relativity of greed and need

Greed and needs are indeed all subjective terms. Janadas Devan wrote an article today about the self imposed poverty of American civil servants and how Clinton feared to raise his own salary but instead raised his deputy's to double what Clinton got. This was a trick which Clinton thought would work for him, for Congress to raise his too since people below him were earning more than him. A clever 'raise your salary formula' without asking for it. Raise others' first and yours will come naturally. I got side track a little. Janadas also quoted Gandhi. Give that man a piece of cloth and he would have enough to wear for a year. His wardrobe probably had less than a dozen pieces of white cloths. But he had enough. He gave up practising medicine to become a penniless politician. But he is a poor example of what humans are. He shall be confined to history in the same chapter as Mother Teresa. The inhuman beings whose personal needs and ego are minimal and almost non existent. Back to being humans and having a stomach full of greed, envy and jealousy. No sensible man will argue that we should not pay civil servants well even if the word servant is a myth. But the trick is how well? Another very subjective word. 'Give me a piece of cloth and I will be happy.' I can hear Gandhi saying that sincerely. Let me add my subjective view of what is being paid well. For the top civil servants, to be able to afford a landed property, driving a mercedes, bring family for annual holidays, have dinner in a good restaurant every weekend, can afford to send children overseas for their education etc, and free from monetary worries of not being able to afford the above, I think these will be comfortable. Then how much to pay is still relative. At the lower end of the senior civil servants, lets say able to afford a 5 room HDB flat, a 1.6 litre Japanese car, to support a small family of 4, not necessary overseas education, and the weekend makan in a small restaurant, and the annual holidays to nearby countries. These, I think should be adequate for a start for the young civil servants. Are we paying our civil servants well enough for these niceties in life? Or shall we pay them more, double these qualitative references? Often the top honchos will only be concerned about the millions they are getting and the millions they are not getting. Not many will be concerned about the few thousands that the lower staff should be getting and not getting. That is what greed, envy and jealousy were in the stratosphere.

something to be ashamed of

If there is one thing I am ashame of of this country, it is the rampant and blatant flouting of the laws by the loansharks. And it seems that nothing can be done to them. The MSM has been trying its best to highlight this as not only a social but also criminal problems, it all seems in vain. They continue to exist and thrive and becoming more arrogant and defiance of the law and law enforcing officers.

would sheepish singaporeans be anti social?

Over the last few days there were several comments in the MSM and Cyberspace about Singaporeans getting irritated with anti social behaviours like smoking in non smoking areas or queue jumping. Many were advocating taking actions into their own hands, to tell off the offenders. These are calls for actions, to take ownership and responsibility for anti social behaviours in the public by the people. It is a move in the right direction. Singaporeans should stand up and feel that this is their country and they jointly own this place. Only when Singaporeans feel that this is their home and not a hotel that they will think it is necessary to take care fo the place. And many of the offenders are not really Singaporeans but guests, ie foreigners. Given the general comment that Singaporeans are meek, do not want to get into unpleasant situations, wanting to save face and avoid trouble, it is unlikely that they would want to adopt anti social behaviours to draw attention to themselves. The exception is the younger groups of Singaporeans, the adolescence trying to grow up. This group may be a little rowdy and less restraint. A Carmen Teoh-Tang wrote to admit sheepishly that she was told off in foreign countries for not giving her seat to the elderly. It would be good if Singaporeans too would do that to anyone, including foreigners. What could have happened was that she was a stranger in a foreign land where the foreigners few brashed enough to tell the diminutive little Asian girl off in their land. It could be a kind of xenophobic bullying taking the face of social grace. We should not bully anyone who lacked social graces, local or foreigners. But more Singaporeans should speak out to make this place of ours a more sociable and hospitable place to live in.

good news for transport stocks

Good news for transport fares. London just up its fare and becomes the most expensive in the world. Will this give us a boost? If so quickly buy MRT and SBS stocks.

blooming stock market

The stock market shot pass 3000 pts. Wow, another super bull run. Everyone must be laughing to the banks. Properties and cars must be flying off the shelves. And Today paper reported that transactions of 5 room flats were increasing and downgrading trend has stopped. Great news. The restaurants and entertainment outlets must also be doing roaring businesses. How come can't see any sign of such activities of exuberants? Oh, the 5 room flats that were transacted were from cheap and unpopular Woodland. And for the last quarter, resale market saw only a slight recovery. Nicholas Mak of Frank Knight said, 'One possible reason for the weakness in the HDB market is that the strong economic growth is not widespread enough.' This also applies to the stock market. Who is making all the money? Did anyone hear of people making money? Are the aunties all queuing up to open trading accounts? Is there a buzz in the market place of frantic stock market tradings?