what is poor?

Newsweek last week succinctly asked a question that is in the mind of many people: “The island's economy is booming. So why are so many citizens worse off than they were 10 years ago?” The cause is a rising level of poverty and a stagnating middle class income in the past five years – while costs have gone up – all of which had raised fears that crime would dramatically worsen. The above is posted in www.littlespeck.com by Seah Chiang Nee. What our economists need to do now is to redefine the poverty line in Singapore. What is poor in Singapore is technically rich in many countries. And this has misled many to think that the lower income group who has a household income of $2k or $3k are alright. In reality, many are in a worst dilemma than the poor of underdeveloped countries. Those poors only did not have enough to eat but could live off the land. The Singapore poors are all in debts, huge debts.

Too much government

This is a favourite theme of Matilah Singapura. Too much govt is bad. In a way I agree. When there is too much govt, the space for private individuals and private enterprise shrinks. This is especially true in business. The govt, no matter how fair it portends to be, is still the govt. It has power, monopoly, huge resources etc on its side. And better still, it has all the supertalents to pit against the Ah Bengs and Ah Sengs, the Ahmads and the Muthus. No fight. The field is not level. On the other hand, too much govt means more jobs. More work will be created for more people. More money needs to be spent from the govt's coffer, and more taxes surely. There are pros and cons for having too much govt. Will too much govt create more jobs and leading to more employment? Or will too much govt leads to having a few people wearing plenty of hats and getting several salaries and becoming overpaid? And the people made to pay for more taxes? Too much govt is a good reason to justify for more taxes, more GSTs. What is important is that the money collected must be spread around and benefit the people and not a few individuals. Preferably private enterprises are preferred to create and generate demands for goods and services and not the govt. For private enterprises are subject to true market forces and the demands generated are really needed by the consumers and not forced upon the consumers. And the consumers will pay a fair price and also have the choice to buy or not to buy.

The happiness of having plenty

Most Singaporean schools have strict rules regarding uniforms for conformity. It also serves the purpose of reducing any sense of unease on children when the wealthy children attend schools all dressed up to their nines, branded school bags, branded shoes, branded watches etc. This is what most schools have been doing. There are many wealthy parents who would not mind showering on their children the best they could afford to. But there are also many who are struggling even to buy a pair of decent shoes.

Schools intentionally play down on such flaunting of wealth so that the lesser beings do not feel so underprivileged and uncomfortable. Children are innocent and should not be exposed to such vulgarities of the adult’s world..

Thus many schools standardise the wearing of footwears to something simple, no expensive jewelry, no expensive watches or even handphones. And this code of practice has been in force, officially and unofficially, for a long time. The principals and the ministry must have seen some wisdom in this practice and rightly so.

Of late things are starting to change a little. The latest craze that schools have adopted for their rich kids is in the guise of greater exposure and education in the form of expensive trips abroad to the USA, Europe, Japan, China or the Australasia. I must admit that these are great experiences for young children to travel and to satisfy the senses. Everyone will agree that these are indeed very enriching experiences. Pardon my punt.

But again, how will such trips do to the psychic of the poor beings who cannot afford them but only to ogle and envy at their more fortunate friends? Often only a small group will be able to afford such trips. Or maybe I am wrong and many can afford it. I surely would not be able to squeeze out that kind of money for a little escapee for my children. But then it is great news for the schools. ‘We sent our children on overseas education tour! To the Grand Canyon or to the Great Wall of China or to see the Great Pyramids.’ These will certainly raise the profile of the schools positively.

Schools may want to take a step back and try to understand the pressure being placed upon borderline parents who can barely afford them but have to cough out the few thousand dollars that they could have used for better and more important things. Or what about the young minds who could not understand why their parents could not afford to send them on such wonderful trips, and having to listen in awe, the stories from their close friends who went and returned and become so much more knowledgeable?

Our educators should be more thoughtful of what they are doing to their charges and not to encourage them to spend on expensive thrills which would not really do them that much good. Perhaps I may be wrong as I am not an educator and could not see the great benefits that such trips bring to the children. Maybe these children would eventually top their classes and become worldly wise adults. Who knows? The educators are the experts in these areas. I am just looking at the slightly negative angle which may be something that the schools have considered.

Anyway, I still believe that schools should leave the expensive pampering and indulgence to the parents in their private time and minimise the pressure on other children and their not so well off parents as well. Schools may unconsciously inculcate such values of snobbishness and keeping up with the Joneses at such tender age when the children could not appreciate how difficult it is for money to come by. Poor parents and poor children should not be made to feel that much poorer and deprived.

The Best Business

There are two businesses that I would consider to be the most lucrative and worth investing in. The consumers are plenty and all cash rich and all scratching their heads on how to use their cash hoards. Many businesses are good but there is always a problem of debt collection or bad debts. In these two biz, there is no bad debts. How good can it get? I am referring to Hospitals and the Last Rites. As we walk towards the future, all the oldies here will be so rich and probably die with all their money unspent. With a minimum sum that is going to exceed $100k and a Medisave Account that will shoot pass the $30k limit, most of the oldies will have more than a $100k in their CPF account, and untouchable except for the little ration that they will receive monthly. A shrewd businessman should be able to unlock this money and transfer them into his revenue account. One package is hospital retreats. Develop hospitalisation packages for the oldies to spend their holidays in 6 Stars hospitals, with all the spas and fine food and wine and pampering thrown in. A little creativity is needed to use some medical terms to qualify these oldies for their escapade, spending the money that they might not live to see. Another package will be for the finest hour, The Last Rite. The oldies can select a package to invite all their friends and relatives for their last party. They can decide on the venue, menu, the trimmings, order the Mercedes or Rolls Royce to go with them, etc and the guest lists, the best bands etc while they lay in peace. Imagine a $100k party or more, depending on how much is left in their Retirement Account, all to go at one go to make a memorable departure from this world and to feast all their friends and relatives. It is a way to make a big bang as one exits from this world. Otherwise the money will just go to the state.

freedom for grandpas and grandmas

The Grandpas and Grandmas should be allowed to spend their money at their own time and not be rationed. It is time to stop forcing grandpas and grandmas to save for tomorrow. For they may have no tomorrow. Stop the legislation requiring grandpas and grandmas to contribute to their CPF and Medisave. Make these optional at their age. Free the senior citizens from a life of regulations and programming of their life activities. Return freedom to them. Let them, for once, to live their own lives, plan their own lives and mess up their own lives if they so choose. They have earned their rights to do what they want, to be free. There should be no compulsion for more savings after 55.