Odex not the licence holder

The court has ruled that Odex is not the licence holder and thus has no right to sue those downloaders, or something to this effect. Does it mean that Odex must now refund those money it claimed and collected from the parents of those children?

Annuity scheme not enough

Come to think of it, like they said, send the buddha to the West, all the way. At 85, these people need more than just three meals a day. Many will need nursing care or be kept in nursing homes. Many will need hospitalisation, wheelchairs, cataract operations, heart bypass, or a maid to push them around and to feed them. Conservatively, maybe $1,500 pm will be needed on top of the annuity. Working the number to 10 years, assuming that by 95, they will call it a day, they will need $180k. Would any of you think it is prudent and good that the oldies should have $180k at 85 to start with? The $120k minumum sum should be retained and only be allowed to be withdrawn at 85. It will fit in nicely to make life very comfortable for the oldies. Any good measure and with good intention must be done properly. No half measures. Want to do it, do it all the way.

It is getting bad

Just came back from lunch. My plate of vegetarian rice used to be $3. The stall owner apologised for having to charge me $4. He said everything is up. Bo bian. The other day I wrote about a Malaysian pastry that was $2.20 and now $4. And a duck rice stall that used to have 8-10 pieces of duck meat. It still gives the same number of pieces at the same price. But the meat used to be 5 mm thick. Now each slice is 2-3 mm thick. And this is only the beginning. No, absolutely no inflation. Just a bit more expensive only.

Losing the people's trust

The PAP brand has been built over the last 40 years of delivering a better life for the people. Despite the occasionally discontentment and anger voiced by the people, there is this long term trust between the people and PAP. This bond that is built over so many years is seeing signs of cracks. Once broken, it is going to be difficult to mend. The constant pushing back of the CPF withdrawal age and now this thing called compulsory annuity, is going to tear away at this trust. The people are having doubts. The people are unhappy that their money is no longer their money to spend the way they want. The trust is eroding away. Do not lose this trust or it will be tough to get it back again. We are now witnessing the slide down the slippery road. No matter how good is the intention, unfortunately not many believe in these new changes, never meddle with the people's life saving. Never!

Two visitors came a calling

Two came knocking over the weekend. They said they were social workers and asked me if the world was a peaceful place. I told them my neighbourhood was very peaceful. They gave me the funny look. They wanted to talk to me about how to make the world a better place. So I asked them whether they were going to send a mission to Afghanistan. They wanted me to waste my precious Sunday morning time with them. After so many thousand years, if such fools can save the world, the world would have been saved long ago.