the ageing classes

As one gets older, the discrimination of class gets more apparent. The majority of the senior citizens fall into the senile and dementia class that needs to be helped and protected under all kinds of govt schemes. And as this class grows in size, the govt will have to continue with more schemes and keep scheming to look after their well being. Then there is another class that will live in posh retirement villas in resort islands. A variation of this maybe in nursing homes with basic facilities. Then there is the upper class or distinguished class which a writer, Dinesh Senan, wrote about in the Today paper. This is a class of ever wiser and continuously growing smarter talents that gets more valuable over the years, like fine wines. And if Dinesh has his way, all these greying talents should be elevated to a Council of Elder Statemen to help run the country, provide advice and vision for the younger leaders or act as mentors. And why not, they have all the useful and valuable experience that should not be put to waste. The only concern is whether their pension of 2/3 their last drawn income will be enough to keep them comfortable and not force them to work to earn extra income? That will be tragic. Or maybe in addition to their 2/3 pension they can still draw a salary commensurate with their talents and experience in life. That should not be difficult. And think about it, at 55 or 60, they still have another 20 good years to serve the nation. Who says at 55 people will be senile and cannot think and need to be protected by the state?

money everywhere, billions everywhere

Now this is quite a tidy sum of money to improve communications with all the govt agencies. It will make SMS such a wonderful and convenient tool to use. Everything at the finger tips. What about those without a mobile phone or those who cannot afford a mobile phone? Yes there are many people who cannot afford mobile phones though there are many who can afford 3 or 4 phones. Reading the stories in the Sunday Times last week revealed a big section of the population that are still living in poverty and such luxury and convenience of SMS or having Tvs on the MRT are things that they can do without. Would it be nice if the $2 billion be put into the pockets of those children who are in dire need for some pocket money for food and education instead of making SMS more convenient or more beautiful parks and walkways? A comprehensive assistance plan should be worked out to improve the lives of these underprivilege people, not piece meal donations. They need help, and even prolong help until they complete their basic education. If the nation can afford to throw away money for the frills, to have beautiful parks and for the dogs and poo as well, why are we neglecting living people who have a life to live? Where is our priority? We can be charitable to plants and parks and keep improving on systems, even making our fingers to do the work instead of walking or running around, but we left our underprivilege to defend for themselves. Can we be nicer to these people and let them have a little nicetices of life?

leadership, glory and responsibility

To be born a leader is itself a blessing as well as a curse. The reward, glory and recognition are flattering to the ego. But the responsibility is immense. A leader can do a lot of good for the people as well as a lot of harm. Whatever they do, as compare to a small fry or ordinary person without a big office, is multiplied many times. The larger the country the greater the effect and the consequence is grave. The karma created, good or bad, is accordingly multiplied and the lives of thousands or millions of people are affected by the decision made. It is no joking matter to be a national leader. Don't pray pray. Think of what you sow and what you reap. No one can escape this law of nature. I may be wrong. And there is no such things as karma. You just live once. So take whatever you can and live as grand as you can afford to. Be selfish and live selfishly, and greedily. To be greedy is good as it drives one to work harder to fulfil the pangs of greed.

the new economic reality for the workers

In Today's paper there is an article by William Pfaff on the flaws of the new American economy. Primarily the key issues of concern was the dismissing of the role of workers and their values, and transferring all the benefits to management and shareholders. 'The market settles business morality and you get away wtih what you can get' from the market. This leads to the billion dollar rewards for the executives. All the executives are concerned is how to maximise shareholders' value and their own values. And since raw material and energy cost cannot be controlled, the next thing is to reduce or even replaced labour cost. 'The system of values now governing the US corporation rejects the principle that business should serve the interests of workers and community as well as those of investors and managers.' Thus there is no trickle down effect where the bottom of the food change will get a share of the crumbs, when the workers were excluded from receiving its fair share of the corporate value which it helps to contribute. And according to the new US Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke, he concedes that 'a growing portion of the population feels they are not sharing in the benefits' that American industry and trade produce. The decline in workers family income during years of deregulation and globalisation has reached a point where workers depend on federal food stamps to live, and use hospital only for basic medicare. And Pfaff commented that a corporate model that deliberately renounces responsibility for the well being of its workforce hollows out the domestic consumer market... The above scenario is very familiar as our economy is a carbon copy of the US economy. Our workers did not have federal food stamps to live on, but they now have Comcare and Progress Package to tie over hard times. The Americans are waking up to their heady mismanagement and misallocation of wealth to the small core of top management at the expense of their workers when wealth were piled up like it is their god given right. Would our system continue down this road when $600k income is peanuts while 30% of the population is living on less than $15k annual income and struggling to make ends meet? Will this widening income gap be seen as a social evil and not a normal state of affair in a free capitalist system?

why so difficult to enforce corporate governance?

After one year of review, SGX is still finalising a new set of tougher rules for corporate governance. The SGX seems to be wavering. A lawyer was quoted as saying 'Directors will definitely not be willing to sign off on teh financials and the internal controls unless the lawyers and the auditors go through them carefully.' One view even argued that it would be difficult to recruit more directors as they will be reluctant to put themselves in such a position with so much added liability. My response is that this is bullshit. Many will still queue up and want to have 10 or more directorshis under their belts. As another lawyer said, 'It's not just about collecting directors' fees and coming a few times a year for board meetings and once a year for the annual general meeting.' It used to be like that, with very little responsibilities and collecting fat directorship fees. It is time that they be made to work and be answerable for negligence. Otherwise everyone will be scrambling for directorship appointments, some even asking for it as if it is their right. And the more the merrier. Why not, when there is trouble just quickly resign, wipe their hands and get away scot free? Why should public money be given away so easily?