Many ordinary people will understand this give and take phrase to mean you take some, you give some, or you give some and you take some. It is so simple as that, or is it?
Different people have different takes when comes to give and take. Some say those who have been taking should stop taking and those who have been giving should stop giving, and the role be reversed. The takers should start to give and the giver should start to take.
Another view is that the taker should continue to take since he is the taker and the giver should continue to give since he is used to be the giver. And there are variations to how much to take and how much go give. The familiar formula is to take $1,000 and give $1. Oops, sorry, this is not about money. Money is not in the picture. In that case the position of giver and taker means different things. When money is concerned, the taker is always at the advantage. If not money, then the taker is at the losing end, taking shit and whatever.
Yes whatever, in the end it is likely that the taker will continue to take as it has become habitual. On the giver side, he too will be giving all the time. And it will still be a give and take situation, some will take and some will give. Some will take more and some will give less.
20 comments:
Poor Always Pay.
We give.
They take.
Whatever the taker will give, they will always make sure they take back whatever they had given + interest compounded
Poor Always Pay.
We give.
They take.
... But this time we vote wisely.
Redbean, I'm willing to bet that me and my fellow antipodeans pay more to takers than the average Singaporean.
Western society = welfare state = very high taxes. Btw redbean it should be "gives up" rather than "gives". The distinction is small, but telling. "Gives" suggests it is voluntary, like from the heart. "Gives up" connotes a little more force, coercion - very little or no alternative choice.
Be grateful for small "blessings ". All governments are bad in the sense that they are a monopoly, don't produce anything, are funded by forced confiscation -- aka tax, and can levy fees and charges willy-nilly in any of their monopoly markets.
But I. do agree. Regardless of where you are on this blue-green spaceship, this year, and the next, and the next ad infinitum EVERYONE gives up more. And it will also wise to expect LESS in return from the takers. Except slavery
Hi Sword, welcome to the blog. We are know the formula of give and take.
What Matilah said may not be entirely true. We gave up in many things which we were given the impression that they were not taxes. The minimum sum in the CPF which Matilah agreed is tax. The high cost of public housing, COEs, car taxes etc.
The Aussies may be giving up quite a lot consciously and up front. But they can live on state welfare which we could not. The only welfare is from whatever money we have and hopefully we can get to touch them.
Can't imagine our cost of living is higher than the Aussies and still living in 99 year lease flat and a car that cost a bomb only to last 10 years.
Not just 2012, but forever lah.
Yes, the take and give mentality is a national tradition of Singapore and is alive and thriving, especially when it comes to taking a whole chicken and giving back bones, feathers and even chicken shit.
redbean,
Welfare statism is the basis of the *decay of most western societies.
The whole entire systems are based on being awarded "benefits" which are claimed as "rights" instead of being EARNED by adopting personal responsibility, hard work (personal productivity) and thrift (personal UNDER consumption).
*decay: On multiple levels. Social, moral, economic, realtionships, crime rates...as soon as you have The State behind a doctrine of "no responsibility" i.e. "nothing is your fault, here, have some money", why should people care about making choices? Especially LONG TERM choices?
P.S. This "entitlement mentality" of the west is alive and well in places like S'pore.
Look at the amount of "help" S'poreans demand from their govt. Actually it is no longer "help". Nowadays, aided and abetted by folks like redbean, this "help" has now become a right.
It isn't shameful to be a beggar anymore. My , my how times have changed ;-)
Matilah, you are very wrong in this entitled mentality. Singaporeans are not asking things to be given for free. They are willing to pay for it at fair market prices. No one is asking the govt for the dough. Only the rich are collecting the dough.
As an example is housing. The sinkies just want to buy a flat. Why make it so difficult, this cannot that cannot, earning too much cannot? Oh competing with the lower income. This is the biggest bull. There is no competition when the govt build enough for all.
The other thing is hospitalisation. Singaporeans are not asking to be treated for free. They want to pay what they could afford not what the govt demanded them to pay. Why can't they opt for cheaper class wards when they are willing to make do with lesser comfort and quality. Why mean testing?
The average sinkies are fair and reasonable people. What they are demanding are fair and reasonable. Who is being unreasonable and kept rubbishing the sinkies?
It was really hilarious to hear big man say must have spirit of give n take. Ministers take(TAKER) ; citizens forced to give(GIVER aka TAKEE) !
There's too much indoctrination about western welfare state n high taxes to fund welfare.The amt from welfare is not so much that a person can live in luxury.The majority of pple will always work to have a more comfortable life.As in every country, there's always a small group who cannot work n need help, n another small group who 'refuse?' to work .With the high taxes in western 'welfare countries',their govt is also providing more support for the pple n there is more to life than in the red dot.Here the lower taxes only benefit the super-rich
The 'entitlement mentality of the west' has been adopted by the PAP ministers for themselves . .. they are entitled to pay themselves in salary n bonuses whatever they want.The people are NOT ENTITLED to anything except by the mercy of the PAP ministers
I don't demand help from the govt.I only want to withdraw all my cpf money at age 55.This is the citizen's right.Why is the right taken away?
May the year 2012 be a year when the people start to think about their rights, about what is rightfully theirs, and about taking them back.
If this message can get across to more Sinkies then there is hope that they will take back their country and make it a better place for themselves and their children, not for some foreigners who are here to take advantage of the system and piss off the locals.
The first thing to take back, yes, the money in their savings in the CPF. No cunt has the right to keep them away from their rightful owners under any pretext.
@anon 1103
I agree about the idea of "a small group ". However you are entirely WRONG in your observations.
Welfare Statism appeals to the entitlement mentality of EVERYONE. It is not "small groups" demanding free money, free education, free healthcare, cheap energy, cheap transport etc etc. NO SIR! No small groups here. We're talking majority!
However there are small group of welfare leeches which are very effective in getting awesome sums of money: those on CORPORATE WELFARE e. g. Bailouts, defense contractors, "privatised" government corporations, and of course our friends -- banks and financial institutions.
Everyone's on welfare, because everyone will argue until blue in face that it is THEIR RIGHT!
Let them take.
And, let us see how
long they will last!
@redbean
Here we go with yur bullshit idea of "rights" again.
There are no such "rights" lah. Why are you giving people false hope?
Everytime I talked to you about rights I got depressed. And when I read some of the blogs talking about CPF money, it is so embarrassing, so shameful and I feel like crying. Practically everyone agreed with you, Matilah, that it is another form of tax and they are willing to give up on it without fighting. Good for nothing Sinkies.
Their blood, sweat and tear money they are willing to let go. And it is not small sum. And by letting it go, are these monies put to good use or for some stupid use and become OPM?
Never, never give up this right to your money be default. NEVER!
redbean, one fucked up aspect of our mortal existence is that very often -- in fact just call it the "default condition " -- is that the objective truth hurts like a motherfucker.
Some examples of painful truths we all hate, fear and get depressed over (afterall, we are human)
1 You've got cancer and 6 months to live
2 I won't have sex with you because I find you repulsive/ ugly/ fat/ old
3 No I'm not your father/ mother. You were adopted.
4 The government conned you into believing "X"
5 We're letting you go. We've hired someone who does a better job. Thank you for your 30 years of service. Good luck!
6 No I won't marry you. Get an abortion or put the kid up for adoption.
..ad infinitum
..AND OF COURSE
CPF is your money, and you have "rights"
"The truth will set you free, but first it'll piss you off"
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