From subsidy to market subsidy to market price

The word subsidy in the context of HDB flats were hammered for many years until it takes the form of market subsidy today. It was called subsidy at the very beginning until a lot of digging revealed that it was not subsidy as people knew or expected but a kind of subsidy off the market price. When I looked into HDB website, I found that the prices of Pinnacle flats were priced at resale market price or at best a $2k subsidy using the average prices provided in the site. Until HDB explains where is the subsidy and how they got to price the second batch of Pinnacles at a subsidy or discount from market price, this is what it is. Market subsidy is near to market price or at market price.

Terrorists were foreign talents

The terrorists were foreign talents and it was reported that some were hiding in Taj Mahal Hotel as trainee chefs! Wonder how many of them were hiding in other establishments that were kind enough to offer them employments and suffered the deadly attacks. Anymore in hiding and waiting to hit the second wave or third wave? They should have scrutinised their foreign talents more thoroughly. But on second thought, it is difficult for an open economy that welcomes foreign talents to do so. They could even forged their certificates and country of orgins. Malaysia connection? Just a ruse.

Instant counter strike force

The speed in which the terrorists struck and the killings that followed demands the response of an instant strike force to be always ready to counter attack in 10 minutes or less. Once the terrorists are in and open fire, the only thing to do is to take them down as quickly as possible with a ready trained force. Any delay will only cause more lives and destruction. The privilege of intelligence gathering and border checks, coast guards etc is only a first line of defence. Once broken, it is all decided on the ground, the battle field. Do we have the capability of mounting special counter strike forces at the press of a button and be at the scene in less than 10 minutes?

Relentless attacks on Tan Kin Lian

There is increasing momemtum in cyberspace to run down Tan Kin Lian. The attacks and biased questioning of his intent and his integrity appear to be quite coordinated. It is relentless and will get wilder if no one is putting a stop to it. I do not know Tan Kin Lian nor have met in socially. But from what I have seen and heard, he is no better and no worst than the best politician we have today. Just like in hollywood, Richard Gere, George Clooney, and who else, are the perfect screen idols that the media is churning out. Do you know the other side of the story? Everyone has many facets in their lives, the good and the not so good, and the warts. Let the one who has not sinned be the first to cast the stone. Human beans shall not pretend to be as white as gods, no blemishes. And small people shall not be used to go around tarnishing other good men with small blemishes. Your gods may have warts the size of a mountain. At this stage of our political development we need more able and good men to stand out to serve the people. The last thing we want to do is to run everyone down just because he is not one of us. A little graciousness is the order of the day. Those who are ungracious shall not talk about graciousness. Let the thugs be thugs and good men be good men.

Greed and irresponsibility

'Too few bankers challenged the wisdom of lending poor people more money than they could afford to buy houses that were over-priced. As for those who did best out of capitalism, too often they flaunted extravagant lifestyles. No wonder the public has turned on them with a vengeance now that capitalism has gone off the rails.' The above was quoted from The Telegraph and posted at TOC. It succintly tells the same story around the capitalist world of greed and profit at all cost, without morals and responsibility. Bankers just want to lend as much as they could for profit. Developers just build and build to sell at ever higher prices. And everyone singing, oh so clever. Profit is good. No one, including the bankers, bother to ask whether it is value for money. Sell the properties as high a price as one can get. To be able to get suckers to buy is a great talent. The suckers can die later, doesn't matter.

Abusing Hong Lim Park

Tan Kin Lian's gathering at Hong Lim was affected by an Indian Cultural Event staged at the same venue. And the attendance to Kin Lian's talk was dwindled to 200. Surprisingly many still chose to turn up despite a call to cancel the talk. Why should a cultural events be staged at Hong Lim when approval for such events should come quite easily anywhere? Hong Lim as it is reputed for, is for the airing of social political issues that cannot be done anywhere else. Community and cultural activities organisers should bear this in mind and hold their events at other more appropriate venues.

Terrorist Attacks!

This is almost an unstoppable threat that many countries are facing. And we have to face the grief with the tragic death of Lo Hwei Yen in Mumbai. She was there, wrong place and wrong time. Nothing more, nothing less. Terrorist threats can be any where, can be at home if we are not careful. It was a sad and unnecessary loss of a young bubbling girl, one of us. It is natural that all of us feel the pain and sorrow, from the President, PM, SM, DPM and everyone in the street, her loved ones, her relations and those who do not know her. Not often that we have to feel this way as a people. Our security forces can do all they could, but don't expect them to provide a net that can keep the terrorists out. They will slip in if they want to. Just don't give them a reason. Don't stir the hornets' nest. 10 gun totting terrorists in Orchard Road or Shenton way will kill more than the 200 in Mumbai for sure. Let's keep vigilant and pray that it shall not happen here. And pay some remorse to those young men who died in NS in the call of duty to keep this place a safer place. They were not in the wrong place and the wrong time. They were there specifically to serve the country. And many have died. And the tragedies of their premature deaths were never less than dying in Mumbai. Their parents lost their sons, some, only sons, for the country. We need a little outpouring of grief the next time another young man dies in the course of duty for the country.

Go home early to make babies

Last week I read that Japan is encouraging its young to go home early to make more babies. The same justification as in many countries, an older and dying population needs renewal. You need two young to support an old. So the world is all clamouring for more babies with more monetary incentives. Is this a good thing? The equation, if fully practised, will lead to a population explosion. And this mother earth is already gasping for breath to keep up with sustaining a 6b population. They are expecting it to go to 8b in the near future. There are physical stress, resource stress, climatic stress and political stress facing civilisation and mother earth. Instead of a trimming exercise which nature does every now and then to shed some weight, we are trying to put on more. The ingenuity of humankind will find its way to survive with ever growing population, or it shall perish. When will human kind admit that mother earth can just support that much lives and it is time to stop adding on? Why the rambling, let's go for the 6m or 10m. Things will go work out naturally.

Gambling with your only asset

Gambling or trading with your home or gambling with your only asset or flat, private or HDB. Not many are house owners. Does this statement tickle anyone? Many of us just have a flat that we called home. This is all we got, the most expensive asset. Shall we be trading this every now and then? At the way we buy and sell our flats, and the way prices fluctuate up and down, we could be buying and selling the same flat over and over again. And if we are lucky, we may end up with some extra cash, or lose some in most cases as the transaction cost is not low. So, shall heartlanders be gambling with their only asset? Or is it a good idea for this asset to keep running up in value? Should be good isn't it, that a flat one bought 20 or 30 years ago is not worth 10 or 20 times its value. Time to cash out and downgrade, and make a tidy sum. The question is whether this process is worth it, downgrading for a little more pocket money. Often the downgrading is not meaningful as the price difference between a 5rm and 4rm or 4rm and 3rm is so small after subtracting transaction cost and the normal appreciation of the value of money invested. The small gain is an illusion. To be meaningful, the downgrade must be fierce, 5rm to 3rm or rental flat, or private to a smaller HDB flat. The other fallacy to this ever increasing price paradox is that property prices should go up in leaps and bounds over the years. Using the past statistics, a 5 rm flat that was priced at $27,500 in the early 70s is not priced at $500K, nearly 20 times in monetary gain. If this is to hold true into the future, a 4rm flat selling at $300k today must fetch $6m into 30 years time. How much will an average Singaporean's income be for him to be able to afford this palace in the sky? Would it be better if this only asset be allowed to appreciate in a slower pace over time without it becoming a betting instrument, swinging wildly, and owners sometimes happy, sometimes angry. For the young, always angry because it is like chasing a fleeting dream. Is it likely that our average young executive or a supervisor will be getting a monthly salary of $30k or $50k? Possible, and our currency will be no different from the infamous banana money. I think many countries are in such a state at the moment. We can be one too.

Act now before the next meltdown

This is the heading of an article by Paul Krugman in the New York Times and reprinted in the ST today. His primary concern is the failure to look at the serious problem when all the early signs were there which led to this financial meltdown. America pulled throw several near disasters, at the brink of collapses, but instead of understanding how they got so close to failures, gave themselves all the encouraging and triumphant pats on their backs, and pronounced how clever they were to avoid the falls. The lessons to be learn is to sit back and take a quick look at our own situation and examine if we are sliding towards the edge. And I think we are. The psyche and culture of greed and instant wealth will burst our bottoms before we know it or see it coming. We are in a state of delusion and intoxicated in our past successes. We have triumphed over all obstacles and we think we can continue to bullshit our way through. The thing is that if we are hit by a version of the American financial tsunami, I don't think we can absorb the blow. We would have to sell everything, including father and mother, to get back on our feet. Where are the fault lines? The stock market is one. You cannot build a market that is dependent solely of foreign funds and support to survive. Trying to be a mountain when we are actually an anthill is not only being ambitious, but maniacal. For the moment our market still looks like it is a big market with huge volume of trades executed daily. In reality it is like a hologram. Fictitious trading, or left hand to right hand, is the reason for the high volume. Then there are the rules and mechanisms that do not provide a level playing field for all players have distorted the meaning and viability of the stock market. It is waiting to collapse. Wait till the funds pull out. We will be left with a gaping hole to fill. The high property prices, particularly in the private sector, which also affect the prices of public housing. When the citizens have to pay a life time ransom for a place to stay is perceived as good and healthy, it tells a lot about the faulty mindsets of supposedly brilliant people. The high cost of properties is unsustainable in the long run as it will require a high income to support the prices. In the case of private properties, the few local super rich have bought whatever they could and are waiting for some suckers to offload from them at a profit. But the locals from public housing would barely be able to do it, except for a very few. So open the flood gate for foreign suckers to come in. And that is good. Sell our limited land to foreigners with the dole. Keep building more and more and at ever higher prices. The music will stop one day. The corollary to this madness is the rentals of shops, houses and factories. Just keep driving them up and the landlords will laugh all the way to the bank. One Tay Boon Yong wrote to the ST this morning complaining that his landlord, the HDB, has just informed him that his rental will go up by 20% in January 09. I presume someone will say this is inevitable, imported inflation, or HDB is now a private organisation and must answer to its shareholders, or profit is good. I am so tempted to use the 4 letter word here. Quick profit, by sheer market forces of supply and demand, is the easiest way to make money. The next easiest is monopoly or by edict. In the tiny world of ours, it is so easy to corner the market and put undue pressure to create the forces that favour high prices of everything. Even public transportation will be a victim of such a mentality. Hospitals, education, and anything, can be manipulated by quoting market mechanism or forces as an excuse to raise cost and price. If we keep going down this road unchecked, a few silly buggers who think that they are smart enough and fortune will smile on them forever, will think this is the best way to go. But the majority, which will also count these silly smart asses, will not be able to cope in the long haul. Many will have to struggle all the way while the few smart asses will have their turn to cry when fortune slams the door in their faces. The ancient wisdoms of thrift, lower cost, steady and sustainable growth in small increments are not called wisdoms for nothing.

Myth 197 - No freedom of expression

Recently there seems to be a lot of complaints that Singapore is very uptight and lack of freedom of expression. People even got worried about what kind of T shirts they are wearing. Where is the sense of humour? Huh, what's humour? I think it is all a mis representation. I have all the freedom of expression that I need here, writing my forum/blog. I can even call Bush an idiot. No one has ever said that I can't write such stuff. We are very free actually, and very mature as a people.

Quibbling over taxi charges

There were two letters in the ST forum on the various charges that commuters need to pay for taking taxis. With the economic situations getting bad, many are trying to find ways to save a few cents if they could. The two letters made suggestions to the taxi operators to waive these surcharges or that fees to make it less expensive. Strange that these people who can afford to enjoy taking taxis will be bothered with these small charges. I cannot afford to take taxis so I choose to take MRTs. Much cheaper and can save dollars instead of cents. I am sure many of you will agree with me that if cannot afford, one should not take taxis. If want to take taxis, then be prepared to pay the price. If everyone can afford to take taxis, then the roads will be congested again and more ERPs will be up. Let the price mechanism determines who shall have a free ride down the expressways, who shall ride on taxis, who shall take MRT and buses, and who shall ride bicycles or walk. There is a price for everything.

I am convinced

I was not too convinced even with the regular gaffes coming from George Bush that the democratic process of electing leaders is not workable. Now we are seeing another Bush in Taro Aso, making as many gaffes as Bush in a single day. Then in Europe you have Sarkozy that is not cut out to be a President but more a socialite. The other aspects of failed democracies are the less than able leaders being elected for queer reasons all over the world. And democracy, without power and good leaders, will fail badly like what we are seeing in Thailand today. We must thank ourselves for the great political system that we have in throwing the best leaders from a land that is lack of talents. I am now convinced that we should have a one party system, and do away with elections forever. Oh, election within a one party system should still take place, not the multi party democratic election. In that way we can ensure that only the best leaders are kept in power to help run the country for as long as they can. Our model will be the model for the rest of the world to emulate and to reject at their own risk.

A prick on the conscience

Someone just sms me of a news clip saying that ex senior executives of UBS have returned US$58.2m in bonuses and wages to the bank. After posting the heading, I kind of like the punt. What a prick!

How much discount for Pinnacles?

I went to the HDB website to troll for some figures on the much hyped discount given to Pinnacles at Duxton. There were some comparative figures on the average price of a resale flat in the same location. The average price of 4rm resale flats was $508k while the prices of 4rm Pinnacle flats are from $457k to $555k. Taking the average of the two, the average price of 4rm Pinnacle flats is $506k. If there is any subsidy, it is only $2k! (Note: the numbers were taken from HDB's site) Hey, can you call this a subsidy? I thought I read somewhere that the subsidy is about 20% off market prices, which means that if average market price is $508k, then average 4rm Pinnacle flats should be $407k. Now where is the subsidy that we were told? What happens, and it is going to happen, is that market prices are sure to fall given the poor economy. Would the new buyers of Pinnacles feel like instant suckers? MPs please ask this question in Parliament. And if Parliament is in recess, please email to the minister in charge for an answer. Can't believe no one pick this up.

Town Council Funds

After going through Teo Ho Pin's explanation on the investment of Town Council Funds, I got the impression that the investment objective is just to invest for better returns. But the returns will not be translated to direct benefits to the residents. It is just investment for investment's sake. Thought any gains should be returned to the residents in some ways like lower S&C charges. The other point that came through is that the investment is for long term and gains or losses do not mean anything or have no impact on the residents. They will not affect the residents in anyway. Really? Another point I thought Teo Ho Pin should address is the Sinking Fund. How much is enough? The NKF's 20 year reserves came to mind. There must be a limit on how much should be set aside and when enough, the burden of payment by the residents could be proportionately reduced. What we are hearing is that residents shall keep paying regardless of how much is already in the reserve. Collection of public money must be capped at some point. It must not be unlimited and unconditional.

Money In My Mind

Money In My Mind What I built, the people called homes With loving care, all very affordable Big or small, I have them all For the money in your drawer I move people by the loads On the streets, high above and down below Ordinary is not good enough World class or nothing less When you're unwell, no worry We look after you, in fine luxury Fame physicians there will be You, our treasure, the best is to be Your money we will keep Safe and guaranteed a life time, (have a good sleep) Your money will grow, in great numbers, (in times to come) Be comforted, plenty will be left when the end has come. Chorus: I’m not for glory I’m not for fame I’m not for anything Only money in my mind The above is copyrighted by redbean

Double cuts for top civil servants and ministers

Many of you are just looking at the 19% pay cut for ministers, top civil servants and the President. Actually the cut is deeper and much more than reported. You must remember that they were underpaid according to the benchmark and are due for a third adjustment in January next year. To take a pay cut of 19% from their current salary is thus short changing them. Technically, they should get their adjustment in January first to put their salary to their rightful place. Then the 19% cut can come in. That will be only fair. What's happening is that they did not get what they should get and got a cut instead. Then there is Hsien Loong who has pledged to donate his last pay rise to a charity. Now he will be worst off than the rest. He did not benefitted from the last increase like everyone else, and still kena cut as well. Someone did not do the sums right this time.

Myth 196 - Toxic or not Toxic

The minibond and high notes case is still unsolved and the general impression is that they are toxic, or this is what they are called. But the only people using this term are the critiques and those badly affected by them. The media conveniently used the term as a reflection of the general sentiment. But are they toxic? Till today, the creators and issuers of these products have never admitted that they are toxic and not been charged. Selling toxic products must be a criminal act as there must be more dangerous than just drug abuses And the financial institutions selling them too have never admit this new status. Neither have the regulators. The official view, if I am not mistaken, is that they are just high risk financial products offering a relatively higher return. They are perfectly legitimate financial products that can be marketed to the investors. And we are hearing nuances from financial institutions that new products of similar nature may still be offered some time in the future. So, are these products toxic? Officially and legally theyare not. Or else all the parties would have been dragged to the courts for a criminal act.

A home song - 7

The legend of Sago Lane She’s the legend of Sago Lane A haunting figure of the past Before the sunrise she was there Heaving and pushing her towering wares She had no recollection of her years Did not remember anyone that was dear What she did today, tomorrow and thru the years She did the same everyday, and every year She could be a good looker for all you know The darling daughter of a mother, we were told Or the pride of some dashing suitors already past Never would she know how things had gathered dust Her stature had diminished with the ravages of time Standing with a stiff hunch, she was half her height With cardboards stacked high in her cart Stretching her neck, she could see not much ahead Chorus In a city without tears Where the wealthy indulged all thru the years Parties and celebrations in glittering lights There’s another world in the city, under the amber glow of backstreet lights. The above is copyrighted by redbean