nice idea

Congress Votes to Outsource Presidency May 10, 2007: Washington, DC (AP) -- Congress today announced that the office of President of the United States of America will be outsourced to India as of July 1, 2007. The move is being made in order to save the President's $500,000 yearly salary, and also a record $521 Billion in deficit expenditures and related overhead that the office has incurred during the last 5 y ears. "We believe this is a wise financial move. The cost savings are huge. " stated Congressman Thomas Reynolds (R-WA). "We cannot remain competitive on the world stage with the current level of cash outlay." Reynolds noted. Mr. Bush was informed by e-mail this morning of his termination. Preparations for the job move have been underway for some time. Gurvinder Singh of Indus Teleservices, Mumbai, India will assume the office of President as of July 1, 2007. Mr. Singh was born in the United States while his Indian parents were vacationing at Niagara Falls, NY, thus making him eligible for the position. He will receive a salary of $320 (USD) a month but no health coverage or other benefits. It is believed that Mr. Singh will be able to handle his job responsibilities without a support staff. Due to the time difference between the US and India, he will be working primarily a t night, when few offices of the US Government will be open. "Working nights will allow me to keep my day job at the Dell Computer call center," stated Mr. Singh in an exclusive interview. "I am excited about this position. I always hoped I would be President." A Congressional spokesperson noted that while Mr. Singh may not be fully aware of all the issues involved in the office of President, this should not be a problem as President Bush had never been familiar with the issues either. Mr. Singh will rely upon a script tree that will enable him to respond effectively to most topics of concern. Using these canned responses, he can address common concerns without having to understand the underlying issue at all. "We know these scripting tools work," stated the spokesperson. "President Bush has used them successfully for years, with the result that some people actually thought he knew what he was talking about." Bush will receive health coverage, expenses, and salary until his final day of employment. Following a two week waiting period, he will be eligible for $140 a week unemployment for 13 weeks. Unfortunately he will not be eligible for Medicaid, as his unemployment benefits will exceed the allowed limit. Mr. Bush has been provided with the outplacement services of Manpower, Inc. to help him write a resume and prepare for his upcoming job transition. According to Manpower, Mr. Bush may have difficulties in securing a new position due to a lack of any successful work experience during his lifetime. A Greeter position at Wal-Mart was suggested due to Bush's extensive experience at shaking hands, as well as his special smile.

another great quotation

S'poreans need to learn how to stretch their savings: Lim Swee Say What does this statement mean? I think it makes a lot of sense. With 30 to 40% of their money saved, and very safe, in the CPF, Singaporeans should learn how to stretch whatever left that they have. Or else if what they have in hand are gone and money in CPF still very safe, they will have a little problem meeting their immediate needs. But I think many Singaporeans are already stretching their savings, if not an expert in it. When prices are going up ahead of salaries, they will be in big trouble if they do not know how to stretch their money. For those who still do not know how, they may want to ask the minister for some advices and ingenius ways to stretch their dollars.

It is my money

When would Singaporeans start to ask the ministers in public dialogue sessions that the CPF money is their hard earned money and not to be managed against their wishes? It would be nice if they ask the minister, 'Mr Minister, Sir, what makes you think you can decide whatever you want to do with OUR money?' And if the minister says that they have been elected by the people to decide what is good for them during the general election, then the people should accept it as they are the one who elected the ministers and MPs to Parliament. It was their choice, their right to decide who they want to represent them in Parlaiment. Having cast their votes, they have to live with their choices. And for those who did not get to vote or voted against, just too bad. This is the system, and this is our democracy.

Another frivolous pursuit

An 86 year old auntie signed on the dotted line to pay $52k for a slimming regime and her daughters are crying foul. Should they or are they being unreasonable? The auntie is not of unsound mind and wants to look slim and pretty. She was not coerced to sign and pay. She did it with eyes open wide wide. The daughter are complaining to CASE for a refund. Hey, it is caveat emptor. Or should we expect a slimming centre to tell a 86 year auntie that she shouldn't waste her money at her age? Is it the duty of a commercial slimming centre not to sell their products? They are there to promote and sell their products for profit. And if there is no misrepresentation, then there is no foul. Quite frivolous in all ways.

The St John Hospital case

This is simply a case of a CEO being underpaid. so he helped himself to the money to adjust his own pay. All the charity organisations should quickly do a salary review and make sure that their employees, especially the mangement teams, are amply rewarded at market rate. They can chose to peg themselves with other big charity organisations. How can they forgot about how Singapore or Singaporeans tick? Money and more money if they are to prevent such things from happening.

CPF, circular logic at works

Swee Say said, later retirement and extension of withdrawal age is not to lock up your CPF money. And that is the truth. Another truth is that your money will be locked up for another 3 years. I am confuse as to which is the greater truth. And this Michael Chwee said, 'If you want workers to work longer, we must have extra savings...' What is he talking? If a worker is employed to his last day of life, eg 85, he is expected to have a decent income till that day. Why should he need more savings? Only those that are not working and has no income need to have more savings. Once the retirement end is extened from 62 to 65, the workers are working 3 extra years, earning 3 more years of income. So his needed savings should go down by 3 more years. Is this reasoning so difficult to understand? And I am referring to people who are not working and have no income. Many may not be working but still have income. I do not buy the argument that the whole concept of filial piety or to take care of your parents, or just to give them a little pocket money are a total washout. If that is the case, our education has failed miserably and we should scrap teaching such concepts in schools immediately. It is a total waste of time and effort. A big farce. A big failure.

60 good men and women

To start with, 60 good men and women may be enough to present themselves as a credible political alternative. And it is not difficult to find 60 of them in this little island. There are many highly trained professionals and successful people available to form the core for a good alternative party. There are many who have made a name in the industries and are financially independent to be free from any kinds of threats, including those who are supposed to have retired. If these men/women would to offer themselves seriously to the people, and play the political game correctly, they may stand a chance. For it is not easy to run down 60 good men and women at one go with frivolous accusations. Any wrong move would antagonise the families, relations, friends and associates of these 60 people. And being successful people in their own right, they will have a fairly wide network to fall back on. And they could finance their own political battle or be able to canvass for funds to support their political cause. It is quite easy when the time is ripe for true leaders to appear to lead the nation for a better tomorrow.

Sunday best for frivolous pursuits

What shall we talk about on Sunday? I read about ladies being insulted because they were more than 36 years old. And the reason, they were not seen as useful to attract men to frolic or spend money in drinks on them. And socialites all dressed up to their nines for a night out ended being humiliated in public. Please don't come even if you put on several thousand bucks of hardware on their expensively treated skins. They are not going to waste a couple of free drinks on them. No deserving, past their prime. I am sure the ladies did not go to public entertainment places to be insulted. Then the beautiful below 36s. Would they feel elated that their youth is good enough to be given free drinks? Or would they be equally insulted that the free drinks were given to them as cheap rewards to attract customers to the joints. Were they exploited? Would they not feel cheated? Just for a few free drinks, they are paraded as commercial adverts and they have no inkling about it? All for a few free handouts?

help yourself

'Whether it is a charity or even among companies, from time to time you would have a case that comes up with someone who helps himself to the money. Ultimately, you're dealing with the vulnerability of the human weakness to temptation.' Gerard Ee Now this is a profound statement from the Chairman of the new NKF. I have been pondering over it again and again and I think I will be pondering over it over the whole weekend. How many people have been helping themselves to the money and laughing all the way to the bank? Then again I am very thankful that, perhaps this island is really blessed that we don't have so many people helping themselves to the money. At least the record shows that there were very few. Maybe Gerard is wrong. Or maybe he is right. Or maybe we are living in an island that is not occupied by humans, so there is no human weakness to temptation. The NKF and the latest St John Hospital case are just exceptions. Whew.

Is it the fault of the CPF?

Let me look at the CPF from another angle and how it could be the source of other ills of our society. Traditionally children were the insurance of old age for parents. And children became a necessary item of all families. They are the provider for the parents when they are old and feeble and can no longer toil for a living. What's that got to do with CPF? Yes, the CPF has become the substitute for children. People no longer depend on children for their old age. They have their own money to look after them. So no need to get married and have children. Does it make sense? Why not? The CPF has unwittingly becomes a substitute and contribute to the no need to get hitch and no need to have children society. Now where have the children gone? Who cares? This is only one social problem that the CPF may help to create. But the CPF can help to get rid of our oldies problem too. When the time comes, when all the oldies have a couple of hundred thousands in their CPF, and untouchable, what is the next best thing to do? Cost of living is extremely high in this little island for the jobless. The few hundred dollars to be paid out by the CPF will only be good enough for subsistence level lifestyle. Why not take all out? Yes, denounce the citizenship, take out everything and migrate to a cheaper paradise. The oldies may find such an option a more desirable and practical way to spend their old age and their life long savings. So the CPF will help to disperse our senior citizens around the world as rich old Singaporeans living out their golden years in wealth and in health. And our oldies and over crowding and welfare problems will be solved. Singapore will be forever young. Is this part of a well thought out plan?

"Indonesian Parliament rejects DCA" repeat

meds has left a new comment on your post "Indonesian Parliament rejects DCA": We must reject this unfair agreement. singapore, house of corruptor, feen form bastad money. we reject. unfair DCA sumedi, indonesian I received this post in the thread posted some time in May, deep inside the file. Many of you may not have read this reply so I decided to post it here. Hi Sumedi, welcome to the blog. I can appreciate your point. From the Indonesian perspective, they must see real benefits to go along with the DCA. And if they can't, then they should object to it or speak against it. It is the right of every citizen to talk and express their views on issues concerning their country. Otherwise the country will be run without the consent of the people. As citizens, I must say that we do not know the details of the agreements. I believe that the govt representatives of both sides are intelligent people who negotiated the agreements based on the best interests of their respective countries. And that your ministers would not have agreed on the DCA if Indonesia is not getting a fair and justified returns for the agreements. I would not simply run down the agreement without knowing the details. You may want to find out more from your ministers. There must be enough trade off for them to agree. They must have seen enough benefits in the agreements which the public may not know. Cheers

Why complain about working to 70?

I have read some forumers complaining about having to work till 70. Now that is a shame. I would love to work until 100. I am craving, and crazily in love with work. But I have a little problem. Can someone please offer me a job that pays $1 mil? Never mind $500k also can. I promise you that I will be the most happy worker and will not give anyone any problem. And the cpf can do anything they want with my money. Withdrawal at 100 years also can.

GST increase no longer an issue

According to Sue Ann Chia, the 2% GST increase apparently is not turning out to be a political hot potato. Now is this good news or bad news? I think the people will find the 2% increase not that painful. But what is hurting them will be the other increases that are not related to the GST increases, and much much more than the affordable 2% increase. Now why are there so many increases and in double digits? These are what that will hurt the people's pockets.

KL putting more men to police JB

More men, patrol cars and police stations to be set up to control the rising crime rate in Johore. Najib had told the Cabinet that he wanted immediate actions from the police and the Minister of Internal Security to fight the crimes in Johore. That is what KL wanted. That is what the govt wanted. What if there is a second agenda by a different group that wanted to perpetuate the crimes? What if this group has a stronger influence on the ground and has the ears of the police and the police chooses to look the other way? The pattern of the crimes committed recently tells of a sinister plot. I may be imagining, but I can't help imagining after reading the reports from the victims. And if there is really a sub plot in the hatching, all the additional men and patrol cars may not mean anything. I hope I am wrong.

nkf story - is it over or not over?

Thomas Koshy wrote about the closure of the NKF saga with the jailing of Durai. He questions whether witnesses in court who flip flopped in given evidence should be charged for perjury. The case of David Tan was a glaring example that prompted many questions to be answered. Would the NKF saga spawned another saga? I think there is a bigger saga about the whole case. Or there are many sagas that the people are watching. Many are very cynical about the whole saga and how the events developed. But many are not saying anything except behind closed doors. It is better not said and not heard and pretend that everything is alright. All settled and forgotten.

number one is relative

I posted about the world number one civil service that we have the other day. It is indeed number one in many areas. But sheeples are still sheeples. They take orders, implement to the best they could, without questioning the rights or wrongs of their policies. They are easily managed and controlled to do the works they are expected to do. Recently we have Ngiam Tong Dow standing up to question some of the govt policies. Sounded damn enlightening and refreshing. But sheeples are still sheeples. No question when swimming in champagne. It took so many years when the smell of champagne were gone and forgotten before he regained his questioning ability. The CPF issue is a case of great concern. Doesn't the civil servants know that it is the people's money and the people has a right to decide what they want to do with their money. And the civil servants may not be questioning, but this does not mean that they cannot think and understand such a basic issue. They are our brightest and it is insulting to think that what we can see they can't. Would any of them be brave enough to stand up and tell the minister, 'Sir, the CPF money is the people's hard earned money. It is the people's property, asset. We cannot suka suka decide for them how long we want to keep their money and how much we want to return to them. This if fundamentally not right. We are violating the right of the people to their money even if we pass a legislation in Parliament to allow us to manage their money anyway we want.' If only our civil servants have the conscience and righteous mind to tell the ministers that they cannot go on with policies that are fundamentally wrong, then we can really say they are the best in the world. The civil servants must work for the interest of the people. The Ministers may also think that they are working for the good of the people. The intention may be good. But the end does not justify the means. The people's money is the people's money. No two questions about this. When would the civil servants stand up and say something about this? If it is money taken from the national reserve, the people will not have any say as to how the govt want it to be distributed.

have faith. don't jump the gun

I visited the YPAP forum just now and read the several harsh statements against Boon Heng's suggestion to raise withdrawal limits. I think it is unfair for these peasants to jump to conclusions before hearing Boon Heng out. His suggestion is carefully thought out, after spending 6 days in Japan with his team of experts to look into the aged problem. He did not shoot it off his mouth without thinking. The peasants cannot assume that a multi million dollar minister will do that. And the problem of the aged is very intricate and needs a thorough understanding of the complex issues around it. Of course the peasants will just shoot it off their mouth. Give the minister some time. In 5 or 10 years time the peasants will understand how well thought out the solutions were. Have faith.

japan to learn from singapore

Japan to study Singapore's pension and CPF scheme Heard, not sure if it is true, maybe dreaming, that Japan will be sending a high level delegation to study our CPF and 3M schemes. They have admitted that their scheme is a flop and they are very impressed with our innovative schemes. Kudos to Singapore. We are the light to show the way to a brighter future.

i am dreaming

I am dreaming that one day a govt will be elected and say 'Here is your CPF money. You can take it back at 55.' And the govt is setting up a retirement fund from its surpluses/reserve to provide for the needy above 65 years old. Not every 65 year old will depend on the govt for financial assistance. Now that will be the day.

myth 146

Liberalisation is not good The sale of the 3 power plant to private operators have raised fears that the prices will go up soon. Afterall these are commercial organisations that thrives on profit and profit is their only reason to exist. They are not buying the plants in billions of dollars to do charity to Singaporeans. But the management of the power plants have assured the consumers that they have nothing to worry about. It will not affect them. So the consumers can rest and sleep in peace. With assurance from people in high management positions, they must be telling the truth and nothing short of that. Let's see how the charges can be maintained, assuming the assurance means the charges will not go up. Labour cost is going up that's for sure. Rental is going up, another unescapable truth. And oil prices are going up. So how can profit continues to grow? Its elementary. Innovation, new technologies that are more efficient and cost cutting measures. When production and productivity go up and cost goes down, profit will go up without raising fees. So have no fear. It is a good thing.