Slash and burn for a better tomorrow

The haze seems to have subsided. Is it because there were less slash and burn activities or because of wind and rain? Slash and burn is a very cheap way of clearing away unwanted stuff. No need much planning, no need heavy capital expenditure. Just look at the weather, wind direction, and light a match, and a whole jungle can go in no time. And new crops or towns can be built over them, looking modern instead of wasteful vegetation.

I was listening to Boon Wan in Parliament last night. He was talking about the future new towns, all nicer and modern, to be built over the old towns. Old towns will give way to new towns, and better Punggols will take their places. This is like a different variation of the slash and burn method of farming.

The way we scrap a half a million dollar Mercedes after 10 years and replace it with another $1 million brand new Mercedes is also another form of slash and burn. Get rid of the old and pay for a better new. Only one condition must be satisfied for this modern Sinkie slash and burn economy, money. The people and govt must have all the money to get rid of good working condition cars and houses and pay for new ones every 10 years for cars and maybe 40 years for housing. For a super rich and affluent country where money just flows in naturally, this is never an issue. The people need not even have to work as long as they have the money to churn properties.

Some told me that this slash and burn policy is also applicable to population. The old that are no longer contributing to the economy should make way for the new, from overseas. Every inch of land in this little island is worth its weight in gold and you cannot have unproductive people sitting on them. Too wasteful. This utilitarian approach to all things has served the island well and has turned it into the richest country in the world on a per capita income basis. Just ignore the existence of the oldies.

Old and oldies have no value to a strictly utilitarian state that sees progress in terms of monetary value. It is time that they bulldoze away that piece of real estate called Chinatown and build a new city for another million people.