One outstanding achievement of this city that has been overlooked by the
rest of the world is its recycling formula. No, I am not talking about
pulling down good buildings only to rebuild them, or scrapping cars that
were in good working conditions and less than 10 years old. These are
very wasteful things to do and we failed miserably in both areas. Our
successful recycling process is not about little old people picking up
drink cans or carton boxes or encouraging people not to use plastic
bags.
The most successful recycling effort is the recycling human resources
into the economy. We are making practically everyone that is
economically active into the workforce. Mothers are encouraged to work
to contribute to the economy too. Motherhood, raising children and
providing a cosy and warm home for the family is secondary. Every adult
is usefully employed. There is no waste.
What is more is that the work life of the adults has been extended to
beyond 70 or 80. Many oldies that would normally be out of the
workforce, retired by 55 or 60, are now recycled into the economy to be
gainfully employed. Soon everyone will likely to be working till 80 or
90 years old.
This recycling of the oldies have extended the useful economic lifespan
of the people by 30 to 40 years, which means that the people have
practically made themselves useful for double the time they used to be.
Or the workforce is actually doubled in a way. And if we include the
normally economically inactive womenfolk, the recycling is even more
successful.
Isn’ t this a great achievement? We never waste our people. Some are
squeezed and squeezed to get every drop of juice from them. Some are so
talented that it would be a waste to put them away. So they are reused
and reapplied to share their talents and experience for the good of the
country and its people, I supposed.
PS, We are even recycling the rejects from New York and London and all the Third World countries.
From the title, I thought you meant how the leaders keep recycling excuses for all the lapses and blow-ups that have been occurring with rapid frequency.
ReplyDeleteWhat you call "recycling", I call "reinvention". No one is expected to work for free. Everyone gets paid.
ReplyDeleteI think that it is AWESOME to be 70 or 80 and still be employable. I think this a salute to human dignity and it gives the oldies a feeling of WORTH. For me it is far better than being dependent on the state in the so-called "developed" Western demo-crazies -- counting the pennies until the next state pension cheque arrives. That is UNDIGNIFIED. It makes seniors feel worthLESS -- like beggars.
Personal responsibility ==> having a life with PURPOSE which you can back up objectively, by FACT.
>> Soon everyone will likely to be working till 80 or 90 years old.
If you don't have to -- then good for you. If you have to, then count your lucky stars that you live in a place which gives you OPTIONS.
Please lah, every get paid for working? Talking through you arse. Heard of getting paid in the millions for not working?
ReplyDeleteMatilah not too familiar with recycle materials lah.
DeleteSome material cannot be recycled but function as showpiece like unusable curios but fetch ridiculous amount like priceless antique.
Oldhorse explains it most meaningfully below.
When I think of recycling I think of unwanted waste being converted to some thing of use instead of just throwing the waste away and clutter up the environment. Just extending the working life of an oldie is not recycling. You just extended his misery for a longer period.The exception are some of our leaders who continue to draw their fat pay after receiving their fat pension with little work to do.This group old oldie I call par si boh chow.Definitely not recycling.
ReplyDeleteand the biggest group is the 1,000,000 recycled rejects from china. latest news some already doing karang gunny work. sinkies not happy with that even. and the master of the universe recycled reject will be celebrating his 90th birthday soon.
ReplyDelete@ July 30, 2013 1:33 pm
ReplyDelete"Heard of getting paid in the millions for not working?"
People who live in the Istana?
Re-cycling used men and material and re-labeling them from PM to SM to MM to ESM, etc., etc.? And paying them more in the process.
ReplyDeleteSome materials are simply not recyclable,
ReplyDeletethey just have to end up as ashes, dust and dirt.
If preserve chemically, they used up space, need maintenance, could be eye sores or even heartaches to beholders.
Dump them into the incinerator.
Not worth recycling them, wasting money and time for nothing.
Not sure the intent of the post. A job is a job.
ReplyDeleteThe problem is the high living cost,not why elderly are involved in the trade.
Looking around the world now,
many countries are starting to cut down pensions. What can one expect.. not many
can live without pay for more than few years.