Spare a thought for the less well off

George Yeo urged firms not to increase prices unnecessarily and to spare a thought for the less fortunate. 'Mr Yeo urged businesses not to forget the less fortunate, particularly when times are hard. He said, "Inflation, because of high fuel and food prices, is a problem. And it is a concern for all Singaporeans, especially for those who are less well-off. "I also hope that those of us who are in business, yes, we have to adjust prices, because the input costs are high, but where it is not necessary to increase prices, it's good to spare a thought for ordinary Singaporeans who will be affected." ' A very surprising call actually. Times are hard? Since when? We are in an economic boom, golden years, full employment, everyone is getting richer with housing prices shooting to the sky. What hard times? Prices did not go up yesterday. And who have been jacking up all the prices? And who have been saying that it can't be helped? Do these big organisations, including the hospitals and transport companies ever spare a thought to the people when they raised prices? But they did. They made sure that the increases were all very affordable. Maybe George is living in a different paradise. The rest are still partying every night in the land of possibilities.

Personal Tax cut

Budget Personal tax cut? Singapore government may cut personal tax from 20 to 18% as inflation soars and growth slows, reports Thomson Financial. Feb 6, 2008 By Jonathan Burgos The Singapore government is expected to announce a cut in personal income tax to cushion consumers as inflation accelerates and growth slows this year, analysts said. Finance Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam is expected to announce the tax cuts when he unveils the budget for the year to March 2009 in parliament on Feb 15.... 'The inflationary consequences of the GST hike have significantly raised costs of living for the lower-income groups,' Kit said. It will be politically difficult for the government to roll back the GST, but Kit believes the budget will introduce a generous one-off package to offset inflation. To do this effectively, the government will have to do more than reduce the personal income tax rate, since fewer than 30 percent of Singaporeans pay income tax, said Tay Hong Beng, executive director for corporate tax at KPMG. Individuals whose annual taxable income is less than 20,000 dollars are not required to pay tax. The government may increase tax reliefs, Tay said. It could, for example, exempt medical bills from the GST. Health care costs rose 6.3 percent last year. I copied the above from www.littlespeck.com My immediate reaction is who will benefit from a tax cut? I will benefit a little. But most of the people suffering from the rising prices are not going to benefit from a tax cut as Kit had pointed out in the above article. What is needed is to bring down the rising costs of things and services that are within the control of the govt. The things that will affect the bulk of the population at the lower income end, food and essential services, must be looked at seriously. And the regressive GST that taxed more on the lower income group, is not helping the poorer people. All the handouts are a one off thing. When are we going to stop taxing on the poor so heavily?

The American Presidential Election

I was watching a bit of the Presidential race in the US. I am impressed and envious at the maturity of a people, at a system that allows the people to step forward confidently, without any sense of fear, to choose their President. From the Presidential candidates, their supporters, the civil servants, the electorate, we can see a certain level of ease and transparency, non interference in the election process, and a very high level of Freedom, a freedom of choice in the political stage. And they are not going to riot or rampage whichever party won. When will we be able to reach such a state of maturity when we are like the Americans? Or are we a less able people that cannot aspire the American dream, that we have to live in a straight jacket system like what we have now and will be like this forever? It seems that our hearts have no room for anything. We have no room for alternative parties and talents, no room for a political system that is as free as the American, no room for a people to feel and vote the way the Americans are doing. After 30 years of near 100% literacy rate, with 30 or 40% of our people receiving tertiary education, we are still infants, immature, small heart, ungraceful, uptight, full of vengeance, unable to live with opposing views, unable to accept that others may be right, or there are other alternative ways than just one way. If we do not allow the people to grow and mature, we will be stuck in a rut, a third world mentality and a third world political psyche, where the losers in a political race is condemned, embarrassed or can be worst. We have a very educated and bright citizenry, worldly, sophisticated and ready to move on to the next level of political maturity. What is holding back the country and people from progressing and attaining a higher level of political awareness, participation and involvement in the running of a nation, the political process of governing a country and be a part of that process? Without the full participation of the people from all corners and all walks of life, the governing of the people and country is, by default, left to a small select group of self appointed people. We are not tapping the full resourcefulness and potential of the whole population. In a way, we are like those countries that do not tap on their women talent pool, or underdeveloped nations that tap on a small pool of their elite. Are we ready to be like the Americans? Yes in all aspects. The illiterate and ignorant immigrants of the past have mostly departed or lying in nursing homes. We are a new generation of confident and well educated people. If we cannot be more graceful and mature, then we have failed as a people. We shall deserve to be sheeples if we accept that being sheeple is the only way to progress, to a better life. It is a kind of bondage.

Celebrating Singaporean - Noeleen Heyzer

Noeleen Heyzer Another high achieving Singaporean, landing a very senior job in the UN is Noeleen Heyzer. She is Executive Secretary of ESCAP, Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific. A very charming lady in a the company of international leaders.

Celebrating Singaporean - Dr Susan Lim

Dr Susan Lim Award Another great achievement from a Singaporean to have an American Award named after her. The American Academy of Continuing Medical Education awards her for her work in minimally invasive surgery by naming a Dr Susan Lim Award to be awarded to renowned medical professionals in the same field of Laparoscophy.