2/15/2007

myth 114

Myth 114 Old means out or pay cut We have heard of the pathetic state of the PMETs. What caused them to be in such a postion? The policy of old is useless or FTs or a combination of both. These were our former local born talents, high salary, high value, high esteem, high flyers. Today they are low salary, low value, low esteem and low flying. The fault of globalisation? Lim Boon Heng is the best man to tackle this problem. He is a walking and living example of old is good and should be paid well. The way he goes, he will work till 90 and still smiling and still in demand, and getting an increment every year. What Boon Heng can do is to use the political profession as the perfect model for all to emulate. In this industry, salary is paid according to the appointment. As long as one holds the appointment, no matter what age, talent or not so talented, man or woman, everthing else is irrelevant, one can look forward to annual increment and big bonuses practically every year. The private sector need not look further to adopt this model for their employees. After all, what is profit for? And this is particularly pertinent to govt link companies. These organisations can't be making profits and profits to be stashed away for a tomorrow that never comes. It is the people and their well being. To feed the people and feed them well. Govt and govt linked companies should review their missions and look at how best to look after the people all the way from the President to the heartlanders. Everyone should see that this is a country that looks after them from cradle to their death bed.

2/14/2007

Quote of the Day

Quote of the Day Prof Cohen pointed out on a public lecture in LKY-school on 13 Feb 2007, that the 6.5 million population is risky and will have dire consequences. "Singapore does not grow its foods, so it is dependent on a world economy that permits trade. If there is no trade, Singapore is SUNK!". Maybe the govt can consider giving the people and new citizens an option. Since everything here is run like a business and with bottom line the main consideration, let us compute the wealth of each citizen in Singapore, using the value of the piece of real estate and all the monetary value of the nation's assets. With this figure, every citizen be allowed to opt out of this country and be paid that amount. Funny that I use the term opt out so naturally. And any new citizen coming in can acquire a citizenship by paying an equivalent amount. I think this is fair as he/she will inheriting the wealth of a nation built up over the years by several generations.

the 6.5 million paradox

The 6.5 million paradox What is the relationship between a citizen and a country? Theoretically, the citizens own the country. We, the citizens, not all locals by the way, own this little piece of real estate and everything that we have not sold to private ownership. We, the citizens, not all locals, are part owners of all the monetary wealth of this country. At the moment, with about 2.5 million citizens, each of our share of this real estate and all the reserves and investments is 1/2.5 million. Do we then have a say if this real estate and reserves and investment are going to be divided by 4 or 6 million? Our representative system of govt means the election of ordinary citizens to form the govt to look after our welfare and real estate and national coffer. If our elected representatives said they are going to share our real estate and national wealth with foreigners who are accepted as Singaporeans, do they need to ask for our consent? This is like planning the use of our CPF money or our salaries.

nkf story - chapter two

NKF story Chapter Two And the story continues. Poofs....Chapter Two is intentionally left blank as everything came to an abrupt end behind chambers and closed doors. And they all live happily ever after.

the poor rich middle class

'They often feel ignored and mercilessly squeezed.' Said Christie Loh. This is the strongest language ever appeared in a main stream paper. If she wrote this a few years ago, wonder what kind of reaction she will get. Christie is referring to the middle class group that have been left out of all the assistance by the govt and unable to find jobs. And also the sandwiched class, a group that earns between $2,990 and $7260. And they need help. My god, with this type of income they need help! How then do one expect those on govt aid to live with $230 or even $400? And their problem extends to not being able to find jobs or jobs that will pay them half of what they used to get. The PMET, Professional, Managers, Executive and Technicians, the fallen talents of our own citizens, cannot find jobs when unemployment is passe, when we have created so many jobs. What is wrong? Why are our talents not employable and we need to find more foreign talents to replace them? Old? 50 or 60 considered old? Leaders like LKY, Chok Tong and Boon Heng should conduct lectures to all the CEOs and HR Managers about the value of being old. Wisdom, experience, contacts, networks, are what age comes with. Oh they are untrainable? Why train them to do new stuff when they have acquired so much skills and experience in their profession? Can't they be recruited to do what they were doing before? Are those jobs extinct or taken over by younger foreign talents? And old cocks cannot learn new skills? Boon Heng should tell them what he is doing now. A completely new portfolio, to look after older workers, a silver industry. Was he in this field before? Definitely not. And it is new and he can do it. What the....