A Loke Siew Keong had written to the ST forum raising her concerns at the new requirement from MAS for remisiers and futures brokers to take and pass a Capital Markets and Financial Advisory Services Module 6A. The complexities of financial products especially derivatives and ‘other embedded terms and features’ are difficult to understand by retail investors and even financial advisers, including remisiers and future brokers. The problems do not lie in just understanding the products and derivatives but the high risk involved in wrongfully selling such products to clients who did not know what they were into. Serious consequences can result like the Lehman Bond and toxic notes incidents.
Attending and passing the module is one thing, understanding the complex products and risk is another on the part of the advisor and the buyer. Many of these high risks and complex products are simply not suitable to the ordinary retail investors and should not even be in the market.
The main issues thus is for the authority to first identify the risks of the products and their suitability for the local investors, retail or sophisticate investors. The latter can be further divided into highly intelligent or highly stupid investors but both are highly qualified to trade in such products as they are considered highly sophisticated. Goldman Sach and other big funds have plenty of such investors. And also they have highly trained and highly sophisticated advisors who specialized in such products.
It is necessary and simply being responsible to set these highly risky products aside and tagged them with warning labels like those on cigarettes, that they are not suitable for consumption by the ordinary guys. Only good for the sophisticated investors.
The second part is to allow the remisiers and future brokers to choose if they want to be in the party to advise and sell such high risk products. Many responsible remisiers and future brokers know how risky, treacherous and flawed are such products that they would not want to touch them with a thousand metre pole. They must be given the option to stay away from such dangerous products and need not try to be clever to pass an exam that would even floor CPA trained graduates. And passing a module is not going to make them any wiser.
There are many skill levels and professional training required to handle more difficult products and procedures in various profession. And those who are not up to it or who choose not to engage in dangerous games are only exercising their right and moral responsibility not to get involved or get their clients involved. They cannot be forced to take poison. It should be voluntary. Let the brave and clever take the plunge.
The best alternative is for them to go through an appreciation course if understanding of the financial market is important, without examination, unless they want to deal with such products. There are things that are good to know but not to be consumed. And the authority has to clearly redefine what is dangerous and what is not dangerous and not simply lump them together in one basket.
Many overseas products listed in foreign markets like stocks and shares are not dangerous, or at least the blue chips. As we open up our investors to the world, we are exposing them to more risks and uncertainties. The right to say no to high risks and complex products must lie not only with the investors but also the remisiers and future traders.
The whole concept of the requirement to pass Module 6A and the introduction of high risk products must be rethink through carefully. Many people do not have the appetite and the intellect to play with unknown dangers. Who is responsible to protect the ordinary investors from being exposed to poison and snake oil if they are not filtered out at the first pass? Is it a responsible thing to do to allow dangerous and high risk products into the market? Shall we sell poison by educating the buyers and sellers that it is poison and claim it is their fault if they are hurt?
3/22/2012
Gemini Cheat Fund
Many of the older generations would remember the fame Gemini Chit Fund of the 1970s when depositors were promised high returns for their savings. Like all cheat funds, once an institution goes down the road of cheating, its days are numbered. No cheat funds can last for long.
The cheat funds operate on a very simple business formula. Get in as many depositors as possible like the Ponzi game. The fictitious payout can continue from getting more new depositors even if the investments of the collected money are not making good returns. Making lesser returns than the payout is making a loss. And some may wonder if the collected money were actually invested. There is no need to if more new money is flowing in. And in those days the cost of rental and payroll were minimal unlike today.
Cheat funds are limited in what they can do. If they can as they please, cheat funds can really go on in perpetuity as long as the conditions for more funds to flow in is non stopped. Cheat funds would be very pleased if they could keep on increasing their contributing members from 1m to 2m to 5m to 10m and ever increasing. This is the first part of the equation.
Cheat funds could also stop or delay their payouts by encouraging depositors to reinvest their profits ala bucket shop. One sound product is housing. Cheat funds can sell housing in short leases of 30 years or 60 years. The shorter the better as the money invested in these leases will eventually come to zero at the end of the lease even if the property prices could peak at several millions in between. There is an end game in property leases.
Other products that cheat funds can sell to their depositors include insurance for life and medical. In the case of life insurance, they must attempt to convince their customers that their lifespan is forever, or the longer the better. The trick is to keep the money in. And innocent laymen would love to hear that they can live forever, undead, and would need to park more money for their days of being undead.
Medical insurance is also a good product when medical bills are getting more expensive. The cheat funds could even set up their own hospitals and sell their own insurance. It is kind of ‘pau ka liau’ business. And the effect is the same. Every cent collected will be kept inside the vault.
Today, cheat funds could actually operate more effectively and efficiently with more products and schemes to entice and trap the depositors. It is a good and very profitable business as long as there is no run on the fund and the number of depositors keeps on increasing.
Time to revive the Gemini Cheat Fund and calling it any other name will do. A rose is a rose whatever you call it.
The cheat funds operate on a very simple business formula. Get in as many depositors as possible like the Ponzi game. The fictitious payout can continue from getting more new depositors even if the investments of the collected money are not making good returns. Making lesser returns than the payout is making a loss. And some may wonder if the collected money were actually invested. There is no need to if more new money is flowing in. And in those days the cost of rental and payroll were minimal unlike today.
Cheat funds are limited in what they can do. If they can as they please, cheat funds can really go on in perpetuity as long as the conditions for more funds to flow in is non stopped. Cheat funds would be very pleased if they could keep on increasing their contributing members from 1m to 2m to 5m to 10m and ever increasing. This is the first part of the equation.
Cheat funds could also stop or delay their payouts by encouraging depositors to reinvest their profits ala bucket shop. One sound product is housing. Cheat funds can sell housing in short leases of 30 years or 60 years. The shorter the better as the money invested in these leases will eventually come to zero at the end of the lease even if the property prices could peak at several millions in between. There is an end game in property leases.
Other products that cheat funds can sell to their depositors include insurance for life and medical. In the case of life insurance, they must attempt to convince their customers that their lifespan is forever, or the longer the better. The trick is to keep the money in. And innocent laymen would love to hear that they can live forever, undead, and would need to park more money for their days of being undead.
Medical insurance is also a good product when medical bills are getting more expensive. The cheat funds could even set up their own hospitals and sell their own insurance. It is kind of ‘pau ka liau’ business. And the effect is the same. Every cent collected will be kept inside the vault.
Today, cheat funds could actually operate more effectively and efficiently with more products and schemes to entice and trap the depositors. It is a good and very profitable business as long as there is no run on the fund and the number of depositors keeps on increasing.
Time to revive the Gemini Cheat Fund and calling it any other name will do. A rose is a rose whatever you call it.
3/21/2012
How to justify or defend a mass murderer?
Robert Bales is a good man. He is a wholesome family man who loves children. He is also the man who massacred 16 Afghan civilians, including children, in a killing spree. And the American public was shocked. They could not see it coming, just like they could not see the American soldiers killing hundreds of thousands of Arabs and Afghans in the two wars, including civilians, old folks and children. And they are still killing them today and tomorrow and until they stop the massascre. They only think that it is a war and the casualties on the other side, they called it collateral, a term the bankers used, inanimate.
America is country of murderers, committing murders everyday in the name of their national interests. And killing their tagged enemies is a way of life. The whole nation has been taught and fed with the doctrine that war is the right of the Americans, and killing other people is only a natural thing. But killing Americans is abnormal, unacceptable. Robert Bales will not kill American children. He will carry them and kiss them. As for aliens who are branded as enemies, it is fair game.
According to an article in mypaper today, David Brooks of The New York
Times, I quoted, ‘The monstrosities of the world are caused by the few people (like Hitler or Idi Amin) who are fundamentally warped and evil.’ How blind can he be? No, he is not blind. He is just American. He could not see the real monsters that were killing the Iraqis and the Afghans were George Bush and Obama and their colleagues.
Maybe they were in Iraq and Afghanistan hunting for bears. Who are the warp and fundamentally evil people today?
America is country of murderers, committing murders everyday in the name of their national interests. And killing their tagged enemies is a way of life. The whole nation has been taught and fed with the doctrine that war is the right of the Americans, and killing other people is only a natural thing. But killing Americans is abnormal, unacceptable. Robert Bales will not kill American children. He will carry them and kiss them. As for aliens who are branded as enemies, it is fair game.
According to an article in mypaper today, David Brooks of The New York
Times, I quoted, ‘The monstrosities of the world are caused by the few people (like Hitler or Idi Amin) who are fundamentally warped and evil.’ How blind can he be? No, he is not blind. He is just American. He could not see the real monsters that were killing the Iraqis and the Afghans were George Bush and Obama and their colleagues.
Maybe they were in Iraq and Afghanistan hunting for bears. Who are the warp and fundamentally evil people today?
Cyberspace a threat to national security
Chee Hean is talking about the danger of cyberspace as a threat to national security with bloggers posting all kinds of vicious remarks on race and religion. So what, clamp it down? The problem is not really cyberspace but race and religion themselves, and of course the individuals who are there to propagate hatred and mischief. And they are out there, with or without cyberspace. Race is divisive and so is religion. But race is something that is a natural development and without provocation, without politicization, different races can live peacefully together. The most successful country in peaceful racial coexistence is China. Ha, all the eyes popping out.
China has 56 ethnic racial groups and all have been living fairly comfortably together for centuries. The stereotyping of China in the West as a country where minorities are victimized and discriminated is a Western myth that the dull have been fed with for the last few centuries of colonization. Their minds and thinking are still subjects of the colonial powers. The truth is far from it. Tibet and Xinjiang were often brandished as examples of domination and suppression of minorities in the two regions. What is happening is politics and also religious antagonism. Books can be written to discuss such issues into perpetuity.
What were more troublesome are the entrenched and etched beliefs of religions in their holy books. Only the three proverbial monkeys would fail to see the destructiveness and divisiveness in these books. Unless they are edited out from the ‘holy’ books, religion will be the main source of conflict and intolerance. They are not the words of Gods but words of vicious bickering men of the past, for self preservation, self righteousness and the destruction of others as their enemies. Be with us and like us or you shall be killed or destroyed. But many choose to lie that such doctrines are non existence. They are just like the blind monkeys.
And it is exactly the presence of such doctrines that made religious conflicts unavoidable and peaceful co existence difficult. Those who succumbed to political pressure to co exist are violating the very true teachings of their religions that preached mutual exclusivity. Don’t tell me that I am lying. The truth is ugly. Until the ugly truth is acknowledged and done away with, man is just deceiving themselves that there is no evil.
It is not the internet or cyberspace that is at fault. And what have been posted in cyberspace against various religions is unstoppable. Those who want to view them to seek justification and assurance that their evil ways is the right way will seek them with or without regulations. And the vicious and dangerous will find their way, and cyberspace is not to be blamed. Without cyberspace, there are many printed material available and many walking interpreters and authorities of religious books will be there to spread the good news.
The education and emancipation of the mind from the medieval thoughts of old when killing on religious ground is righteous, is God’s will or God’s command, is the only solution. Free the people from the clutches of the primitive past. Update their thoughts and values to that of modern and more civilized world. It is so sad that modern civilizations are still entrapped by the small minds of ancient illiterates and ignoramus and to live by their evil words.
Who are we bluffing? The internet is now the new devil?
China has 56 ethnic racial groups and all have been living fairly comfortably together for centuries. The stereotyping of China in the West as a country where minorities are victimized and discriminated is a Western myth that the dull have been fed with for the last few centuries of colonization. Their minds and thinking are still subjects of the colonial powers. The truth is far from it. Tibet and Xinjiang were often brandished as examples of domination and suppression of minorities in the two regions. What is happening is politics and also religious antagonism. Books can be written to discuss such issues into perpetuity.
What were more troublesome are the entrenched and etched beliefs of religions in their holy books. Only the three proverbial monkeys would fail to see the destructiveness and divisiveness in these books. Unless they are edited out from the ‘holy’ books, religion will be the main source of conflict and intolerance. They are not the words of Gods but words of vicious bickering men of the past, for self preservation, self righteousness and the destruction of others as their enemies. Be with us and like us or you shall be killed or destroyed. But many choose to lie that such doctrines are non existence. They are just like the blind monkeys.
And it is exactly the presence of such doctrines that made religious conflicts unavoidable and peaceful co existence difficult. Those who succumbed to political pressure to co exist are violating the very true teachings of their religions that preached mutual exclusivity. Don’t tell me that I am lying. The truth is ugly. Until the ugly truth is acknowledged and done away with, man is just deceiving themselves that there is no evil.
It is not the internet or cyberspace that is at fault. And what have been posted in cyberspace against various religions is unstoppable. Those who want to view them to seek justification and assurance that their evil ways is the right way will seek them with or without regulations. And the vicious and dangerous will find their way, and cyberspace is not to be blamed. Without cyberspace, there are many printed material available and many walking interpreters and authorities of religious books will be there to spread the good news.
The education and emancipation of the mind from the medieval thoughts of old when killing on religious ground is righteous, is God’s will or God’s command, is the only solution. Free the people from the clutches of the primitive past. Update their thoughts and values to that of modern and more civilized world. It is so sad that modern civilizations are still entrapped by the small minds of ancient illiterates and ignoramus and to live by their evil words.
Who are we bluffing? The internet is now the new devil?
3/20/2012
Before Uncle Sam starts a new war…
This is the title of an article by Bill Keller, a New York Times columnist, appearing in the Today paper. Though he admitted, in his view, that America was wrong in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, his approach is that it is America’s right to start wars under whatever assumptions or false assumptions. Starting wars to the Americans is like having a basketball game. They called it military ventures, regime change or whatever, but not killings, murders or genocide. And he quoted with a bit or regret, the cost of the wars to the Americans, US$3 trillion at least, and the thousands of Americans killed or disabled and the stress on the American soldiers. Not a hint of regrets or sadness on the destruction of countries and the hundreds of thousands of foreign civilian casualties. The foreign deaths maimed don’t matter. They are not Americans or not even humans.
And what were the reasons for the Americans to start wars to kill innocent people? The first justification, 911, was a good reason if they knew who did it, and a righteous shoot. But what other reasons? An obligation to defend an ally, right or wrong. Fighting for economic reasons. This one is very dangerous like accusing countries for blocking sea routes when nothing of sort actually happened. Start wars in the name of American values, promoting American doctrine, freedom and way of life which are alien and have nothing to do with the invaded countries.
Helping rebels to topple govts. This one is just as dangerous as every country will have a small group of dissidents and rebels that opposed the legitimate govt. The ‘freedom agenda,’ overthrowing of dictators, or opposing countries that are hostile or unfriendly to America. The latter can mean anything. A country that refuses to trade or support American agenda can be hostile to American interests. Actually anything under the sky can be a good reason for the Empire to start a war and invade the country. And the Empire is accusing other countries of being aggressive, expansionist and trouble maker, cannot be trusted, irresponsible, and even having their own technology for rocketry and military weapons are reasons to be attacked.
And America can do that, talk like an asshole, a big gangster, because it carries the big stick and can hit at the small countries knowing that they are unable to hit back. The safest thing that small countries can do to avoid being attacked or invaded is to develop the nuclear capability. But this is risky as any attempt to do so would lead to a pre emptive strike by the most responsible and friendly nation on earth. Ha ha ha.
But what else can the smaller countries do? Send hit squad to kill Americans in all corners of the globe as long as they are Americans and conduct a brutal borderless war on all Americans any where, any time? The only way to deal with the Empire is the ability to hit back, to strike back where it hurts. Appeasement and weak defense capability will be seen as weaknesses and inviting for more attacks. The Empire will be trigger happy knowing that it can hit anyone who cannot hit back.
And what were the reasons for the Americans to start wars to kill innocent people? The first justification, 911, was a good reason if they knew who did it, and a righteous shoot. But what other reasons? An obligation to defend an ally, right or wrong. Fighting for economic reasons. This one is very dangerous like accusing countries for blocking sea routes when nothing of sort actually happened. Start wars in the name of American values, promoting American doctrine, freedom and way of life which are alien and have nothing to do with the invaded countries.
Helping rebels to topple govts. This one is just as dangerous as every country will have a small group of dissidents and rebels that opposed the legitimate govt. The ‘freedom agenda,’ overthrowing of dictators, or opposing countries that are hostile or unfriendly to America. The latter can mean anything. A country that refuses to trade or support American agenda can be hostile to American interests. Actually anything under the sky can be a good reason for the Empire to start a war and invade the country. And the Empire is accusing other countries of being aggressive, expansionist and trouble maker, cannot be trusted, irresponsible, and even having their own technology for rocketry and military weapons are reasons to be attacked.
And America can do that, talk like an asshole, a big gangster, because it carries the big stick and can hit at the small countries knowing that they are unable to hit back. The safest thing that small countries can do to avoid being attacked or invaded is to develop the nuclear capability. But this is risky as any attempt to do so would lead to a pre emptive strike by the most responsible and friendly nation on earth. Ha ha ha.
But what else can the smaller countries do? Send hit squad to kill Americans in all corners of the globe as long as they are Americans and conduct a brutal borderless war on all Americans any where, any time? The only way to deal with the Empire is the ability to hit back, to strike back where it hurts. Appeasement and weak defense capability will be seen as weaknesses and inviting for more attacks. The Empire will be trigger happy knowing that it can hit anyone who cannot hit back.
Competing estates
Stop snatching away my estate in the name of progress. Stop destroying our history in the name of convenience. Stop violating my right to rest in peace. These are some of the cries rising from the ground of Bukit Brown. The estate of the dead and their descendants are being encroached for some stupid road to smoothen traffic flow and convenience.
The critics would argue, what is more important, the flow of cars or the history behind the once people buried there? Every one of them was a part of our history, something gone but preserved only waiting to be bulldozed away.
The livings are now competing with the dead for their estates. And the dead obviously would lose unless they unleash their unseen spiritual power to make the livings go down on their knees. This is what we called disturbing the peace. Why can’t we let them live in peace?
We do not have to come to such a state if we have been more prudent, less greedy, and more sensitive to our past and our future. The human greed of today, in the name of progress, is going to destroy everything that will allow the human beans to live a little longer. Destruction of mother earth, unrestrained consumption of resources and livestock will deplete them doubly fast. We are still clamouring for more.
We want more progress. Progress is good. Don’t you want progress? The sheep sheepishly say yes without knowing what progress means, what progress entails. In its simplest form, it is like a glutton eating himself to a faster death with all the associated illness of fat, obesity, high blood pressure and cancerous growth. That is basically what this material progress is all about.
It is not a wholesome thing. It has nothing spiritual, nothing about the general well being of the people and the land. It is stupidity at its highest unthinking level. Progress to them is material acquisition, material well being, money, concretes and every little invention that are really worthless to a holistic and fulfilling life. What is so great about owning the latest ipad or iphone, to play games and watch TV? What is so great about that expensive pet? What is so great about the tenth luxury cars? Things in excess become meaningless. Gates and Buffett knew.
Living and the meaning of living, the well being of the human beans is not just a mad scramble for money, for economic growth, for more concrete infrastructure, for lesser space to live on.
If we have stopped this crazy progress thing earlier, we would not have to quarrel with the dead for their little piece of real estate. There will be plenty to go around. Now we say not enough. And at the same time we keep bringing more people to stake their claims for more space and real estate.
Progress is really wonderful when you don’t think about it. Unfortunately the dead could not offer their real estate at market price. They and their descendants should sell the piece of real estate en bloc to the highest bidder and benefit from the profits of the sale. Why should they give up their real estate to benefit the motorists in the name of progress?
Robbing the dead or disturbing the peace?
The critics would argue, what is more important, the flow of cars or the history behind the once people buried there? Every one of them was a part of our history, something gone but preserved only waiting to be bulldozed away.
The livings are now competing with the dead for their estates. And the dead obviously would lose unless they unleash their unseen spiritual power to make the livings go down on their knees. This is what we called disturbing the peace. Why can’t we let them live in peace?
We do not have to come to such a state if we have been more prudent, less greedy, and more sensitive to our past and our future. The human greed of today, in the name of progress, is going to destroy everything that will allow the human beans to live a little longer. Destruction of mother earth, unrestrained consumption of resources and livestock will deplete them doubly fast. We are still clamouring for more.
We want more progress. Progress is good. Don’t you want progress? The sheep sheepishly say yes without knowing what progress means, what progress entails. In its simplest form, it is like a glutton eating himself to a faster death with all the associated illness of fat, obesity, high blood pressure and cancerous growth. That is basically what this material progress is all about.
It is not a wholesome thing. It has nothing spiritual, nothing about the general well being of the people and the land. It is stupidity at its highest unthinking level. Progress to them is material acquisition, material well being, money, concretes and every little invention that are really worthless to a holistic and fulfilling life. What is so great about owning the latest ipad or iphone, to play games and watch TV? What is so great about that expensive pet? What is so great about the tenth luxury cars? Things in excess become meaningless. Gates and Buffett knew.
Living and the meaning of living, the well being of the human beans is not just a mad scramble for money, for economic growth, for more concrete infrastructure, for lesser space to live on.
If we have stopped this crazy progress thing earlier, we would not have to quarrel with the dead for their little piece of real estate. There will be plenty to go around. Now we say not enough. And at the same time we keep bringing more people to stake their claims for more space and real estate.
Progress is really wonderful when you don’t think about it. Unfortunately the dead could not offer their real estate at market price. They and their descendants should sell the piece of real estate en bloc to the highest bidder and benefit from the profits of the sale. Why should they give up their real estate to benefit the motorists in the name of progress?
Robbing the dead or disturbing the peace?
3/19/2012
Real Estate Ransom
Real Estate/Monopolies 4 Ransom
http://vimeo.com/38500767
The above video clip is posted here by Political Beng. It tells of the problems that we are living with, and the problems that could destroy everyone of us except the minority real estate owners. And the real estate owners know where their interest lies and how to abuse the system to perpetuate their gains and perpetuate the misery of the ordinary citizens. It will get more difficult.
Though the clip is talking about Australia, it is applicable to us, every inch of it. All daft Sinkies and clever Sinkies who are making decisions to exploit daft Sinkies are highly recommended to view this video clip. It is a problem that is being created by those with vested interest in real estates.
All daft Sinkies should spend a little time to view this clip for their own good, to understand what is the problem that they failed to see.
http://vimeo.com/38500767
The above video clip is posted here by Political Beng. It tells of the problems that we are living with, and the problems that could destroy everyone of us except the minority real estate owners. And the real estate owners know where their interest lies and how to abuse the system to perpetuate their gains and perpetuate the misery of the ordinary citizens. It will get more difficult.
Though the clip is talking about Australia, it is applicable to us, every inch of it. All daft Sinkies and clever Sinkies who are making decisions to exploit daft Sinkies are highly recommended to view this video clip. It is a problem that is being created by those with vested interest in real estates.
All daft Sinkies should spend a little time to view this clip for their own good, to understand what is the problem that they failed to see.
Hougang will test the intelligence of opposition parties
I read that Goh Meng Seng is considering sending Nicole Seah to contest Hougang to take revenge on WP for muscling into the Kallang Moulmein GRC in the last election. The thinking is rational and logical and will be good, as they say competition will end up with the consumers getting the best deal. And with the popularity of Nicole, she stands a good chance of winning some votes.
NSP is perhaps the second strongest opposition party after WP. They should challenge WP for the position of being the top opposition party and pave its way to win a GRC in the next GE. A good showing in Hougang will seal that fate. I must say that opposition politics is very healthy and their thinking to out fox each other is very fertile and needs to be encouraged. They are quite predictable in a way.
My assessment is that the opposition should gain around 60-65% of the Hougang votes. And Nicole should easily command 30% and the WP another 30%. These will be reasonably good results for the NSP and it can tell the WP not to take it for granted in the next GE.
As for the PAP, it can sleep walk into Hougang with its hard core 35-40% supporters without having to do anything. No need any big name minister to blow the trumpet. Just let the opposition fight it out and do the job for them. PAP’s strategy can be very simple. Blow the ego of the opposition parties and let them stand up to prove who is the better loser.
I like what I am hearing. Go opposition parties. Go and prove that you are the better of the second best. And I have better reasons to say that. Give the voters more choices. And Nicole is a star and sure got chance to win a lot of votes. And there are many excellent independent candidates like Jee Say to fall back on. Hougang will be an interesting circus in the making.
I think Hsien Loong must be smiling quietly to himself. He may be encouraged to hold a by election quickly given the bravado of the opposition camp.
NSP is perhaps the second strongest opposition party after WP. They should challenge WP for the position of being the top opposition party and pave its way to win a GRC in the next GE. A good showing in Hougang will seal that fate. I must say that opposition politics is very healthy and their thinking to out fox each other is very fertile and needs to be encouraged. They are quite predictable in a way.
My assessment is that the opposition should gain around 60-65% of the Hougang votes. And Nicole should easily command 30% and the WP another 30%. These will be reasonably good results for the NSP and it can tell the WP not to take it for granted in the next GE.
As for the PAP, it can sleep walk into Hougang with its hard core 35-40% supporters without having to do anything. No need any big name minister to blow the trumpet. Just let the opposition fight it out and do the job for them. PAP’s strategy can be very simple. Blow the ego of the opposition parties and let them stand up to prove who is the better loser.
I like what I am hearing. Go opposition parties. Go and prove that you are the better of the second best. And I have better reasons to say that. Give the voters more choices. And Nicole is a star and sure got chance to win a lot of votes. And there are many excellent independent candidates like Jee Say to fall back on. Hougang will be an interesting circus in the making.
I think Hsien Loong must be smiling quietly to himself. He may be encouraged to hold a by election quickly given the bravado of the opposition camp.
Time to regret the high property prices
Medical bills in tens of thousands are increasingly common. How many average Singaporeans can afford to cough out this sum of money at one go? And bills of several hundred thousands are just as common in terminal cases or cancer treatment. What to do, everything is getting more expensive. And the medical professionals are humans too and need the money to pay for all the expensive things they need for a good life. The rentals for their office space do not come cheap. The $20m bungalow is something that they need for a more comfy life, and so is the $1m Lamborghini. It is not their fault and there is nothing wrong with them wanting the good life.
When the cost of everything goes up, especially housing, properties, the good life, someone must pay for it. And in professional services, the cost will be passed to the consumers, plus more profits added for good measures, or for the next property or the next car. The inflation game will be nice to play if money is available to everyone, especially the average Singaporeans who form the bulk of consumers. Unfortunately their income does not grow in the same rate and every little increment will be eaten up by the little increases here and there. And when a big medical bill drops into the mail box, it will clean up everything, and some may end up in debt.
Gan Kim Yong is going to make medicare more affordable. No one will be deprived of medicare. The cost will be manageable. Don’t be shy to ask for help. Don’t be shy when they mean test you. They mean well and you may be lucky the govt will provide some assistance through Medifund. And for the fortunate, the bills may end up as arrears in the hospital’s account. Did the patient abscond, in debt and unable to pay, or simply die? Whatever, it is a happy thing that so many people cannot pay their medical debt. Maybe the hospitals will close an eye. Surely they will not paint O$P$ on the debtors’ doors.
And since people have more money in their Medisave Accounts, more will be made available to pay for their affordable medical bills. This reminds me of the money in people’s Ordinary Account. Since they have so much money, HDB prices will be made affordable for them to pay through their CPF savings, and so affordable that nothing much is left for retirement.
I thought a better solution will be to stop people from accumulating too much savings and have more money to spend on other things. If the affordable bills will inflate according to the fattening of the Medisave Accounts, I am worried that it will end up like the empty Ordinary Accounts.
Every time the word affordable is mentioned, it sends a chill down my spine.
When the cost of everything goes up, especially housing, properties, the good life, someone must pay for it. And in professional services, the cost will be passed to the consumers, plus more profits added for good measures, or for the next property or the next car. The inflation game will be nice to play if money is available to everyone, especially the average Singaporeans who form the bulk of consumers. Unfortunately their income does not grow in the same rate and every little increment will be eaten up by the little increases here and there. And when a big medical bill drops into the mail box, it will clean up everything, and some may end up in debt.
Gan Kim Yong is going to make medicare more affordable. No one will be deprived of medicare. The cost will be manageable. Don’t be shy to ask for help. Don’t be shy when they mean test you. They mean well and you may be lucky the govt will provide some assistance through Medifund. And for the fortunate, the bills may end up as arrears in the hospital’s account. Did the patient abscond, in debt and unable to pay, or simply die? Whatever, it is a happy thing that so many people cannot pay their medical debt. Maybe the hospitals will close an eye. Surely they will not paint O$P$ on the debtors’ doors.
And since people have more money in their Medisave Accounts, more will be made available to pay for their affordable medical bills. This reminds me of the money in people’s Ordinary Account. Since they have so much money, HDB prices will be made affordable for them to pay through their CPF savings, and so affordable that nothing much is left for retirement.
I thought a better solution will be to stop people from accumulating too much savings and have more money to spend on other things. If the affordable bills will inflate according to the fattening of the Medisave Accounts, I am worried that it will end up like the empty Ordinary Accounts.
Every time the word affordable is mentioned, it sends a chill down my spine.
God is might, Japanese version
The cocky Japanese and their warlike nature cannot be concealed for long. No Asian country that suffered the unprovoked invasion in WW 2 and suffered the beastly Japanese atrocities can ever forget what the true nature of the Japanese was and is. Today it is hidden under coat and tie and a superficial external manner of politeness.
Do not be deceived that the Japan Defense Force is for defense. It has all the capabilities to invade another nation and the Koreans would be easy meat. The North Koreans are now being targeted as a possible little boy to be whacked. Japan has declared openly its intention to shoot down the North Korean rocket delivering its satellite to space. And the excuse, similar to the Israelies and the Americans, it poses a threat to Japan’s national security. And it has the backing of the international mafia gang of the US and the UK shouting the same slogan.
The rocket sending the satellite to space can be converted for military use. So can any aircraft/ships the North Koreans intend to build eventually be turned into long range bombers and warships. And if there are uranium ores found in North Korea, it cannot mine them as they have potential for making nuclear bombs. This is the logic of international gangsters.
On the other hand, it is alright for the mafia and the war mongering nations, and those that have been conducting aggression against other smaller countries, to own all the nuclear weapons and big invading forces. Those who own the big guns can then dictate to those without the guns, how to behave, what they can or cannot do. And in the name of its national security, no matter how far fetch, it gives them the right to attack another country, in this case to shoot down a satellite carrying rocket.
Yes, God is might and weaker countries must acquire nuclear weapons and a big armed force to avoid being dictated and treated like semi colonies of big powers. Their only road to freedom from oppression by the big powers is exactly the acquisition of nuclear arms and more arms, to keep the international mafia at bay.
Every country has a right to its own defense force and the judgement is not by pointing a finger at the other party of possible intent. It is the act of aggression, naked aggression that makes a country guilty of crime against another country. The mere acquisition of weapons is no crime and not necessarily an act of aggression. But when one has all the weapons, and acts like God, it is all a different matter. God is might and God is right when it has might.
Japan is thinking that it can still bully the Koreans and master over them like their old colony. It is inviting the wrath of God if it dares shoot down the North Korean rocket. It is an open act of war, unprovoked. And let the North Koreans rain down all they have on Japanese soil. The Japanese love war and have no fear for war and destruction. Another few Hiroshima and Nagasaki are small matters. Such an open war cry is nothing different from that of the Israelies.
Let God be the judge and deal the aggressors the judgement they deserved.
Do not be deceived that the Japan Defense Force is for defense. It has all the capabilities to invade another nation and the Koreans would be easy meat. The North Koreans are now being targeted as a possible little boy to be whacked. Japan has declared openly its intention to shoot down the North Korean rocket delivering its satellite to space. And the excuse, similar to the Israelies and the Americans, it poses a threat to Japan’s national security. And it has the backing of the international mafia gang of the US and the UK shouting the same slogan.
The rocket sending the satellite to space can be converted for military use. So can any aircraft/ships the North Koreans intend to build eventually be turned into long range bombers and warships. And if there are uranium ores found in North Korea, it cannot mine them as they have potential for making nuclear bombs. This is the logic of international gangsters.
On the other hand, it is alright for the mafia and the war mongering nations, and those that have been conducting aggression against other smaller countries, to own all the nuclear weapons and big invading forces. Those who own the big guns can then dictate to those without the guns, how to behave, what they can or cannot do. And in the name of its national security, no matter how far fetch, it gives them the right to attack another country, in this case to shoot down a satellite carrying rocket.
Yes, God is might and weaker countries must acquire nuclear weapons and a big armed force to avoid being dictated and treated like semi colonies of big powers. Their only road to freedom from oppression by the big powers is exactly the acquisition of nuclear arms and more arms, to keep the international mafia at bay.
Every country has a right to its own defense force and the judgement is not by pointing a finger at the other party of possible intent. It is the act of aggression, naked aggression that makes a country guilty of crime against another country. The mere acquisition of weapons is no crime and not necessarily an act of aggression. But when one has all the weapons, and acts like God, it is all a different matter. God is might and God is right when it has might.
Japan is thinking that it can still bully the Koreans and master over them like their old colony. It is inviting the wrath of God if it dares shoot down the North Korean rocket. It is an open act of war, unprovoked. And let the North Koreans rain down all they have on Japanese soil. The Japanese love war and have no fear for war and destruction. Another few Hiroshima and Nagasaki are small matters. Such an open war cry is nothing different from that of the Israelies.
Let God be the judge and deal the aggressors the judgement they deserved.
3/18/2012
Is Parliament a new playground for MPs?
The background of MPs in Parliament is as varied as the people in the market. We have people from all kinds of professions, the rich and the not so rich, the old and the young, those that have grown up, those who still think they are in schools. And with the introduction of NMPs, we have people representing different interest groups and niche circles.
Now, how would this diverse group of people interact in Parliament and how would they use Parliament to serve their agenda. I believe they would be there to promote the interest of the people or their professions and interest groups.
Would an actor or actress go to Parliament to practise acting? Would a lawyer go to Parliament to practise how to become a better lawyer? Or would a soldier go to Parliament to play shooting at your enemy since he likes to play with guns? Or should a school prefect go to Parliament to role play as a prefect as he misses the fun he had as a school boy? Some may go to Parliament to fly kites as that was their hobby and they love flying kites.
I believe Parliament is for more serious stuff and MPs in Parliament are to discuss serious matters that will affect the lives of the people and country. I hope there are not anglers who carry their fishing rods to cast in Parliament. Or the little scientists to fly their paper planes across the house.
Does anyone have any idea why he is in Parliament or what he should do in Parliament, seriously, other than to have some fun?
Now, how would this diverse group of people interact in Parliament and how would they use Parliament to serve their agenda. I believe they would be there to promote the interest of the people or their professions and interest groups.
Would an actor or actress go to Parliament to practise acting? Would a lawyer go to Parliament to practise how to become a better lawyer? Or would a soldier go to Parliament to play shooting at your enemy since he likes to play with guns? Or should a school prefect go to Parliament to role play as a prefect as he misses the fun he had as a school boy? Some may go to Parliament to fly kites as that was their hobby and they love flying kites.
I believe Parliament is for more serious stuff and MPs in Parliament are to discuss serious matters that will affect the lives of the people and country. I hope there are not anglers who carry their fishing rods to cast in Parliament. Or the little scientists to fly their paper planes across the house.
Does anyone have any idea why he is in Parliament or what he should do in Parliament, seriously, other than to have some fun?
3/17/2012
44 men to make or break your life … and your country
Every 5 years our democratic system gives the citizens the right to elect 87 men and women to run the country and indirectly our lives. And by the rule of a simple majority, all it needs is 44 men to be elected from one party to form the ruling govt. In a normal democratic system they will manage the country under some platforms and ideas they sold to the electorate and are expected to work within those ideas and policies during their term in office. Varying from those consented ideas will be a violation of trust. Running away with new ideas that were not agreeable during the election promises would be a breach of faith and the people’s consent be sought again.
A mature democracy would have its checks and balance to ensure that the ruling govt does not get carried away with what they want to do and think that they can commit murders with total disregard to the views of the people. In an immature state, where the people are ignorant, depoliticised, fear of the govt and did not know their right to change govt, many trespasses, abuses and unilateral decision making in direct conflict with the wants of the people are often shafted down the people’s throats at will.
Are we still in such a state of immaturity or have we grown up as a well educated, informed and politicised people, aware of our rights as citizens, the OB markers that the govt must respect, and our right to shape our lives and the future of our nation? Or are the people still as naïve, apolitical, disenfranchised, to surrender all their rights to an elected govt of 44 men to do as they pleased with their lives and country?
In an era of ignorance and illiteracy, the people may by default allow the elite to rule them on the assumption that they know better. And sometimes the elite may get deluded or delude the people into believing that they are demi gods or immortals, and they are the best to drive their lives and country forward. I believe as a people calling ourselves first world, with many highly educated and qualified, such myths will long be thrown into the longkangs. The people are now as knowledgeable and well informed as the ruling elite, and have a mind of their own to know or to question what they want in their lives and where the country shall be heading. There is really little between the ruling elite and the people at large in terms of intellect and wisdom.
Assuming the latter is where we are today, should the people continue to dismissively take the edicts of the elite and let the elite rule them, interfere with their lives and take the country to wherever they want?
Do we want to have a 6m population or more, ever increasing housing prices, unable to own private cars unless paying with an arm or a leg, that we should be content to live in smaller and smaller high rise flats, lesser breathing and leisure space, to go around in public transports that the people have little control of and often at the mercy of operators’ interests and whims and fancies and with little privacy or privacy violated by the ill mannered and uncouth?
Would it be time that the people tell the 44 elected representatives that they are there, given the chance to run the country, only with the consent of the people, and if they failed or are not up to it in their jobs, they will be summarily removed by the people? Is it time the people take control of their country, decide where it wants it to go, and be in charge and not be ruled by 44 people who were only to do a job with their approval and not to think they can do anything they want without the people’s agreement, that they own the country, the people and the people’s life and wealth?
Isn’t it silly for 3m people to succumb to 44 men and women elected by them to do as they please and with the people only at best, crying out loud but helpless to do anything about it? Who owns this country and who should decide how the people are to live their own lives?
A mature democracy would have its checks and balance to ensure that the ruling govt does not get carried away with what they want to do and think that they can commit murders with total disregard to the views of the people. In an immature state, where the people are ignorant, depoliticised, fear of the govt and did not know their right to change govt, many trespasses, abuses and unilateral decision making in direct conflict with the wants of the people are often shafted down the people’s throats at will.
Are we still in such a state of immaturity or have we grown up as a well educated, informed and politicised people, aware of our rights as citizens, the OB markers that the govt must respect, and our right to shape our lives and the future of our nation? Or are the people still as naïve, apolitical, disenfranchised, to surrender all their rights to an elected govt of 44 men to do as they pleased with their lives and country?
In an era of ignorance and illiteracy, the people may by default allow the elite to rule them on the assumption that they know better. And sometimes the elite may get deluded or delude the people into believing that they are demi gods or immortals, and they are the best to drive their lives and country forward. I believe as a people calling ourselves first world, with many highly educated and qualified, such myths will long be thrown into the longkangs. The people are now as knowledgeable and well informed as the ruling elite, and have a mind of their own to know or to question what they want in their lives and where the country shall be heading. There is really little between the ruling elite and the people at large in terms of intellect and wisdom.
Assuming the latter is where we are today, should the people continue to dismissively take the edicts of the elite and let the elite rule them, interfere with their lives and take the country to wherever they want?
Do we want to have a 6m population or more, ever increasing housing prices, unable to own private cars unless paying with an arm or a leg, that we should be content to live in smaller and smaller high rise flats, lesser breathing and leisure space, to go around in public transports that the people have little control of and often at the mercy of operators’ interests and whims and fancies and with little privacy or privacy violated by the ill mannered and uncouth?
Would it be time that the people tell the 44 elected representatives that they are there, given the chance to run the country, only with the consent of the people, and if they failed or are not up to it in their jobs, they will be summarily removed by the people? Is it time the people take control of their country, decide where it wants it to go, and be in charge and not be ruled by 44 people who were only to do a job with their approval and not to think they can do anything they want without the people’s agreement, that they own the country, the people and the people’s life and wealth?
Isn’t it silly for 3m people to succumb to 44 men and women elected by them to do as they please and with the people only at best, crying out loud but helpless to do anything about it? Who owns this country and who should decide how the people are to live their own lives?
3/16/2012
Israel awaiting the wrath of God
No country in the world other than Israel would dare openly shout that it would attack another country on the pretext of protecting its national interest. Iran cannot have the nuclear bomb. Only Israel can and can have many. Israel’s security or insecurity is to ensure that no one is allowed to carry a big stick other than itself.
The other country that should also suffer the wrath of God is the USA. It shares the same doctrine and logic. In the name of its national security or insecurity, it goes around the world attacking other countries or messing around with other nation’s politics and security. My security is your insecurity, your oppression and submission. Only the US can have the biggest military outfit to attack other countries. No one else is allowed to. Any country wanting to build a strong defence force must explain to Washington, to Hilarious directly.
How many lives will be destroyed in an attack on Iran in the name of Israel’s security? What if every country adopts this doctrine and policy? Every other weaker country would be attacked and oppressed and prohibited from building its own defence capability. Is this the logic of a civilized country or the logic of gangsters? I read recently a quote that the Red Indians of old America were savages while the Europeans were civilized. History said the savages were savaged and terminated by a series of coordinated genocides by the civilized Europeans to enable the civilized savages to take over the land of people of a different civilization, definitely not savages.
The Red Indians were branded as savages, and their homes, communities and husbandry, their land, were robbed from them. They were a threat to the lives of the Europeans and must be destroyed. Today the Iranians and Arabs are regarded not much different from the Red Indians, as savages, untrustworthy, dangerous and a threat to the survival of the Israelis and Western dominance. They need to be oppressed and shackled for their own good. They must not be allowed to challenge, or be strong enough to pose a problem to the West and Israel.
God is might.
The other country that should also suffer the wrath of God is the USA. It shares the same doctrine and logic. In the name of its national security or insecurity, it goes around the world attacking other countries or messing around with other nation’s politics and security. My security is your insecurity, your oppression and submission. Only the US can have the biggest military outfit to attack other countries. No one else is allowed to. Any country wanting to build a strong defence force must explain to Washington, to Hilarious directly.
How many lives will be destroyed in an attack on Iran in the name of Israel’s security? What if every country adopts this doctrine and policy? Every other weaker country would be attacked and oppressed and prohibited from building its own defence capability. Is this the logic of a civilized country or the logic of gangsters? I read recently a quote that the Red Indians of old America were savages while the Europeans were civilized. History said the savages were savaged and terminated by a series of coordinated genocides by the civilized Europeans to enable the civilized savages to take over the land of people of a different civilization, definitely not savages.
The Red Indians were branded as savages, and their homes, communities and husbandry, their land, were robbed from them. They were a threat to the lives of the Europeans and must be destroyed. Today the Iranians and Arabs are regarded not much different from the Red Indians, as savages, untrustworthy, dangerous and a threat to the survival of the Israelis and Western dominance. They need to be oppressed and shackled for their own good. They must not be allowed to challenge, or be strong enough to pose a problem to the West and Israel.
God is might.
Good strategic thinking
The decision to spend $1.1b to buy more buses is turning out to be a wise one. It is strategic and good foresight to be able to think one step ahead of problems. The regularity of train breakdowns is no longer a serious matter but a matter of inconvenience to live with. And the additional trains will come in real handy when breakdowns happened. Yesterday was a case in point and disrupted passengers were quite pleased.
Now there will be more buses and drivers to step in to transfer passengers quickly from MRT stations to their next destinations. Displaced passengers can count themselves lucky to have more buses to minimize the disruption and go on as normal. And the transfer from trains to buses is also free which will make the little inconvenience that much bearable.
Good decision. Good foresight and hindsight. Anticipating what can go wrong and preparing for the fallouts.
Now there will be more buses and drivers to step in to transfer passengers quickly from MRT stations to their next destinations. Displaced passengers can count themselves lucky to have more buses to minimize the disruption and go on as normal. And the transfer from trains to buses is also free which will make the little inconvenience that much bearable.
Good decision. Good foresight and hindsight. Anticipating what can go wrong and preparing for the fallouts.
Goldsach Sach, the rot starts here
I was reading the revelation of financial rape by Greg Smith repeated in several of our main media today. Well at least they concurred that it is important enough to report it more than once. The editors must have their conscience pricked. Greg Smith was a top player in Goldman Sach, New York. He was so disgusted by the rot in the company that he called it quits. And he found it his moral duty to reveal the unethical practices of the company.
Any clients of Goldman Sach reading what he wrote would shudder at the risk they put themselves into, at the hands of their most trusted fund managers. What Greg Smith was saying is that there were no morals, no ethics, except make money, and from the clients against the clients’ interests. The strong culture and integrity of Goldman Sach, a company he once idolatised, has been transformed into a greedy bunch of white collar ruthless manipulators to satisfy their own greed. The clients’ interest is last on their list. Better, exploiting the ignorant clients is their forte and main business.
Among the few things that Greg Smith mentioned, selling products that the company had ‘axed’ to unsuspecting clients. Getting clients to trade or churn to bring in the most profits to Goldman Sach at their expense. And trading illiquid and opaque products.
The whole culture of trust, serving the clients and making decisions to help clients to improve their positions, making money for the clients, are thrown into the rubbish chute. It is profit for Goldman Sach and its traders that is of prime concern. And getting the most out of clients is the main reason for existence than making clients rich. Clients are referred to as muppets, to rip their eyeballs out and getting paid by getting clients to trade regardless of risk.
Is it surprising? Or is there anything new? This culture of greed and irresponsibility, unethical misconduct, is the wine that flows through Wall Streets and all the financial centres around the world. Govts too are caught up by this craze and greedily swim along. The greed of govts is no lesser than the greed of Wall Street financial cheats. They are sleeping partners of crime against the innocent investors who put all trust to these crooks they thought could be trusted and will ensure that the right things are done in the right way.
They believe morality is still a virgin. The truth is that morality has long been turned into a prostitute, sold into prostitution by the greed of these power brokers, the people they trusted most.
Any clients of Goldman Sach reading what he wrote would shudder at the risk they put themselves into, at the hands of their most trusted fund managers. What Greg Smith was saying is that there were no morals, no ethics, except make money, and from the clients against the clients’ interests. The strong culture and integrity of Goldman Sach, a company he once idolatised, has been transformed into a greedy bunch of white collar ruthless manipulators to satisfy their own greed. The clients’ interest is last on their list. Better, exploiting the ignorant clients is their forte and main business.
Among the few things that Greg Smith mentioned, selling products that the company had ‘axed’ to unsuspecting clients. Getting clients to trade or churn to bring in the most profits to Goldman Sach at their expense. And trading illiquid and opaque products.
The whole culture of trust, serving the clients and making decisions to help clients to improve their positions, making money for the clients, are thrown into the rubbish chute. It is profit for Goldman Sach and its traders that is of prime concern. And getting the most out of clients is the main reason for existence than making clients rich. Clients are referred to as muppets, to rip their eyeballs out and getting paid by getting clients to trade regardless of risk.
Is it surprising? Or is there anything new? This culture of greed and irresponsibility, unethical misconduct, is the wine that flows through Wall Streets and all the financial centres around the world. Govts too are caught up by this craze and greedily swim along. The greed of govts is no lesser than the greed of Wall Street financial cheats. They are sleeping partners of crime against the innocent investors who put all trust to these crooks they thought could be trusted and will ensure that the right things are done in the right way.
They believe morality is still a virgin. The truth is that morality has long been turned into a prostitute, sold into prostitution by the greed of these power brokers, the people they trusted most.
3/15/2012
China hard landing
Confirmed, China had a hard landing. Clap, clap, clap. Finally, after so many years of doomsaying and praying, China had a hard landing. The analysts were right after all. China is going to collapse big time and go begging for help from the Western countries, the World Bank and the IMF. Zoeller would have his last laugh. See, we told you so.
Let’s look at the figures from Market Watch, WSJ, for October 2011. The latest figures could be more frightening but have not seen them yet. The trade surplus for August, September and October grew by US$17b, US$14.5b and US$17.76b respectively. The ‘slump’ in September was due poor demand in Europe. And the numbers really fell below the expectations of Newswires and Reuters, forecasting a growth of US$25.8b and US$24.9b respectively. These are dangerous numbers and signs of weaknesses and can become more widespread.
More dangerous signs, ‘Exports were 15.9% higher than a year earlier, though missing the average 16.5% growth projection from a Reuters survey of economists, and below the 17.1% rise in September.’
And according to ‘Bank of America-Merrill Lynch, Chinese exports grew 20.6% on average each month throughout the third quarter, while imports averaged 24.8% growth.’
The growing imports and shrinking exports must be troubling China and its decision makers. I am just wondering, would the US or European countries be happy to achieve these numbers? I bet many of them would love to have such a hard landing and probably asking for more. And I am sure many of the EU countries would love to switch places with China and celebrate every time the growth numbers failed to meet the forecasts of Newswires and Reuters but still registering a 20% average monthly growth. Even an average of 10% monthly growth would be like striking the biggest jackpot win.
I really love all these enlightening and frightening reports about China. And I don’t see why China should be crying with all these conjectured hard landings. Many would be so envious of these hard landings and would still crawl to China to ask for handouts. And they better pray that the hard landings would still allow China to be generous as there is no more Santa Claus out there except China or maybe Singapore.
Let’s look at the figures from Market Watch, WSJ, for October 2011. The latest figures could be more frightening but have not seen them yet. The trade surplus for August, September and October grew by US$17b, US$14.5b and US$17.76b respectively. The ‘slump’ in September was due poor demand in Europe. And the numbers really fell below the expectations of Newswires and Reuters, forecasting a growth of US$25.8b and US$24.9b respectively. These are dangerous numbers and signs of weaknesses and can become more widespread.
More dangerous signs, ‘Exports were 15.9% higher than a year earlier, though missing the average 16.5% growth projection from a Reuters survey of economists, and below the 17.1% rise in September.’
And according to ‘Bank of America-Merrill Lynch, Chinese exports grew 20.6% on average each month throughout the third quarter, while imports averaged 24.8% growth.’
The growing imports and shrinking exports must be troubling China and its decision makers. I am just wondering, would the US or European countries be happy to achieve these numbers? I bet many of them would love to have such a hard landing and probably asking for more. And I am sure many of the EU countries would love to switch places with China and celebrate every time the growth numbers failed to meet the forecasts of Newswires and Reuters but still registering a 20% average monthly growth. Even an average of 10% monthly growth would be like striking the biggest jackpot win.
I really love all these enlightening and frightening reports about China. And I don’t see why China should be crying with all these conjectured hard landings. Many would be so envious of these hard landings and would still crawl to China to ask for handouts. And they better pray that the hard landings would still allow China to be generous as there is no more Santa Claus out there except China or maybe Singapore.
Am I amused?
I was reading some of the comments in TRE on Shanmugam’s fame statement of not wanting to burden our young with more taxes. One trend of thought shone through the deluge of angry voices. The PAP has lost touch with the ground, did not know what is happening, did not do its homework. Now, now, now, can’t make such sweeping statements about the crème ala crème of our super talents. They would not be where they are and earning millions, if they did not know what is happening or did not do their homework.
I hate to disappoint the losers. They are in control and know exactly what is happening and what they are doing. Period. Do not under estimate the super talents. They are brighter and smarter than the losers for sure. The main difference is that both are existing on the same piece of rock but living on different planes of existence. One is apple and one is buah long long. One lives a lifestyle whereby $50k a month is too pressurizing. The other must be grateful to be able to buy a 2rm HDB flat with $1000 pm income. You cannot compare the two as both are deserving of what they have. Don’t be unreasonable. The rich poor gap is only natural and would get wider as we progress. The rich must get richer and the poor must get poorer. There is nothing that can be done about it. It is the law of nature. Darwinism!
The losers must accept their fate that they are simply not good enough. Why then must the govt bring in more foreign talents? Isn’t that clear enough that the losers are unable to make the best of their lives in such a conducive money making environment and should only have themselves to blame. Look, look, all the foreign talents are so happy here, making so much money and not complaining. If there is anything wrong, it must be the local losers.
Want another spur on your hike? The whole world is being invited to be here to get rich. How could the locals be complaining that they could not make it? This is the freest economy for the meritocratic, regardless of nationalities. The third most competitive country in the world ot do business. I mean do business, not selling bak chang or nasi lemak. If you are good, you deserve to be rich. If you are no good, don’t kpkb. The govt does not believe in a welfare state, not even with your CPF money for your own charity.
And don’t complain that the govt is not doing anything for the people. $1.1b to subsidise public transport. What more do you want? More parks will be built for the people to enjoy. Fresh air and landscaped environment. No good meh? There will be more upgradings and SERS to give more money to the people. Cannot complain lah. The govt is doing everything it can for the good of the people. And the hundreds of billions in national reserves are for the people. Don’t you feel rich? See, all the western countries are in debt and going bankrupt. We got hundreds of billions to buy up fire sale companies for a song. Soon they will be turned around to double the money invested.
The future of our country is in good hands. They know what they are doing. The losers don’t. The writing is on the wall but the losers failed to see. Every policy is carefully fine tuned, targetted for the desired results, by the best talents money can buy.
I hate to disappoint the losers. They are in control and know exactly what is happening and what they are doing. Period. Do not under estimate the super talents. They are brighter and smarter than the losers for sure. The main difference is that both are existing on the same piece of rock but living on different planes of existence. One is apple and one is buah long long. One lives a lifestyle whereby $50k a month is too pressurizing. The other must be grateful to be able to buy a 2rm HDB flat with $1000 pm income. You cannot compare the two as both are deserving of what they have. Don’t be unreasonable. The rich poor gap is only natural and would get wider as we progress. The rich must get richer and the poor must get poorer. There is nothing that can be done about it. It is the law of nature. Darwinism!
The losers must accept their fate that they are simply not good enough. Why then must the govt bring in more foreign talents? Isn’t that clear enough that the losers are unable to make the best of their lives in such a conducive money making environment and should only have themselves to blame. Look, look, all the foreign talents are so happy here, making so much money and not complaining. If there is anything wrong, it must be the local losers.
Want another spur on your hike? The whole world is being invited to be here to get rich. How could the locals be complaining that they could not make it? This is the freest economy for the meritocratic, regardless of nationalities. The third most competitive country in the world ot do business. I mean do business, not selling bak chang or nasi lemak. If you are good, you deserve to be rich. If you are no good, don’t kpkb. The govt does not believe in a welfare state, not even with your CPF money for your own charity.
And don’t complain that the govt is not doing anything for the people. $1.1b to subsidise public transport. What more do you want? More parks will be built for the people to enjoy. Fresh air and landscaped environment. No good meh? There will be more upgradings and SERS to give more money to the people. Cannot complain lah. The govt is doing everything it can for the good of the people. And the hundreds of billions in national reserves are for the people. Don’t you feel rich? See, all the western countries are in debt and going bankrupt. We got hundreds of billions to buy up fire sale companies for a song. Soon they will be turned around to double the money invested.
The future of our country is in good hands. They know what they are doing. The losers don’t. The writing is on the wall but the losers failed to see. Every policy is carefully fine tuned, targetted for the desired results, by the best talents money can buy.
Uneasy calm over Hougang
The usual jostling for a right to stand in Hougang in the by election has quieten down. A few opposition parties have spoken, officially, that they would not undermine WP’s attempt to regain its lost seat. The few opportunists that were habouring the idea of joining the fray have taken a retreat as well. They have been warned, by the voice of the people, that doing so would make them look very ugly, and with eggs on their faces. The opportunist tag is heavy to wear. The image of unprincipled spoilers would nail them for life as non starters in local politics.
The heat has subsided in the opposition camp. The wild ambitions of gamblers thinking that running for election is like entering a casino, hoping to win without any principles or ethics, have been doused, I think. Just place your bet! As each day slowly passes by, reasons seem to have triumph for the moment. Or has it?
On the PAP camp, it is like a defeated army trying to avoid another big battle and risking a devastating and embarrassing blow that would signal that the end is near. No generals would dare to stand up and blow his trumpet to lead the assault to retake lost ground. No one would say the ground is sweet or the chiku is ripe. The best outcome is not to have a contest and sit it out till the next GE.
How long can they be on the bench? The suit by Mdm Muthu is due for hearing by end of the month. Would there be calls for further adjournment for another 6 mths or a year and probably more time to prepare the case as it will affect the nation’s future and security? This is how important this by election is taken to be. The nation’s interests will be a paramount consideration in deciding whether a by election will be called.
The people have spoken, or at least aired its view, that only WP should stake its claim against the PAP. The people are also waiting for a by election to take place soonest. Would this be heard or be ignored? There are other noises that would tell the contrary. No need for by election. The Hougang residents deserve to be in the shit for voting the wrong candidate and the wrong party. Such noise is likely to get louder to make a case for no by election, no need MP representation for the Hougang residents. They must pay for their folly.
While the WP is anxiously waiting to do battle, the opponent is making a quiet retreat, a surprising move from a party in control. Or it is no longer in control, except the timing to call a by election or not? The game has changed.
The heat has subsided in the opposition camp. The wild ambitions of gamblers thinking that running for election is like entering a casino, hoping to win without any principles or ethics, have been doused, I think. Just place your bet! As each day slowly passes by, reasons seem to have triumph for the moment. Or has it?
On the PAP camp, it is like a defeated army trying to avoid another big battle and risking a devastating and embarrassing blow that would signal that the end is near. No generals would dare to stand up and blow his trumpet to lead the assault to retake lost ground. No one would say the ground is sweet or the chiku is ripe. The best outcome is not to have a contest and sit it out till the next GE.
How long can they be on the bench? The suit by Mdm Muthu is due for hearing by end of the month. Would there be calls for further adjournment for another 6 mths or a year and probably more time to prepare the case as it will affect the nation’s future and security? This is how important this by election is taken to be. The nation’s interests will be a paramount consideration in deciding whether a by election will be called.
The people have spoken, or at least aired its view, that only WP should stake its claim against the PAP. The people are also waiting for a by election to take place soonest. Would this be heard or be ignored? There are other noises that would tell the contrary. No need for by election. The Hougang residents deserve to be in the shit for voting the wrong candidate and the wrong party. Such noise is likely to get louder to make a case for no by election, no need MP representation for the Hougang residents. They must pay for their folly.
While the WP is anxiously waiting to do battle, the opponent is making a quiet retreat, a surprising move from a party in control. Or it is no longer in control, except the timing to call a by election or not? The game has changed.
3/14/2012
Everything is for sale – Uniquely Singapore
Put it in another way, everything can be bought in paradise. We can buy honesty, buy loyalty, buy talents, and of course everything else in Orchard Road. That reminds me of all the great properties there. All one needs is money, and you can have your pick.
The latest thing to buy is good character. Pay the bugger for showing good character. In no time Singaporeans will all have good character. Not sure about foreigners. Some have shown that good character cannot be bought even if we pay for their education, food and lodging and a good job waiting for them, even giving them citizenship.
Can everything be bought with money? Good character can? The goodness will go away once the money is not there. Loyalty and pride of being a people, citizens of a country, cannot be bought by money easily. Just issuing a pink IC does not guarantee that the person will want to be one of us. Many are just in transit, transient citizens. The most glaring evident is their children or they themselves refusing to do the little sacrifice that every male Singapore citizen does, National Service.
Please stop throwing tax payers money to the ingrates who are just passing through or waiting for better opportunities elsewhere. And don’t think people can turn good because of monetary rewards. The goodness of a person must come from within that person.
Incidentally we can't even buy a decent football team to compete against Malaysian state teams.
The latest thing to buy is good character. Pay the bugger for showing good character. In no time Singaporeans will all have good character. Not sure about foreigners. Some have shown that good character cannot be bought even if we pay for their education, food and lodging and a good job waiting for them, even giving them citizenship.
Can everything be bought with money? Good character can? The goodness will go away once the money is not there. Loyalty and pride of being a people, citizens of a country, cannot be bought by money easily. Just issuing a pink IC does not guarantee that the person will want to be one of us. Many are just in transit, transient citizens. The most glaring evident is their children or they themselves refusing to do the little sacrifice that every male Singapore citizen does, National Service.
Please stop throwing tax payers money to the ingrates who are just passing through or waiting for better opportunities elsewhere. And don’t think people can turn good because of monetary rewards. The goodness of a person must come from within that person.
Incidentally we can't even buy a decent football team to compete against Malaysian state teams.
A critical time in our history
1963 we were part of Malaysia. Before we became independent in 1965, we were in an undeclared war with Indonesia that opposed the formation of Malaysia. Our two Singapore Infantry Regiments were sent to East Malaysia and Johore to defend Malaysia, and their barracks were occupied by new troops from Malaysia. Great musical chair strategy.
I could not remember the exact dates and details, but when the two SIRs returned, one or both could not move into their barracks and had to camp in the field in Farrer Park. The old soldiers could fill in the gaps on this part of our history. It was a precarious time when foreign troops were in our soil in a way, yes we a state of Malaysia then. We were once colonized by the British, then conquered by the Japanese and then became part of Malaysia. It was sheer good fortune that we were given independence without bloodshed. It was dicey that our troops could return to their barracks. It was like your flats being occupied by your FT tenants and you had to squat in the field.
The lack of a credible military force to defend our country was something that most scared the light out of our pioneering leaders. We then had the colonial masters around whose main interest was to keep us independent and friendly to their interests in the Far East. As long as they were around, we were safe within their protective umbrella, and as a semi colony. The stark reality of being walked over by a foreign power led to a hurried effort to build up an army of our own.
1967 saw the first batch of our local boys being trained in SAFTI by the Israeli advisors. The following years saw the dispatched of more young men to the UK for training for our future Navy and Air Force. And we thought time was on our side, to gradually build up our defence capabilities only to be hit with a double whammy. The British decided to pull out from their bases here in early 1970s. This was a big hit to our trading economy. And our national defence was still in infancy. We had just introduced National Service a couple of years back and everyone in uniform was still technically a trainee. Everything had to be short circuited to gain time. It was all a mad rush to put an army together out of nothing.
We were in a vacuum of sort as far as soldiers were concerned. Without the people willingly coming forward despite that it was called National Service, we would have a hard time building up an army. The people responded to the call of the nation and everyone played his part in a big jigsaw puzzle with blank pieces. And every piece had to fit or knock in to fit at the quickest time possible. It was that easy if we don’t think about it. It was DIY quick fix and hoped for the best.
Though we were fortunate not to have been in a war during our formative years, it was a critical time, and a treacherous time. The British were there holding the umbrella. But they could fold it up if the people and govt did not have the resolve to pull it through. If the govt was weak and could not rally the people to build a nation for themselves, we would have been doomed, economically and politically as a country. The British could give up and give the island to anyone able to hold it together. They could have abandoned us if we did not treasure the moment and the opportunity.
The early batches of NS men were there to fill up the void, to hold the fort for the time being while the bigger picture was being put into place. Their sheer presence was what was needed in those precarious moments of truth, to exist or to fade away, or be taken over. Our future would have been different if the people did not gel together to answer the call of a young nation in the making.
Those were the times when nothing was a luxury. Everyone was a piece of the big jigsaw puzzle in formation, the NS men, the workers, the entrepreneurs and the civil service and the govt. They were living for a strange new mission, to build a country, a nation. It was not starting a SME. And many things they were doing were completely alien to them. They were all learning on the job, doing things for the first time. Yep, like the blind leading the blind. It was only forty odd years ago. Many have walked in those days and have vivid memories of their experience.
We have forgotten. We have forgotten the difficult times, the times when personal sacrifices were part and parcel of nation building. Many civil servants and military officers were just told to get the job done with no issues of sacrifices. We forgot that at one time we were struggling to turn this island into a country. We forgot the price our parents paid for what it is today. $90 NS allowance and rubbery meat that bounced off the floor. The bread and kaya for breakfast were not much different from what prisoners got then. Today, we talk about sacrifices like having diarrheoa. Every little drop of shit is damn big sacrifice. If the NS men of then did not turn up at CMPB in Kallang, or if there were violent protest to NS, how would we have turned out today, an independent state or part of someone else’s state?
We have forgotten that together we have built a country, a nation. And still some would rubbish it as a state in the making. So we can give it away, invite everyone here and issue citizenship certificates like toilet papers. Come, take, it is no man’s land. We are migrants or descendants of migrants. You migrant, good, same same. Come share my home. Feed yourself and take all you want. There is no ownership to this land. No one feels that it belongs to the pioneering migrants who crafted it out as a country and wanted to make this home for their descendants.
And the daft descendants are calling themselves migrants and not owners of a country their forefathers have fought, worked and died for. They are willing to share with anyone, give to anyone. How generous!
How stupid can they be? No, they don’t think so. They don’t know that this is home, their country. When there is no ownership, you can expect what it will become next. Think public toilets. The daft Sinkies don’t deserve this country. And the new arrivals will tell them to go if they are not happy here.
When you lose your inheritance…or sell your inheritance away….
I could not remember the exact dates and details, but when the two SIRs returned, one or both could not move into their barracks and had to camp in the field in Farrer Park. The old soldiers could fill in the gaps on this part of our history. It was a precarious time when foreign troops were in our soil in a way, yes we a state of Malaysia then. We were once colonized by the British, then conquered by the Japanese and then became part of Malaysia. It was sheer good fortune that we were given independence without bloodshed. It was dicey that our troops could return to their barracks. It was like your flats being occupied by your FT tenants and you had to squat in the field.
The lack of a credible military force to defend our country was something that most scared the light out of our pioneering leaders. We then had the colonial masters around whose main interest was to keep us independent and friendly to their interests in the Far East. As long as they were around, we were safe within their protective umbrella, and as a semi colony. The stark reality of being walked over by a foreign power led to a hurried effort to build up an army of our own.
1967 saw the first batch of our local boys being trained in SAFTI by the Israeli advisors. The following years saw the dispatched of more young men to the UK for training for our future Navy and Air Force. And we thought time was on our side, to gradually build up our defence capabilities only to be hit with a double whammy. The British decided to pull out from their bases here in early 1970s. This was a big hit to our trading economy. And our national defence was still in infancy. We had just introduced National Service a couple of years back and everyone in uniform was still technically a trainee. Everything had to be short circuited to gain time. It was all a mad rush to put an army together out of nothing.
We were in a vacuum of sort as far as soldiers were concerned. Without the people willingly coming forward despite that it was called National Service, we would have a hard time building up an army. The people responded to the call of the nation and everyone played his part in a big jigsaw puzzle with blank pieces. And every piece had to fit or knock in to fit at the quickest time possible. It was that easy if we don’t think about it. It was DIY quick fix and hoped for the best.
Though we were fortunate not to have been in a war during our formative years, it was a critical time, and a treacherous time. The British were there holding the umbrella. But they could fold it up if the people and govt did not have the resolve to pull it through. If the govt was weak and could not rally the people to build a nation for themselves, we would have been doomed, economically and politically as a country. The British could give up and give the island to anyone able to hold it together. They could have abandoned us if we did not treasure the moment and the opportunity.
The early batches of NS men were there to fill up the void, to hold the fort for the time being while the bigger picture was being put into place. Their sheer presence was what was needed in those precarious moments of truth, to exist or to fade away, or be taken over. Our future would have been different if the people did not gel together to answer the call of a young nation in the making.
Those were the times when nothing was a luxury. Everyone was a piece of the big jigsaw puzzle in formation, the NS men, the workers, the entrepreneurs and the civil service and the govt. They were living for a strange new mission, to build a country, a nation. It was not starting a SME. And many things they were doing were completely alien to them. They were all learning on the job, doing things for the first time. Yep, like the blind leading the blind. It was only forty odd years ago. Many have walked in those days and have vivid memories of their experience.
We have forgotten. We have forgotten the difficult times, the times when personal sacrifices were part and parcel of nation building. Many civil servants and military officers were just told to get the job done with no issues of sacrifices. We forgot that at one time we were struggling to turn this island into a country. We forgot the price our parents paid for what it is today. $90 NS allowance and rubbery meat that bounced off the floor. The bread and kaya for breakfast were not much different from what prisoners got then. Today, we talk about sacrifices like having diarrheoa. Every little drop of shit is damn big sacrifice. If the NS men of then did not turn up at CMPB in Kallang, or if there were violent protest to NS, how would we have turned out today, an independent state or part of someone else’s state?
We have forgotten that together we have built a country, a nation. And still some would rubbish it as a state in the making. So we can give it away, invite everyone here and issue citizenship certificates like toilet papers. Come, take, it is no man’s land. We are migrants or descendants of migrants. You migrant, good, same same. Come share my home. Feed yourself and take all you want. There is no ownership to this land. No one feels that it belongs to the pioneering migrants who crafted it out as a country and wanted to make this home for their descendants.
And the daft descendants are calling themselves migrants and not owners of a country their forefathers have fought, worked and died for. They are willing to share with anyone, give to anyone. How generous!
How stupid can they be? No, they don’t think so. They don’t know that this is home, their country. When there is no ownership, you can expect what it will become next. Think public toilets. The daft Sinkies don’t deserve this country. And the new arrivals will tell them to go if they are not happy here.
When you lose your inheritance…or sell your inheritance away….
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