my new paper article is here

Below is my original article for The New Paper. The emphasis was slightly different. The main drift is that a couple with a $2000 monthly income, net $1,600 after CPF, cannot afford to have children. The cost is just too much for them to bear. The latest case on the MRT jumper, Tan Jee Suan, vindicated what I was driving at. With two school going kids, and a less than $2000 income, they are dead meat. Many Singaporeans are in this trap, unfortunately still in blissful ignorance of the road ahead. They are going to bring a lot of pain to themselves and their innocent children. The children will be deprived no matter how much love and care the parents can give. They will have to depend on charity to get by. Can you afford to have children? The older generation used to have ten or a dozen children running around. And the children still grew up like any children would. Some even made it to be successful entrepreneurs, engineers, doctors and even Prime Ministers. Is this a formula to emulate for the new generation when there is a dearth of babies? Some say so. Go, go forth and multiply. It is nonsensical to think that the affluent new generation cannot afford to bring up half a dozen children when their poor parents could handle twice that amount. What were the motivations for the earlier generation to do what the present generation think is irresponsible or a thoughtless thing to do? With their lack of education or ignorance, clueless may be a better word, they did what they did the nature’s way. Many just did not know what they were in for or just did not bother. Tomorrow was not their problem. The children, they would grow up and that’s the way things were then. Some were thoughtless, that is for sure. Then some were very thoughtful. They were planning for their retirement. They needed someone to take care of them when they were no longer able to. What better ways than scores of children to ensure that at least one would make it, like tikam tikam. There are of course many other reasons for having or not having babies. The considerations today are more practical. For discussion purposes I will treat this from a single dimension perspective, the issue of affordability. How much? That is the key question. Figures of $277,000 or $400,000 have been quoted to bring up a baby to a graduate adult. Maybe these figures were just too comfortable. Go for the bare minimum, say a ball park figure of $150,000 for 25 years to include all expenses, food, clothing, allowance, tuition, medical etc. The four years in a local university could easily cost $50,000 with $24,000 going to tuition fees alone. Forget about overseas education. Ok, I agree that some can get by with just TLC and fresh air. For simplicity, divide this sum into 3 distinct phases, pre natal and birth to 12 years old, 13 to 21(including NS) and 4 years in university, with $50,000 each. This works out to an average of $300, $400 and $500 per month for the respective phases. Now who can afford this kind of money? Any couple thinking of having a child must be able to fork out $150,000 or a multiple of that for more children. Assuming a couple needs about $1,600 nett income a month, or $2,000 before CPF deduction, to live decently, they will need another $300 to $500 for a child. Simply put, if the family’s take home pay is less than $1,600, they cannot afford a child. Unless they are prepared to bring up a child who is always envious of the normal things that other children have. Isn’t that mean? And to be content with a life depending on charities, handouts, grants, or applying for subsidies all the time. What kind of existence is that? A child is meant to be a bundle of joy and not a burden of 25 years? And the thought of having more than one, 4 or 5, is honestly, thoughtless and totally irresponsible for those earning less than $2,000. Shall we encourage couples with less than $1,600 take home income to have children? Or shall we say ‘Go forth and multiply, Mr Rich!’ Let’s not burden the poor unnecessarily by asking them to bring more financial problems to themselves and a pathetic life for their children, unless help is provided in a dignified manner.

myth 79

'US has less time for Asia' Derwin Pereira, US Bureau Chief reported this from Dallas during LKY's recent visit to the US. 'He(LKY) also noted that with the Bush administration focused on Iraq, Afganistan, Iran and Islamic terrorism, Washington has less time for Asia now.' I have to disagree with this statement after seeing Rice's East Asian tour on the North Korean crisis and her conviction and dedication to take the war to the North Koreans. She is devoting one whole week to put pressure on all the East Asia states to provoke the North Koreans. Is that not time for Asia? The preparation and number of state officials involved in this trip must be enormous. Thanks to the North Koreans, East Asia is getting some of the US attention. Would the US bite off more than they can chew? Looking at Iraq itself, it seems that Iraq alone is too hard to swallow.

more problems for muslim jobseekers

I copy the below article from http://www.littlespeck.com./ Bombers use airport workers. British bombers had a Muslim plant at Heathrow who once worked for global security firm that serviced SIA and other majors. WorldNetDaily Oct 21, 2006 One of the suspects who helped terrorists case security at London’s Heathrow was an airport employee who once worked for a security firm that serviced major airlines, including SIA, British Airways and Thai Airways. However when Asmin Amin Tariq, a Muslim convert of Asian descent, was arrested for helping British bombers in the transatlantic sky terror plot, he was working for Jet Airways, India’s leading private airline in India. He was a security guard at Heathrow. His employer, Jet Airways, has suspended him. As an airport employee in Heathrow, he was believed to have helped the terrorists to test the airport’s security. Before that he was working at Group 4 Securicor, one of the largest global networks of security operations worldwide, with 400,000 full and part-time employees. It operates in 100 countries in four continents. The United States authorities are now concerned that Al Qaeda might be using airport employees to help blow up commercial airliners. They have stepped up security checks on airport personnel G4S (earlier called Securicor) is believed to be Singapore Airline’s handler in India. Investigators say 23-year-old Tariq, who studied biochemistry, allegedly provided information about airport security procedures to bombers in the foiled plot. It's not clear if he also planned to hand off explosives materials to them in the sterile area of the airport, or perhaps plant them on board targeted aircraft. Tariq holds a British passport, investigators say. "This is precisely why you don't want so many Muslims working in airports," says former FAA special agent Steve Elson, who tested airport security as a member of the elite Red Team.....

killing in the name of god or peace and security

Haven't the Americans done even destruction and killings in Iraq? Apparently not. Rice is on another cake walk mission in East Asia, trying her very best to impose American wills on Russia, China and South Korea to take punitive actions against North Korea. And she said America was trying to descalate the tension but it was the North Koreans who were the one raising the tension. She is insisting that the other few countries would be accomplice when she plunged the knife into the North Koreans. She demanded that the other countries must join the Americans in intercepting North Korean ships in the high seas or in foreign ports. What would such provocative actions lead to? The North Koreans could station a section of soldiers who will defend the ship at all cost. Shoot at anyone who dares land on the ship to the last man. Not only that they will die for their country, the sailors and the attackers too will go down. How many ships and soldiers and innocent people will have to die before the tension flares up into a war? The Americans are for peace? Lets hope that the Russians, Chinese and South Koreans have some sense not to be dragged into another conflict and have their soldiers die for the American Empire Dream. The world is now being run by evil men and woman who are committed to start fires everywhere for their evil schemes of grandeur. America will be dragged down to become an international bandit, and all the good works and reputation of past American presidents will go to waste. The religious fanatics killed in the name of god. The Americans are killing in the name of peace and security.

the brilliance of youth

The Derek Wee's article may not be acceptable for print in the MSM. In cyberspace it has created a storm, at least for a poor rich girl. Her reply to Derek's article was expected given the new philosphy of life in this island. And someone has the good sense of shutting down her blog immediately before the truth gets too frightening to be heard. Before I proceed further, please forgive her. She is a child. She knows not what she was speaking. I will be really angry if that kind of views come from an adult or someone making policies and decisions affecting the people. What we see in her is the tip of a smelly iceberg. It transcends from the little spoilt brat that demands the maid to do everything for 'it' to the peanut people among the elite. Not all elite are in the same shitty mindset. Thank god. How would such people view the man who jumped the MRT? No need to guess. To them that man is a burden to society and does not deserve to live. He is simply useless, incapable, and of no talent. Anyone who cannot command an income of a peanut is subhuman, belonging to a specie that better not be around. You are only human, or a talented man if you are successful financially, with all the trappings of the super rich. It is a different world out there, and the people are a happy lot. To the hardlanders, these are the monsters that our society has created. A self serving group of people who have a lot of problems of their own, grimacing on why the $200 a piece abalone tasted not as good as before, or why the $10k gown did not arrive in time for the next party. Our society has indeed stratified into two separate worlds, not so much in material wealth, but in the value of life and life philosophy. On one end, money is not enough. On the other, money is never enough. And for the latter, the world owes them a living because of their talents. I would like to say my two big balls. If the big ATM stops giving out the money, where would they find another ATM to feed them? Compassion and empathy are only good for printing in the MSM. Are we getting more caring and forgiving?