In the 80s and 90s, the mood of the citizens was jubilant and full of
optimism. Everyone was thinking of upgrading from smaller flats to
bigger flats, to private properties. And you don’t need a degree or even
a diploma to do that. The homes for the average workers were 4 rm and 5
rm flats and many could afford better.
Playing golf and buying golf and country club memberships were a happy
past time. It was a time to play and to have fun, for very ordinary
Sinkies. Today it is no longer the same. The courses are dirt cheap but
not many takers. With the govt taking back some of the land and a new
pegged to market price of the land, many would not be able to be golf
club members anymore.
The flat owners are buying smaller and smaller public flats despite
their tertiary qualifications. And now they are begging the govt to
bring down the prices by shortening the lease from 99 years to 60 years,
and to 30 years. Lowering of expectations. This is an island of rich
millionaires begging for handouts and assistance from the govt.
The oldies that have bought landed properties are in the process to
downgrade, to sell and cash out to have some cash for their retirement.
Not bad for these oldies. Would this be the same for the young of today
when they turned oldies?
During the golden years the young had no problem getting a good job. The
PMEs were gainfully employed and with very good income. Now both groups
are not so fortunate. The PMEs are badly hurt and many are unemployed,
unemployable or jobless. So do the young.
Car ownership is now a fleeting dream to many average Sinkies when it
was a norm to own a car that cost $10k or $20k and no ERP to pay. Now
the new normal is to take public transport and some returning to leg
power not out of choice but necessity when affordability is a real
problem.
And there was a time when everyone wanted to be admitted to A class
wards in govt hospitals. Today they wanted to go to C or B2 wards for
fear of being bankrupt by the medical bills. And the hospitals have to
come out with a mean thing to prevent the patients from downgrading to
lower class wards. They would like patients to stay at more expensive
wards. Strangely today hospitals are trying their best to discharge
patients as early as they could to make way for new patients. Must be
business so good that they cannot cope.
Bye bye golden years. When shall we meet again? Oh, don’t be mistaken,
the golden years are still here, for the foreigners and the super rich.
To many Sinkies it is all about down grading and lowering expectations.
Some are having their last fling by selling their once proud homes. And
many of the young who would be inheriting a little fortune or good
property from their parents would not be able to repeat what their
parents had done and would also be going through their last lap of
luxury before downgrading like some of the oldies.
18 comments:
Bye bye golden years only what, but not bye bye PAP, tio bo?
There will still be golden years, and there will still be 60% votes for PAP.
It is just that it may not be the same people.
Just like there is still PAP but not the same leaders, tio bo?
Just do not understand why we need 6.9 million people in this shining and special little red dot?. Where are all the green field and spaces?. The heat and dust are too unbearable in this period of dry spell.
I agreed with RB that the golden year era is history.
Living in this cruel and uncertain world, we must be DEBT-FREE or at least DEBT-LOW.
It is no more cheap to live here anymore.
Never never never follow the crowds in chasing after properties and other big ticket items which you can hardly afford.
You must note that the value of your 99-year properties/HDB flats will be ZERO at the end of the leases. The day will come.
Going forward, simple living is the only answer, the only way.
Cheers.........
As long as there are golden years and majority votes for PAP, doesn't matter whose golden years, or who voted PAP lah.
Doesn't matter black cat or white cat, as long as they catch mice, it is a good cat.
Still, they will tell you we have yet to achieve the golden era, the swiss standard of living. Only thing is that this coming golden era will be an era of 'paper gold' or 'gold certificates'. Same or not, just believe in it.
All of us are victims of our own success...and we are really trapping ourselves with the next generations to suffer in the future.
RB, I can identify to what you have written as I am from that generation having good life. While I still don't have to downgrade yet I can see that there is no way my kids will have the golden era other then hardship.
May have to downgrade so that can help them to cope. Knn what to do. Only old lia then can't afford a car whereas I have been driving since I was 18.
This is the tragedy of it all.
Governments everywhere are encouraging people to have children, to be cogs in the economic wheel. Working longer is encouraged in order to have a better (?) life in old age. That hardly tallies with ordinary folk's definition of a better life. People who understand the situation knows that future generations are going to suffer more than ever, with jobs taken over by machines. What else is left for people to earn a decent living short of returning to agriculture and farming.
Of course, if you are born rich, strike it rich, or are well connected politically to benefit from the system, you do not have to worry about your children's future and can have as many kids as you desire.
Not the ordinary guy. Their kids will inherit all the ills of this materialistic society and pay the price for generations to come. That is why most campaigns to entice people to procreate never succeed. The reality is there for them to see right now. What about the future?
Procreate? Gov all over the world is encouraging people to be LGBTs now so they can import cheaper, younger people to replace them. No need to be a genius to understand why they want to do this.
No need to think so much.
Just vote Opposition for a better life.
I remember those years. People have no second thoughts about resigning from their jobs. You resign, 10, 20 jobs will be waiting for you. You can get another job on the spot. When you get a degree, your future is made: a car, landed property or condo is waiting for you. When the old guards were forced to resign and the snot-nosed tracing paper origami general and his general friends took over our bountiful island year by year became a shit hole. I look at Taiwan, South Korea, etc when the generals took charge, the economy grew by leaps and bounds. Those were real generals. The generals we have now are only good for wiping my ass. After 10 years of pushing paper can become general, admiral already. General my ass.
I'll have to disagree with redbean on this. I think he got out of the wrong side of the bed and is a grumpy negative fucker on this splendid Sunday -- a day revered by Christians all over as the day the get down on their knees, as they wait for Jeezus to cum ;-)
Singapore is rocking more fiercer and more high-energy than ever. And when she is chilling, Singapore can party-hearty too, with a vibrant nightlife, where hot available women in revealing attire and "come-and-get-me" attitude abound.
The public health system is several orders of magnitude BETTER than it was. In fact, Singapore public health is heralded as one of the best models, thus far. Download the free eBook version of "Affordable Excellence", critically examine the points, and judge for yourself.
Doing business and living in Singapore is today an extremely pleasant and profitable experience. Sure, people individually experience bad times, dips in their economic power and personal loss or failure. That is to be expected.
So I don't know what all the fuss is about. I seriously doubt that any "complaints" have any substance to them -- but fuck it, people will complain anyway, and that is to be expected in a regime of "free speech" -- keeping in mind that anyone withe even a cell phone these days can express their thoughts immediately to the rest of the connected world.
That is to say the BAR to instant personal expression is lowered, being practically no barriers to entry to mass global communications now. So therefore one might expect the NOISE LEVEL to be HIGH.
...and the party of the New Singapore -- a more cosmopolitan and global Singapore -- has only just begun.
Oh dear, Humpty Dumpty had a big fall...tio boo hoo hoo?
Money money everywhere, not a cent to my name.
The story of your average Sinkers.
There is no doubt that sinkies are
First World Slaves to the System and
their material obsession.
I think a new golden era is about to start in Singapore.
Old things going to die soon.
Things can only get better from there.
There will be a new golden era. The Pioneer Generation can cash out their HDBs and move to JB to live out their dotage. The grand old fart meanwhile can afford to go on indefinite life support at tax payers' expense. How the 60% love this new golden era.
P.S.
"Do you hear the people sing?" like Fish used to ask.
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