12/26/2013

Is Valencia Worth It?

‘$418 million! That’s the amount of debt Spanish football club Valencia but it’s no deterrence to Singaporean businessman Peter Lim. The Singaporean businessman has a net worth of $2.3 billion and has pledged to wipe out the debts and make money available to buy new players for the club.

Now this is not the first time Mr. Lim had tried to buy a football club. In 2010, Mr. Lim made a failed bid for Liverpool so this bid does not come as a total surprise, but…why Valencia?

I don’t get this purchase. Valencia is so heavily in debt that Mr. Lim would need a sixth of his asset just to clear the debt. Add to that the money needed to buy new players, the money needed to finish their stadium; the total money involved would be well above $500 million….’

The above is copied from an article appearing in Musings from the Lion City.

Someone once asked a senior gentleman why he would spend $200k to put his uncle in Mt Elizabeth for an operation that had a 90% chance to fail when the condition of the illness had reached its terminal stage. The money could be better spent giving it to the family of the sick uncle. It was just being practical and realistic. The gentleman simply said it was his money and he was happy spending it.

I am not saying that Peter Lim is just happy spending his money on a flimsy project. He is a very successful and shrewd businessman and must have done his due diligence before putting the money where his mouth is. He is not spending other people’s money. Even if he loses his money, it is his money to lose.

I can’t say of people who spent OPM indiscriminately, often with minimal due diligence. I can’t say much of people who spent OPM on fetish projects that are at best good for personal egos. I can’t say of people who spent OPM for knave ideas they dreamt of during a wet dream.

There is a huge difference between spending your own money and OPM. The latter owes a huge obligation and responsibility to spend the money wisely, carefully, with great due diligence and not wantonly like an asshole thinking he is spending his grandfather’s money. The plan for a huge year long celebration to commemorate the good relations between two countries is one such example. It is so easy to spend OPM without thinking of where the money is coming from and what good the money can do for the people.

I will say Peter Lim has all the right and excuses to spend his money anyway he wants it. It is his money. Is Valencia worth it? It is for Peter to answer or not to answer. But when one is in authority and spending the people’s money, it is the people’s problem and it is the right of the people to ask if it is worth it.

And there is a 5 billion dollar question that the people should be asking. Is the F35s worth it?

15 comments:

  1. "I don’t get this purchase."
    RB

    Of course you don't get it since you are not a billionaire, are you?

    And in the hypothetical scenario you become one, I bet you may also think and do like Peter Lim.

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  2. Tiok. If I become Sinkie PM, I will also think and do like PM Lee.

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  3. They even paid their maids $4500 per month to work and live in their Sentosa Cove homes.

    Maybe jobless graduate Sinkies, preferably females, can give it a try. LOL

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  4. Rb: / The plan for a huge year long celebration to commemorate the good relations between two countries is one such example. It is so easy to spend OPM without thinking of where the money is coming from and what good the money can do for the people. /


    The mentality of some people is SICK TO THE CORE!

    To spend tens of dollars more on oldies "will" bankrupt the nation.

    Spending a billion here, a billion there, not mentioning some other billions also here and there are "VERY PRUDENT" policies that will "BOOST" egos and heads much BIGGER THAN HOT AIR BALLOONS.

    ha ha

    no worries lah ......

    many oldies still have a lot of "white money" "safely kept" in cpf ...... to afford "super talents" such "3rd generation decadent mentality and lavish silly spending ". At least still can last a while more. Enjoy the party while it last. The Chinese has an ancient syaing,:"No party lasts forever." somebody need to do the clearing of the hubris left behind and foot the bill.

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  5. Which billionaire, or even multi-millionaire, will blog and request for kopi money?

    I say multi-millionaire because just a Sinkie millionaire (one million plus only) is no big deal anymore. Maybe RB is already one?

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  6. All of you are also millionaires. So what is the big deal buying me kopi when you don't have to pay a single cent? Just 20 sec of finger time.

    Also remember, buying me kopi is to help the advertisers and to grow the GDP : )

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  7. anon 9.38: "
    I say multi-millionaire because just a Sinkie millionaire (one million plus only) is no big deal anymore."


    Tiok!

    1 million may not last you from age 60 to 75 maintaining just at 60% of pre-retirement lifestyle .....

    also down the road, mb also cfm 1 million nothing in sinkieland.

    current 1 million is "similar" to about 150k - 200k in 1990. can last a life time meh?

    if you retire in 1990 with 200k and still alive, you will be in "big trouble" for the rest of your life bcos every year means surviving on lesser lesser dollars but everything higher and higher price ......

    not "big trouble" then what?

    may have to end up like 80+ and 90+ oldies sleeping on cardboards on side walk and subsist rampaging rubbish bins for drink cans and cardboards to sell .....

    not really a more golden years or much of swiss std living .....

    btw, who promised that?

    no accountability?

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  8. Just ask the PAP Millionaires;
    If I vote for you, how will that benefit me?

    After this question, the answer is obvious.
    You will know who you should vote for.

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  9. If you think $1K per month can buy HDB flats or raise a family and workers should be cheaper, faster & better, lead by example volunteer to reduce your salaries to that level of the Nordic countries ministers' salaries of around $20K per month and reduce all the indirect taxes and give back people the CPF at 55 as original promised?

    It better to give people a good future, people need to have good secure jobs, then kept giving handouts hope that they vote for your?

    Don't just use your mouth to talk, use your brain to think too, Singaporean are not stupid? In the recent Punggol East by election, Singaporean and New citizen had awakened?

    The presidential election too show that their popularity had kept dropping only 35 percent support the govt endorsed Tony Tan, the rest support opposing views of 65 pc?

    Nordic ministers' salaries around $20K per month is 20 times that of $1K, why should you take $200K per month and increase the business cost of Singapore and drive them to look for cheaper and cheaper foreign workers, which took away Singaporean jobs and depress their pay?

    As a result lesser and lessor people want to marry and born babies, so you got the excuses to increase the foreigners because of no babies?

    All these indirect costs, like GST, GRP, COE, Levies etc, make business more and more difficult to employ Singaporean and have to employ cheaper and cheaper foreigners, which come at a huge social cause to Singaporean, which they brought along all the socials ills?

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  10. these billionaires, when they tired of women they look for balls. this is just a big ego trip. 2.3 billion is actually small fry compared to these big time soccer billionaires:

    http://www.forbes.com/sites/ricardogeromel/2013/03/12/forbes-starting-lineup-the-11-richest-soccer-billionaires/

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  11. rb /And there is a 5 billion dollar question that the people should be asking. Is the F35s worth it?/

    oldies working in food courts many hours a day making a paltry $300 per month in hig cost top 5 most expensive city in the world .....


    sinkieland is fast becoming crazyland also ......


    oldies working at $1.50 per hour in food court


    but garment building 5 stars dormitory for 3rd world people


    look at some of the dorm for foreign workers

    much better than the some of the dorm in NTU, especially hall 1, hall 1 and hall 3. even the newer hall are poorly equiped and maintained .....

    can u imagine it?

    Fw dorm far better equiped than sinkieland uni dorm which are suppose to churn out future leaders and pillars of society .....

    building luxurious dorm ofr NS exempt 3rd world ah nehs?

    splurging big time on shiny toys and birds .....

    but spending on sinkies "will raid the reserve and bankrupt the cuntry"

    ha ha ha

    super talent logic only super talent living in super high ivory towers can fathom .....

    lesser mortal sinkies devoid of such mental power to decipher such "deep" thinking of paying themselves millions and oldies S$1.50 in foodcourts .....

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  12. Hope to give more handouts, profit sharing schemes and other incentives to entice voters?

    All these don't work already see after the GE2011, their support kept getting worse and worse, as more people getting wiser and wiser?

    All these handouts, profit sharing schemes come at a price, their CPF locked up for life? High indirect taxes like COE, GST, ERP and levies etc?

    People realised that the life time locked up of CPF maybe be use to give more handouts and profit sharing schemes to lure the voters, but later they got to payback a heavy price with more indirect taxes to support their world highest pay?

    Since in the recent by election and presidential election people could kept the handouts and profit sharing schemes and voted the oppositions?

    Yet they might hope to give more handout hope to get a higher percentage from the sitting on the fence to vote for them or they might increase the GRC to 8 percent, so that those with the highest votes can pass to those so type to pull them in so that the oppositions can't come in? And the can change the law as they like?

    Hurridly past the white paper so that more new citizens can vote for them?

    Houngang with the mistake of Yaw Shing Leong and new comer Png, they hardly able to capitalise on YSL and only can pull back a few hundred votes, whereas Michael Palmer case they lost heavily, a staggering 3000 over votes in Punggol East, even with one more opposition party contesting, and got to hurriedly took out the white paper hope that more new citizens come and can vote for them and continue their multi million dollar pay?

    The presidential elections also show the voters had wise up, they only give 35 pc to Tony Tan despite the massive campaign of Media support, Associations support and Govt support, the rest go to 3 other candidates with critical views of the govt which got 65 pc?

    Voters are getting wiser by the days and getting younger and younger? And many don't have much time using the MSM as the prefer the internet?

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  13. With homes worth tens of millions, it is only appropriate to be protected by $200m top of the range aircraft. $30m not good enough.

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  14. Remember well that the Fall of Sinking Land WILL NOT MEAN THE FALL OF THE CURRENT RUKERS. It is already been theorized and suspected that there could be a scheme to engineer a collapse of the State. And me agrees that such a scheme is in place.
    Imagine, those loaded folks with assets placed in overseas and could be there within hours and live in opulence for generations. Most importantly, they escape from the unhappy lots they once ruled and exploited.

    What do You think?

    patriot

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  15. A conspiracy theory, who would end up with the money from the two SWFs?

    ReplyDelete