With the impending fare hike for MRT, 1m commuters will benefit. Heheh,
just like raising GST and the poor would benefit. But this is true. 1m
commuters would probably pay lesser with more subsidies. Now the bad
news, some commuters would have to pay more. Heheheh.
It is necessary to have more frequent fare hikes to keep the hike small.
Be prepared for more hikes every year or faster. Why is it that fares
must only go up and cannot stay still or go down? Sure cannot one.
Salary goes up, rental goes up, fuel goes up, new buses go up, bonuses
go up.
Why is a 40 inch TV costing $5000 several years back is selling at
$1000? Why is a 36 inch selling at $4000 now selling at $800? Possible,
it is happening. How come uh? They also have to pay higher salaries,
bigger bonuses, higher fuel and material cost, higher rentals and higher
everything.
Why must prices defy gravity and cannot be the other way? I am not paid
millions so I have no answer to this. Only people that are paid ‘out of
this’ world salaries can think of ‘out of this’ world solutions. Tiok
Boh? No? Then why pay them millions when they are doing the mundane and
the ordinary?
Who does not know how to raise fares to keep revenue and profits up?
If GIC and GLC Investments are to show glorious statistics, companies under their umbrellas will have to be profit orientated. The Unfortunate thing for the People at large is that almost all the Essential Goods and Services are under their controls.
ReplyDeleteSingaporeans are all victims.
The Wise Mayor Teo Ho Pin has given the Most Enlightened Explanation whence he said Conservancy Charges have to be raised. Good Service comes at a price.
ReplyDeleteHe said it with a straight face, because it is not a sin to make more money to pay a little more out of the extra profit to some low pay workers.
Great justification for a good scheme.
Rb if prices don't go up, how temasek profit goes up? Tio bo? If profit in Temasek does not go up then people kpkb say the dragon lady useless. You can not have the cake and eat it too. Unless sinkies prepared to say that they can accept Temasek not making money lor.
ReplyDeleteHmmm though actually Temasek makes money or not actually has nothing to do with sinkie as it does not benefit or affect them lor knn tio bo?
In things that elites are too stupid to handle, for example high tech, deflation is allowed. For example, the first Intel 4004 in 1971 has 2300 transistor. Today intel i7 6core has 2.3 million transistor at comparable price. Each transistor today is 3500x faster than 4004.
ReplyDeleteIn terms of gadget, the tech have a deflation of 1000x in price and 3500x in performance. Total deflation is an incredible 3.5 million times.
Today every whore economist are scaring us that deflation is bad. In fact, deflation in many ways make our life better. One transistor today is 3.5 million times better than 40 years ago at the same price. (To be fair, there are pros and cons of deflation)
For anything that can be capture by elites, you sure see inflation, for example asset, especially land price.
Singapore land price is suppose to fall because of low birthrate. The elites would not want to see their fucking asset vaporize. They rig our demographics via FT policy.
Our public transport must go up, because PAP owns it.
Singapore should throw away economics textbook. They are toxic.
"Is it better to take your medicine sooner or stretch it out? Take medicine once or two times? I prefer to make my medicine early..."- PM Lee Hsien Loong
ReplyDelete"MRT fare hikes – the good part"
ReplyDeletetio
They can employ more ols sinkies as pusher to push u into the train.
Cheer up!
ReplyDeleteMRT fare hikes is to help Singaporean MRT customers.
How?
I dunno lah!
Just like I dunno how high Minister salaries can help Singaporeans.
I always thought it was competent and caring Ministers that really matters.
Yes, yes, 1 million Singaporeans will be helped. That is 1 in 3 Singaporean. Fantastic. Good, good.
ReplyDeleteThe ruling party is heavily addicted to telling propaganda besides gambing away taxpayers hard earned monies. They can even come out with stupid propaganda like this that insult the voters daftness.
ReplyDeleteWhy cant we nationalise public transport. We are currently facing all these problems after the govt privatised them. Also get rid of those fat cats and multiple layers of management and we may find a resolution to the current mess. Correct or not.
ReplyDeleteThe Goat
The new and old of SinkieLand.
ReplyDeleteThere are many 40+ year old buildings retaining more or less its character, its client base, its tenant mix, its atmosphere.
Within walking distance, you have potentially an ultra modern development being planned and marketed.
In this pea size island, almost everything is tight, very tight. Even 600k salary is measured in units or description of peas. Incidentally, $600k salary is considered peanuts, probably due to asset enhancement, asset inflation. Average medium salary is about $30k, about 5% of $600k or 5% of a peanut. Must go back to Mrs peanut for her vocab on what or how to describe 5% of a peanut.
Looking it another way, if 5% of $600k is equivalent to a peanut, then 100% of $600k should be about the size of a jack fruit.
Looking at it yet another way, $30k salary earner possibly could be staying in a 4-rm 1100 sq ft flat. 20 times of 1100 sq ft is about 22000 sq ft. In the eyes of the "beholder", it was a peanut. What then is not a peanut in the eye of the beholder? Peanut x 100 times? 22,000 sq ft x 100 times?
Should we call that a tale of two citizens? Is that the root cause of policies disconnect? Is that the cause of the suffocation and breathlessness of sinkies' daily toil and plight?
Wei wei! Are you listening?
Again wayang wayang pretending to be deaf like frogs?
Wei! Lau Goa! Can wake up the deaf frog wearing the Zorro mask and costume?
Going forward and fast forward, how can the old reconcile with the new? A resale 4 rm HDB flat in the early 1990s cost less than $100,000/=. In 2013, the average resale price is more than $450,000. That is at least 4 to 4.5 times asset enhancement or should we say more practically asset inflation.
In the early 1990s, a first class honours graduate starting pay is about $2,500. In 2013, it is a bout $4,000. But in terms of 1990s purchasing power of just a HDB flat, it is more than 4 times lesser! Assuming it is just 4 times lesser, $4,000 first class honours starting pay is equivalent to about less than $1,000 in the early 1990s purchasing power of a HDB flat!?
What happen? Th real value of a 1st class honours graduate starting pay is moving backward and backward into the 1980s. Very soon, it may reach the 1970s purchasing power level. What is happening?
Can our society withstand such a huge disparity in 10, 20 years time or even in a much shorter period?
Strange phenomenon!
To have another measurement to put matters in perspective, in the early 1990s when average graduate starting pay was about $1,500 to $2,000, a MacDonald's meal is about S$2+ to $3+.
Now an average graduate starting pay is about $2,000+ plus but an average MacDonald meal is about S$7+.
What is happening?
In a few years time, when the MacDonald's meal hit $10+ per meal, would the average graduate starting pay increase to about proportionately to about $4k?
Tan Ku Ku.
Hopefully, that is not the name of the 5th candidate in the 2017 PE.
When the starting pay of future 1st class honours degree graduate is fast approaching a real purchasing value equivalent to that of an entry level "O" level clerk in the early 1990s of about $500/=, Sikieland may be in serious trouble.
This possibility, given current price increase trajectory is possibly just less than 10 years away.
Till then, many young generation should and would be asking the old generation what happen? Instead of making progress from 3rd world to 1st world and maintain there, is Sinkieland making its way back from 1st World in the early 1990s back to the 1950s and 1960s 3rd world in less than 10 years time in around 2022?
RB, can you see it coming?
Am I not right to say whatever pay one is earning nowadays, to get a real value with the early 1990s as the base, one should at least divide it by 4 or 5 to have a real sense how much how society is short-changing its work force, especially the younger generation who are starting from scratch without any real estate to their name yet?
Good service comes at a price.
ReplyDeleteSure or not?
Teo Ho Pin - You giving very good service to Singaporeans meh?
Loyal Singaporean voters comes at a price.
Don't believe me?
Let's see where you will be after GE 2016.
RB, don't you think Sinkiland has a real big problem on hand?
ReplyDeleteSinkieland possibly was caught with its pants down.
First of all, we an interest rate policy dependent on the US, property prices expectedly went through the roof when Uncle Sam lowered their bench mark rate all the way to 0.25% in 2009.
Thus, the property prices in Sinkieland just could not help but keep overflowing its bank despite the many rounds of cooling measures.
Next, due to the focus on labour intensive industries such as IR, tourism etc, the demand for housing was unstoppable with the need for huge labour influx.
Rightfully, with all the instruments, data and powers at its disposal, the power of the day should have kept a close tab and adjusted fanatically to counter this 2 negative trends from over inflating the value of real estate prices.
Unfortunately, despite world's highest pay and self proclaimed super elite super talent ability deserving out of this world politician pay, somehow appropriate measures and adjustments are not taken to sufficiently moderate runaway real estate prices.
With the current situation as it is, if it is not stage 4 cancer in medical lingua, then what is it? How is the economy going to adjust to balance itself? Letting prices fall would have huge repercussions reverberating throughout the economy. On the other hand, heightened asset prices pose huge challenge to younger generation acquiring their first property and paying it over a life time of 25 to 30 years. With such pervasive difficulties, TFR definitely would be further dragged down.
What is the role of a government that pays itself obscene salary and boast having some of the best talents available in Sinkieland?
Claim credit when easy problems are solved. Totally play Tai Chi when confronted with difficult problems?
How then to justify the high pay? In the end, problem still not solve which is the utmost important priorities that voters want resolved.
quote
ReplyDelete" i dun wat to say ...."
cun stomp feet anot?
knnccb
Lau Hero: // With the impending fare hike for MRT, 1m commuters will benefit. Heheh, just like raising GST and the poor would benefit. But this is true. 1m commuters would probably pay lesser with more subsidies. Now the bad news, some commuters would have to pay more. Heheheh. //
ReplyDeleteThis is a classic example of economics market structure concept of a monopoly and the practice of 2nd degree or 3rd degree price discrimination depending on which angle one approaches.
For the young such as students and the old and/ or lower income commuters, public transport should be considered a merit good for them to get their objectives achieved such as going to school, tuition, extra classes for students and getting socially active, going for the necessary medical check up and appointments, even voluntary work for the oldies or low income folks. When fees are raised thus increasing the hardship for these three groups of commuters, subsidies for public transport which is likely a merit good or at least an intermediary merit good would likely go a long way to enable these three groups of commuters to continue their goals without possible disruptions or drastic reductions or total abstain from consuming the ultimate or final merit goods such as going to school or going for medical appointments/ check up/ social activities etc.
The bone of such a move is that who bears the costs. The government which has collected much tax from the population through various channels and requiring citizens to perform and abide by a string of mandatory duties and laws such as NS, ICT, IPPT, RT, NSmen Mobilisation, strict draconian code of conduct and laws etc etc.
If the PTC does not play an active and overwhelming social function to take care of the people's backside and see the need for privatised transport public listed company to offer good returns to shareholders, the burden ultimately is being yet again shoulder by the helpless and hapless citizenry.
Can $$$ allocated to look after lizards and exotic plants be partially diverted for such critical and crucial causes? Can $$$ used for over fat bonuses and remuneration be incrementally and partially reduced so that a better allocation of resources and public finance is being achieved efficiently and socially?
I am not paid millions and thus again I would adopt the same stance as lau hero, those paid millions and enjoy substantial prestige, power and benefits should come up with better ideas and solutions, especially so when every cent they spend are public money or from tax payers.
All I can say is that Mr Murphy will appear when things that will go wrong will go wrong. Tighten your seat belt. This time the fall is from very high ground, from the clouds. You may not hear the thud. The sound will be different.
ReplyDeleteWTF lah people. By global standards, MRTis still cheap lah.
ReplyDelete$10 Mickley D's meal is about one or two years away.
Yes, purchasing power will decrease over time. Can't be helped. The whole world is up debt shit creek.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteGood write, RB
ReplyDeleteCheers. One round for you.
Kaki