lucky singaporeans: delusion of wealth

most singaporeans are asset rich in their hdb flats. own a flashy brand new car, and earning a salary that is big when exchange rate is factored in. and now the govt is going to give them more money. wow, what a life as a singaporean. but the wealth of singaporeans is fleeting. the hdb flat is worthless once the lease expired. the flashy car is technically worthless after coe expires. the income and handouts from the govt will quickly go to paying all the bills, children's education, tuition and school fees, medical bills, conservancy charges, fines, erps, gst etc are the average or lower middle class singaporeans really well off? compare to their technically poorer malaysian cousins up north, i think the malaysians are very much better off, their worth in real assets and value of their cheaper currency. everything they are getting is cheaper except for imported luxury stuff which they can choose not to pay for them. by the time a singaporean wakes up from his delusory dream his assets would have been worthless, and he will be penniless and still a lot of unpaid bills waiting to be paid, and an expensive medical bill waiting for him to sign. he will be in debt forever. any economist willing to do a real comparison, apple against apple?

hsien loong: minister's pay below benchmark

hsien loong said that the minister's pay is still below the year 2000 benchmark. i will be very happy if i were a minister. can expect another pay rise to keep up with the benchmark. even if there is no pay rise, can go around telling people that ministers are under paid. either way it is good news. ministers sacrificed for lower pay! this type of noble thing can talk loudly. steve chia asked for transparency, for disclosure of minister's pay. but this was rejected. this always reminds me of means testing when the poor bugger is expected to come clean and tell everything about his shoddy financial status. whatever, i am never comfortable whenever there is no disclosure or transparency. at least the president's pay is transparent.

not many mps courting the housewives for votes

in parliament, several mps or only two mps spoke up for housewives. only irene ng made a decent plea to recognise the works of housewives. what the housewives are doing would have to be done if they stop doing it. and the works need to be paid. steve chia's explanation about national service is rather less tangible. the housewives are working and performing a job that has economic value. just so simple. but maybe the housewives are too busy staying home and will not go to the voting centres. so no need to take them seriously. if they do, make sure they vote for irene and steve chia. and where is that organisation called aware. probably they did not know that housewives worked. ya, tai tais don't work. tai tais in aware don't work. only ah sohs in the heartlands work as housewives.

ah bian and american deceit

the americans have all the reasons to want an independent taiwan. and that suits ah bian very well. behind the facade of trying to rein in ah bian, the american's hand behind ah bian's every move is very clear. and there is also the billions of dollars of military hardware that the americans wanted to sell to him. this immediate need is more urgent as it means money in the pocket for a lot of people. so ah bian will be allowed to play around a little while longer with the tacit support of the americans. and the chinese are seeing the whole picture simple and clear. they are not pushing the americans and ah bian very hard to avoid a flare up. but if things are allowed to go on this way, with the americans thinking that they could dupe the chinese by their neither here nor there comments on ah bian, they are just as foolish as george bush is. probably only george bush believes that the chinese believes in what he is saying. the strangling and hanging of ah bian is a matter of time. and time is running out. the kmt will not allow ah bian to throw money at the americans and provoke a conflict that will eclipse their growing economy. we should be seeing some actions from the chinese side very soon, though not in the nature of aggravating into an arms conflict, but at least some firm actions to tell ah bian and the americans that they mean business. this time ah bian has stepped too close to the red line and the chinese cannot afford not to do something. they would also want to remove the mask of deceit of the americans. maybe the chinese are waiting for georgie to put a foot into iran before raising the temperature a little. that will keep the americans busy and georgie crazy.

mrt lines having problems?

our mrt lines, northsouth and eastwest seem to be having problems for the last two mornings. people are complaining about the slowing down and the repeated announcements of technical faults. just when they think everything is going satisfactorily, it is getting its hitch, and during peak morning traffic. two days in a row. let's not make it three. would tomorrow be normal, without hitch?