Just musing

Is it possible that a 5 rm HDB flat costs less than one year’s combined income of two young graduates? Young graduates refer to those working less than 5 years after graduation. And this could also be extended to mean any two young executives with the same income. Definitely. At one time a 5 rm flat cost only $27,500 in Holland Village. If the couple were earning $1,500 pm each, that’s $3k pm or about $40k pa inclusive of bonuses. I know some of you are shaking your heads. KNN. How could this be possible when we are supposed to better off than before? Those people then could pay off the whole $27k with less than a year’s income and with plenty to spare. And they could set aside some money as savings in their CPF or in their bank accounts. Better still, with that kind of price, today the same flat could have appreciated and may be valued at $600k! Damn nice feeling huh. Using the same magic formula, a $400k flat today could well be valued at $8m in the future, using a multiple of 22 times. But things are not that easy now. In the first place, an average young couple would have a combined income of $6k pm or an annual income of $90k. This would not even be enough to pay for half the price of a 3 rm flat. So it would be a no go to begin with. Buying a 4 rm flat will probably eat into all their CPF savings for the next 20 years, leaving very little as savings. Can things be the same again? Can they really believe that their $400k flat be worth $8m in the future? The catch is that many workers, especially the CBF workers, would not be able to see their salary go up in leaps and bounds to be able to pay for a 4 rm flat. Who can afford an $8m public flat? If a public flat is selling at $8m, then a plate of char kway teow would likely cost $100 and an average young couple should be paid like $30k pm. Maybe, just maybe, when everyone is using banana currency.

The Evil Trinity

The Evil Trinity is led by the Madman of the 21st Century. One member is the beast of the 20th Century and the other is the psychopath in South Korea. The Madman is infamous for starting wars everywhere and killing innocent people to satisfy its lust for power and control. It could do it as it could deliver the most destructive power to its victims and knowing very well that the victim could not hit back. And it will continue to attack any country on this basis until someone stands up to give it a bloody nose before it would stop. To continue what it is doing in a bigger scale it is pandering to the lust for glory of the old Japanese empire in the beast. It is encouraging the beast to take on a bigger and more belligerent role in world affairs by expanding its military capability to wage wars. And the psychopaths in South Korea were given full military support to provoke the North Koreans to start a war. The 21st Century is going to be a precarious century with the Evil Trinity out to conquer and dominate the world. The only hope to push back this evil force is an alliance between China, Russia and North Korea. A better balance would be to include India, Brazil and even the European Union. The latter is a far fetch hope as they are likely to join the Evil Trinity instead and become an Evil Gang of Four. All peace loving nations should unite against this force of evil and voice their opposition to what they are doing. They cannot allow them to go on setting the world, country by country, on fire. The rest of the world cannot continue to be divided and duped into complacency and be controlled by the neo colonialists and be victims of a new formula of oppression. Every country has to stand up to oppose this evil trend or risk losing their independence and become subservient to the Evil Empire, fronted by the Evil Trinity.

The Evil of big banks and monopoly

While the Americans have tasted their own bitter medicine of going big, big and bigger, we are still sleeping like Rip Van Winkle. Big is still good and we are going bigger by killing the smaller ones. Read the article below to see the evil of being too big and the unfair advantage it has in exploiting the small guys. SATURDAY, DECEMBER 11, 2010 The Economy Cannot Recover Until the Big Banks Are Broken Up A lot of people still haven't heard that the economy cannot recover until the big banks are broken up. In fact, virtually all independent economists and financial experts are calling for the big banks to be broken up, including: Nobel prize-winning economist, Joseph Stiglitz Nobel prize-winning economist, Ed Prescott Former chairman of the Federal Reserve, Alan Greenspan Former chairman of the Federal Reserve, Paul Volcker Former Secretary of Labor Robert Reich Dean and professor of finance and economics at Columbia Business School, and chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers under President George W. Bush, R. Glenn Hubbard Former chief IMF economist and economics professor Simon Johnson (and see this) President of the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, Thomas Hoenig (and seethis) President of the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, Richard Fisher (and see this) President of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, Thomas Bullard Deputy Treasury Secretary, Neal S. Wolin The President of the Independent Community Bankers of America, a Washington-based trade group with about 5,000 members, Camden R. Fine The Congressional panel overseeing the bailout (and see this) The head of the FDIC, Sheila Bair The head of the Bank of England, Mervyn King The leading monetary economist and co-author with Milton Friedman of the leading treatise on the Great Depression, Anna Schwartz Economics professor and senior regulator during the S & L crisis, William K. Black Economics professor, Nouriel Roubini Economics professor, James Galbraith Economist, Marc Faber Professor of entrepreneurship and finance at the Chicago Booth School of Business, Luigi Zingales Economics professor, Thomas F. Cooley Economist Dean Baker Economist Arnold Kling Former investment banker, Philip Augar Chairman of the Commons Treasury, John McFall Leading bank analyst, Chris Whalen Why do these experts say the giant banks need to be broken up? Well, small banks have been lending much more than the big boys. The giant banks which received taxpayer bailouts have been harming the economy by slashing lending, giving higher bonuses, and operating at higher costs than banks whichdidn't get bailed out. As Fortune pointed out, the only reason that smaller banks haven't been able to expand and thrive is that the too-big-to-fails have decreased competition: Growth for the nation's smaller banks represents a reversal of trends from the last twenty years, when the biggest banks got much bigger and many of the smallest players were gobbled up or driven under... As big banks struggle to find a way forward and rising loan losses threaten to punish poorly run banks of all sizes, smaller but well capitalized institutions have a long-awaited chance to expand. Read more at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/05/11/justice-department-plans-_n_201409.html So the very size of the giants squashes competition, and prevents the small and medium size banks to start lending to Main Street again. And as I noted in December 2008, the big banks are the major reason why sovereign debt has become a crisis: The Bank for International Settlements (BIS) is often called the "central banks' central bank", as it coordinates transactions between central banks. BIS points out in a new report that the bank rescue packages have transferred significant risks onto government balance sheets, which is reflected in the corresponding widening of sovereign credit default swaps: The scope and magnitude of the bank rescue packages also meant that significant risks had been transferred onto government balance sheets. This was particularly apparent in the market for CDS referencing sovereigns involved either in large individual bank rescues or in broad-based support packages for the financial sector, including the United States. While such CDS were thinly traded prior to the announced rescue packages, spreads widened suddenly on increased demand for credit protection, while corresponding financial sector spreads tightened. In other words, by assuming huge portions of the risk from banks trading in toxic derivatives, and by spending trillions that they don't have, central banks have put their countries at risk from default. Now, Greece, Portugal, Spain and many other European countries - as well as the U.S. and Japan - are facing serious debt crises. We are no longer wealthy enough to keep bailing out the bloated banks. See this, this, this, this, this and this. Indeed, the top independent experts say that the biggest banks are insolvent. Seethis, for example. By failing to break up the giant banks, the government will have to keep taking emergency measures to try to cover up their insolvency. And by failing to break them up, the government is guaranteeing that they will take crazily risky bets again and again, and the government will wrack up more and more debt bailing them out in the future. (Anyone who thinks that Congress will use the current financial regulation - Dodd-Frank - to break up banks in the middle of an even bigger crisis is dreaming. If the giant banks aren't broken up now - when they are threatening to take down the world economy - they won't be broken up next timethey become insolvent either. And see this. In other words, there is no better time than today to break them up). Moreover, Richard Alford - former New York Fed economist, trading floor economist and strategist - recently showed that banks that get too big benefit from "information asymmetry" which disrupts the free market. Indeed, Nobel prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz noted in September that giants like Goldman are using their size to manipulate the market: "The main problem that Goldman raises is a question of size: 'too big to fail.' In some markets, they have a significant fraction of trades. Why is that important? They trade both on their proprietary desk and on behalf of customers. When you do that and you have a significant fraction of all trades, you have a lot of information." Further, he says, "That raises the potential of conflicts of interest, problems of front-running, using that inside information for your proprietary desk. And that's why the Volcker report came out and said that we need to restrict the kinds of activity that these large institutions have. If you're going to trade on behalf of others, if you're going to be a commercial bank, you can't engage in certain kinds of risk-taking behavior." The giants (especially Goldman Sachs) have also used high-frequency program trading which not only distorts the markets - making up more than 70% of stock trades - but which also lets the program trading giants take a sneak peak at what the real (that is, human) traders are buying and selling, and then trade on the insider information. See this, this, this, this and this. (This is frontrunning, which is illegal; but it is a lot bigger than garden variety frontrunning, because the program traders are not only trading based on inside knowledge of what their own clients are doing, they are also trading based on knowledge of what all other traders are doing). Goldman also admitted that its proprietary trading program can "manipulate the markets in unfair ways". The giant banks have also allegedly used their Counterparty Risk Management Policy Group (CRMPG) to exchange secret information and formulate coordinated mutually beneficial actions, all with the government's blessings. Again, size matters. If a bunch of small banks did this, manipulation by numerous small players would tend to cancel each other out. But with a handful of giants doing it, it can manipulate the entire economy in ways which are not good for the American citizen. Moreover, JP Morgan Chase, Bank of America, Goldman Sachs, Citigroup, and Morgan Stanley together hold 80% of the country's derivatives risk, and 96% of the exposure to credit derivatives. Experts say that derivatives will never be reined inuntil the mega-banks are broken up, and yet unregulated derivatives are one of the main risks to the economy. In addition, as everyone from Paul Krugman to Simon Johnson has noted, the banks are so big and politically powerful that they have bought the politicians and captured the regulators. So their very size is preventing the changes needed to fix the economy. PS. My apologies for not accrediting the source. It was emailed to me without the source.

High COE prices going to disrupt family life

Hooray, my old car has appreciated in value. Many old car owners are jubilant and praying that the COE prices will continue to rise, to hit the $100k mark. And in tandem the value of their old cars will rise as well. But beware, this orgasm is short lived. Just one last time. No more orgasm subsequently for many. After the old car’s life span is expired, some would not be able to cough out another $100k for a new COE and a new car. Many have the same experience in owning HDB flats. Prices going up, happy like hell. But don’t ever sell, no chance to buy back unless one still got one more chance with the HDB. What is disturbing in the two great price hikes is how they will eat up the limited disposable incomes of many families. Some families rely heavily on the car for their mobility, to bring children/seniors to schools, to care givers, to all kinds of classes and activities. Minus the car, life is going to be very disruptive and miserable. But there are convenient and easily accessible public transports available, the MRT, buses and the taxis. When time is an issue with tight schedules, shuttling between work, home, schools, tuition centres, parent’s homes etc etc, it is going to be hectic and a frustrating waiting game for taxis even if they can afford to. Our social system is getting to be less caring and less family friendly. Can families who really need the car make do without them? Is the high COE prices really unavoidable, like high HDB prices, high medical prices? Where are we going? For the sake of the poor motorists and those who really need a car, the present COE bidding system must be changed. No more stupid explanation that it is the best system. For one, no bidding by car companies. Two, the bidders shall pay the price they bid and not the lowest. This will prevent the crazily rich from bidding $100k or $200k for his COE knowing that they need not pay for what they bid. And neither can the car companies bid as high as they want while the helpless real buyers suffered in silence. Let’s hope the super talents will use their talents for the good of the motorists. But worst is to come. When more people give up car ownership, the MRT is going to be bursting in the seams. And they would be another good opportunity to hike fares to provide better services!

Lessons from WikiLeaks

When the Americans come a calling, and pretending to be seeking advice and tapping one’s wisdom, the best thing is to shut up. The second best thing is to say only good things, even about your foes. This will save a lot of embarrassment when what is said in confidence is aired in the open. Giving advice is a great honour only reserved for the wise ones. Being asked to give advice and opinion is quite flattering. But beware of the ego and don’t get carried away. What is spoken can be used to compromise one’s position and standing in the eyes of friends and foes. With hindsight, I think all diplomats would be wiser now. The Americans have blown their wicked intent for the last time and never will be given a second chance. But suckers will be born everyday and some will still think very highly of themselves and will continue to offer more advices and more opinions to the Americans. The Americans will be laughing themselves silly that these were given free of charge, and willingly. All they to do is to stroke the ego a little to get it excited.

From one scam to another scam

The New York Attorney is taking Ernst and Young to task for its role in misleading the public that led to the collapse of Lehman Brothers. The fall of Lehman Brothers resulted in a worldwide financial crisis culminating in several big banks going under as well. Many investors lost heavily from the fiasco. The first strange thing about this is that it will be a civil suit brought by the New York Attorney General against Ernst and Young for aiding Lehman to mislead investors. Why it is not a criminal suit in the first place is quite funny. Maybe it is meant to be a joke. Whatever, it is good that finally the law is catching up with the most important partner of crimes against the innocent masses at a scale that is beyond comprehension. The auditing companies have so far been left untouched in many cases of fraud or misleading the investors across the world. Somehow they are always free from prosecution. They are blameless when in reality they were the one that played a vital role in hiding all the frauds in the financial statements. More needs to be sued and put behind bars. This brings me to the second strange thing in this civil suit. The accused is the inanimate institution and not any of the senior executives. The humans who made all the decisions, committed all the frauds, were free from blame. It is the lifeless institution called Ernst and Young that was at fault. How ridiculous can it be? Sounds very familiar too, huh! So, from one big scam, the New York Attorney is going to create another bigger scam. No human bean is at fault or to be held responsible. It is very, very neat indeed. This is first class American rubbish. And the robbers are still wining and dining in their mansions and yachts around the world.

More colourful words in the media

Not many days ago Tommy Koh was said to have commmented that India was half in and half out. Quite an interesting expression that left many wondering what he meant. Today I read that India is deeper into Singapore. Hmmmm, what does that mean: ) Tomorrow the media may report that Singapore is getting wet. Too much rain in the December season I suppose. Or it may be India is pulling out!

The psychopaths in South Korea at it again

South Korea has announced that it will be holding the biggest live firing drill this Thursday 50km from the North Korean border. The scale of the drill is unprecedented. If this is not provocation, what is? The failure to lure the North Koreans to retaliate last Monday seems to have agitated the psychopaths in South Korea to a point of frenzy. They must do more to provoke the North Koreans. These irresponsible and reckless lunatics in Seoul need to be put in an asylum for the good of the Korean people. The UNSC must act to stop all the provocations from the South Koreans. The other two third of the evil Trinity are keeping mum. The western media are keeping mum. They are all waiting for the North Koreans to react. I thought the insanity is over and the Korean race is safe. I am being too presumptious and too optimistic about the psychopaths in charge. When will the South Koreans rise in revolt against them? When will the UN stand up to stop this madness? Don't count on the Americans and the Japs to stop the South Koreans. They are part of the evil scheme. Go on, blame the North Koreans!

No Yellow Ribbon for Jonathan Wong

The British court has found Jonathan Wong, a MOE scholar reading History at York University, guilty as a sex offender. What did he do? He possessed child pornography videos in his computer. I am also sure that many people watch pornography in Youtube. Are they sex offenders too? Or must one be found to have pornography in ones lap top to be considered a sex offender? My simple understanding of a sex offender is one who committed a sexual act that is not permitted, either by force, without permission or against a minor. Did Jonathan Wong commit such an act? Viewing pornography could be for curiosity, a process of growing up, a animal lust. Admittedly viewing child pornography is a step further to the dark side. Did Jonathan do what he did out of curiosity or a process of growing up? Or is it a sickness, a mental condition? If it is a sickness, a disease that results in perversion, should he be treated as a sick man rather than a criminal? If it is just a case of curiosity, a temporary perversion, is the punishment too severe? Murderers or rapists could get away with their crimes on grounds of mental sickness or even an abused childhood. The University also expelled him and prevented him from completing his studies. Now this would do more harm to him as a human bean than in helping him in any way to right his sick behavior. He has a life to live and needs to be equipped with an education to complete his life journey. Is the University being too harsh to Jonathan in this case? Jonathan has not harmed anyone except himself. What he did is not acceptable to what society would consider as decency. But there is no need to destroy his life. He has taken his punishment. What he needs now is help to become a normal person again. Depriving him of an education is akin to hammering the nails into a coffin. At most his act is deplorable. He did not rob, maim, kill, rape or hurt anyone. Where is the appropriateness in the punishment dealt to him? The court is fair in the six month suspended jail sentence. Is the University being fair and enlighten in expelling him? Hard core criminals are also allowed to study in prisons and sit for their examinations. Where is the Yellow Ribbon?

George Yeo pissed off with the Third Party

MSN India, 20 Dec 2010 Kolkata, Dec 20 (PTI) Singapore Foreign Minister George Yeo today pitched for strong Sino-Indian ties, saying that "some" of what is being made of the "rivalry" between the two countries was in the interest of "third parties". "Much has been made of the rivalry between China and India in the recent months, some of which no doubt is in the interest of third parties," Yeo said while speaking on ''Tagore''s Dream for Good Relations Between India and China'' at the Netaji Research Bureau here.... After being on the wrong end of the stick when Singapore's leaders were fixed nice and proper by the WikiLeaks, the normally well composed George Yeo is feeling the heat. In the above statement quoted, he lashed out at the Third Parties for causing rift between India and China. The Third Parties have been messing around and fixing all the Asian countries to be at logger heads with each othe for a very long time. India and China were no exceptions as they were courted, conned and misled, and hit by disinformation, to end up in deep mistrust of each other. Who are the Third Parties hiding in the dark corner, causing the rift and getting the ire of George Yeo?

A Team operating at less than full strength

When Hsien Loong took over the rein of the govt he inherited an A Team in his cabinet. Over the last few years it is obvious that the A Team is underforming. There is no doubt that he has the best of the super talents in his team. Everyone is a super talent, great leadership qualities and great abilities to run the country. In reality, many of them are not working at optimum capacity for one reason or another. LKY is working extremely hard and is everywhere. But as the saying goes, the heart is willing but the body is not. His ram chips, hard disk and motherboard all needs to be replaced. Otherwise he will be operating on an outdated and ageing system. The speed is definitely much slower than desired. Chok Tong, Jayakumar and Boon Heng were giants in their old days. They could do very much more. Boon Heng’s main portfolio, without a ministry, is to look after the oldies. Not sure what is Chok Tong’s main duty. Both could do very much more given their talent, youth and energy. Hsien Loong is another case of system go but a bug is there waiting to strike. Running at full speed may risk a system crash. It’s a pity that he could not go charging down the highway in maximum power. Things would have been very different. Kan Seng has had a very important portfolio in Home Affairs. His credibility took a disastrous hit by the Mas Selamat saga and it would take a long long time to rebuild his credential. Whatever he is doing now will always be viewed with a tinted lens. This could have affected his confidence and performance. Boon Wan found out that he had a bad heart. The surgeons opened it up and confirmed that the heart was bad. Though he had done a major overhaul, it is not easy to turn a bad heart into a good one. He may be excused if he wants to retire and spend value time in things that are more dear to him and his family. He has done his fair share of public service and no one will blame him should he retires. Mah Bow Tan is or was the most profitable minister and has done an excellent job in building the HDB’s coffers. And the people got to thank him for helping to raise their asset values for retirement. All they need is to downgrade or sell their properties to live out their golden years. The only little flaw is that the people’s CPF savings were depleted in exchange for the high value HDB flats. As for the young people he is working extra hard to help them buy their first property with great success. Though he has redeemed himself, he still has a lot of explanation to do and he is doing it extra time in his column on public housing in the main paper. That takes times away from his main job. The more people misunderstood him, the more time he has to spend to try to explain his good intention and the virtues of his schemes and policies. George Yeo the sage was doing an excellent job in Foreign Affairs until the affairs of the MFA were leaked. Now he would have to waste a lot of time in damage control. His effectiveness will depend heavily on his counterparts in the other countries. Though he is optimistic, I doubt things will be as easy as before. The third party is laughing at the dire straits he is in. Vivian is another great surgeon, and orator. Unfortunately he made a few slips in his comments, which were not too correct politically. His image has taken a hit since then. The YOG also did not give him the lift that he needed. All those people who fouled out in the process should be kicked in their asses. Otherwise Vivian should have been very well received given his charm and articulating skills. He must be feeling pressurized. The good thing is that his hair is still not turning white or thining like the other wise men. The rest of the A Teams are doing OK I think. Chee Hean and Tharman were the least tarnished of the Team. Oh, I almost forgot about Swee Say. He has done an excellent job in NTUC. He even leveled down to speak in worker’s lingo. He is getting betterer by the days. And the workers like him and his wise cracks. Think he is even much betterer than his predecessors. There you are, an A Team that could have done even better if all engines are finely tuned and firing. For those that I have not mentioned, let’s take it that they are performing as expected of an A Team member. Would the next A Team be the same or betterer?

Sanity versus madness

The Korean peninsula crisis has come to an abrupt end. Thanks to sanity and good riddance to madness. Who is the sane party and who is the reckless and irresponsible party is clear for the whole world to see, except those who have eyes but cannot see. The South Koreans risked everything, even a war, to conduct provocative military exercise, firing live artillery shells near to the border with North Korea. In committing such an act of provocation, it even had to order its citizens to hide in the bunkers. Is it really necessary to act so foolishly just to prove their manhood? Is it necessary to conduct such an act in the front yard of a neighbouring country and destabilise peace with its neighbours? Just by not conducting such an irrational act, or do it in some other parts of South Korea away from the border, no one will be challenged and no South Korean citizens will be inconvenience or their lives put to danger. Why must the South Koreans stubbornly persisted to push its neighbour to the brink of war? A war with deadly consequences was avoided all because of a sensible and calm North Korea. They felt that it was not worthy to react to such a naïve provocation. The North Koreans have proven to the world that they are reasonable and mature people and will not fall easily into a trap laid by the evil trinity of South Korea, Japan and the US. They would not provide any excuse for the South Koreans and Americans to strike at them. If the North were as mad as the West have painted them to be… If Kim Jong Il or Kim Jong Un were as irrational as the West claimed them to be… The repeated provocations by the South Koreans would be the best excuse to retaliate, and as the West had accused them, just to prove that they were in charge. No, they have proven the West wrong, that they could not be easily provoked by crazy South Koreans and mad Americans and risk a destructive war. The Koreans on both sides of the border should say thank you to the North for behaving sensibly unlike their provocative and irresponsible South Korean leaders. Thank god that because the North Koreans were able to stay calm and walk away from a game of chicken. To hell with the crazy South Koreans and the mad Americans! The Americans and Japanese must be crying their hearts out that they have no opportunity to start a war in the Korean peninsula. And the Koreans as a human race is saved from extermination.

Extermination of the Korean Race

The South Koreans refuse to call off the live firing drill and will proceed with the firing this morning at 11am Singapore time. The UN Security Council held a meeting last night but did not come out with any decision. Susan Rice said the differences would not be bridged. The intent of the Americans is very clear, war is what they want. They would not rein in the psychopathic South Korean leaders. In fact they are encouraging them to provoke the North Koreans.. Yeonpyeong is an island only a few kilometres from the North Korean mainland and in disputed waters. If the live firing is not provocation what else is? Why is the UN not condemning such provocations, conducting war games and live firing at the border of another country? Why aren’t the western media and pacifists, and journalists, raise this issue in their reports instead of denouncing the North as the provocateur? Why aren’t the Americans and Japanese rein in this mindless animal called South Korea? The North has declared the continued live firing as a provocation and will respond in bigger kind. So, when the North responded after being provoked by the South, the North is the provocateur? This is not a joke! The North is threatening to go nuclear if the South insists on conducting their war games near their disputed border. The stupidity of the South is mind boggling. Pardon my harsh words. A nuclear war in the peninsula will guarantee that no Koreans will be alive in the aftermath. Japan will also be in ruins. There will be no Tokyo, Kyoto, Osaka to talk about. Of course the North Koreans will be wiped out as well and any Koreans left in the two sides of the 38th parallel will be half beasts and will no longer be allowed to live as citizens of an independent country. The Americans are waiting anxious to push their nuclear buttons. The Koreans don’t deserve to live after showing their propensity to self destruct. It would be in their best interest to be ruled by the Japanese or the Americans. The South Koreans are playing with death and the annihilation of the Korean Race. Thanks to their strong supporters in the US and Japan egging them on and promising more weapons to help them do the job faster and more effectively. If the Korean War breaks out again, next year will be the anniversary of the demise of a human race, the Koreans. The Americans will erect an obelisk in Pyongyang and one is Seoul to remember the Korean Race for their bravery to exterminate each other. And the world will also mark that day to remind any crazy leaders to engage in another war, the Korean style.

The Madman of the 21st Century

Kim Jong Il? Come on, don’t be stupid! He is just making noises to get himself heard and to protest against all the provocations hurled at him and his country. He may prance around like he meant real business, but no way is he mad. The Madman of the 21st Century is the USA. It is not only starting wars and fighting wars everywhere on self perceived threats of its own security, it is also the personification of a crazy bunch of people living in self deception. It wants to bomb Iran, it wants to nuke North Korea. And the South Koreans are helping this Madman to wipe up their fellow Koreans. In the meantime this Madman is frantically going around the world to sign military alliances to contain China. It is living in constant fear of losing its pole position as the top dog in the world. What other madness will it do? I quote this from Imran Andrew Price’s article, ‘Stop the warmongers’ The US Defense Secretary, Robert Gates has argued that a “successful” attack on Iran’s facilities would delay the Iranians by at most a few years. Oh, the Americans had used the same kind of logic to invade Iraq too. And the same argument is also being reiterated by the joker Michael Mullen in Korea. Unfortunately no one can stop this Madman other than the ordinary American citizens. But this bunch of idiots is easily swayed by the calls for war and victory. They needed the self assurance that they are the number one super power, and war victories will make them feel good. Not until the reality of their own sons and daughters coming home in black plastic bags will then awake from their drunken stupor. The world will continue to be harassed by this Madman till he trips and fall over his own mines that he laid to kill his imagined enemies all over the world.

Value for money education

For those who complained about higher tuition fees in the universities, they were assured that what they were paying for was for quality. Good education does not come cheap unless one is willing to accept lower quality education and paying less. This is the same logic in hospitals. You want world class medical services, be prepared to pay for world class medical fees. Going backwards, the media had an interesting article on the fees parents are willing to pay for their children to attend pre schools. The fees can go up as high as $20k pa in the best pre schools, and this fee is higher than what undergrads are paying. But the parents are not complaining as their children will be getting the best education their money can buy. For those who are paying $6k they can expect that their children will get the value of a $6k pre school education. And for those who are paying a few hundred bucks, don’t they dare to complain that the quality is only as good as the few hundred bucks they are paying. They pay for what they get. What else could they expect? Want quality, pay more lah. By the time the children enter Primary One, the gap between those who attended the top end pre schools and those at the low end pre schools must be pretty obvious. Of course the top end pre school graduates will be smarter and betterer than those from the low end pre schools. Oh, top end pre school children would not know what betterer means. Now many parents will have another thing to stress them up. Finding money to enrol their children in high end pre schools to give their little ones a head start in life. Good luck to them.

Are the South Koreans mad?

I watched the news and the South Koreans are adamant about continuing with the live firing drill in Yeonpyeong. Not only that, they are sending balloons with anti Pyongyang leaflets into North Korea. Why are they so keen to go to war with the North Koreans? Are they insane, or are they being forced to act like mad people, insisting on provoking the North Koreans? Do they know that today’s warfare is not the same as WW2? Warfare today no longer moves soldiers, sending divisions to fight one another. Warfare today is about pushing buttons and sending monstrous bombs that would destroy infrastructure like sand castles and killing people in the hundreds of thousands. Do they think they can survive a war, or do they think they are going to a tea party with no casualties? Fighting North Korea is not like the US fighting Iraq. If war breaks out between the two Koreas, count on it that the Americans and Japanese will come join in. And they better count on it that the Chinese and Russians too will join in. The people of South Korea shall rise up and remove their govt before being led to their death in a war that they don’t need. This is an American and Japanese war against the Korean people. And the soldiers killing each other, and the people killed in this war, will be mainly Koreans. Unbelievable, why are the Koreans so dense? Any Koreans reading this article care to comment.

How to fix up a political opponent?

Very simple, throw all kinds of drum up charges against him. If nothing meaning can be used, sex crime is the best. If sodomy is not common to the target, simply rape will do. The world is now witnessing the best show on earth in the WikiLeaks saga. Julian Assange is the target of American character assassination. The sophistication and sophistry in trying to gun him down are first class, standard operating procedure out of the textbook. Luckily Assange is an Australian, a member of the tribe. So the disparaging attack is not homogenous. Some of the tribe members are revolting. Australia is also attempting a weak defence or it would not go down well with its people and the friends of Assange. The western media are split and not sure which direction to take. This is not common enemey like the case of Liu Xiaobo. In the latter, the wolf pack simply closed ranks to train their cross hair at China. Assange is a bit complicated. Here there is a case of a state abusing its authority, violation of human rights, rights of an individual, freedom of the press, justice and fair play, compromising the judicial system, fabricating evidence, all rolled into one. And there is also the lynching of one’s own kind. A bit messy definitely. The world should sit back and watch this spectacle unfold. (Please be reminded of the silence as a clever little country and its leaders are now in deep shit trying to extricate itself out of the shit hole, all by itself. No one cares or is willing to give this little country a helping hand. Don’t belong to the same tribe, I think.)

The Robbers are coming

The Europeans are getting wiser to the game of the robbers. They are going to stop them from robbing the banks and the people of their hard earned money. Stringent laws are going to be put in place to prevent the robbers from robbing the banks to pay themselves crazy. And only the govt can do it. They are going to curb on the huge bonuses which the robbers have got so used to. No multi million dollar bonuses can ever be enough. And they will scheme and worm their ways to getting more. Only the US is still allowing the robbers to operate quite freely. And they can only do so with their accomplices in the govt. The robbers are threatening to flee to more hospitable and unthinking Asian countries like Singapore and Hong Kong. Singapore is likely to be the first to open its doors widely to welcome them. The stupidity of Singapore is infamous in the financial world in terms of overpaying all kinds of craps and robbers with huge sums of money. Gullible is a disease here. This is accentuated by the mantra that foreign talents are best or betterer, and are worth every cent of their weight in gold. Who knows, the recruiting party could already be in Europe now and talking to the robbers and offering them generous terms, and agreeing to terms dictated by the robbers. What is wrong with that? They are paying good money for good talents. Even if they are robbers, if they know how to rob well, the owners will get a bigger cut of the loot. What if the robbers rob the people or citizens instead? The ignorant masses must not be duped continuously as if paying huge sums of money to robbers is harmless. Eventually everything comes to them. Someone has to pay big for the robbers to receive big. And that someone has no name except that he or she will likely be known as the people or the masses. The prices of everything will go up, the cost of living will go up. Everything is interconnected and forms part of the system which the robbers thrive in. Roll out the red carpet quick, the robbers are coming.

A friend he is not

China called him an old friend, an affectionate term for a good friend one has known for many years. He learnt and spoke Chinese and was every inch a gentleman, from the exterior. To win the trust of the Chinese he even called himself a Chinese name. And he became a Prime Minister. His unfaithfulness or dishonourable conduct was revealed when he spoke to the Americans. Without WikiLeaks, his bad mouthing of his friend will not be known. And his friend will still hold him dearly as a good friend. Now his true self is known and he can’t hide anymore. He had told the Americans to wage war against China if China did not bow to American pressure and did not tow the line. This must be quite shocking to the Chinese. They must have felt betrayed. Would they still regard him as a friend? The initial for his Chinese name is LKW. That’s Kevin Rudd. WilkiLeaks is making many people redfaced. Can Australia be a part of Asia? Who is recommending Australia to be part of Asean?

The Proof that the spammers are more than just spammers

Last few weeks redbeanforum was attacked by a flood of supposedly innocent advertisements for bags, shoes and electronic goods. Each spammer could hit a few hundred posts at one go, on every new threads in the page. A lot of effort to just do that. My response is to barred everyone from posting except the moderators. But I leave a hole for the supposedly keen advertisers to keep on posting in a section specially for them to post their adverstisements. Guess what? They gave up posting. All I had was one miserable advertisement posted there. What happens? Don't they no longer want to post their advertisements? The ill intent of the spammers is loud and clear. They are not just spammers or advertisers. They have a different and sinister motive. The only way, and best way, is simply to lock them out completely. The next thing they can hope to do is to kill my forum completely. Any genuine forumers can private message me to post in redbeanforum. I will allow them access by designating them as moderators for the time being. Oh they are still attacking mysingaporenews with a lot of porn postings. I hope Blogger will do something to their firewalls.