquakes.

    "Economic growth" is a concept emanating from govt-employed economists: it is their job to make the cuntry look good and to augment the image of The State which is ultimately in-charge of everyone' economic life.

    In private enterprise, very few people give a shit about "economic growth" when it comes to their business. What you are interested is free CASH FLOW, EBIT (Earnings Before Tax and Interest) and Rate of Return on capital -- if these numbers make no sense, there is no point to the business.

    The s'pore govt is always trying to "legitamise" its case for opening up the borders to more free, voluntary exchange. I think when they do this, they weaken their intellectual position.

    The lady protesteth too much.

    The got should just shut the fuck up, keep the borders open and leave private enterprise THE CHOICE to hire or not hire foreign workers -- be they CEO or office peon.

    Screw the "economic growth". At the end of the day, as a business person: are you making money, or not? How's your free cash flow, EBIT and ROI on equity? Make sense...or not?

    End of story.

    ReplyDelete