China told USA to 'shut up and keep quiet.'

China told USA to 'shut up and keep quiet.' China has finally stood up and tell the number one bully to shut up. After being humiliated and bullied for several centuries by the west and the last 50 plus years by the US, China is finally ready to take on the US in verbal battle in the world stage. China's ambassador to the UN in Geneva, Sha Zukang warned the US in no uncertain terms that the US should mind its own business and should not be the devil behind the Taiwan declaration of independence move. The US fingerprints are all over in the Taiwanese plan to break away from China and China has made it very clear that it will take the US head on if Taiwan declares independence with US support. And the US has been trying to brand the Chinese as an expansionist power for expanding its defence expenditure which is US$35 billion as against US$419 billion of the Americans. Such distortion of truth by the Americans is no longer tolerable and the Chinese are not going to take that lying down any more. The Chinese are going to call a spade a spade and that the Americans are the number one trouble maker in the world will be pasted and glued onto the American face. It looks like the Chinese are going to retaliate at every political polemics that the Americans are throwing at them. The world will now hear a different truth. The most dangerous and most hated country in the world is going to be the USA. They cannot run and cannot hide. They are everywhere, from Latin America, Europe, Africa, Middle East, South Asia and East Asia, trying to establish its hegemony over the world.

enough people to occupy these flats?

This is the threatening question about the overbuilding of HDB flats and how a good housing programme went wrong. And the rest is history. I will like to modify this statement to read, 'Enough people to buy these stocks?' The problem facing a glut of HDB flats and private properties in the market is the same as that facing the stockbroking industry. It is another case of oversupply and lack of participants. The stock indices are going up, other stock markets are going to the roof, but you can hardly hear a phone ring in the trading rooms of all the broking houses. A very similar situation as the housing market. Many flats were built. But where are the takers. In the stock market, there are many stocks and many derivatives, but where are the investors? There are many rich people in Singapore, but are they buying HDB flats or even private flats? Yes a few may buy the exclusive upmarket condo or landed properties, but the general market is silent. The same in the stock market. A few hedge funds and house players are in the market. And that is all. The whole market is deserted. The property market will suffer a fate of a slow death when the value just melt away. And so will the value of stocks when there are no buyers but plenty of stocks and other instruments available. The slow death has started. The holding cost for all the unsold flats is just too high. The overheads for running a broking house is equally high if there are no investors. And the funds will also have holding cost if what they bought cannot be sold, except from left hand to right hand and back.

bringing down cost of essential services

The Worker's Party has made it their key objective to fight for the lowering of public transport fare. And their reasons are very valid except that the ruling party could not see it that way. Public transportation is a vital industry and affects the economy of the country as well as the wellbeing of the people. It should be treated like education or defence, and made as effective, efficient and at the lowest cost possible without the profit motive. Choking up the transport system or parallysing it by continuously raising fare will affect the quality of life of the people and all other economic and social activities. Opposition parties should be very clear in their objectives and defend the interests of the poorer people by bringing down cost of essential items and services. Transportation is only one of the many essential services.

canned demonstration

In less than a month the World Band and IMF will be in town. And it is time for Singapore to present to the world our canned public demonstration within four walls. The demonstrators, all imported, Singaporeans unlikely to be allowed in, will be given all the freedom to shout, scream and scratch, all indoors. Probably the whole demonstration room will be wired with all the cameras and speakers, to be beamed across the world. Singapore will score another first, teaching the world how demonstration can be allowed, in a canned fashion. And if this is experiment is successful, maybe we can allow Singaporeans to demonstrate in the same way on certain issues. Then there is no need to explain so painfully why 4 is an illegal assembly.

crooked bridge may save Badawi's govt

According to Mahathir, the Badawi govt is not corrupt and will have his blessing if they go ahead with the crooked bridge. But if there is no crooked bridge, then the Badawi govt is corrupt and he will continue to expose them. The balance of whether the Malaysian govt is corrupt or otherwise hangs in the balance of the crooked bridge.