Choice between real economy and paper economy

In the 1980s Singapore came to a cross road in economic growth. Manufacturing was maxed out in this little piece of rock. Manufacturing needed space to keep the solid stuff, the goods, the material. Singapore could not waste more land for manufacturing. There were other factors like the neighbours catching up as many of Singapore's manufacturing were low skill stuff. The pride of Singapore then, the highest level of technical product was the Rollei camera. All the manufacturing products are history.

Singapore opted to go into the service industry, which is not a wrong choice. Medical services, education and financial services, logistics etc etc blossomed. The financial services grew faster as nothing can make money faster than printing papers and cooking the books with numbers, and of course gambling. I am not referring to the two casinos. They are chicken feat. The gambling in Singapore is beyond the imagination of the ordinary masses. Gambling is big and full time by the financial institutions and banks and the so called investment agencies. You heard it, investment is the disguise or another sophisticated term for gambling big time.

During this period Singapore played tutor to China, a developing country just coming out from isolation and joining the capitalist market. China learnt everything Singapore could offer but chose a different route. China is going big bang in manufacturing, the real economy, not shuffling papers and printing digits to churn out profits.

Today, China is the factory of the world making anything from the tiniest button, screws or toothpick to mobile phones, computers, high tech equipment, satellites, military weapons, anything that is needed and wanted. The Chinese made them all and in cheaper and better quality and quantity. China is producing everything that the world needs, the real stuff, the real economy. China is also in the services, but not so much on financial services, but building infrastructures like roads, rails, high speed trains, ports etc etc, logistic services to facilitate trade and commerce, the real stuff that are needed for better life and economic growth, not the fake economy of churning out numbers for growth, not gambling. The Chinese earn every cent they could make the hard way, by making them.

Singapore prosper with the fake economy, making money without having to produce anything. Our reserves are plonked into papers, stocks and shares, derivatives, bonds etc etc. The risk, the inflated fake economy, is like a balloon waiting to be pricked. When it goes bang, everything would come down to zero, especially the artificially inflated wealth built on properties and assets. And when the fake economy goes bust, the real economy would continue to steam roll ahead.

Singapore has nothing to fall back on in the real economy other than HDB flats that have a life span of 99 years. The only real thing Singapore is producing is shit water for drinking, to compete with the likes of Evians and other natural mineral water. What else did Singapore produce? You tell me. Singapore does not even make bicycles.

The real stuff, the bricks and mortars, the consumer goods, the demand would still be there, still be needed. What would happen to the fiat currency, the fake papers and fake values and fake wealth and fake prosperity? Even our education and degrees are fake in a way. What is the point of having degrees that cannot get one a job? A genuine fake degree from the degree mills, or from funny universities, is more valuable than a genuine degree from a world class university if it can land the holder a job. This is the real economy.