8/22/2014

Money making and conscience


When I wrote the piece on the gardens and parks I have not read the ST yet. When I flipped over the pages this morning the whole issue was the main focus today. And they also talked about Chek Jawa and other islands with their wildlife. Would they also encourage the crowd and tourists to go trampling in these water treasures to tell everyone that the sites are well visited, with a lot of crowds? Any nature lovers would be worried sick. They often refused to disclose the sites and locations of birds and their nests etc for fear of the crowd.
 

The other big issue is the cost of medicine. Now everyone is pointing his finger at everyone for the madness in medical fees. Some even uttered that they did not know what are the causes of high medical fees. Fortunately there are many caring medical practitioners with conscience and are spilling the beans on foul practices and overcharging. But it will go on and on, just like legal fees. The higher the fees the more successful the practice, and the more dignity for the practitioners.
 

When people are desperate and ignorant, when they are in trouble and have to see the doctors and the lawyers, they are most vulnerable and ready for the knives. The sheep are marching to the slaugherhouse on their own, and everyone knows the practice and the plight of these sheep. No, didn’t know? All is fair mah. You want good service, you pay for it lah.
 

And the SMA was so hapless. If they come out with price guidelines, they would contravene fair practice acts and all the shits. They cannot have guidelines on prices! Buay sai one! They are being virtuous and following the law. I believe them, sure, I believe them. And the issue is so complex that they could not find a better way to overcome the high medical fee problem. Maybe they could set up a review committee. Maybe they could ask the public for suggestions to lower the fees. I just remember, public consultation papers, consulting the public is the answer to all problems.
 

Maybe they should bring in some foreign talents to teach them how. Or maybe they should send a few study missions overseas to learn from other country’s fine practices.
 

We are now so lost as to how to cut down medical fees. We were also so lost at one time about how to solve the housing problem. We are still lost at how to return the CPF money to the people. Maybe we need to increase the pay of the super talents so that they will use their super brains to come up with some better solutions to help the people. Oops, I shouldn’t say things like helping the people. This is a very scary phrase to use.
 

Maybe it will take a few hundred man years to review this problem of high cost and high fees. Maybe nothing can be done, it is market practice, or imported inflation. Maybe we need to wait for the next GE.

Kopi Level - Green

27 comments:

Anonymous said...

Part 1:

Rb, one of the the major "culprits" or contributing factors to high cost in almost anything and everything in SINKIELAND' s current situation is the cost of land in economics term.

Goods and services are not the works of magicians and simply appear out of thin air or put out of the hats like rabbits. Factors of production produce goods and services.

In SINKIELAND, LAND or rather the COST OF LAND almost certainly is the ELEPHANT in the room!

It's not just cost in one sector or two!

If YEW care to pore through the publicly available data in singstat.gov.sg, SINKIELAND's NODEX (non-oil domestic exports) have been plunging for many quarters consecutively. And the data cuts across many export sectors.

IVORY TOWERS super talents may have painted not only "themselves" but "SINKIELAND" and "sinkies" into a corner.

YEW crash the property price, YEW bring down the banking sector and the economy with it.

YEW let it fester at current ELEVATED LEVEL, YEW face the music too in non-stop NODEX decline and high domestic cost of living.

Super talents may have led us not only into the "wilderness and desert ", it's also at the same time between a ROCK and a HARD PLACE.

How to dismount from this one trick pony of using asset inflation to drive GDP numbers without suffering "COLD TURKEY WITHDRAWAL SYMPTOMS "?

How do YEW "cure a drug addict or athlete on steroids "?

Anonymous said...

Typo 2nd sentence:

Should be "or pull out of the hats "

Anonymous said...

10.49 am, to me while u obviously if possible not to crash the property sector, unfortunately a major correction is unavoidable.

We need to sacrifice the property sector with people who purchase at sky high prices as collateral damage. The property sector inc the government have made unusually abnormal high profit the last five years so it's payback time. If not eventually the whole economy will die a slow death and the property sector and with it the banking sector will both crashed. It is better to sacrifice the small minority for the common good.

Anonymous said...

Anything that looks, sounds and appears good, it is because of the PAP Government. All the credit is theirs.

Anything that does not work according to plan is because of globalisation, and the PAP, despite it's proclaimed ability to look years ahead, will tell us there is nothing they can do.

Like the cost of living, there is much they can do. The most important cost component is rental and this is well within the ability of the Governmen to control. Instead, they keep pushing up rental cost through bidding and used the argument of market forces to argue their stand.

Further, they demolished the older hawker centres with cheap rentals and rebuild them and rent out the spaces to the highest bidder, who will sublet it to the highest bidder of the stalls, who will in turn sell below hawker centre standard food at artificially inflated high prices due to the high rental.

Who is the ultimate beneficiary of all this, I ask?

Anonymous said...

Part 2:

One of the "saving grace" in SINKIELAND could be the good Fengsui.

Of course, many kbkp about the billions spent or GBB and the yearly multi-millions to maintain it but likely GBB is to enhance SINKIELAND' s Fengsui.

Think about it!

Why din they build a 50-storey DOWNTOWN hospital there at that spot instead?

With the booming medical tourism industry, it will serve the downtown rich and all the billionaires in the region.

Hospital technically is negative energy in Fengsui study. Meaning try now stay near a hospital.

Thus, the uncompetitiveness in SINKIELAND' s NODEX sectors and other high domestic costs may not exactly bring SINKIELAND down because the Fengsui can ward off or buffer bad effects to a certain extent.

Likely the "cure" for SINKIELAND' s high land costs economic conundrum and dilemma could be exogenous factors outside SINKIELAND!

What could they be?

Anonymous said...

Typo:

2nd sentence should be : "spent on GBB "

Anonymous said...


The madness of HIGH medical fee
in Singapore is not just the
doctor fee alone, it is the
result of SKY HIGH RENT, the SKY
HIGH RENT, the SKY HIGH RENT.

Anonymous said...

Typo:

" Meaning try now stay near a hospital."

Should be

" Meaning try NOT stay near a hospital."

Anonymous said...

RB, everyone wants to earn more, lawyers, doctors, tradesmen, bankers, developers, politicians, Ministers...even you and me mah. It's natural. Are they robbers, are you and myself robbers? Who are the more successful? The elites lah, and those connected with the powers that be, that's where the money is. There is a saying, if you can't beat 'em, join 'em. But many prefer to starve than to let go their principles. How much can you get from kopi, right?

There is this law that I came across called Sutton's law, which tells us to: "Go where the money is". The law is named after a bank robber Willie Sutton, who when asked why he robbed banks, is claimed to have answered "Because that's where the money is." You know where the money is, right? And it's not banks and robbers, you know what I mean.

Anonymous said...


tell me what is cheap in Singapore.......

may be only SALT.........

Anonymous said...

High rent definitely, also high paying medical tourists. Would you prefer to treat a rich medical tourist or a low paying Singaporean?
Case close.

Chua Chin Leng aka redbean said...

Talking about fengshui. Go and look at the map of the Marina Bay region. It looks like the female reproductive system, the two ovaries, uterus and the fallopian tube. I no bluff you. Google any map and you will see it.

Anon 11:33 may be right. The two aircon gardens from the air look like two testicles. So you have your yin to be balance by the yang element. The durians could serve the purpose but too prickly.

Universe in harmony. Tiok boh?

Anonymous said...


don't play play, you have to pay S$216.00 for two Sea Bass in a restaurant Boat Quay....



Anonymous said...

just tell the tourists buy with your eyes open at your won risk.

oldhorse42 said...

The teochew ah hia has a way out of this unconscionable money making spiral infecting the people working in this little red dot.
He suggested that miisters' pays be linked to bottom 10% of the working population.
If this is done our ministers will work hard to make the poor richer.
Right now they are making the rich richer because their pays are linked to the high earners.

Anonymous said...

Part 3:

所谓天机不可泄露.

只能说到这!

辛刻兰(SINKIELAND) 的未来市场走势几年便知晓,辛刻们(SINKIES)拭目以待吧!

b said...

The real ruler is self interest. Healthcare costs will just go up and up because it is such easy money to get from the pheasants.

Anonymous said...

The Sin Rulers are making use of the People to prosper Sin and THEMSELVES. THEY WILL NOT LET YOU REST

Sinland rode on Tiger Back and got all the Atention and Glamour on the World Stage.
But 好景不长在 , good or bad, nothing lasts forever, the End must come. Sinland will sink in a matter of time. Take Commenter b's Suggestion; leave Sin when one can. The Elderlies with no back-up financially will be in for rough time, even their basic meal and shelter will become challenges.
Except for maybe 40%, the Rest will likely need divine intervention. However, the Top 20% in Sin can easily be Global Citizens, they can live anywhere they choose.

AND THESE 20% INCLUDES THE SIN RULERS.

END OF THE DAY, YOU SHALL FACE THE REALITYOF YOU DIE YOUR BUSINESS.

patriot

Anonymous said...

// Take Commenter b's Suggestion; leave Sin when one can. //

According to Chinese astrology, 辛刻兰(SINKIELAND) still has several more years of good fortune ........

Besides, the good Fengsui (龙脉) is basically due to the Geography of the Asian continent.

If no indiscriminate actions are carried out to damage the inherent 龙脉and good Fengsui, SINKIELAND likely can muddle through for quite some time to come.

However, almost nothing is single dimensional or 100% one-sided.

Hard work is paramount to one's success as much as work smart and some good luck.

危机, 危机.

危机 provides opportunities at the same time.

In life, short of starvation, abundance is relative and in perception.

Old man is not exactly wrong to say some things.

Just that politically it is too blunt and direct.

No matter where one goes, basic virtues of work hard, work smart, trustworthiness, good attitude, curiosity, eagerness to learn etc should be present to forge one's fulfilling sojourn on this planet. All these are centuries and millennium old values. No matter how old or young one is, they work for everybody.

活到老,学到老,动到老,身体头脑才不会这么容易老!

One coming 91-year oldie ( on 16 Sept 2014 ) is living proof. :)))

Anonymous said...

The digging for the MRt underground all over the island would definitely hurt the 'long mai' (龙脉).

Anonymous said...

AnonymousAugust 23, 2014 9:58 am
The digging for the MRt underground all over the island would definitely hurt the 'long mai' (龙脉).


Anon 9.58am, Tiok!

Look at the line from Bugis to Bt Banjang.

That's one of the dragons (龙脉) in SINKIELAND.

When it started, the 老大(old man) retired after 2011 GE. "Young man" suffered historic GRC lost. The main ministar of the GRC along this MRT line kena one problem after another - flood (remember spider boys and gals clinging onto a fence beside bus stop/ sec sch? ), haze, drought, bush fires, dengue.

Aljunied, Hougang, Punggol can "anyhow dig " cos no 龙脉 there. But also means LTK and co won't go very far and high up cos no 龙脉 in Aljunied, Hougang, Punggol to boost them. Though wholly Chinese educated and a graduate in Chinese Studies, LTK doesn't seem well verse in Fengsui. Without gaining foothold in those SMCs or GRCs with the 龙脉 especially the POWER DRAGON, unlikely he will go far.

CHEE SOON JUAN seems "smarter" in these sense. Those GRCs and SMCs he "aimed" and SDP contested all have strong 龙脉. When he eventually wrestle over some of these wards down the road, his hold to power would likely be quite strong due to strong 龙脉 support in those wards.

Anonymous said...

/// Maybe it will take a few hundred man years to review this problem of high cost and high fees. Maybe nothing can be done, it is market practice, or imported inflation. Maybe we need to wait for the next GE. ///
redbean

Talk no use.
Vote opposition in GE 2016.
And I bet you suddenly PAP government will find many ways to reduce our cost of living.
PAP government is lazy & complacent.
They need spurs on their sides.

Ⓜatilah $ingapura⚠️ said...

When you have monopolies, you can charge what you like.

In Singapore "making money" is done with the best of conscience. In fact, if you DON'T make money, you will feel awful and guilty.

Please lah redbean, know where you are lah. In Singapore, the mindset is different.

Anonymous said...

I am really amazed at the amount of digging going round in red dot. Not only MRT tunnels, but sewage tunnels, storage tunnels and they are even talking about underground dwellings of the future.

About the 'long mai', I doubt the Gpvernment believe in it. But as they say, if you believe, no proof is necessary. If you do not believe, no proof is possible.

Some things may be difficult to believe on the surface and taken as superstition, but neither can it's consequences be explained either and often taken as co-incidences.

Just like traditional Chinese medicine which many will dismiss as unproven in effectiveness and at most exaggerated. But some traditional Chinese medicines really work and that is my realisation through personal experience. And I am no firm believer of traditional Chinese medicine.

So, the 'long mai' effect is still left to be seen.

Anonymous said...

Let them be 'long mai'/龙脉 or 'feng ming' /凤命, much has to depend on ones 天合地利。This of course could be part and parcel of 'Fengshui/ 风水. However, one got to have the luck and opportunity. Having 3 sets of Encyclopedia does not make the owners knowledgeable if he/she does not understand the Contents in them. Or worse born unable to read them.

There is a Saying that if You cant win others; join them, be part of your opponent. This is easier said than done. No elite will take in one deemed inferior, especially one that lost to them. Success in life on the other hand is not solely dependent on wealth. Good health, good living environment, good family, neighbours and friends matter much in happiness which is most worthwhile in ones' existence.

Having wealth and power but curse and swear at by others and leaving behind an infamy for posterity cant be consider success and glory.

I do agree with many who know kpkb serves little or no purpose. It is just comonsense. 金玉良言(constructive/good ideas) do fall on deaf frogs.

And in Sin, Rulers even claimed they are deaf frogs.
Lolx.

patriot

Epic research said...

Making money is not easy, it require talent, knowledge, experience and a good concept to work.

Chua Chin Leng aka redbean said...

Hi Epic research, welcome to the blog.

I just had a great idea and a good concept to make money. Will post it tomorrow.